I read 67 books in this year (although this total doesn’t include books that I had read previously & re-read, nor does it include some of the reading that I had to do for work).

2008 Goal: 100
2008 Read: 67

For comparison:

2007 Goal: 100
2007 Read: 101 3 years ago

But I did manage more than a hundred.

76:English as a Second Language (Chick lit)mwah
77:The Treasure of Montségur (Historical Fiction) (Did not like at all)
78:Such Good Boys (True Crime) okay
79:New Moon. (Teens) Loved it
80: Eclipse
81: Breaking Dawn
82:True Story Of Hansel And Gretel (Great!)
83:Sarah T. (Old fashioned)
84:I Capture the Castle
85:Queen of Babble Gets Hitched. (Chick Lit) I Liked
86:The Little Lady Agency
87:Burned Alive
88:Interview with a Vampire
89:The Vampire Lestat
90:Off Season
91:When Rabbits Howl
92:Escape by Carolyn Jessop
93:In a Far Country by Linda Holeman
94:The nature of Monsters
95:Marked by P.C.Castt
96:Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
97:Diamonds Take Forever
98:The Devil’s Right-Hand Man
99:Extreme by Sharon Osbourne
100:Take it Like a Man by Boy George

101:Rotten by Johnny Lydon
102:Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore
103:The Executioner’s Song
104:The Turning by Jennifer Armintrout
105:Inside the Kingdom by Carmen bin Ladin
106:Freed to Kill
107:Because You Loved Me 3 years ago

I read my typical 52 books for the year. Here they are. Better luck next year, I guess. I will say that I probably read too many dense non-fiction books. If I try this again, I’ll go for the fun fiction.

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 4 years ago

by Andy Remic

Hardcore military scifi with just a hint of Noir. Some fun characters and some good action. 4 years ago

by Shirow Masamune

Four years after the original Ghost in the Shell Manga, this focuses on one of the “children” of Motoko and the AI. Less police procedural and more exploring a strange new world. Good stuff. 4 years ago

by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapier,

Remo and Chuin in all their goodness. What more can I say? 4 years ago

by Thich Nhat Hanh

A great book by a Zen Master. A great book on awareness and the importance of love and peace in the world. It sounds rather airy from my description, but still a rather interesting read. 4 years ago

by Ken Fisher

A guide to riches by Ken Fisher. Fisher looks at 10 different ways to make the really big bucks. Your path to millions is probably here. Some of it reads really slimy, but as he says in the introduction, if you don’t like that road, pick another one! 4 years ago

by Andy Hunt

A wonderful book that tied together some ideas that I’ve been reading about. Puts the ideas of learning and thinking into a perspective that make them actionable to me. Very good read, highly recommended! 4 years ago

by A. Lee Martinez.

Martinez is my favorite author this year. I keep eating his stuff up like candy! A win every time! This one puts a kobald, a one eyed, one eared flying purple people eater and a castle full of cursed folks against some deeply mysterious trouble. Great fun! 4 years ago

by Sterling E. Lanier

A bit of speculative fiction from the 70’s. Post apocalyptic but some interesting ideas of where things would go. The bits about computers were amusing from the modern perspective. 4 years ago

by Judith Kolberg

A good read and an excellent introduction for preparing your family for an emergency (earthquake, fire, flood,etc). Practical advice on what to do and how to prepare. Very family focused. 4 years ago

By Judi Culbertson and Marj Decker

An interesting book on how to help families downsize as they move from larger homes to smaller homes. Some insight into how people collect things, and some ideas on what to do with those things during the downsizing process. 4 years ago

I didn’t reach my goal of reading 100 books last year. Still, I enjoyed the 93 books I did read.

Now, on to 2009! 4 years ago

91. Jeffrey Ford. The Shadow Year. Fantasy/Mystery 3/5
92. David Gerrold. *The Man Who Folded Himself. SF 3/5
93. Charles Stross. *The Clan Corporate. SF 3*/5 4 years ago

Well, I only made it to 38 books for 2008. Maybe I will get more books read in 2009? I sure hope so!

1. Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life by John Sellers
2. Good-Bye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
3. A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel by Haruki Murakami
4. The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman
5. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
6. Have You Found Her: A Memoir by Janice Erlbaum
7. Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking by Eric Lax
8. The Squirrel Mother by Megan Kelso
9. Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert
10. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
11. An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England: A Novel by Brock Clarke
12. How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time by Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer
13. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger
14. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
15. Summer Blonde by Adrian Tomine
16. Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman
17. A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren
18. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
19. Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas
20. Learning to Love You More by Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher
21. But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl’s Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous by Jancee Dunn
22. When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris
23. I Was Told There’d Be Cake: Essays by Sloane Crosley
24. No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July
25. I’m With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres
26. My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black
27. Put The Book Back On The Shelf: A Belle And Sebastian Anthology by Image Comics
28. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel by Haruki Murakami
29. Don’t You Forget About Me by Jancee Dunn
30. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
31. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee: A Novel by Rebecca Miller
32. Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
33. Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman
34. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
35. Downtown Owl: A Novel by Chuck Klosterman
36. My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
37. Juno: The Shooting Script by Diablo Cody
38. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell 4 years ago

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel. 4 years ago

Just in the nick of time. I finished with a grand total of 5 hours to spare.

