Monday, January 31, 2011

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.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

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