I've been keeping a list of the books I read last year. I'd never done this before, but I joined the 50 Book Challenge on Shelfari, so I needed to keep track. Basically, the challenge is to read fifty books in a year.
And the count? Seventy. Seventy! I'm still shocked. Reading and writing are like breathing to me, so I don't notice how much I'm doing it. If I had to guess, I'd have guessed half that number. I'm glad I kept the list, and I'm going to do it again next year.
Anyway, here's the list, in the order I read them:
1. The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
2. What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles
3. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
4. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
5. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
6. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
7. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
8. A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt
9. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
10. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
11. Feed by M.T. Anderson
12. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
13. A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
14. Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
15. Rules by Cynthia Lord
16. Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares
17. The Year Of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
18. Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty
19. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
20. Wildwood Dancing by by Juliet Marillier
21. So B. It by Sarah Weeks
22. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
23. Larger Than Life Lara by Dandi Daley Mackall
24. Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles
25. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
26. The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
27. Savvy by Ingrid Law
28. Looks by Madeleine George
29. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
30. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
31. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
32. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
33. Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
34. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
35. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
36. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
37. Skin Deep by E.M. Crane
38. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
39. Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
40. Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
41. Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
42. Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
43. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
44. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
45. Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey
46. The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph
47. Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen
48. Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black
49. Rash by Pete Hautman
50. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
51. Gossip Girl #1 by Cecily Von Ziegesar
52. Prep: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
53. Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
54. Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
55. Ironside by Holly Black
56. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter
57. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
58. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
59. The Emerald Tablet by P. J. Hoover
60. Austenland by Shannon Hale
61. Devilish by Maureen Johnson
62. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
63. Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock
64. The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
65. All-American Girl by Meg Cabot
66. Tending to Grace by Kimberly Fusco
67. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
68. What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell
69. Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin
70. Paper Towns by John Green
I've got over 150 books on my list for next year, and it seems to be growing all the time. But I'm going to do the 50 Book Challenge again so as not to kill myself with guilt if I can't read for some reason. So we'll see how far I can get through that list...but that's a really big number! Yikes!! :)
What did you read last year? What were your favorites? Is anyone up for doing the 50 Book Challenge with me?
16 comments:
It's a good list! I'll do mine when I get back home. What is the 50 Book Challenge?
wow! I may just try that 50 in a year....
Um, I'll be lucky if I read 10 books this year. I am very slow and careful when I read. And I don't read when I'm writing a WIP. Wish I read faster... any suggestions on that?
Wow -- great list! It looks a lot like my 17 year old daughter's list. We've been homeschooling for 11 years and have always kept a list of the books the kids have read over the year. I list them all in their annual yearbooks. I never thought about doing it for myself. Looks like you did good!
Happy New Year!
I am impressed! That is quite a list! You are definitely well read!
Happy New Year!
I've read 14 of your 70 books, and at least one other is on my TBR pile.
I read all the time, but I find it tiresome to keep lists of them. Also, I never know whether to "count" it when I reread a book, and I reread all the time. So I'll take the 50-book challenge as long as I don't have to list them! :-)
Jenn Hubbard
Jacqui - thanks! Looking forward to seeing your list. :) The 50 book challenge is basically setting a goal to read fifty books in one year. Are you up for something like that?
Yunaleska - yay!! I hope you'll keep us up to date on your progress!
Lady Glamis - well, there's nothing wrong with reading at whatever pace works for you. If you'd like to read a few more books in a year, but don't want to sacrifice your careful absorption of the book, you could do what I do: carry around the current book you're reading and read a page or two when you've got spare minutes. Since I had kids, this seems to be how I do everything...
Rena - yeah, since I write MG and YA, I mostly read MG and YA. I feel like I need to know what's out there, how other authors have done things, and how I can improve my craft based on what they've done. I guess that's why I consider reading as part of my writing process. :)
Kelly - thanks! It helps that I love reading. :)
Jenn - Happy New Year!! I'm not surprised there's overlap on our lists, especially since I've gotten some of my books from your blog. :) If you want to count re-reads, or not list them out, who cares! :)
I'm going to have to copy your list, not that I don't have a huge long one already...because I love to read. I read all the time, but I am a very slow, being dyslexic. It can sometimes take me a month to read one book, so, alas, I cannot join the 50 Book Challenge.
Great list! You have a bunch I want to read.
I would do the 50 book challenge, but I know I'm going to easily read more than that. I read 1-2 books a week without trying to, just because of my commute. I am trying to read at least 80 this year, upping my amount from 2007 and 2008. I just discovered audiobooks, which I listen to all day at work, so this might be doable.
Wow: I'm pretty sure I'm nowhere near 70 books, though I love reading. I've read some books on your list (Thirteen Reasons Why, The Lovely Bones and a few more) but one of my problems is that I have a terrible time remembering titles and authors' names. We're all Philip Pullman and Salman Rushdie fans in this family; my kids LOVE Battle Royale (I couldn't bear to watch the movie), and my youngest adores Debi Gliori. I try to keep up with what my girls read, but my husband is far better at this -- and he's also better at remembering names and titles. I read more books for adults than I do MG or YA novels, and I suspect that isn't a good thing. But when I start to rectify this, I'll know where to go to get my list!
Great list! I posted mine yesterday. I managed to read 31 novels, mostly YA and MG. I'm like liquidamber, I reread books all the time - sometimes as soon as I finish them. I will definitely copy your list.
Inspired by you, I've just started my list for 2009:
1) Meg Rosoff's 'What I Was'.
Let's see how many I rack up -- I'm determined to remember authors and titles this year!
Bish - 50, 10, 2...whatever number you want to make it. :) The point is to just enjoy reading, which you probably already do. :)
Shana - I will likely read more than fifty books too, but I've got two little boys and they can sometimes mess up my plans. So fifty is a good number that I know I can reach, and if I read more then I'll feel even better. :)
Nora - excellent! I checked out your list, and you've read some books that are on my TBR list. :) I'm looking forward to reading them. :)
Mary - yay!! I hope you enjoy keeping track. And don't worry about how many you read so long as you're enjoying it. :)
My goal is to read all the books I own but HAVEN'T read. Sadly, this is about 170 at the moment....... O:)
I doubt I'll finish those in a year though - last year I read 31. So the 50-in-a-year sounds reasonable to me :)
I'm in :D
Hi,
We read almost the same books and I'm looking forward to some books in your list!
I just finished The Sweet Far Thing and loved it. here's my review if you wanna read. :)
Oh, how is the book, Saving Francesca like? I've only read Looking for Alibrandi and yeah, it's one of my favourite books.
Hi Josette! I've been perusing the books you've read on your site, and it's so cool that we've read many of the same! :)
I really liked Saving Francesca. It's a fun read. She's got another book out called Jellicoe Road that I want to read. It just won the Michael L. Printz award.
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