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2007 Reading Year in Review

Number of books read: 117 *updates in red*

Total pages read: 32,506
Average book length: 278 pages

Longest book read in 2007: God is an Englishman by R.F. Delderfield - 687 pages

Shortest book read in 2007: Ghost Eye by Marion Dane Bauer - 82 pages

Fiction reads: 86
Favorite fiction: Argh! So hard! I loved the following:
Lottery by Patricia Wood
The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Non-fiction reads: 31
Favorite non-fiction: Oh, wow, don't make it easy on yourself, Bookfool.
Ill Met by Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss
Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs by Morton A. Myers, M.D.
To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy
First Light by Geoffrey Wellum
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer

Number of authors new to me: 94

Biggest smile-inducers:
The Sound of Waves by Mishima (very romantic)
The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost (hahahaha, oh, hahahaha)
The Official Guide to Christmas in the South, of If You Can't Fry it, Spraypaint it Gold by David C. Barnette (so fun I read half of it aloud to my poor husband)
Lesley Castle by Jane Austen
Monkey Love by Brenda Scott Royce
The Last Days of Summer (I laughed, I cried) by Steve Kluger
The Secret Lives of People in Love (ditto) by Simon Van Booy
Lottery (double ditto and sorry - just remembered I didn't put this one on the smile-inducer list; it was an emotional ride and I could not put it down till I finished) by Patricia Wood
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

-----all three of these were so wonderful that words elude me; actually, that might be kind of normal, but who knows with my life going all roller-coastery (yes, that's a word, Mr. Spell Checker)

Nightmare-inducing (literally):
The Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans

Most awesome writing:

Most surprising books:
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (I expected a futuristic story, but found it an amazing peek into the past)
To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy (the courage of Audie Murphy and his humility astounded me)
Ill Met by Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss (absolutely gripping; I found that I actually held my breath, at some points)
Firehouse by David Halberstam (most folks can't get the kind of answers that Halberstam managed out of a close-knit group like firefighters )
Lost in the Amazon by Stephen & Marlo Kilpatrick (I didn't expect it to be so well-written or so gripping)
Colleen's vampire novels (I thought I'd hate them, but I like Colleen, so I had to try . . . and it turned out they're terrific)
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (oh, wow, so romantic)

Biggest wastes of time:
In the Cut by Susannah Moore (just sordid; I wanted to burn it)
Pressed Pennies by Steven Manchester (trite story, bad writing)
Hurricane by Karen Harper (lousy writing, huge plot holes, terrible dialogue)
February Flowers by Fan Wu (uck)
Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers (hopelessly depressing)
The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico (totally pissed me off)

Best edge-of-seat thriller:
Ill Met by Moonlight - a non-fiction WWII story about the kidnapping of a German general from Crete

Authors I read more than once:
Colleen Gleason (2)
Sarah Dessen (2)
Stevi Mittman (2)
Haven Kimmel (2)
Debbie Macomber (2)
Laurie Halse Anderson (2)

Authors I wish would hurry up and write more:
Patricia Wood
Simon Van Booy
Hugh Laurie (still waiting, Hugh - come on, hurry up)

Books read which were written by authors I know personally or have met:
The Rest Falls Away and Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason (who was one of the first visitors to my blog)
The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (met after I read the book)
Truth or Dare by Melanie Atkins (friend from the writers' group I keep swearing I'm going to return to)
Two books by Stevi Mittman (had a nice chat going with her, for a while)
Lost in the Amazon by Stephen Kirkpatrick (took a photography course from him)
Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair (introduced her at a writers' conference and kept in touch for a time)

You should definitely read my friends' books. They're such nice people. So is Patricia Wood, whom I could have met (but I blew it by not contacting her before she left for San Francisco). Yep, you should hurry up and read her book.

Authors I wish I knew (or could at least spend a dinner or two interrogating):
David Halberstam (deceased)
J. Maarten Troost (whose attitude is so close to mine that it's frightening)
Charles Dickens (good old Chuck)
Brenda Scott Royce (I have a feeling she's a fun chick)
Patricia Wood, of course . . . and her mentor

Coming soon, I hope: A review of Getting Stoned with Savages, which I'm hacking away at, slowly.

Fill-in thought:
This week would rank high on the interesting scale, low on fun. Except, I've gotten a tiny bit of joy at Penn Square Mall. I'll take it.

Favorite moments in the past week:
Son's phone call to tell me he got his first paycheck in the real world (he was giddy).
When Nurse Leland said, "I was almost worried, for a while, but I think she's on the mend." (about my mother)
When Dr. Parker #2 (my mother had 2 doctors Parker dropping by, this weekend) said, "You're not going to croak, today."

Reading goals for 2008:
1. Read from my shelves.
2. Purchase no more than 1 book per month (yeah, I've already altered that one, two days in).
3. Stop reading if a book doesn't grab me (there were too many I should have ditched, this year).
4. Don't participate in challenges, except for the Year of Reading Dangerously and any self-challenges I might deem worthy of creating for myself.
5. Read more than 125 books.

Hawaii pic of the day: Cool. Not sure I want to try surfing, but it was fun to watch.

Gotta run. Hope 2008 is turning out to be a good year for y'all, so far.

Bookfool, on the verge of going completely crackers (but I haven't made it, just yet)
Posted by Bookfool at 1:23 PM 



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