95. Releasing the Rivers Within- Dwight Edwards
96. Up Words for Down Days
97. Tainted Love- Melody Mayer
98. The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez- Judy Goldschmidt
99. Philippians and Colossians: Experiencing the Joy of Knowing Christ
100. Irish Girls About Town 4 years ago

97. Incredable Journey
98. Eragon
99. The Joy Luck Club
100. Twilight 4 years ago

100 Wise Children by Angela Carter
99 Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
98 Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer 4 years ago

I was prompted to read this book because of Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction. While David Sheff’s book was a haunting, poignant, and beautifully written tale about his struggle with his son’s revolving cycles of addiction and sobriety, Nic’s was barely readable. Maybe it’s a side-effect of the years of drug use, but I found his writing style terrible. He repeats many of the same stories his father tells without any of the emotion, there’s just no feeling. When the book isn’t rote, Nic appears in love with himself, seeming hardly affected by his actions. His never ending attempts to justify/explain/or blame his drug use on other people and things was just annoying. Of course there were triggers, but for each of our failings we must take personal responsibility and shoulder a great portion of our blame. We need forgiveness, but we also need responsibility. Nic Sheff seemed to think the world owed him a better life than the one he lived; he was too smart, too good, too talented for this. Drug addiction was for other people. All I could hear was the echoing refrain “Why is this happening to me?“

Perhaps I should also note that the content is much more “in-depth” than his father’s book. If you really want to know the ins-and-outs, highs-and-lows of drug addiction, then this is your book. This includes selling drugs, graphic sex, and male prostitution.

But those are the dirty facts of drug addiction. As a caveat, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know a thing about drugs or addictions. You could say I’ve lived a relatively charmed life. I don’t know Nic Sheff or his personal problems. I’d hope to have more grace towards him, personally; as for his book, however, I just didn’t like it that much.

On a lighter note, I’ve reached the big one hundred! With barely a day to spare! I didn’t think I was going to make it. I loved being pregnant, and I love my sweet baby girl more than anything, but it really cut down on my reading time. This is my second year to make this goal, but I’m not sure if I’ll try for a hundred next year or just limit it to fifty.

Good night and good luck!! 4 years ago

Part three. 4 years ago

102. House of Night Book Three: Chosen by P.C. & Kristin Cast

Sending to shaunesay Dec 2008 4 years ago

87. The Best Girl- Emma Harrison
88. The Gospel According to Starbucks- Leonard Sweet
89. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff for Teens
90. Sixteen: Stories about that sweet and bitter birthday
91. Picture Perfect- Catherine Clark
92. Secret Santa- Sabrina James
93. Have to Have It- Melody Mayer
94. Icing on the Lake- Catherine Clark

At the most, I expect to read 3 more books this year. I hate ending so close, but I honestly don’t think it is going to happen. 4 years ago

This is 59-66. Considering there’s only one day left in the year, I’m definitely not making it to 100. I’ll just have to aim for this in 2009. I’ve never kept track of how many books I’ve read before, so this year was an experiment for sure. I didn’t strain myself to aim for a goal, just read as I normally do. So next year I’ll have to put in a little effort!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard—J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi—Yann Martel
Bittersweet—Cathy Marie Hake
Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle—Rosalind Miles
Letter Perfect—Cathy Marie Hake
Lucy—Ellen Feldman
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues—Linda Berdoll
Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley—Linda Berdoll 4 years ago

81. Kim Harrison. Every Which Way But Dead. Urban Fantasy 3/5
82. Jim Crace. Quarantine. Fiction 3/5
83. Guy Gavriel Kay. The Summer Tree. Fantasy 3/5
84. Patricia Harwin. Arson and Old Lace. Mystery 3/5
85. Rachel Caine. Glass Houses. Urban Fantasy 3/5
86. Charles Stross. The Hidden Family. SF 3/5
87. Terry Pratchett. Hogfather. Fantasy 3/5
88. Patrick O’Brian. Desolation Island. Fiction 3/5
89. Lindsey Davis. See Delphi and Die. Mystery 3/5
90. Brian Keene. The Rising. Horror 3/5 4 years ago

74. C.J. Westwick. Emerald Enigma. Thriller 3/5
75. Charles Stross. The Family Trade. SF 3/5
76. Jonathan Safran Foer. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Fiction 4/5
77. Martin H. Greenberg, ed. Murder on Baker Street. Mystery 3/5
78. Karin Slaughter. A Faint Cold Fear Mystery 3/5
79. Paul Malmont. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril. Thriller 3/5
80. K.J. Bishop. Etched City. Dark Fantasy 3/5 4 years ago

Hopefully I’ll finish The Vampire Lestat and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running before Thursday. I only reached a third of my goal, but what can I say? I’ve been busy all year. I’m pushing the goal back to 50 for 2009. 4 years ago