January 2011

For the new year, I'm trying a new approach: blogging once a month. Here are my titles for January:

1. The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch
2. Switched by Amanda Hocking
3. Torn by Amanda Hocking
4. Ascend by Amanda Hocking
5. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
6. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
7. Matched by Allie Condie

I loved The Hangman's Daughter! What a rare and fine translation of historical fiction. The Amanda Hocking series--recommended by my own daughter--was a pleasant surprise. The Imperfectionists and Before I Fall had terribly disappointing endings, although I loved all but the last 3 or 4 pages of both books. And Matched? Well, I'm on my way upstairs to finish it now. So far, it's outstanding.  Quite possibly the best of the month.

A goal not achieved, and a shot at redemption

I am sorry to say that I did not meet my goal of reading 100 books in 2010. Well, I suppose that if I had dropped my pretensions and counted the million-and-a-half picture books I read to my foster grandson this summer, I far exceeded my goal...but I did not read 100 books for my own personal enjoyment. *Sigh*

Still, I came close, and given the kind of year it was, I feel pretty good about that. And here is the good news: I'm attempting to read 111 books in 2011! Join the group on Facebook: The Centurions of 2011.

Here is my almost-but-not-quite-adequate list of 2010 titles:

1. Notes from the Midnight Driver
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3. Beautiful Creatures
4. Ballad
5. Her Fearful Symmetry
6. Going Bovine
7. The Lightning Theif
8. The Girl Who Played with Fire
9. Nurtureshock
10. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
11. Marcelo in the Real World
12. The Lost Symbol
13. Murder Takes the Cake
14. Candor
15. The Hollow
16. The Adoration of Jenna Fox
17. Whose Body
18. The Great Gatsby
19. Unwind
20. An Expert in Murder
21. Wondrous Strange
22. Darklight
23. The Chosen One
24. Food Rules
25. Little Brother
26. Stopping Time
27. The Hole We're In
28. Garden Spells
29. Henry's Sisters
30. Tales from Outer Suburbia
31. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
32. Rubber Houses
33. Angelology
34. If I Stay
35. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
36. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
37. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
38. Three Witches
39. The Solitude of Prime Numbers
40. Fallen
41. Dead in the Family
42. Night
43. Tinkers
44. The Lace Reader
45. Spooky Little Girl
46. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
47. What Was Lost
48. Little Bee
49. Hush, Hush
50. Teach Like a Champion
51. Heroes
52. The Map of True Places
53. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
54. The Sugar Queen
55. Mockingjay
56. Holding onto Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones
57. Liar
58. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Tenth Grade
59. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eleventh Grade
60. Beautiful Lies
61. Later, at the Bar...
62. Sharp Teeth
63. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Twelfth Grade
64. The GRITS Guide to Life
65. The World's Shortest Stories
66. The Haunted
67. The Penelopeiad
68. Torment
69. Need
70. Captivate
71. Hate List
72. Beautiful Darkness
73. Will Grayson, Will Grayson
74. The Ring of Solomon
75. Crescendo
76. The Ball
77. Grave Secret
78. The Entertainer and the Dybbuk
79. Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer
80. The Legend of the Poinsettia
81. Forge
82. Love That Dog
83. Guardian
84. Hold Still
85. Beastly
86. Dead Is Just a Rumor by Marlene Perez
87. Entice
88. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
89.  Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston
90. Me Talk Pretty Someday by David Sedaris
91. The Colorado Kid by Stephen King