So many books, so little time
My son started keeping a reading list and so I decided to try it last year as well. Though I didn’t calculate pages, or get any prizes when I got around “Mrs. Brown’s Brook” every time I read 1,000 pages like he did.
When it came time to put this all together I was surprised both by how many books I read—I thought 44 was pretty impressive—but also how many not particularly challenging books I read. There’s obviously a connection. So my reading goal for 2008 is to be a little more selective about what I read.
My favorite book of 2007 was probably The Sportswriter, by Richard Ford. It’s one of those very male books that men are always talking about loving, so I resisted it for a lot of years. It’s a little dated, circa 1986, but definitely worth picking up. Another favorite this year was The Wife by Meg Wolitzer. Go figure, both of these books are about writers.
I’d love to hear about other people’s favorite books this year.
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA by Ellen Meister
- Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
- Sandcastles by Luanne Rice
- Silver Tongue by Steven Crandell
- Wives Behaving Badly by Elizabeth Buchan
- Fool Me Once by Fern Michaels
- Pretty Woman by Fern Michaels
- Chicken Soup for the Scrapbookers Soul
- Digging to America by Anne Tyler
- Smart Vs. Pretty by Valerie Frankel
- Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts
- Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts
- Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares
- Wild Swans by Jung Chang
- The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
- Leaving Normal by Stef Ann Holm
- Humanities by Eric Anzalone
- Avalon High by Meg Cabot
- Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
- Shopaholic and Baby by Sophic Kinsella
- Mom CEO by Jodie Lynn
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
- Bungalow 2 by Danielle Steel
- Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
- High Noon by Nora Roberts
- A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
- The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
- Innocent in Death by JD Robb
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophic Kinsella
- Goodbye Without Leaving by Laurie Colwin
- Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophic Kinsella
- Straight Talking by Jane Green
- Angels All Over Town by Luanne Rice
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
- The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
- Paint it Black by Janet Fitch
- Poemcrazy by Susan G. Wooldridge
- Bump in the Night by JD Robb
- The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
- Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes
Originally posted January 1, 2008.