Happy New Years, everybody!
As is my tradition, today I made a list of all the books I read in the year 2010. This year, I was surprised when I counted it up and discovered that I'd read roughly 56 books this year, most of them YA (although a few of them parenting, lol, you can tell I totally have a toddler). That's a little more than one a week.
When I told my husband this number, he said, "wow, I thought you'd read a lot more books than that." I don't know if that was a snarky comment on our Kindle bill or not, hee hee, but I felt the same way: I thought I'd read way more books than one a week. But maybe it only feels that way because this year I re-read a lot of the books I read last year, but didn't add them to the list.
I'm a fast reader. I usually devour a book in one day. Kindle is a very, very dangerous and well-beloved item in our house.
So, without further ado, the list:
1. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (awesome book to start the year with, one of those books I was jealous I didn't write)
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry (a classic, which I loved, and immediately devoured the series)
3. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
4. Messenger by Lois Lowry
5. The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers : Gentle Ways to Stop Bedtime Battles and Improve Your Childs Sleep by Elizabeth Pantley (because my son was having this thing where he wouldn't stay in bed!)
6. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
7. The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr (re-read--this is one of my fave story collections of all time, and this year I used it for my Writing for the Professional Market Class)
8. Best American Short Stories of 2009 edited by Alice Sebold (awesome collection, read for class)
9. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
10. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (sequel to one of my faves last year, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I loved that one. I really, really liked this one.)
11. Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston (took me back to my actor days doing Shakespeare. Nice take on fairies)
12. Angelology by Danielle Trussoni (I am REALLY SUPER picky when it comes to angel books (can't imagine why :)) and for some reason I totally could not get into this one, but it might have just been the wrong book at the wrong time this go around. I will try it again this year. . .
13. Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn (refreshing to have a story about dragons)
14. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (LOVED this)
15. Beastly by Alex Flinn (also love a good retelling of an old story, of which Ms. Flinn is the queen, after Ms. McKinley, of course)
16. The Princess and the Snowbird by Mette Ivie Harrison
17. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (had to see what all the fuss was about, and I read it and understood exactly what all the fuss was about. An amazing book.)
18. Spells by Aprilynne Pike (got my copy at a signing I went to in Idaho Falls. Came home that night and stayed up reading it.)
19. Mudville by Curtis Scaletta (a book recommended by Aprilynne Pike at her book talk the next day. A baseball book, which I enjoyed.)
20. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (who doesn't love a little Hunger Games?!)
21. Fire by Kristin Cashore (a companion book to Graceling, which I loved. And I loved it maybe even more.)
22. A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
23. Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow (awesome, edgy and powerful book, I thought)
24. Dead in the Family: Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris (meh. I usually love Sookie books, but this one. . .meh)
25. Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery (this was like .95 on Kindle, for the whole series! I read the entire series again in about a week, totally got my Anne fix!)
26. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
27. Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender (best YA ghost story ever. I met Katie at the Smart Chicks tour, and she's awesome!)
28. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (ah, the end. I was a bit shocked by the violence in this one, where it didn't really stand out to me in the others. Collins is MEAN to her characters, yikes.)
29. Firelight by Sophie Jordan (It had me at that wonderful opening chapter with the flight of the dragons.)
30. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (laughed my butt off the whole way through this one. Reminded me of Buffy in a big way. Loved it.)
31. Halo by Alexandra Adornetto (see again my note on angel books, but I was amazed at how accomplished this book was for having being written by a 17-year-old. Really solid angel mythology, too.)
32. Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia
33. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (sequel to Shiver, which was one of my top 5 last year. Very good sequel, didn't have me on the edge of my chair the way I was through Shiver, but enjoyable through and through.)
34. I am Number Four by Pitticus Lore (Sigh. I read this and thought it was pretty good. Then I found out that it's a product of James Frey's exploiting-young-desperate-writers-because-he's-ruined-his-own-name scheme. Felt instantly a bit yucky for having paid money for this book.)
35. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (Great book, with a powerful, imaginative premise.)
36. Many Waters (reread) by Madeline L’Engle (This is one of the books that inspired me to write about Nephilim in the first place. Re-read it this year when I discovered it was on Kindle)
37. Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age story by Adam Rex (funny!)
38. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (not so funny. . .but pretty good for a sequel)
39. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (Oh lord, I bawled my eyes out at the end of this book. It was beautiful.)
40. Blue Moon by Alyson Noel
41. Evernight by Claudia Gray (superstar and fellow Dark Days author! It was a superstar kind of book)
42. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (lerrrrrves Melissa Marr. Got a signed copy at the Smart Chicks tour)
43. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (This book sheared off the top of my head and dumped a million thoughts into it. Amazing. I could just keep chanting amazing.)
44. Guardians of Ga’Hoole collection by Kathryn Lasky (reminded me of Redwall, and I loved. Didn't love the movie, where they condensed the first 3 books down into 90 minutes!)
45. The Unidentified by Rae Miriz
46. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (I think this is Clare's best book to date, and she's written a lot of great books)
47. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (another fellow Dark Days writer, and debut. Courtney is a joy, and this book is a wild ride and a joy to read.)
48. Nightshade by Andrea Kremer (Loved this one, so smart and with such great setting! I love books with great setting!)
49. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund (Okay, so I am saying the word LOVED a lot--it's been a good year for books. But this one I LOVED in all caps, and it had me brooding about those darned wily unicorns for days afterwards.)
50. Pegasus by Robin McKinley (I loved this one, was totally engrossed, until the book came to a screeching halt in the middle of the story. I actually looked up her website to see if there was a sequel, which I knew there had to be. Turns out she had written this giant like 700 page tome and just cut it in half. I felt cheated by this, somehow. I'm sure there's a blog post of mine coming on this topic.)
51. Torment by Lauren Kate (haven't quite finished this one, but I'm liking it so far.)
52. Fun and Educational Places to Go With Kids in Southern California by Susan Peterson (for those times when I'm not writing like a madwoman)
53. Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting (Great book. Great sequel! Also fellow Dark Days author)
54. Once in a Full Moon by Ellen Schrieber (and another fellow Dark Days author, who I am so excited to meet this January. A fun read!)
55. The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Everydays by Meg Cox
56. Matched by Ally Condie (and I closed out with maybe my favorite book of the year. I LOVED in all caps with lots of !!!!!!)
Phew. That's a long list. And, as I mentioned, it's been a great year for books--I liked most of what I read.
My top picks, in no particular order:
Matched
Rampant
Thirteen Reasons Why
If I Stay
Never Let Me Go
The Dead-Tossed Waves
Fire
Paranormalcy
Now I'm off to work on my own sequel. . .
3 DAYS, 13 hours, 12 minutes until Unearthly. Don't forget to read my last post about my bookplate giveaway!