This summer I’ve spent a lot of time with Agatha Christie, mystery writer extraordinaire. I’m drawn to her books for two reasons:
they were some of the first adult books I read (my editor, Nicole, had the same experience. In fact, both of us have memories of Ms. Christie’s books on a bottom shelf…the better for kids to reach, possibly?)
I can enjoy a good story without having to commit to the characters. If I want a character-driven mystery, I’ll pick up PD James. Otherwise, it’s Agatha Christie for me.
Here’s where I am with the 100+ Reading Challenge:
- The Gypsies of Spain – Jan Yoors (NF)
- If I Stay – Gayle Forman (YA)
- Catalyst – Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)
- Fat Cat – Robin Brande (YA)
- Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)
- Freedom Crossing – Margaret Goff Clark (MG)
- The Rights of the Reader – Daniel Pennac (NF)
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Elizabeth George Speare (YA)
- Th1rteen R3asons Why – Jay Asher (YA)
- The Last Treasure – Janet S. Anderson (MG)
- Twisted – Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)
- Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell (NF)
- Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell (NF)
- Henry and Ribsy – Beverly Cleary (MG)
- On the Banks of Plum Creek – Laura Ingalls Wilder (MG)
- Blink – Malcolm Gladwell (NF)
- On Writing – Stephen King (NF)
- The Help – Kathryn Stockett
- Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman – Dorothy Sterling (MG)
- Leaving Gee’s Bend – Irene Latham (MG)
- Flash Burnout – LK Madigan (YA)
- The Midnight Fox – Betsy Byars (MG)
- The Crimson Cap – Ellen Howard (YA)
- Riding Freedom – Pam Munoz Ryan (MG)
- Blessing’s Bead – Debby Dahl Edwardson (YA)
- Story of a Girl* – Sara Zarr (YA)
- Alabama Moon – Watt Key (YA)
- If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period* – Gennifer Choldenko (YA)
- The Long Winter – Laura Ingalls Wilder (MG)
- The Road – Cormac McCarthy
- Fog Magic – Julia L. Sauer (MG)
- Ramona the Pest – Beverly Cleary (MG)
- Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)
- The Ballad of Lucy Whipple – Karen Cushman (MG)
- Three Rivers Rising – Jame Richards (YA)
- Four Perfect Pebbles – Lila Perl and Marion Lazan (MG)
- The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett (MG)
- The Dead-Tossed Waves* – Carrie Ryan (YA)
- A Wedding in December – Anita Shreve
- Luddie’s Life – Cynthia Rylant (YA) novel-in-verse challenge title
- Aleutian Sparrow – Karen Hesse (MG) novel-in-verse challenge title
- Love, Hope, and Ivy June – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (MG)
- The All-Of-A-Kind Family – Sydney Taylor (MG)
- The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie
- Hugging the Rock – Susan Taylor Brown (MG)
- The Hollow – Agatha Christie
- The Yearling – Marjorie Rawlings (YA)
- The Wednesday Wars – Gary D. Schmidt (YA)*
- Little House in the Big Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder (MG)
- Before the Lark – Irene Bennett Brown (MG)
- The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (YA)
- The Texicans – Nina Vida
- The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
- Each Little Bird that Sings – Deborah Wiles (MG)
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney (MG)
- The Water Seeker – Kimberly Willis Holt (MG)
- Forest – Janet Taylor Lisle (MG)
- The Beaded Moccasins: The Story of Mary Campbell – Lynda Durrant (MG)
- Far From You – Lisa Schroeder (YA) novel-in-verse challenge title
- Part of Me – Kimberly Willis Holt (MG)
- Watership Down – Richard Adams
- Cat Among the Pigeons – Agatha Christie
- Dumb Witness – Agatha Christie
- Love That Dog – Sharon Creech (MG) novel-in-verse challenge title
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken (MG)
* listened on CD
What are you reading right now?
Very cool list.
I am reading FEARLESS by Max Lucado. Very liberating. 🙂
Great list. I just finished Speak as a book on tape. It’s my second time reading it and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. Thirteen Reasons Why was awesome too.
I’m reading The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting and plan to read Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala soon.
Hi All,
I’m in Amarillo, about to head to Albuquerque. Today we’ll see our house for the first time (we bought it sight unseen).
Thanks for all the well wishes. I’ve got the best readers around!
Gosh darn you! You’re two books ahead of me! I’ve read 63 this year. Though…I’m not really committed to reading 100 books in 2010… but I probably will. 😀
I just finished reading WENCH. It’s AMAZING! Oh and THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE. Two amazing books in a row!! Score!
That’s a LOT of books!
Agatha Christie’s books are amazing! I read them all in grades 7 & 8 and have reread them all since.
I’m reading Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. (I’m not normally a fantasy reader–but it’s good for me to read outside of my favorite genres.) Next on the lift is The Shifter by Janice Hardy.
I love the Christie books too, esp. And There Were None and all the Tommy and Tuppence books.
Amazing list–I’m keeping track of what I’ve read so far this year, too, but my list doesn’t come close. One of my goals is to read as many Newbery winners as I can.
And buying a house unseen? Have never done that, although I went shopping with my daughter for her wedding dress before meeting my future-son-in-law. Sounds risky, but they’ve been married almost nine years now and he’s a great guy! Everything turned out okay…
I just started THE GEEK GIRL’S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING. Looks really cute!
Good grief you’ve read a lot! I just finished SAVVY by Ingrid Law and adored it. Also HOWL’S CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones.
Kudos to you! Great list you’ve got there.
Right now, I’m reading The Hunger Games, Oryx and Crake, and Prentice Alvin (audio book, so it doesn’t really count). Up next are The Unnamed and The Handmaid’s Tale.
wow. seriously impressed. i feel like a reading slacker. have you heard of a book called the last letter from your lover? i have heard it is brilliant and want to read it next but my hopes are not high as my stack of research books is huge!!!! hope all is well!
“Ricochet River” by Robin Cody and “Tropical Fish” by Doreen Baingana and “Reliable Wife” by Robert Goolrick. “Wife” was a fast read, but left me feeling like I ate too much candy. “Fish” was good, but “Ricochet River” is excellent. Lots of reviews compare it to Catcher in the Rye, but better because there’s a strong girl and an Indian.
I haven’t read this much, this fast, but with my move to Seattle I’ve been searching for friends, so I’ve joined two book clubs. Whether I find a friend or two, the books are good company!