books of 2010

It’s nearing the end of the year, so I thought I’d pull out the list of what I’ve read this year. I admit, back in January I was terribly curious to track my reading habits and see what it is I’m doing with my life, but March through October … I couldn’t really care less about what I was reading. Perhaps because I, like any God-fearing Canadian, was out enjoying weather that didn’t bring to mind that scene from The Day After Tomorrow. You know the one*. So naturally, come December, I again find myself wondering what I’ve been reading all year.

I have compiled what is probably an incomplete list. This does not include all the submissions to the agency, short stories, fanfiction, essays and blogs I’ve read this year. Which may or may not count for a lot.

I would like to start off with my three favourites:

1) The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Everything I want in a book. Everything. (Except, possibly, a masked ball, but I tend to look for that more in a visual medium.) I honestly expected The Demon’s Covenant to be my favourite book of the year, and The Hunger Games … does everyone remember when Romeo was all hung up on Roseline? How he never thought he could love anything more? It is the east, and The Hunger Games is the sun. The dark, children-eating sun.

2) The Demon’s Covenant, Sarah Rees Brennan

It is unfair to begin by comparing this book to Rosaline from R+J. This book shines too, like the glint of the sun on a blade. The Demon books are so, so enjoyable. I laughed, I cried, I debated over and over which brother I would want more… and can’t decide. I have loved almost everything Rees Brennan has written for years. This one is no exception. The second book in a trilogy. I was so happy to see the characters again. Am dying for the third. (Expect it on next year’s list.)

3) C’Mon Papa, Ryan Knighton

Okay, this one is actually not predictable. It’s a story about blind fatherhood. Something I have so much in common with. Except it was extremely … relatable? Is that the right word? And hilarious. Knighton kind of writes like Stephen King when King isn’t being terrifying. I love King, but I don’t love the terrifying, so naturally this book is amazing. It is touching and unexpected. I highly recommend it to everyone, blind father or not.

Honourable mentions:

The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger (made me cry in public)

Under the Dome, Stephen King (made me cry in public for entirely different reasons)

And here’s the list in full**, and in no particular order:

City of Glass, Cassandra Clare

Artemis Fowl, Lost Colony, Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl, Time Paradox, Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl: Atlantis Complex, Eoin Colfer

Demon’s Lexicon (x2), Sarah Rees Brennan

Demon’s Covenant (x 3), Sarah Rees Brennan

Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee

Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling

The Wife's Tale, Lori Lansens

Widdershins, Charles de Lint

Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare

Super Freakonimics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding

The Hunger Games (x 2), Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire (x 2), Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay (x 2), Suzane Collins

Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

C’Mon Papa, Ryan Knighton

Under the Dome, Stephen King

Eragon, Christopher Paolini

Something Blue, Emily Giffin

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
Cockeyed, Ryan Knighton

It seems I’ve read 26 books this year, 31 if you count the ones I’ve read twice. That’s about a book every two weeks. Is that good? I don’t know. Considering I inhaled The Hunger Games in a day, I feel I could do better.

Aim for 2011 – read: 52 books, earn: 52 dollars/hour, drink: 52 Mai Tais.

I feel these aren’t bad goals.

* I’ve never seen this movie, nor the scene in question, but I’ve heard it mentioned often enough that I feel I can reference it with some accuracy.

** Some of these books I have not finished, but more or less intend to before the year is out. This does not include Widdershins, which I found a huge let-down after reading The Blue Girl by the same author, and do not intend to finish. It serves me right for starting in the middle of a series - although it worked with the Harry Potter series that one time.