Books for 2009
Time for my yearly book roundup! First, the raw list of books read in 2009, by month. Includes re-reads and kids' books, but no graphic novels.
January
1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
3. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
4. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
5. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
6. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
7. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
February
8. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
9. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
10. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
11. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
12. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
13. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
March
14. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
15. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, Eds.
16. Arrows of the Queen, Mercedes Lackey (re-read)
17. A Dirge for Sabis, C. J. Cherryh and Leslie Fish
18. Knitting Rules, Stephanie Pearl-McFhee
19. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (re-read)
April
20.The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch, Michael Wolff
21. These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
22. Print is Dead: Books In Our Digital Age, Jeff Gomez
23. Shapechangers, Jennifer Roberson
24. Al-Jazeera, Hugh Meyers
25. The Pirates! In an Adventure With Ahab, Gideon Defoe
May
26. Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
27. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, Jacki Lyden
28. The Island Stallion, Walter Farley (re-read)
29. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, Maureen Ogle
30. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
31. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin
32. Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
June
33. The Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
34. Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym
35. The Black Gryphon, Mercedes Lackey (re-read)
36. The Sharing Knife: Beguilement, Lois Bujold (re-read)
37. The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois Bujold
38. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
July
39. The Wisdom of Crowds, James Suroweiki
40. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (re-read)
41. The Curse of the Pharaohs, Elizabeth Peters
42. The Warlock In Spite of Himself, Christopher Shasteff
43. The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann von Goethe
44. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
August
45. The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke
46. Something Fresh, P.G. Wodehouse
47. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
48. The Bartered Bride, Mary Jo Putney
49. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn
50. The Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith
September
51. The Mummy Case, Elizabeth Peters
52. 1959: The Year Everything Changed, Fred Kaplan
53. Must the Maiden Die, Miriam Grace Monfredo
54. Magic Study, Maria Snyder
55. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
56. Petals in the Storm, Mary Jo Putney
October
57. Black Sun Rising, C. S. Friedman
58. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede (re-read)
59. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukiyama
60. Rabbit Run, John Updike
November
61. Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition, Scott Cookman
62. Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert
63. The Incredible Journey, Sheila Burnford (re-read)
64. Deception, Amanda Quick
65. Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
66. The Affair, Amanda Quick
67. Summer Lightning, P. G. Wodehouse
December
68. Morpho Eugenia, A. S. Byatt
69. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
70. Slightly Sinful, Mary Balogh (re-read)
71. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin (re-read)
72. The Blood King, Gail Z. Martin
Total is 72 books, although I may have missed writing down one or two of the re-reads. A respectable number, all things considered. I am satisfied with myself for the small number of re-reads and the fact that my To Be Read shelf is vastly smaller.
Now, for the challenge results. This year I challenged myself to read nine books in nine different categories for the year of 2009. I picked the categories in an effort to read a greater variety of books (although I left the fantasy category in because I'm also realistic, and know that I will always read a lot of fluff.)
I knew that this challenge would be difficult because of the sheer number of books involved and because reading in unfamiliar genres takes more effort. I disallowed re-reads and YA books. To make things a little easier, I added an "other" category for items that didn't fit or overflowed from the other categories, and to encourage myself to read books from my to be read shelf, I put in a category just for that. Here are the results:
Fantasy
1. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
2. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
3. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
4. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
5. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
6. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin
7. The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois Bujold
8. Magic Study, Maria Snyder
9. Black Sun Rising, C. S. Friedman
TBR shelf
1. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
2. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, Eds.
3. A Dirge for Sabis, C. J. Cherryh and Leslie Fish
4. Shapechangers, Jennifer Roberson
5. The Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
6. The Warlock In Spite of Himself, Christopher Shasteff
7. The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke
8. The Bartered Bride, Mary Jo Putney
9. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn
Humor
1.The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
2. Knitting Rules, Stephanie Pearl-McFhee
3. The Pirates! In an Adventure With Ahab, Gideon Defoe
4. Something Fresh, P.G. Wodehouse
5. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
6. Summer Lightning, P. G. Wodehouse
7.
8.
9.
Nonfiction
1. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
2. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
3. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
4. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
5. Print is Dead: Books In Our Digital Age, Jeff Gomez
6. Al-Jazeera, Hugh Meyers
7. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, Maureen Ogle
8. The Wisdom of Crowds, James Suroweiki
9. 1959: The Year Everything Changed, Fred Kaplan
Biography/Memoir
1. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
2. The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch, Michael Wolff
3. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, Jacki Lyden
4. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
5. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
6. Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition, Scott Cookman
7.
8.
9.
Historical
1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2. These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
4. Petals in the Storm, Mary Jo Putney
5. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukuyama
6. Deception, Amanda Quick
7. The Affair, Amanda Quick
8. Morpho Eugenia, A. S. Byatt
9.
