03 January 2007

2006: The Year in Reading, The List

First, the full list; next, my personal favorites.

Statistics for my 113 books read so far this year:
81 were for pleasure
32 were for reviews (a personal best!)
47 were nonfiction, 65 fiction, 1 by Hunter S. Thompson
Of reviews only, 10 were nonfiction, 21 were fiction
41 of those were in the first six months of the year (school used to take a huge toll on my reading time... yet I still miss it)
40 were library books -- I can't believe I remember this, but I have a pretty good memory for book covers, which I guess helps. Seems pretty low until you take out the 28 review books, which means almost half the books I picked up this year for pleasure were library-owned. Let's hear it for your local library!
21 I purchased during 2006 (bad! bad! And those aren't even the only books I bought this year.)
1 I bought and then returned
16 books read in November, the highest month (cold weather + traveling over Thanksgiving break)
4 books read each in February and March, the lowest months
9.4167 books per month (average)
0.309 books per day (average)
0 books from the Modern Library reading list -- the only stat with which I am actually disappointed.

Books in italics are ones I reviewed. Books without numbers were re-reads.

1. Zoe Heller, WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? NOTES ON A SCANDAL
2. Rona Jaffe, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING
3. Letty Cottin Pogrebin, THREE DAUGHTERS
4. Nicholas Basbanes, PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE
5. Rachel Pine, THE TWINS OF TRIBECA
6. Gail Godwin, QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD
7. Marilyn French, THE WOMEN'S ROOM
8. Dara Horn, THE WORLD TO COME
9. Gail Godwin, THE MAKING OF A WRITER: JOURNALS 1961-63

10. Audrey Niffenegger, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE
11. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, PLAYING WITH BOYS
12. Angela Nissel, THE BROKE DIARIES
Karyn Bosnak, SAVE KARYN
13. Liz Perle, MONEY: A MEMOIR
14. Jason DeParle, AMERICAN DREAM

