read 52 books in 2008

I had to bail on the ‘read 100 books’ goal, but I did read 52 books over the course of the year.

1) Live what you love by Robert Blanchard
2) Dorm Room Diet by Daphne Oz
3) Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
4) The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden
5) Food Politics by Marion Nestle
6) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
7) In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
8) French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mirielle Giuliani
9) The Singing Fire by Lillian Nattel
10) Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
11) Meditation by Eknath Easwaran
12) Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
13) The Edge of Winter by Luanne Rice
14) French Women For All Seasons by Mirielle Giuliani
15) Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day by Hertberg/Francois
16) The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin
17) The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci
18) Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff
19) What to Eat by Marion Nestle
20) Fat girl by Judith Moore
21) Pelvic Power by Eric Franklin
22) The Spectrum by Dean Ornish
23) Stretching Anatomy by Nelson/Kokkonen
24) The Body Has a Mind of its Own by Sandra Blakeslee
25) Light on Life by BKS Iyengar
26) Introduction to Reiki by Mary Lambert
27) Letter to a Young Poet by R.M. Rilke
28) The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho
29) The End of East by Jen SookFong Lee
30) Arguments and Queries by The Quakers
31) The CR Way by Paul and Meredith
32) Keep Sweet by Debbie Palmer
33) Reiki by Pamela Miles
34) The Places that Scare You by Pema Chodron
35) The Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope
36) Type Talk by Kroeger/Thueson
37) Entangled Minds by Dean Radin
38) Jung: A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Stevens
39) Slow by Carl Honore
40) How to Use Your Eyes by James Elkins
41) The Nudist on the Night Shift by Po Bronson
42) The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
43) About a Boy by Nick Hornby
44) Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
45) The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
46) Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
47) Bitter Chocolate by Lesley Lokko
48) The Fattening of America by Finklestein/Zimmerman
49) Cultures of the World: Belize by Leslie Jermyn
50) Rough Guide to Belize
51) Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs
52) Dry by Augusten Burroughs

Everything is wrapped up in this final volume of Y: the Last Man. Well, almost everything. This is a solid ending to a series I hate to see end. I think the plot and idea was rich enough to easily last 10 more volumes. Great series and great last volume.

All the loose ends in the Y: The Last Man series finally start to get tied up. There are still a few more twists and turns left, but it’s nice to have some of the storylines finally resolved.

Great story and art, as is the rest of the series. The only complaint is the brief nature of Book 8. It only collects issues 43-38. I think more could have been put into the volume.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Another young adult book. This one was pretty bad, but at least I was able to finish it in one day!

I did it! I had to cheat and count rereads of the powerful graphic novel Maus, and my final book took a whopping 15 min to read – but that’s 52! More importantly, this goal served its true purpose of getting me reading more than I have in the past few years. I’ll set a similar goal for 2009, but will probably make it 30 books, to give me some breathing room to tackle the longer books on my “to-be-read” pile. Happy reading everyone!

A Short Guide to a Happy Life – Anna Quindlen

Maus II – Art Spiegelman

The Miracle at Speedy Motors – Alexander McCall Smith

I enjoyed reading the latest adventures in this series. I continue to be transported to a place where life is simpler and more grounded in what matters: rain, cattle, new shoes, furniture, a filing cabinet which is locked.

Baby Proof – Emily Giffin

I knew it was easy chick-lit; which is always a nice distraction. But as the book progressed, I started to think that it had the potential of being something more; something less predictable. Nope! It didn’t completely cave, but it comes close. A nice afternoon read … but nothing more.