Happy New Year

I just changed some of my settings on this blog and this reposted with today's date.  Well it is Rosh Hashanah, so shana tova and enjoy a reprint of my January post!

Welcome to a new year of reading! Once again I am going to keep a list of the books I have read this year. I hope you enjoy looking at the list and reading my mini-reviews. Looking back at 2009, I enjoyed remembering all the good books I read. I know that this year will bring some books to fall in love with, some books that surprise me and some real page turners. Here we go....

1. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (My 3rd Inspector Gamache book. I really enjoy Penny's writing and the mysteries are intriguing)
2. Mr. Dixon Disappears by Ian Sansome (Quirky little mysteries with a kind of pathetic main character)
3. Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott (I love Lamott's writing style but this is a tough book for the mother of teenagers - beautiful and sad)
4. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Odd Science Fiction book by the author of the Thursday Next series)
5. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (I just love this series....)
6. Apple Turnover Murders by Joanne Fluke (silly, cozy mysteries...perfect for a snowy day)
7. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (I told you I am hooked on these.)
8. Where's My Wand by Eric Poole (For fans of Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris)
9. The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton (Quirky, funny, just good)
10. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Great YA mythological adventure)
11. Reckless by Andrew Gross (Good page turner, realistic likeable characters)
12. Bite Me by Christopher Moore (Funny vampires, vampire cats, and San Francisco)
13. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (A parable that makes you think; simple yet powerful)
14. Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman (A literary mystery with interesting characters)

15. Finny by Justin Kramon (If you love Dickens and John Irving, you will love this one)

16. Libertad by Alma Fullerton (A prose poetry book that will break your heart)

17. Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen (A cozy English mystery with flappers)

18. Welcome to Shirley by Kelly McMasters (Brookhaven Laboratory and Shirley in the 80's)

19. The Mapmakers Wife by Robert Whitaker (True adventure.....nonfiction for a change!)

20. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (Purely enjoyable chick lit)

21. Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler (Beautifully written fictionalized memoir of Charlotte Bronte)

22. The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Great time travel/historical fiction. I could not put it down)

23. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (Southern Magical realism...so good)

24. The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz (What!? This is the end of the Spellman series? NOOOO)

25. Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill (Darkly funny look at the life of a reluctant Laotian coroner)

26. House Rules by Jodi Picoult (Great story and I feel like I learned alot about Aspergers)

27. Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo (good, cozy read)

28. State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy (ditto)

29. A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody keeps travelling and stirring up trouble)

30. The God of the Hive by Laurie King (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes continue to solve crimes together)

31. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse cavorts with vampires, werewolves and fairies)

32. You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up by Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn (Funny look at a marriage between two pretty neurotic people)

33. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender ( Haunting, beautiful writing, great characters.....read this!)

34. Women Food and God by Geneen Roth ( An interesting approach to food issues)

34. Little Bee by Chris Cleaves (Intense, very very good)

35. Still Sucks To Be Me by Kimberly Pauley (Fun teen vampire book)

36. Stitches by David Small (Powerful graphic novel)

37. Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser (subtitle says it all: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow)

38. The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine ( I loved the modern day Austen story)

39. Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell (Beautiful affecting memoir of friendship)

40. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (Great YA road trip novel)

41. Tinkers by Paul Harding (beautiful writing, confusing but wonderful)

42. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich (perfect beach read.....you have to love Grandma Mazur)
43. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (the original hard-boiled detective novel)
44. A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova (Fascinating memoir of a childhood in Russia)

45. The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer (Funny and pointed, great writing)

46. Pride and Avarice by Nicolas Coleridge (Funny take on modern English society)

47. A Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan (Cozy Welsh mystery)

48. Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani (I loved this book....Valentine is a great character)

49. Tales from the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell (light and fluffy)

50. In Harm's Way by Ridley Pearson (A good mystery but a little confusing)

51. Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré (Thumbs down, I am sorry to say)

52. Amagansett by Mark Mills (History and mystery and the east end of Long Island!)

53. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (So, so, so good......buy this one when it comes out!)
54. Dead Line by Stella Rimington ( Another great MI5 story)
55. Room by Emma Donoghue (disturbing, beautifully written story)
56. The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz by Laura Toffler-Corrie (cute, ya, New York story)
57.  The Viognier Vendetta by Ellen Crobsy (good, almost a cozy)
58. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (great ending to my new favorite YA series)
59. The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass (beautifully written, character driven story)
60. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult (one of my favorites.... )
61. The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming (more British spies....page turner)
62. Graceling by Kristin Cashore (good YA fantasy)
63. The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon is back and better than ever)
64. Black Echo by Michael Connelly (the first Harry Bosch book.....hardboiled page turner)
65. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger (interesting graphic novel)
66. Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (Agatha Christie-esque mystery)
67. A Lonely Death by Charles Todd (Post WWI mystery, shell shock, serial killer and English countryside)
68. Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson (Beautifully written, emotional and fabulous characters)
69. No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub by Virginia Ironside (Hilarious, especially if you are a woman of a certain age....)
70. The Sentry by Robert Crais (Joe Pike and Elvis Cole......a great pairing)
71. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (YA story of teenage hackers and the Department of Homeland Security.....really good)
72. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer (Wicked humor, suburban life, intelligent characters)
73. Worth Dying For by Lee Child (Jack Reacher lives!)
74. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (A re-read in time for the movie....made me cry the second time)
75. A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym (Comforting, English, vicars and lots of tea)
76. Plea of Insanity by Jilliane Hoffman (Legal and Psychological Thriller)
77. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron (Funny, one-hour read)
78. Silent Mercy by Linda Fairstein (ehhh.....)
79. How Did You Get This Number? by Sloane Crosley (laugh out loud funny)
80. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by  P.D. James (good classic mystery)
81. Good Eggs by Phoebe Potts (lovely graphic novel about infertility.....really)
82.  Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry (makes you want to visit Salem....great characters)
83. The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey (good, noirish mystery.....loved the writing)
84. The Fifth Floor by Michael Harvery (just as good as the first)
85. Fire and Ice by Dana Stabenow (OK. Alaska setting is interesting)
86. Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes by Barry Grant (great!!0

Lollygagging

I have gotten terribly behind on my reading. The chaos of the summer, getting the girls ready for school....oh, you have heard all my excuses before. But here it is September and I have only read 52 books this year. Will I ever make 100?? Stay tuned.

I am tempted to dive into Jonathan Franzen's Freedom despite its immense length and my limited time. The Corrections is one of those novels that I still remember years after I read it. I am not sure that I would say that it is a novel that I loved, but it certainly made an impression on me. Early reviews of Freedom and a quick reading of the first chapter have intrigued me. I am also interested in the debate over whether this book would be classified as "women's fiction" had it been written by a woman. Jason Pinter, one of my favorite mystery authors, interviewed two prominent women authors, Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner, in the Huffington Post regarding their views on this debate.

A book that I did take time to read this summer and truly loved was Lets Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell. I wrote a long review of it for the Rogers Memorial Library "By the Book" blog. I love this book for its fine writing and lovely description of a friendship. If you have a chance to pick it up, please do.

So I need to stop writing and start reading! Come by the store and tell me what you have read that you loved this summer.

And, as always, keep those pages turning.....