Last year one of my favorite bloggers posted a list of all the books she had read in the past year. Even though she reads much faster than I do and finished over a hundred books, I was inspired by her example and decided to try for a modest fifty. I made my goal (only just), and looking over my year’s worth of reading I see that it is a very modest list indeed, including only ten nonfiction books and a great deal of children’s literature.
January
1. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis (reread)
4. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder (reread)
5. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (reread)
February
6. On The Way Home: The Diary of a Trip From South Dakota To Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 by Laura Ingalls Wilder
7. The Moon By Night by Madeleine L’Engle
8. Aunt Jane’s Hero by Elizabeth Prentiss
9. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
10. The Arm of the Starfish by Madeline L’Engle
11. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
12. Holes by Louis Sachar
March
13. The Young Unicorns by Madeline L’Engle
14. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
15. The Giver by Lois Lowry
16. Camilla by Madeline L’Engle
17. The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket
18. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
19. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
20. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
April
21. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
May
22. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (reread)
23. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (reread)
24. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (reread)
June
25. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (reread)
26. A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle
27. Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar (reread)
28. Cheaper By The Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (reread)
29. Leaving Cold Sassy by Olive Ann Burns
July
30. A Southern Belle Primer by Marilyn Schwartz
31. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor
32. Troubling A Star by Madeline L’Engle
33. Gilbert & Sullivan and Their Victorian World by Christopher Hibbert
August
34. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
35. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (reread)
September
36. Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer
37. From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
38. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
39. The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery (reread)
October
40. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
41. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
42. Mandy by Julie Edwards
November
43. The Narnian by Alan Jacobs
44. At Home in North Branch by Arleta Richardson
45. Beauty Evolution by Bobbi Brown
December
46. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield (reread)
47. Lord Peter by Dorthy L. Sayers (reread)
48. Holiness by Grace by Bryan Chapell
49. The End by Lemony Snicket
50. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Favorites
I’m not including rereads here, only books new to me.
Maniac Magee—Wrote about it here.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency—This was a simple and lovely little book.
A Prayer for Owen Meany—Probably my favorite book of the year.
Disappointments
I don’t usually read a book unless I’m pretty sure I’m going to like it, but sometimes I even I make a bad call.
Julie and Julia—I hesitate to put this on the list because it was an interesting idea, and I don’t regret reading it. Julie Powell turned to cooking to help sort out some of her life questions, but at the end of the year, she hadn’t come up with any really substantial or helpful conclusions.
Troubling A Star—Terrible. I liked most of Madeline L’Engle’s Austin family series until this point, but this was dreadfully boring. I wish someone had told me to skip it, since everything I needed to know was on the dust jacket synopsis.
I have no fixed plans for reading in 2007, other than my usual perpetual list. Do you have any recommendations? What did you read in 2006?
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6 comments:
I truly adored the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency stories! You should read the rest of the series (although, I do not recommend McCall Smith's book of short stories--racy). The "Miss Julia" books by Ann B Ross are very fun. For gothic romance remniscent of Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey (though not as funny) try Victoria Holt's novels. For food, read "The Joy." I can't remember what all I read this year, but you've inspired me--this will be a challenge as I don't read as much as I would like anymore. Tuan and I did hit all the used bookstores while we were at my parents, so we do have a good stack waiting right now . . . .
I think I read about 6 books in 2006; three of which were Harry Potters.
Others were:
The Tragedy of American Compassion (Marvin Olasky). Very good.
The Spirit of the Disciplines (Dallas Willard)
And today, I just finished Mountains Beyond Mountains about an American doctor, Paul Farmer, who revolutionized international health care in the last few years. It's written by Tracy Kidder, and it's a capturing read. I recommend it.
2007, hopefully I'll read more.
Wow. that's an impressive many. i read alot of magazine article in 2006 and alot of newspaper. Oh, and a C.S. Lewis one, "The Problem of Pain". This past year was a big year for web log, too.
We've all enjoyed reading over your list. Or course, we read a lot of juvenile fiction around here, too. One I discovered recently (because Benjamin had to read it) was "The Gammage Cup". I think I liked it better than he did. It made me chuckle. Also, we recently watched the BBC version of "Wives & Daughters" by Elizabeth Gaskell (sp?). I had never heard of her before but we really enjoyed it.
I like your list. It had a few I need to add to my "list of books to read before I die"! Your brother recommended Mountains Beyond Mountains, and I definitely second that. The project I work with is largely based off of that work and philosophy in Haite. One novel to add to your list--Peace Like a River. And a book I read a few years back that was thought provoking was Death Be Not Proud.
Happy reading, friend!
I've only read about eighteen of the books you listed. Thanks for the note! I'm glad you read The End. Now I have someone to discuss it with.
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