2007 – A Literary Summary

So my husband, for several years now, has kept what he calls a “Reading Log” – basically a list of all the books he reads, along with dates finished. I always thought this was a good idea, but could never seem to get it together to do it myself. Well, at the beginning of 2007, I figured it was finally time. I wrote down every single book I read in a Moleskin notebook, along with the date I completed it.

It makes for an interesting review – how many books were re-reads, how many I thought were really outstanding, and just how many books I actually read. Turns out, quite a lot – I’m a pretty voracious reader. The average for 2007 was about two books a week – which is, I think, a lot by most people’s standards.

So, without further ado – THE LIST ( it seems to call for capital letters, somehow). Oh, and a note – titles in red are re-reads, titles in blue are books that I really enjoyed or found outstanding in some way.

1. New Moon, Stephenie Meyer

2. The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson

3. Don’t I Know You?, Karen Shepherd

4. Bad Monkeys, Matt Ruff

5. The Game, Diana Wynne Jones

6. The Knitting Circle, Ann Hood

7. Screening Party, Dennis Hensley

8. Knitting Rules, Stephanie Pearl McPhee

9. Home Remedies, Angela Pneuman

10. Flower Children, Maxine Swann

11. Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall

12. Down the Rabbit Hole, Peter Abrahams

13. How To Be Lost, Amanda Eyre Ward

14. So Many Books, So Little Time, Sara Nelson

15. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, Stephen King

16. The Langoliers, Stephen King

17. Behind the Curtain, Peter Abrahams

18. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, Stephen King

19. The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands, Stephen King

20. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Stephen King

21. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King

22. The Prestige, Christopher Priest

23. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

24. Meet the Austins, Madeleine L’Engle

25. The Moon by Night, Madeleine L’Engle

26. The Young Unicorns, Madeleine L’Engle

27. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde

28. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, Jasper Fforde

29. The Titan’s Curse, Rick Riordan

30. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Stephen King

31. The Stolen Child, Keith Donahue

32. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeleine L’Engle

33. Troubling a Star, Madeleine L’Engle

34. Crooked Little Vein, Warren Ellis

35. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

36. A Wind in the Door, Madeleine L’Engle

37. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L’Engle

38. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver

39. Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman

40. Spanking Shakespeare, Jake Wizner

41. The Used World, Haven Kimmel

42. Katz on Dogs, Jon Katz

43. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Laurie Viera Rigler

44. Strangers, Dean Koontz

45. Does My Head Look Big In This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah

46. Not That You Asked, Steve Almond

47. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay

48. Foop, Chris Genoa

49. The Ruby in the Smoke, Philip Pullman

50. The Shadow in the North, Philip Pullman

51. The Tiger in the Well, Philip Pullman

52. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, J. K. Rowling

53. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling

54. Austenland, Shannon Hale

55. Into the Dark, Peter Abrahams

56. Evil Genius, Catherine Jinks

57. The Girls, Lori Lansens

58. Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O’Nan

59. Going Postal, Terry Pratchett

60. Making Money, Terry Pratchett

61. Stardust, Neil Gaiman

62. Sandman Vol. I: Preludes & Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman

63. Sandman Vol. II: The Doll’s House, Neil Gaiman

64. Sandman Vol. III: Dream Country, Neil Gaiman

65. Sandman Vol. IV: Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman

66. Sandman Vol. V: A Game of You, Neil Gaiman

67. Sandman Vol. VI: Fables & Reflections, Neil Gaiman

68. Sandman Vol. VII: Brief Lives, Neil Gaiman

69. Sandman Vol. VIII: Worlds End, Neil Gaiman

70. Sandman Vol. IX: The Kindly Ones, Neil Gaiman

71. Sandman Vol. X: The Wake, Neil Gaiman

72. Endless Nights, Neil Gaiman

73. Pride, Prejudice, & Jasmin Field, Melissa Nathan

74. Light a Penny Candle, Maeve Binchy

75. The History of Love, Nicola Krauss

76. Little People, Tom Holt

77. The Learning Curve, Melissa Nathan

78. No Talking, Andrew Clements

79. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick

80. Only Human, Tom Holt

81. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

82. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding

83. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Helen Fielding

84. Heartbreak Hotel, Anne Rivers Siddons

85. The Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff

86. The Somnambulist, Jonathan Barnes

87. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld

88. Drunk, Divorced, & Covered in Cat Hair, Laurie Perry

89. Pretties, Scott Westerfeld

90. Specials, Scott Westerfeld

91. Julie & Julia, Julie Powell

92. The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs

93. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, Gabrielle Zevin

94. Promise Not To Tell, Jennifer McMahon

95. Rock On, Dan Kennedy

96. The Black Book of Secrets, F.E. Higgins

97. The Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall

98. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, Jeanne Birdsall

99. The Know-It-All, A.J. Jacobs

100. Helping Me Help Myself, Beth Lisick

101. Everybody Into the Pool, Beth Lisick

102. A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore

103. Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

104. Anne of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery

105. Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery

106. Anne of Windy Poplars, L.M. Montgomery

107. Anne’s House of Dreams, L.M. Montgomery

108. Anne of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery

109. Rainbow Valley, L.M. Montgomery

110. Rilla of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery

111. Here, There, & Everywhere, Chris Roberson

112. Extras, Scott Westerfeld

113. The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood

114. The Nanny, Melissa Nathan

115. All Shall Be Well, and All Shall Be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well, Todd Wodicka

116. Knockemstiff, Donald Ray Pollock

117. The Book of Vice, Peter Sagal

118. Cruciverbalism, Stanley Newman

So, stats:

1. 118 books read – not too bad. I feel like I could actually read more, but given that I can’t knit and read at the same time, I don’t think this is too bad.

2. 51 re-reads – this surprised me a bit at first, but once I thought about it, it didn’t so much anymore. I’ve always been a big reader (I even wrote a blog about it a while back) and some books I re-read pretty much every year, like Neverwhere and the Anne of Green Gables books.

3. 11 books I would consider outstanding – this is amongst new books read. Obviously I wouldn’t re-read books if I didn’t really like them!

And some random notes:

1. You may notice I have listed all of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King except for the very last one. I actually read all of the last one but about the last 200 pages. Why would I invest hundreds if not thousands of pages read and not even finish with the series? Because I didn’t like where it was going. I could tell what was going to happen, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out. So there, Stephen King.

2. I’d have to say I enjoyed almost everything I read except a few books. The two Jane Austen take-offs I read (excluding Bridget Jones’s Diary) I wasn’t totally wild about. I love Jane Austen, so I read a lot of that stuff, and I almost never like it – with a couple of exceptions – Bridget Jones and Pride, Prejudice, & Jasmin Field – I love those and keep hoping to find others like them.

3. I tend to go on a lot of jags – witness the Madeleine L’Engle block (rediscovering those – hadn’t read them since I was a kid) and the Neil Gaiman block, for two.

4. I also tend to re-read previous titles when a sequel comes out – see Harry Potter, Terry Pratchett, the Penderwicks, etc. I like to have things fresh in my mind.

5. I read almost exclusively fiction – only 17 non-fiction titles on the list.

6.  There were several books I started and didn’t finish, but I didn’t keep notes on those.

So that’s it – a year of reading.   Can’t wait to see what great books 2008 brings!