Mystery/Suspense
1. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
2. Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
3. The Curse of the Pharaohs, Elizabeth Peters
4. The Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith
5. The Mummy Case, Elizabeth Peters
6. Must the Maiden Die, Miriam Grace Monfredo
7.
8.
9.
Classics, Etc.
1. Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
2. Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym
3. The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann von Goethe
4. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
5. Rabbit Run, John Updike
6. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
7.
8.
9.
Other/Overflow
1. Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert
2. Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
3. The Blood King, Gail Z. Martin
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I got close, anyway. I'm still trying to think about possible challenges for 2010, but I'd like to take on something that I'm more likely to be able to complete.
And now, for my awards. This year, there weren't a lot of standouts; most of what I read was decent, but not fantastic and not horrible either.
Best nonfiction: Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, by Henry Jenkins. Really interesting, especially if you're interested in blogging, fanfiction, YouTube videos, or copyright issues. Runner up: Al-Jazeera, by Hugh Meyers.
Best fiction: I can't pick one this year, but The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin, Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym, and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins were probably the best of what I read this year.
Worst fiction: This one is a tie between Witchling, by Yasmine Galenorn, and Rabbit Run, by John Updike. Witchling was just terribly written. The protagonist is a Mary Sue (beautiful, with magical powers and everyone falls in love with her) and the plot was laughable. But at least it was marginally entertaining. Rabbit Run was a disgusting novel about disgusting people, but the characters are convincing even if they're nasty and if Rabbit is likely a self-insertion of Updike. Blech! Both of them were awful, but if I had to be stranded on a desert island with one or the other, I would pick Witchling.
Most pretentious: Morpho Eugenia, by A. S. Byatt. This is one of two novellas in Byatt's book Angels and Insects. I read the first half, Morpho Eugenia, and found it predictable and pretentious. Byatt digressed into lengthy descriptions of insect life and inserted faux Victorian fairy tales, which are extremely symbolic but don't forward the plot at all. Some of the prose is gorgeous, and the characters are convincingly Victorian, but I couldn't bring myself to read the second half. I found out afterwards that Byatt won a Booker prize for her neoVictorian literature. No wonder it's pretentious; it's capital-L Literature! Books like this are why I prefer reading Trash.
January
1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
3. The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
4. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
5. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
6. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
7. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
February
8. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
9. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
10. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
11. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
12. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
13. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
March
14. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
15. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, Eds.
16. Arrows of the Queen, Mercedes Lackey (re-read)
17. A Dirge for Sabis, C. J. Cherryh and Leslie Fish
18. Knitting Rules, Stephanie Pearl-McFhee
19. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (re-read)
April
20.The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch, Michael Wolff
21. These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
22. Print is Dead: Books In Our Digital Age, Jeff Gomez
23. Shapechangers, Jennifer Roberson
24. Al-Jazeera, Hugh Meyers
25. The Pirates! In an Adventure With Ahab, Gideon Defoe
May
26. Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
27. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, Jacki Lyden
28. The Island Stallion, Walter Farley (re-read)
29. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, Maureen Ogle
30. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
31. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin
32. Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
June
33. The Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
34. Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym
35. The Black Gryphon, Mercedes Lackey (re-read)
36. The Sharing Knife: Beguilement, Lois Bujold (re-read)
37. The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois Bujold
38. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
July
39. The Wisdom of Crowds, James Suroweiki
40. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (re-read)
41. The Curse of the Pharaohs, Elizabeth Peters
42. The Warlock In Spite of Himself, Christopher Shasteff
43. The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann von Goethe
44. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
August
45. The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke
46. Something Fresh, P.G. Wodehouse
47. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
48. The Bartered Bride, Mary Jo Putney
49. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn
50. The Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith
September
51. The Mummy Case, Elizabeth Peters
52. 1959: The Year Everything Changed, Fred Kaplan
53. Must the Maiden Die, Miriam Grace Monfredo
54. Magic Study, Maria Snyder
55. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
56. Petals in the Storm, Mary Jo Putney
October
57. Black Sun Rising, C. S. Friedman
58. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede (re-read)
59. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukiyama
60. Rabbit Run, John Updike
November
61. Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition, Scott Cookman
62. Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert
63. The Incredible Journey, Sheila Burnford (re-read)
64. Deception, Amanda Quick
65. Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
66. The Affair, Amanda Quick
67. Summer Lightning, P. G. Wodehouse
December
68. Morpho Eugenia, A. S. Byatt
69. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
70. Slightly Sinful, Mary Balogh (re-read)
71. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin (re-read)
72. The Blood King, Gail Z. Martin
Total is 72 books, although I may have missed writing down one or two of the re-reads. A respectable number, all things considered. I am satisfied with myself for the small number of re-reads and the fact that my To Be Read shelf is vastly smaller.
