2009, Year in Review

You would think that by having a blog about the books that I read that I could easily put together a post about how many and what kind I read last year. I don't know how everyone else blogs but I do it so haphazardly that it's like every other unorganized mess in my life. So I'm going to make an effort to give some stats on my books of 2009 but don't quote me on any of it. :)

Total books read: 72
Books finished: 68

Audiobooks: 29 (It surprised me as I started counting these. This is close to half of the books I read this year. )
Young Adult/Middle Reader: 20
Book club: 10 (2 of the 12 were read last year)
Jan.--The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
Feb.--The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Mar.--The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Apr.--My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
May--The Miracles of Santo Fico by D.L. Smith
June--Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
July--The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer, Annie Barrows
Aug.--Precious Bane by Mary Webb
Sept.--Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Oct.--And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
Nov.--Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
Dec.--Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Favorites:
Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Precious Bane by Mary Webb
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (I never reviewed this one?!)
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

New authors (to me) that I'd like to read more from:
Janette Rallison
Chaim Potok
Elizabeth Gaskell
Mary Webb
Alan Bradley
P.G. Wodehouse
Alan Paton
Suzanne Collins

100th Post and End of Year Review

According to Blogger, this is my 100th post. If I hadn't slacked off so much in the last few months I would have hit 100 a long time ago so I don't really feel like celebrating. I do want to celebrate an awesome year of books, though. This has been an incredible year of reading for me, probably one of my best. That has everything to do with my blog and the book blogging community. I'm not especially active in the book blogging community but I've "met" some really great people and learned about a lot of great books. Here are a couple lists of favorites:

Favorite Books Read in 2008:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Giver by Lois Lowry

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

There are several other books that I really liked and that I gave 4-5 stars but these are the ones that make me say, "Oh yeah, that was a good one," when I read the title.

Favorite New Authors (to me) in 2008:

Agatha Christie

Gary D. Schmidt

Shannon Hale

Lois Lowry

Georgette Heyer

These are authors that I read for the first time and have read at least 2 of their books. I plan on reading many more by each of these authors.

In 2008, I received about a dozen review copies of books. While it is fun to get new books for free, I've decided in general not to ask for them anymore. There are just too many books that I want to read and even though I've enjoyed most of the books I've reviewed, having them and knowing that I have to read and review them has stressed me out at times. So, I've decided to be much choosier about review books in the future.

Thanks so much for reading my blog and I look forward to 2009 being an even better year than last.