Here’s what I read this past year:
Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge
Debut Author Challenge
Re-Reads
** Read Alouds
- You Can Still Wear Cute Shoes And Other Great Advice From an Unlikely Preacher’s Wife – Lisa McKay (NF)
- Dogsled Dreams – Terrylynn Johnson (MG)
- An Abundance of Katherines – John Green (YA)
- Across the Universe – Beth Revis (YA)
- Mistress of the Monarchy – Alison Weir (NF)
- The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster (MG)**
- A Northern Light – Jennifer Donnelly (YA)
- Haven – Kristi Cook (YA)
- Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins (YA)
- The Melon Hound – Sandy Dengler (MG)
- You Can’t Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown – Paula Danziger (MG)**
- Jellicoe Road – Marlina Marchetta (YA)
- Prince Caspian – CS Lewis (MG)**
- Paper Towns – John Greene (YA)
- Bad Taste in Boys – Carrie Harris (YA)
- Comfort – Carolee Dean (YA)
- Matched – Ally Condie (YA)
- Wither – Lauren Destefano (YA)
- Ten Miles Past Normal – Frances O’Roark Dowell (YA)
- Memento Nora – Angie Smibert (YA)
- Moon Over Manifest – Clare Vanderpool (MG)
- The Healing Spell – Kimberley Griffiths Little (MG)
- Popular – Alissa Grosso (YA)
- Stupid Fast – Geoff Herbach (YA)
- People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
- The Lost Colony of Roanoke – Jean Fritz (MG/NF)
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – CS Lewis (MG)**
- The Year We Were Famous – Carole Estby Dagg (YA)
- Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony – Lee Miller (NF)
- Hatchet – Gary Paulsen (MG)**
- It’s a Bunny Eat Bunny World – Olga Litowinsky (NF)
- Fairer Than Morning – Rosslyn Elliot
- George’s Marvelous Medicine – Roald Dahl (MG)**
- The Twits – Roald Dahl (MG)**
- OyMG – Amy Fellner Dominy (YA)
- Waiting for Normal – Leslie Connor (MG)
- Never Eighteen – Megan Bostic (YA)
- Possession – Elana Johnson (YA)
- Brain’s Winter – Gary Paulsen (MG)**
- Undercover – Beth Kephart (YA)
- Belle Prater’s Boy – Ruth White (MG)
- Publicize Your Book! – Jacqueline Duval (NF)
- The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction – James Alexander Thom (NF)
- Matilda Bone – Karen Cushman (MG)
- Sparrow Road – Sheila O’Connor (MG)
- The Pull of Gravity – Gae Polisner (YA)
- True Tales of Old-Time Kansas – David Dary (NF)
- With a Name Like Love – Tess Hilmo (MG)
- My Very Unfairy Tale Life – Ana Staniszewski (MG)
- The Raging Quiet – Sherryl Jordan (YA)
- The Dark and Hollow Places – Carrie Ryan (YA)
- Delirium – Lauren Oliver (YA)
- The Night Children – Kit Reed (MG)
- If on a winter’s night a traveler – Italo Calvino
- Lips Touch Three Times – Laini Taylor (YA)
- The Revenant – Sonia Gensler (YA)
- The Rotten Adventures of Zachary Ruthless – Alan Woodrow (MG)
- The Silver Chair – C. S. Lewis (MG)**
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator – Roald Dahl (MG)**
- You Are My Only – Beth Kephart (YA)
- We Are Not Alone: A Writer’s Guide to Social Media – Kristen Lamb (NF)
- Vanished – Sheela Chari (MG)
- The Faerie Ring – Kiki Hamilton (YA)
- The Wicked and the Just – J. Anderson Coats (YA)
- Set Fair for Roanoke – David Beers Quinn (NF)
- Dead Rules – Randy Russell (YA)
- The Boy Who Owned the School – Gary Paulsen (YA)
- The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (YA)
- One Day – David Nicholls
- The Pledge – Kimberly Derting (YA)
- Flyaway – Helen Landalf (YA)
- Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading – Tommy Greenwald (MG)
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick (MG)
- Mockingbird – Kathryn Erskine (MG)
- Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys (YA)
- The Last Battle – C. S. Lewis (MG)**
- Exposed – Kimberly Marcus (YA)
- The Tender Bar – J. R. Moehringer (NF)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever – Jeff Kinney (MG)
- Love and Leftovers – Sarah Tregay (YA)
In the middle of the following:
- Writing the Breakout Novel – Donald Maas (NF)
- Second Sight: An Editor’s Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adults – Cheryl B. Klein (NF)
- Agatha Christie’s autobiography (NF)
I’m glad I didn’t sign up to read 100 titles again this year. It wouldn’t have happened.
