Reading List 2013
Every end of December I post the list of what I have read that year. Most titles have corresponding reviews here on my blog. Some do not.
Obviously I read a lot of books out loud to my child. The ones I have included on the list are the chapter books. Our daily dose of picture books are left unlisted because that would just get ridiculous, although they take up a huge chunk of my day. (Note: The Magic Tree House & Reading Guide listings are two separate MTH books that correspond in subject. Because they are such short children’s books, I make them share a number. It takes me about four hours to read each pair out loud.)
1. The Prominence League – C. David Cannon (January)
2. If These Walls Had Ears – James Morgan (January)
3. March – Geraldine Brooks (January)
4. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Dinosaurs – Osborne (January)
5. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Knights – Osborne (January)
6. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Mummies – Osborne (January)
7. The Small Room – May Sarton (February)
8. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Pirates – Osborne (February)
9. Lords of Finance – Liaquat Ahamed (March)
10. The Secret of Lost Things – Sheridan Hay (March)
11. God’s Love – Calvert Tynes (March)
12. Eden’s Outcasts – John Matteson (March)
13. Inheritance – Louisa May Alcott (March)
14. The Wild Girls – Pat Murphy (March)
15. Fizz & Peppers – M.G. King (March)
16. On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan (April)
17. Magic Tree House: Ninjas & MTH: Rainforests – Osborne (April)
18. Lunch in Paris – Elizabeth Bard (April)
19. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Sabertooths – Osborne (April)
20. The History of the Ancient World – Bauer (April)
21. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Moon & Space – Osborne (April)
22. Lessons Learned – Andrea Schwartz (April)
23. Bitch Factor – Chris Rogers (April)
24. Teres – Gershom Wetzel (April)
25. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (May)
26. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Dolphins & Sharks – Osborne (May)
27. The Hunger Games – Collins (May)
28. Catching Fire – Collins (May)
29. Mockingjay – Collins (May)
30. Don’t Die By Your Own Hands – Holmes (May)
31. Slice of Life – Chris Rogers (May)
32. Magic Tree Houses: Ghost Towns/ Lions – Osborne (May)
33. The Princess Bride – Goldman (June)
34. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Polar Bears – Osborne (June)
35. Born to Run – Christopher McDougall (June)
36. Storybound – Marissa Burt (June)
37. The Prominence League II – Canon (June)
38. The Distant Hours – Kate Morton (June)
39. John Adams – John McCullough (July)
40. Magic Tree House & Reading Guide: Pompeii & Rome – Osborne (July)
& Magic School Bus: Volcanoes
41. Spindown – George Padgett (July)
42. The Cry of the Icemark – Stuart Hill (July)
43. The Color Purple – Alice Walker (July)
Magic Tree House: Day of the Dragon King – Osborne (July)
44. A Passage to India – E.M. Forster (August)
45. Letters to the Granddaughter – Schubert (August)
46. Over Sea, Under Stone – Cooper (August)
47. The Gospel According to Starbucks – Sweet (August)
48. Aphrodesia – John Oehler (August)
49. The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan (August)
50. My Antonia – Willa Cather (September)
51. Magic Tree House & Reading Guides – Osborne (September)
52. Surprised by Joy – C.S. Lewis (September)
53. Love is a Choice – Minirth (September)
54. Thomas Jefferson: Art of Power – Meacham (October)
55. Going Native: Biodiversity (October)
56. Just One Evil Act – Elizabeth George (October)
57. The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion (October)
58. The Evolution of Jane – Cathleen Schine (October)
59. The Immortal Class – T.H. Culley (October)
60. Aspects of the Novel – E. M. Forster (October)
61. Death Without Cause – Pamela Triolo (November)
62. Player Piano – Vonnegut (November)
63. Seed Savers: Heirloom – S. Smith (November)
64. The Bookshop Hotel – A.K. Klemm [yes, I re-read my own book as I’m currently writing the sequel] (November)
65. The Sparrow – Mary Doria Russell (December)
66. Harbinger of Evil – Meb Bryant (December)
67. Confessions – Saint Augustine (All Year)
68. Been There, Done That, Really! – Paulette Camnetar Meeks (December)
69. The Secret Keeper – Kate Morton (December)
“Can’t believe I didn’t hit 70 this year. I’ve been slacking!” I lamented. Then, when I went to grab the next Magic Tree House selection, I realized I never documented The Titanic Unit.
70. MTH #17 & Research Guide: Titanic – Osborne (some time in the Fall 2013)
– Books Piled Around My House Unfinished –
I am notorious for starting books and leaving them willy nilly somewhere until the mood strikes me to pick it up again. So where it is not uncommon for me to read a book in one sitting, it is also not uncommon for a book I like to take months or even years for me to finish reading because I’m waiting for that right moment to dive in. Like a real-life vacation, sometimes you want to be in a cabin in the mountains and sometimes you want to be on the beach in Fiji. It doesn’t mean you don’t like mountains and it doesn’t mean the beach is awful, it just means that: if you’re in the mood for mountains why would you go to the beach? Because I have reached that point in my life as a reader that if I hate it, I won’t bother setting it aside… I’ll just get rid of it.
