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Sunday, January 23, 2011

2010 Recap #1: Books I read

One of the goals I used to make when I made the uberlist was to read a certain number of books, and that a certain number had to be non-fiction. I think the last two years I made the list the goal was 25, but I am too lazy to go back and look. In 2010 I read 22 books:
1) Amy and Isabelle: a Novel - Elizabeth Strout
2) Grace Notes - Bernard Mac Laverty
3) The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
4) The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
5) Earthly Possessions - Anne Tyler
6) The Return Journey - Maeve Binchy
7) Midwestern Love Songs (Short stories) - Jeff Rosenplot (A friend IRL)
8) Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell
9) Up Island - Anne Rivers Siddons
10) My Secret Garden - Nancy Friday
11) Boy - Tales of Childhood - Roald Dahl
12) Such A Pretty Fat - Jen Lancaster
13) Pleasures - Women Write Erotica - Ed. Lonnie Burbach
14) Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? - Peter Walsh
15) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver
16) Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
17) Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
18) The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
19) Julie and Julia - Julie Powell
20) Loving Frank - Nancy Horan
21) Sabriel - Garth Nix
22) Good Harbor - Anita Diament

Eight of those were non- fiction: 4, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19. I read a higher number of non-fiction than usual. I guess because I found books about subjects where I had an interest that were non-fiction, yet written to be entertaining and easily read. The Year of Living Biblically was a book club selection of which I hadn't heard. I enjoyed it and want to read his other memoir as well, in which the author reads through the entire encyclopedia. I plan to write my memoirs (actually have already started) and reading others' memoirs feels like some good learning.

Editing to add: My forays into erotica were a test to see if there is well-written erotica out there. I also read a couple in 2009. I had wondered if it might be a market where I could write and publish a book quickly in order to make some money. What I discovered is that my imagination and experience are nowhere broad enough to try to enter that market!

I would like to get my book reading volume up again in 2011. I have a good start, two are already completed and I am on number three right now. I hope I find some more wonderful books both fiction and non-fiction. There are plenty of them out there!

2 comments:

Deb said...

Read one for me. I'll be busy catching up on past issues of The Atlantic I put aside for several months in a row. Or at least looking at the article titles! Always read the back page for, "What's Your Problem" by Jeffrey Goldberg, but beginning at the back doesn't gift me credit for having gone through the meat. Wish me luck.

Hope said...

Good luck!

I will dedicate the book I am currently reading to you: Suite Francais, by Irene Nemirovsky. It's very well written and has an incredible history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_fran%C3%A7aise_%28Ir%C3%A8ne_N%C3%A9mirovsky%29