The year in books

[pjthompson]

It's been a year of escape reading where fiction is concerned. I was active for awhile on the Online Writing Workshop, but I think I was generally an unreliable beta reader. My apologies to those I never got back to. My concentration wasn't good. You wouldn't have wanted my critiques.

It's also been another year of starting many books and not finishing almost as many as I finished. Part of this was because it often takes me a long time to finish nonfiction books with my obsessive note-taking behavior, and short story collections just because it does; some of it was because the books didn't really appeal to me; some just because my mind tends to flit about and I always seem to be actively reading several books at once; some were perfectly admirable books I was quite enjoying, but I just got distracted and didn't return to them. When I reach a patch in a book that bores me, or when it's a really huge book and I just need a break, or if the writer cheeses me off for some reason, I tend to set it down for awhile. If it's otherwise readable I'll come back to it. Those cheese-off moments most often have to do with "plotting by stupidity," wherein otherwise admirable characters go off on idiot tangents mostly, it seems, for the convenience of the author, but there can be other reasons.

One major lesson learned this year: I will not be keeping track of what books I purchase in 2010. Dudes, it is just better not to know some things. Let's just say the final number was much higher than the number of books I actually finished reading this year.

So, here are the ugly numbers:

Books finished in 2009:



1. Requiem by Graham Joyce
2. Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu
3. Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
4. Demon Moon by Meljean Brook
5. Suite 606 by J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, Mary Kay McComas (begun '08)
6. Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah by Colm A. Kelleher and George Knapp (begun '08)
7. Promises in Death by J. D. Robb
8. Bone Song by John Meaney
9. Killing Moon by Rebecca York
10. Rapture in Death by J. D. Robb (reread)
11. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
12. Ghostland by Jory Strong
13. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
14. Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu
15. Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon
16. Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton
17. Draft Novel by Someone
18. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
19. The Whispering Room by Amanda Stevens
20. Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
21. Mortal Sins by Eileen Wilks
22. The Patriot Witch by C. C. Finlay
23. Demon Night by Meljean Brook
24. Demon Bound by Meljean Brook
25. Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
26. The Stars Blue Yonder by Sandra McDonald
27. The Red Heart of Jade by Marjorie M. Liu
28. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu
29. One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
30. Tehanu by Ursula K. LeGuin
31. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
32. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
33. Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris
34. Kindred in Death by J. D. Robb
35. Eye of Heaven by Marjorie Liu
36. The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint




Books begun in 2009:



1. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
2. The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi
3. Wild Thing by Maggie Shayne, Marjorie M. Liu, Alyssa Day, Meljean Brook
4. Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis
5. Sharpe's Escape by Bernard Cornwell
6. The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler
7. Dowsing as a Daily Tool: Your every day guide to Intuition on Demand by Robert Gandrup
8. Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland by Eddie Lenihan and Carolyn Eve Green
9. Catastrophe: An Investigation Into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys
10. The Middle Kingdom: The Faerie World of Ireland by Dermot (Diarmuid) MacManus
11. Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara
12. Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women by Carolyn Niethammer
13. The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization by Michael Balter
14. Fairy Paths & Spirit Roads: Exploring Otherworldly Routes in the Old and New Worlds by Paul Devereux
15. Ghost of a Chance by Yasmine Galenorn
16. Hot Spell by Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, Meljean Brook
17. First Blood by Susan Sizemore, Erin McCarthy, Chris Marie Green, Meljean Brook
18. Draft Novel by Someone
19. Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook
20. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
21. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
22. Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
23. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman
24. Mansfield Park and Mummies by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
25. Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C. G. Jung
26. The Sidhe: Wisdom from the Celtic Otherworld by John Matthews
27. Veil of Lies: A Medieval Noir by Jeri Westerson
28. Yesterday’s Sky: Astrology and Reincarnation by Steven Forrest




Books purchased in 2009:

Nuh-uh. See above. Not going there. You remember that line from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "Space is mind-bogglingly big"? Yeah, something like that.

Comments

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

wow, the only book you and I both read this year was Ilona's.

[pjthompson]

I enjoyed most of what I finished. I don't bother finishing if I don't enjoy a book.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see how keeping track of that would definitely be something you want to avoid doing. Like not keeping track of how much pizza one eats (though far healthier, I'm sure).

[pjthompson]

It was a horrible confrontation with my addictions, I tells ya.