Now, for the challenge results. This year I challenged myself to read nine books in nine different categories for the year of 2009. I picked the categories in an effort to read a greater variety of books (although I left the fantasy category in because I'm also realistic, and know that I will always read a lot of fluff.)
I knew that this challenge would be difficult because of the sheer number of books involved and because reading in unfamiliar genres takes more effort. I disallowed re-reads and YA books. To make things a little easier, I added an "other" category for items that didn't fit or overflowed from the other categories, and to encourage myself to read books from my to be read shelf, I put in a category just for that. Here are the results:
Fantasy
1. Fortune and Fate, Sharon Shinn
2. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
3. Poison Study, Maria Snyder
4. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
5. Witchling, Yasmine Galenorn
6. The Summoner, Gail Z. Martin
7. The Sharing Knife: Legacy, Lois Bujold
8. Magic Study, Maria Snyder
9. Black Sun Rising, C. S. Friedman
TBR shelf
1. Exile's Valor, Mercedes Lackey
2. The Valdemar Companion, John Helfers and Denise Little, Eds.
3. A Dirge for Sabis, C. J. Cherryh and Leslie Fish
4. Shapechangers, Jennifer Roberson
5. The Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
6. The Warlock In Spite of Himself, Christopher Shasteff
7. The Thief Lord, Cornelia Funke
8. The Bartered Bride, Mary Jo Putney
9. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn
Humor
1.The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, Gideon Defoe
2. Knitting Rules, Stephanie Pearl-McFhee
3. The Pirates! In an Adventure With Ahab, Gideon Defoe
4. Something Fresh, P.G. Wodehouse
5. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
6. Summer Lightning, P. G. Wodehouse
7.
8.
9.
Nonfiction
1. The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age, Philip Meyer
2. We the Media, Dan Gilmour
3. The World of Rome, Michael Grant
4. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
5. Print is Dead: Books In Our Digital Age, Jeff Gomez
6. Al-Jazeera, Hugh Meyers
7. Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, Maureen Ogle
8. The Wisdom of Crowds, James Suroweiki
9. 1959: The Year Everything Changed, Fred Kaplan
Biography/Memoir
1. Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, James Harford
2. The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch, Michael Wolff
3. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba, Jacki Lyden
4. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
5. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
6. Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition, Scott Cookman
7.
8.
9.
Historical
1. Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
2. These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
4. Petals in the Storm, Mary Jo Putney
5. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukuyama
6. Deception, Amanda Quick
7. The Affair, Amanda Quick
8. Morpho Eugenia, A. S. Byatt
9.
Mystery/Suspense
1. The Winter Queen, Boris Akunin
2. Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
3. The Curse of the Pharaohs, Elizabeth Peters
4. The Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith
5. The Mummy Case, Elizabeth Peters
6. Must the Maiden Die, Miriam Grace Monfredo
7.
8.
9.
Classics, Etc.
1. Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
2. Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym
3. The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann von Goethe
4. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
5. Rabbit Run, John Updike
6. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
7.
8.
9.
Other/Overflow
1. Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert
2. Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
3. The Blood King, Gail Z. Martin
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I got close, anyway. I'm still trying to think about possible challenges for 2010, but I'd like to take on something that I'm more likely to be able to complete.
And now, for my awards. This year, there weren't a lot of standouts; most of what I read was decent, but not fantastic and not horrible either.
Best nonfiction: Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, by Henry Jenkins. Really interesting, especially if you're interested in blogging, fanfiction, YouTube videos, or copyright issues. Runner up: Al-Jazeera, by Hugh Meyers.
Best fiction: I can't pick one this year, but The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin, Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym, and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins were probably the best of what I read this year.
Worst fiction: This one is a tie between Witchling, by Yasmine Galenorn, and Rabbit Run, by John Updike. Witchling was just terribly written. The protagonist is a Mary Sue (beautiful, with magical powers and everyone falls in love with her) and the plot was laughable. But at least it was marginally entertaining. Rabbit Run was a disgusting novel about disgusting people, but the characters are convincing even if they're nasty and if Rabbit is likely a self-insertion of Updike. Blech! Both of them were awful, but if I had to be stranded on a desert island with one or the other, I would pick Witchling.
Most pretentious: Morpho Eugenia, by A. S. Byatt. This is one of two novellas in Byatt's book Angels and Insects. I read the first half, Morpho Eugenia, and found it predictable and pretentious. Byatt digressed into lengthy descriptions of insect life and inserted faux Victorian fairy tales, which are extremely symbolic but don't forward the plot at all. Some of the prose is gorgeous, and the characters are convincingly Victorian, but I couldn't bring myself to read the second half. I found out afterwards that Byatt won a Booker prize for her neoVictorian literature. No wonder it's pretentious; it's capital-L Literature! Books like this are why I prefer reading Trash.