2010 Reading List

Don’t worry! I’m back with the list of books I read in 2010. I know, I know. You’re asking yourself, “How did I live through the last 24 hours without knowing this?” I couldn’t tell you. This is pretty integral stuff to your survival. But anyways, I won’t keep a single moment longer. Here’s what I read in 2010:

January

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

February

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

March

Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography by Judith & Neil Morgan

April

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Kid Monk

Consolation by Michael Redhill

May

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee by Sarah Silverman

Cake or Death: The Excruciating Choices of Everyday Life by Heather Mallick

June

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It’s Time to Go Home by Erma Bombeck

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

July

Standing Still for as Long as Possible by Zoe Whittal

The Mapmaker’s Wife by Robert Whitaker

Rendevouz with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat

August

Push by Sapphire

Sold by Patricia McCormick

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

September

Lipstick Jihad by Azedah Moaveni

Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields by Charles Bowden

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding

October

The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie

Falling Angels by Barbara Gowdy

November

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Her Scandalous Affair by Candice Hern

Red China Blues by Jan Wong

Drifter by Karl Lassiter

December

The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

Married with Zombies by Jesse Petersen

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

2010 marked the year when I read my very first romance novel, when I read Her Scandalous Affair in November. I’m not into romances (still not after reading that book) but I read that one, along with my first western with Drifter because of a readers’ advisory course that I took. We were to read books from different genres so that we could get a hold of the “elements of appeal” of certain types of novels. So, that will explain a lot of the reading choices I made starting in September.

All in all, 2010 was a good year for reading, with a total of 32 books. 2011 has started off slow, but is sure to pick up when I get some more free time. This year I’ve made myself the challenge of only reading books that I actually own, since my personal library is bursting at the seams with unread material. This is tough for someone who works at a library, but so far I’ve managed to hold true to it. Yes, I know it’s only just the beginning of February, and it’s besides the point that I’ve only read one book thus far. I’ll do it! You’ll see!

Two Years’ Worth of Reading

One of my favourite past-times—not surprisingly, since I work at a library—is reading. While I was always big into sports as a kid, I was also a huge reader, and this is something that has followed me into my adulthood. My Mom always said that when I was an infant she used to read to me; that she thought exposing children to books early in life was important to the development of literacy and contributed significantly to a child’s mental development. Well, my “mental development” is probably arguable, but my lust for literature surely isn’t. I remember spending countless hours reading Roald Dahl, Peggy Parish, C.S. Lewis, Judy Blume, R.L. Stein, Stephen King, and likely hundreds of other authors as a kid. And while I was always into sports and outdoorsy stuff, nothing could match the time I spent tucked away in my room reading, a feeling that still resonates with me. I fully accept and embrace my book nerdliness, and occasionally flaunt it. Like right here. Like right now.

In 2009 I got the idea in my head that it would be a cool idea to start writing down the titles of all of the books I read in a year. I must have been going all nostalgic at the time, but I was inspired by a special project that I helped a professor with at the University of Guelph, where I took an undergrad degree. I was in my fourth and last, year at the school, and I needed a third year credit in order to graduate. Instead of taking the usual “Theories on Social Norms in 18th Century Prussia,” one of my favourite professors asked if I wanted to assist her with a research project she was doing. Work which would earn me that credit I needed. I agreed!

I never did really grasp what exactly she was going to write about, but it had to do with Robert Southey, the English poet who was also the Poet Laureate for much of his life. I still know very little about him, but what I do know is that he was a voracious reader! Like me! At one point he began a list of books that he read, organized by the years in which he read them. While on a research sabbatical in England, my professor found this document and thought it would be interesting to look into the titles listed. But there was a catch. Dear Robert probably didn’t intend this list to be read by someone else, let alone someone else in a completely different century, and didn’t exactly take the most comprehensive notes. Most of the bibliographic information he provided was incomplete or condensed into incomprehensible shorthand. Incomprehensible shorthand made even more incomprehensible due to the fact that many of the works he read weren’t in English. Some were in French, Portuguese, Spanish, I think even Dutch, Mr. Southey being quite an accomplished linguist. It was my job to take this messy transcript and make some sense out of it using bibliographic databases. To try to piece together the reading list of this well-read man.

So yes, I thought to myself that nostalgic day, I too shall record my readings, for one day some university undergrad may need a credit because he/she has changed his/her major three times and dropped several courses that were intolerable for some reason or another (see: Theories on Social Norms in 18th Century Prussia) and desperately wants to graduate despite the fact that he/she does not exactly have a post-graduation plan and hasn’t any “leads” on “jobs” for when graduation does in fact arrive. So, I’ll keep a list of the books I read too, for this student may be lucky enough to help a beloved professor with his/her research. Research on moi. I’m sure the resulting publication will be riveting.

Thus, without further ado here’s what I read in 2009. All said, 28 books. Not toooooooo shabby.

January

Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

Midnight at the Dragon Cafe by Judy Fong Bates

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

February

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

March

A Journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy

The Romantic by Barbara Gowdy

Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding

April

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Always Fresh: The Untold Story of  Tim Hortons by Ron Joyce with Robert Thompson

Eat Me by Linda Jaivin

I Have Fun Everywhere I Go by Mike Edison

May

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

June

Fruit: A Novel About a Boy and His Nipples by Brian Francis

July

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

August

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

September

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

October

Damnation Game by Clive Barker

November

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox

The Year That Changed the World by Michael Meyer

December

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

 

 

Right, some of the months don’t have “picks,” which means I wasn’t too hot for any of the books I read that month. Don’t worry, I made up for it by “picking” from some months where I only read one book. In the latter case, it means I really dug the book. Dug it good.

I’ll leave “The List ‘O 2010 Books” out for now, since those book covers took a lot longer to upload than I thought it would take. Part of the problem is
I’m a stickler for alignment, but alas, that is another story for another day. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you “at the edge of your seat” for long: I’ll put out
the 2010 list soon. I can already sense your relief.

Chromeo’s Newest Vid

Tres sexy, boys.

 

 

Hip-Hop Picks

Was watching AUX TV with the boyfriend not long ago and and discovered some fresh (to me, anyways) Canadian sounds. First is Masia One, the Singapore-born Canadian immigrant, whose rap and melodic abilities are undeniable. I’ve been listening to Pulau: Chapter 1. The video showcased by AUX is Montreal in the Fall. Looks like Masia’s got a pretty sweet lookin’ little MySpace goin’ on, too.

Immediately after Masia One’s video (or maybe it was before, really, it’s not all that important) was Nomadic Massive’s Moving Forward video. An eclectic group of talented musicians makes up this Montreal act, and the sound reflects the cultural and musical diversity of it’s members. I downloaded the self-titled LP from iTunes immediately after seeing the Moving Forward video. Money well spent. Planning to buy Nomad’s Land soon (also available on iTunes).