Over the Clover

End to reading 2011

And I thought last year was a tough one to find time to read. I had no idea how much busier I would get in 2011! Due to this I did not get through my list of 12 books this year. Well, technically. I did read 30 books in all, but only six from the list of 12 I chose. Other books kept coming my way from recommendations, book club meetings, and books my husband and I chose to listen to while commuting.

The good part of all that is it gave me a chance to re-evaluate my book list intentions. While it's the first time in 5 years I haven't made it through my to-read-by-year-end-list, I think I've learned something this year. Not necessarily from the book list per se, but it definitely applies.

Sometimes a deviation from the original path is ok, even necessary. It might not be what I envisioned. It might not even be what I would have chosen, but that doesn't mean there are no lessons to learn. In fact, it's those situations we never imagine ourselves in that usually teach us the most. 

So, I'll just add the 6 books that didn't get read (or finished) this year to 2012 and move forward.

My top 3 reads for the year:

1. Bossypants – Tina Fey
2. Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann
3. Await Your Reply – Dan Chaon

Here's to whatever 2012 has in store, be it books or otherwise.

End of 2010

I am pretty astonished, but I just finished the last book on the list. Overall, this was the toughest year yet for reading. So much going on in life and few of the books I chose really resonated with me. I didn't read anything that I hated, but several books (e.g., Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Confidence Man, and To the Wedding) I could appreciate for what the author was doing, but just couldn't say it moved me. Hindsight took a while because it was one of the most poorly written books I've ever encountered. That made it all the more sad because the idea behind the book was brilliant.

The only three books that really stood out this year were Wanting Seed, The Professor's House, and Catcher in the Rye. All made me want to read more by the respective authors.

I ended the year reading 24 books of which 11 came from my own shelves. Of these, 7 were from the 1001 book list.

Most of the books I ended up enjoying this year came not from the list of must reads but from others I encountered (book club reads, random reads, and suggestions from friends.)

Here's my top 5 for the year:

1. Millennium Series – Stieg Larsson
2. Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
3. Room – Emma Donoghue
4. Invisible Monsters – Chuck Palahniuk
5. Professor's House – Willa Cather

So, wrapping up: I succeeded in reading a lot of books I had been putting off. I'm glad to have finished them all, but I'm hoping for more engrossing reading in 2011.

Wrapping up 2009

I finished my 2009 reading list with a few minutes to spare. New Year's party was at 7 p.m. and I finished the last lines of Swann's Way about an hour before that. I know one of my resolutions for 2010 will be to keep myself from procrastinating and/or getting distracted as much.

It was a good year though. Read 28 books in total and all 12 from my list.

I enjoyed the books I read more this year than I have in quite a few.

Top 5 Picks for the Year:
(In no particular order)

1. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust -- Best use of words
2. On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev--Best bohemian character of all time
3. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk--Most insightful character with issues
4. Atonement by Ian McEwan--Best narrative framework
5. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway--Best philosophical short

Finished with 2008

So my first ever attempt at making a list of books to read was successful. I finished just under the wire. I read the 20 on my list plus 8 others that I ran across through the year. While I enjoyed the challenge, I think next year I'll make the list a little shorter. Here's what I'll remember the most:

Top Five Favorite Books:
1. Middlemarch
2. Ethan Frome
3. The Lottery and other Short Stories
4. Madame Bovary
5. The Road

Most like what I expected:
To Kill a Mockingbird

Least like I expected: (tie)
Frankenstein
Wuthering Heights

Most disturbing:
Story of the Eye

Most poignant scenery/tone:
Day Off
Ethan Frome
Housekeeping
Winesberg, Ohio

Now to figure out what to read for 2009...

2007 Recap

I added up my stats for the year of 2007.

I read 15 books, watched 58 movies, and listened to 80 albums.

That's a change from 18 books, 74 movies and 67 albums in 2006.

I'm not sure what that really tells me, but I love stuff like that. It seems 2006 was a year for movies and 2007 I was into music. Maybe 2008 will be a good one for reading.