2009 (and 2008): Books I've Read

I plan to read at least fifty-two novels new-to-me in 2009. (In 2008, I didn't start tracking until late in the year, so I've pasted those books at the bottom of this post just for my reference.)

The links from the book titles go to The Book Book blog, where I'm one of many writing book reviews. Feel free to comment there or here if you agree or disagree with my reviews!

Key:

• library=either 'regular' or eBook library
• coll=book from my collection for the Read Your Own Books challenge

Statistics for 2009:

• 28 new-to-me books read (goal = 52)
• 38 books read in total
  
• 27 eBooks, 11 paper books
  
• 22 from my unread collection (goal for 2009 = 30)
  

Currently reading:

• David Foster Wallace, "Infinite Jest" (and group-blogging about it at Infinite Zombies)

June: (thus far, 1 book: 1 new)

Actually, there have certainly been more, but I kind of forgot about this tracking thing. :) Nothing on my to be read list looks like I've already read it, so I figure I was rereading stuff and I won't stress about it.

• Marian Keyes, "That Charming Man" (paper, new)

May: (thus far, 4 books: 4 reread)

• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (paper, reread)
• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (paper, reread)
• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (paper, reread)
• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (paper, reread)
  

April: (thus far, 8 books: 4 new-to-me books, 4 reread)

• Simon Finlay, "Hal Spacejock" (eBook, coll)
• Simon Rich, "Free-Range Chickens" (eBook, coll)
• Veronica Chambers, "The Joy of Doing Things Badly: A Girl's Guide to Love, Life, and Foolish Bravery" (eBook, new)
• Helen Hooven Santmyer, "...and Ladies of the Club" (paper, reread)
  
• Cormac McCarthy, "No Country for Old Men" (eBook, coll)
• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (paper, reread)
• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (paper, reread)
• J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (paper, reread)
• 
  

March: (13 books: 12 new-to-me books, 1 reread)

• P.G. Wodehouse, "The Jeeves Omnibus" (eBook, coll)
• Sarah Mlynowski, "Me Vs. Me" (eBook, coll)
• Laurie Notaro, "The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death" (eBook, coll)
• Charlie Huston, "A Dangerous Man" (eBook, coll)
• Charlie Huston, "Six Bad Things" (eBook, coll)
• Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Study in Scarlet [Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection #1]" (eBook, coll)
• Jennifer Archer, "The Me I Used to Be" (eBook, coll)
• Terry Pratchett, "The Color of Magic" (eBook, coll)
• Tess Gerritsen, "The Surgeon" (eBook, coll)
• Emma Bull, "War for the Oaks" (eBook, coll)
  
• Iris Johansen, "And The Desert Blooms" (eBook, coll)
• Kristin Harmel, "The Art of French Kissing" (eBook, coll)
• Heather Wardell, "Seven Exes are Eight Too Many" (free from my files :) - just felt like re-reading it!

February: (8 books: 7 new-to-me books, 1 reread)

• "The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep" by Lawrence Block (eBook, coll)
• "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (eBook, library)
• "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (eBook, library)
  
• "Royal Assassin" by Robin Hobb (eBook, coll)
  
• "Assassin's Quest" by Robin Hobb (eBook, coll)
• "Caught Stealing" by Charlie Huston (eBook, coll)
• "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (eBook, new)
• "Falling Under" by Danielle Younge-Ullman (paper, reread)
  

January: (4 books: 4 new-to-me books)

• Jacqueline Carey, "Kushiel's Justice". (paper) Fifth in a series of books about a courtesan's adventures, and second in the sub-series narrated by her foster son. (Since this is midway through the series, I'm not writing a formal review.) While I preferred the earlier books, this new narrator is growing on me, and the final book promises to be exciting.
  
• Debbie Macomber, "The Shop on Blossom Street". (eBook, coll) A two-time cancer survivor opens a knitting store, and she and her three first customers work together during a knitting class to make their lives better. Decent book, and far more enjoyable to my mind than the Friday Night Knitting Club.
• Chuck Palahniuk, "Choke". (eBook, library) Dark, weird, occasionally beautiful.
  
• Peter Crother, ed., "We Think, Therefore We Are" (eBook, coll) (collection of artificial intelligence-related short stories, purchased at www.fictionwise.com). I will write a review of this shortly, but I found it inconsistent. A few stories were very good, one was spectacular, and the rest just blurred together for me.
  

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November 2008 (started tracking November 17th)

• "Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Nov 24-) (ebook) - I stopped reading this on November 29th after the stupidest medical situation ever completely turned me off. I didn't like it from the start, though.
  
• "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell (Nov 21-24) (ebook)
  
• "Unleashing the Ideavirus" (link points to free download) by Seth Godin (Nov 19-21) (ebook)
• "Time Management for Creative People" (link points to download) by Mark McGuinness (Nov 19) (ebook)
• "Risque Business" by Tawny Weber (Nov 18) (ebook)
• "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein (Nov 17-18) (ebook)

December 2008

• "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Dec 29) (ebook borrowed from library)
• "You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop" by John Scalzi (Dec 6-8) (ebook)
• "1984" by George Orwell (Nov 25-Dec 4) (ebook)
• "The No S Diet" by Reinhard Engels (Nov 30-Dec 3) (ebook)