My goal for the New Year is to polish off more of these before starting (and temporarily abandoning) too many others. Because these are books I actually really like, I’m just waiting for those magical moments when I know I’ll enjoy them best to return. What’s ridiculous about the books on this list is that I am about halfway through all of these books.
* If On A Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
* Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Clarke
* Freddy and Fredericka – Helprin
* The Path Between the Seas – David McCullough
* Storyteller – Sturrock (this one is actually amazing! I started reading it in November and I’m still picking my way through it)
* The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (still reading this aloud to the kiddo every night before bed)
* The Lacuna – Kingsolver (reading this for the January Half Price Books Humble Book Club meeting, should be done by the end of the week)
Books I Read in 2012
Book Love Art
Every year I post a list of the books I read. It helps me wrap my brain around the year that has passed and put in my mind what I’d like the next year to look like, and it gives people an idea as to what books were reviewed and discussed when. Kids picture books are not included on this list this year as we read so many (usually a minimum of 7-10 new titles a week) the list would have become ridiculous, young adult/teen titles are included.
1. How to Buy a Love of Reading – Tanya Egan Gibson (January)
2. Mysterious Affairs at Styles – Agatha Christie (January)
3. House of Mirth – Edith Wharton (January)
4. The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (January)
5. Murder on the Links – Agatha Christie (January)
6. Swan Thieves – Elizabeth Kostova (January)
7. Human Happiness – Blaise Pascal (January)
8. Holiday Grind – Cleo Coyle (January)
9. Inhale – Kendall Grey (February)
10. Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie (February)
11. Tales from the Jazz Age – F. Scott Fitzgerald (February)
12. Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie (March)
13. Roast Mortem – Cleo Coyle (March)
14. The Big Four – Agatha Christie (March)
15. Stonehenge – Aubrey Burl (March)
16. House at Riverton – Kate Morton (March)
17. The Mystery of the Blue Train – Agatha Christie (March)
18. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco (April)
19. The Key to the Name of the Rose (April)
20. Peril at End House – Agatha Christie (April)
21. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen (April)
22. Birds of Selborne – Gilbert White (April)
23. Dragonfly in Amber – Diana Gabaldon (April)
24. Voice of Conscience – Behcet Kaya (April)
25. Lord Edgeware Dies – Agatha Christie (April)
26. Napoleon’s Wars – Charles Esdaile (May)
27. The Trial – Franz Kafka (May)
28. Seed Savers: Treasure – S. Smith (June)
29. The Map of Time – Felix J. Palma (June)
30. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck (June)
31. Three Act Tragedy – Agatha Christie (June)
32. The Planets – Dava Sobel (June)
33. The Stranger – Albert Camus (June)
34. Clockwork Angel – Cassandra Clare (July)
35. City of Bones – Cassandra Clare (July)
36. City of Ashes – Cassandra Clare (July)
37. City of Glass – Cassandra Clare (July)
38. The Naked Olympics – Tony Perrottet (July)
39. Clockwork Prince – Cassandra Clare (July)
40. For Women Only – London Tracy (July)
41. City of Fallen Angels – Cassandra Clare (July)
42. The Book of Lilith – Koltuv (July)
43. Ruling Planets – Renstrom (July)
44. Working Days – John Steinbeck (August)
45. Animal Farm – George Orwell (August)
46. Through a Glass Darkly – Karleen Koen (August)
47. Number the Stars – Lois Lowry (August)
48. City of Lost Souls – Cassandra Clare (September)
49. Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison (September)
50. The Bookaholic’s Guide to Book Blogs (September)
51. The Symposium – Plato (September)
52. Emma The Twice-Crowned Queen – Isabella Strachon (September)
53. The Lost Continent – Bill Bryson (September)
54. The Customs of the Kingdoms of India – Marco Polo (October)
55. Parnassus on Wheels – Christopher Morley (October)
56. Possession – A.S. Byatt (November)
57. So Many Books, So Little Time – Sara Nelson (November)
58. Rich Fabric Anthology – Melinda McGuire (November)
59. Flatland – Edwin A. Abbott (November)
60. Unrecounted – Sebald & Tripp (November)
61. The Lit Report – Sarah N. Harvey (November)
62. Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lindgren (November)
63. The Magician’s Elephant -Kate DiCamillo (November)
64. Kenny & the Dragon – Tony DiTerlizzi (November)
65. Seed Savers: Lily – S. Smith (November)
66. Collected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay (All Year)
67. The Old Curiosity Shop – Charles Dickens (December)
68. Julie & Julia – Julie Powell (December)
69. Gone – Michael Grant (December)
**. All Our Worldly Goods – Irene Nemirovsky (did not finish)
70. A Homemade Life – Molly Wizenberg (December)
71. The Case for Astrology – John Anthony West (July -December)
72. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger (December)
73. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo (All Year)
74. An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination – Elizabeth McCracken (December)
Visit Books I Read in 2011.
Click to purchase from Amazon.com.
*This post is subject to change until December 31st, 2012.*
Anakalian Whims 