As you can see, I’ve read nothing that would count toward the Clear off Your Shelves Challenge (older books I own that I’ve never read). This is something I’ll need to remedy next year!
I read quite a bit more non-fiction than usual, some research related, some about writing, some because they piqued my interest. This is a good thing.
I read a huge number of debuts, reviewing three per month for ten months of the year. I really enjoyed this, but it wore me out, too. Next year, my one-sentence debut reviews will run three times: spring, summer, and fall. There will still be bookmarks giveaways involved.
One thing that’s really lacking on my list (and something I’ve missed dearly) are adult titles. As much as I love reading work by my peers, I’ve started to feel a bit malnourished, if that makes any sense. Just like a varied diet, a varied reading life makes me feel more satisfied. This is something I hope to change (some of those unread books on my shelves would certainly count toward this).
What have you read this year?
You have given me a new year’s resolution. I’ve never tracked my reading through a calendar year, but I like this sort of book-journalish result.
Some great titles on your list!
P.S. Received and read Death Comes to Pemberly for Christmas. It’s worth it, I think. Austen purists will probably yowl about it and the mystery was a bit shallow, but I still loved it. 🙂 M
You have given me a new year’s resolution. I’ve never tracked my reading through a calendar year, but I like this sort of book-journalish result.
Some great titles on your list!
P.S. Received and read Death Comes to Pemberly for Christmas. It’s worth it, I think. Austen purists will probably yowl about it and the mystery was a bit shallow, but I still loved it. 🙂 M
Marissa, I’ve read so little Jane Austen, I wouldn’t know any better (are you thoroughly horrified? ;). But the mystery was shallow? I didn’t know our dear PD was capable of that sort of thing!
I started keeping record of what I read in 2004, when I got a little journal for this exact purpose. I also keep my to be read list in there. It’s really satisfying to look back over.
Wow! You must read fast! I have been trying to read more this year and will continue that quest in 2012, but I doubt I could ever catch up to you. Good job! I do read more non-fiction that fiction – even though I write both. You have a nice variety there.
Great list, Caroline! Lots of good books here. I probably read LESS this past year than I ever have in my life. Not by choice . . . I also need to keep better track. I just stare at my bookshelves and go to my Library account to see what I checked out during the past year. Will post today or tomorrow.
Jan, I’m not very fast, but I usually have several books going at once. I definitely want more variety next year.
Kimberley, looking forward to your list! I know I told you last week that my boys and I were going to read Circle of Secrets together. They’ve since backed out: little guy was worried it would be too scary. 🙂 I, however, am looking forward to it!
Hey, just posted. I was surprised at the number I ended up with. Not too shabby for a completely crazy year. 😉
And Circle of Secrets isn’t *that* scary. More suspenseful or spine-tingling I’d say. I guess you can judge better after you’ve read it. 😉
Happy New Year!
I really loved Ten Miles Past Normal … thought it was a great book that can be for MG AND YA! Also, just finished Moon Over Manifest — what took me so long?! Reminded me of Because of Winn Dixie and also Turtle in Paradise which are other favorites of mine!
I have Hatchet on my list to read.
My list of books to read is soo long right now. Will have to get back to you on that!
PragmaticMom
Mia, I haven’t gotten to Turtle in Paradise, but I loved Holmes’s Our Only May Amelia. Must read the sequel, too.
That’s quite an impressive reading list, Caroline. I know what you mean about wanting to read more adult titles. There just isn’t enough time!
I started keeping my list in 2002. In 2011, I managed to break my own record and read 110 books. I’ll have to slow down this year if I want to revise my novel enough to start querying in earnest.
Happy New Year! Your interview goes up tomorrow morning.