At the end of every year, I look back over my list, recounting the pages I turned in the previous year.
This is the fifth year I have posted my reading selections on my blog. Traditions can be good things; the are an anchor set down in the stream of life that allow a person to hook memories to it, to come back to it again and again, marking the changes in life. Books are an integral part of my life, like my family, they have always been a presence in my life. I don't remember a time before them, and I hope I will never outlast them.
Sometimes the reading choices I make are a reflection of what I am feeling, but often it is a way that I experience a different life. Sometimes that life is better and makes me feel the holes in my own life more deeply. Other times the different lives make me thankful for my own.
My goal for this year was 50 books. I didn't quite make it.
Here are the choices I picked to start off the decade:
Burning to Read: English Fundamentalism and its Reformation Opponents by: James Simpson (PhD)
Cloud Atlas by: David Mitchell
Renaissance Self-Fashioning from More to Shakespeare by: Stephen Greenblatt (PhD)
American Gods by: Neil Gaiman
Letters to a Young Poet by: Rainer Rilke
The Devil's Charter by: Barnaby Barnes
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by: Rick Riordan
Fires of Faith: Catholic England Under Mary Tudor by: Eamon Duffy (PhD)
Prison Meditations on Psalm 51 and 31 by: Girolamo Savonarola (PhD)
The Sparrow by: Maria Doria Russell (bookclub)
Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe by: Brad Gregory (PhD)
Sacred Hearts by: Sarah Dunant
The Sandman, vol. 1 by: Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere by: Neil Gaiman
Go Tell it on the Mountain by: James Baldwin (bookclub)
Art of Death: Visual Culture in the English Death Ritual c.1500 - c.1800 by: Nigel Llewellyn (PhD)
1602 by: Neil Gaiman
To The Lighthouse by: Virginia Woolf (bookclub)
Dissolution by: CJ Sansom
The Traveler by: John Twelve Hawks
A Pithie and Pleasant Comodie of the Three Ladies of London by: Robert Wilson
Hamlet by: William Shakespeare
The Mummy by: Anne Rice
Eclipse by: Stephanie Meyer
Midnight Sun by: Stephanie Meyer
The Sea of Monsters by: Rick Riordan
The Titan's Curse by: Rick Riordan
The Battle of the Labyrinth by: Rick Riordan
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by: Barrows and Shaffer
The Last Olympian by: Rick Riordan
Neverwhere by: Neil Gaiman (yes, twice)
The Red Pyramid by: Rick Riordan
The Sherwood Ring by: Elizabeth Pope
The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by: Rhoda James
The Lost Hero by: Rick Riordan
Closet Devotions by: Richard Rambuss (PhD)
Catching Fire by: Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by: Suzanne Collins
The Help by: Kathryn Stockett
Often I find that at the end of the year I have read quite a few books by a certain author. This year their were two main ones: Neil Gaiman and Rick Riordan. I even read one Gaiman book twice. I just couldn't wait any longer. This was the first year since I have been keeping track that I did not read a book by CS Lewis; however, I am already making up for this by starting the Chronicles again.
My recommended books all have something in common this year: characters that stick with you. These are the characters that you will find yourself thinking about in the shower. You'll be driving to work, and one of the characters will run through your head, and you'll will wonder, what are they going to do next? These are the characters that will make you re-read the book and make you terribly sorry to turn that last page.
Books that belong on your "To Read" list:
1. Neverwhere
A fantasy epic that criss-crosses in and out of London Above and London Below. London Below is full of mythical creatures, historical ripples and an epic adventure. One reviewer called this "the Punk Fairy Queen." Characters you will miss: Door and Richard Mayhew.
2. The Sparrow
Life is discovered on a far away planet and while the governments of earth argue about explorations, the Vatican sends the first outer space missionaries. This is a difficult book to read, but very, very worth it. You will find yourself remembering Emilio for months after.
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
An epistolary novel about the British Island, occupied by the Germans. You will follow Juliet as she meets other characters you won't want to say goodbye to. This books is the perfect novel for a dreary and sad weekend. I picked it up after a disappointing experience and Dawsey made my life a brighter place.
4. The Hunger Games
A dystopian novel about a far flung future America where there is no United States and reality shows have taken a sinister, though realistic turn. You'll find yourself in Katniss but you will want to be like Peeta.
5. The Help
1960's Mississippi where the pavement sizzles and white women's smiles can be deadly. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter walked through the last days of 2010 in my mind, and they won't leave it soon. This book brought tears and laughter. It helped me to see just how strong and brave humans can be and just how destructive and petty we so often are. Read this, you won't be sorry.
Books I wish I had skipped:
1. The Mummy
I am really not even sure now why I kept reading. It must have been the heat of the DC sun.
2. Sacred Hearts
A bit too predictable with flat characters and too long.
Here's to many more books in 2011.
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