Books of 2009

Happy New Year! (in my case I have about 6 more hours until the ball drops) I hope 2010 finds you healthy and happy (and richer than 2009).

My resolutions for 2009 included drinking more water (a perennial favorite since I mainly drink coffee and wine) and reading 52 books. I drank a little more water, though not enough. BUT I did meet my book goal. In fact I came out a little ahead with...

I tracked my books with my favorite website in the world: Goodreads. If you have Goodreads, check me out here. I'd love to see what you're reading! I've also won two books on Goodreads, so it's a site worth checking out if you like books.

In year's past, I've followed a trend of reading one classic book (say, Austen or D.H. Lawrence) and then following it with a few fast-read books. As the year progressed, I became a little more lax about my classic/quick-lit ratio. I discovered some fantastic new-to-me authors (Nick Bantock, Francesca Lia Block) and some new favorites (Margaret Atwood, Anais Nin). I really think 2009 was my year of the female author, without limiting myself to "chick-lit". In fact, this year kind of cemented my hatred of the classic "chick-lit" mold.

Here's a loooong visual representation of all books read this year courtesy of Goodreads... and 2 short stories that happened to fall into the montage. If you click the book you'll see my review and comments.


EDIT TO ADD: So, the Goodreads book widget seems to update as I read books. Even though the books are apparently hard-coded. Lame. I guess next year I'll just have to share a list or make my own book montage. Visit my book list to see what I thought about the books I read last year.

All-in-all, a great experiment. I now read faster and have discovered so many new books and authors. I have a giant backlog of books, so I expect I'll be keeping up with this next year (maybe not so furiously). I encourage everyone to try this. I mainly read before bed, so I wasn't really going out of my way to tear books apart.

Here's another little visual (as if you need another!). Can you tell how happy I am to meet my goal?

December was very productive, but mainly because I read 4 or 5 books that were 150 pages or less... oh, and there was a little holiday break in there.

Okay, I'm done. I swear.

Have a Happy New Year!