15. Joan Didion, SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM
16. Stacy Kravetz, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
17. Marshall Berman, ON THE TOWN
18. Daniel Handler, THE BASIC EIGHT
19. Andres Martinez, 24/7: LIVING IT UP AND DOUBLING DOWN IN THE NEW LAS VEGAS
20. Hunter S. Thompson, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS
21. Ian Frazier, GREAT PLAINS
22. Joan Didion, THE WHITE ALBUM
23. Douglas Coupland, JPOD
24. Peter Biskind, EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS
25. Jane Smiley, MOO
26. Max Messmer, JOB HUNTING FOR DUMMIES
27. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL
28. Karyn Bosnak, TWENTY TIMES A LADY
29. Bonnie Fuller, THE JOYS OF MUCH TOO MUCH
30. Gay Talese, THE GAY TALESE READER: PORTRAITS AND ENCOUNTERS
31. Caroline Preston, GATSBY'S GIRL
32. Rona Jaffe, CLASS REUNION
33. Augusten Burroughs, POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS
34. Jennifer Weiner, GOODNIGHT NOBODY
35. Jen Lancaster, BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK
36. Carolyn Parkhurst, LOST AND FOUND
37. Al Franken, THE TRUTH (WITH JOKES)
38. Isabel Rose, THE J.A.P. CHRONICLES
39. Ralph Ferrone, DON'T BLOW THE INTERVIEW
40. Vikram Seth, A SUITABLE BOY
41. Bill Bryson, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID
42. Hilary De Vries, SO 5 MINUTES AGO
43. Kazuo Ishiguro, NEVER LET YOU GO
44. Jonathan Ames, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW
45. Colleen Curran, WHORES ON THE HILL
46. Blair Tindall, MOZART IN THE JUNGLE
47. Jennifer Solow, THE BOOSTER
48. Koren Zailckas, SMASHED: STORY OF A DRUNKEN GIRLHOOD
49. Kaavya Viswanathan, HOW OPAL MEHTA GOT KISSED, GOT WILD, AND GOT A LIFE
50. Megan McCafferty, CHARMED THIRDS
51. Meghan Daum, THE QUALITY OF LIFE REPORT
52. Chris Ayres, WAR REPORTING FOR COWARDS
53. John Grogan, MARLEY AND ME
54. Bridget Harrison, TABLOID LOVE
55. Kirstie Alley, HOW TO LOSE YOUR ASS AND REGAIN YOUR LIFE
56. Eduardo Santiago, TOMORROW THEY WILL KISS
57. Edith Wharton, THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY
58. Jancee Dunn, BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME
59. Sara Gay Forden, THE HOUSE OF GUCCI
60. Marisha Pessl, SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS
61. Kevin Jennings, MAMA'S BOY, PREACHER'S SON
62. Joshua Zeitz, FLAPPER
63. Jay Quinn, THE GOOD NEIGHBOR
64. Lolly Winston, HAPPINESS SOLD SEPARATELY
65. Augusten Burroughs, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
66. Tom Perrotta, LITTLE CHILDREN
67. Sarah Strohmeyer, THE SECRET LIVES OF FORTUNATE WIVES
68. Sara Nelson, SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME
69. Mary Carlomagno, GIVE IT UP!
70. Daniel Stashower, THE BEAUTIFUL CIGAR GIRL
71. Jennifer Weiner, GOOD IN BED
72. Jerry Oppenheimer, FRONT ROW ANNA WINTOUR: THE COOL LIFE AND HOT TIMES OF VOGUE'S EDITOR IN CHIEF
73. Sonia Singh, GHOST, INTERRUPTED
74. Anthony Bourdain, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL
75. Robert Rave and Jane Rave, CONVERSATIONS AND COSMOPOLITANS
76. Jeff Black, PLANTING ELI
77. Dan Savage, THE COMMITMENT
78. Adam Langer, THE WASHINGTON STORY
79. Ted Heller, SLAB RAT
80. Ken Jennings, BRAINIAC
81. Susan Isaacs, PAST PERFECT
82. Laurie Graham, GONE WITH THE WINDSORS
83. Ayelet Waldman, LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS
84. David Zinczenko, MEN, LOVE & SEX: THE COMPLETE USER'S GUIDE FOR WOMEN
85. Brett Josef Grubisic, THE AGE OF CITIES
86. Mary Gaitskill, VERONICA
87. Jerry Oppenheimer, HOUSE OF HILTON
88. Margaret Atwood, THE PENELOPIAD
89. Jill Smolinski, THE NEXT THING ON MY LIST
90. Erica Jong, FEAR OF FLYING
91. Julie Morgenstern, NEVER CHECK E-MAIL IN THE MORNING
92. Harold Pinter, THE DWARFS
93. Marjorie Leet Ford, DO TRY TO SPEAK AS WE DO
94. Fritz Peters, FINISTERE
95. Valerie Taylor, WHISPER THEIR LOVE
96. Laura Zigman, PIECE OF WORK
97. Claire Messud, THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN
98. Kirsten Lobe, PARIS HANGOVER
99. Heidi Raykell, CONFESSIONS OF A NAUGHTY MOMMY
100. Steve Almond and Julianna Baggotte, WHICH BRINGS ME TO YOU
101. Matt Rauscher, THE UNBORN SPOUSE SITUATION
102. David Mitchell, BLACK SWAN GREEN
103. Heidi Julavits, THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT
104. Michael Lewis, TRAIL FEVER
105. Kate Muir, LEFT BANK
106. Laura Ruby, I'M NOT JULIA ROBERTS
107. Daniel Jones (ed.), MODERN LOVE: 50 TRUE AND EXTRAORDINARY TALES OF DESIRE, DECEIT, AND DEVOTION
108. Frances Kuffel, PASSING FOR THIN
109. James Ellroy, THE BLACK DAHLIA
110. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, RANDOM FAMILY
111. Lu Vickers, BREATHING UNDERWATER
Zoe Trope, PLEASE DON'T KILL THE FRESHMAN
Natalie Goldberg, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
112. Elizabeth Hickey, THE WAYWARD MUSE
113. Anne Lamott, BIRD BY BIRD

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

I... am amazed.