2006 in Books
My 2006 in books!
Very early this year, I realized I was reading a crappy book just because I was trying to get my fifty-two total books. The first two books on this list, I really didn't like (#2, in my opinion, should never ever have been published because it is basically a bunch of ideas that the author didn't bother to coherently connect. I digress). Then, I started reading a really good book (#3) and it was taking me too long to finish it.
So, rather than put down the book I was actually enjoying, I decided I wasn't going to try for 52.
That said, I DID get close. But look at some of the books and lengths that I did read. I read the Dark Tower series! Start to finish! That's better than reading 52 books, I think. And look at all the Stephen King books! Holy toledo, I went on a King binge this year. ;-D
Now, on to the list. The number in parenthesis is the start and end date. Just because I kept records of that kind of crap. *G*
1. The Traveler, John Twelve Hawks. (1/3-1/11) 456pgs
2. Hawkes Harbor, SE Hinton. (1/12-1/14) 251 pgs - 251 pages too long, if you ask me. She did GREAT with the Outsiders, I thought. I mean, I read it in school. But then she went to vampires and... I don't know. It was just bizarre and poorly written and it made me iiiill.
3. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer. (1/31-2/12) 276 pgs - This is the book that made me give up my quest for 52 books. It took me a long time to read it, really long for such a short book, but I didn't want to stop just because I had a schedule to keep. So I decided to read what I wanted instead of having the 52 books. Alas. ;-D
4. Forever Odd, Dean Koontz. (3/12-3/13) 334 pgs - Yep, one day for this book. God, but I love Dean Koontz and his breezy style. ;-D
5. The Camel Club, David Baldacci. (3/14-3/25) 435 pgs
6. The Time-Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. 518 pgs - I didn't keep track of the dates on this book. I've lost track of how many times I've read it and I love it every single time.
7. A Drink Before the War, Dennis Lehane. (5/28-5/30) 277 pgs - Books 7-11 are another revisiting. I've read all these books before, but out of order. This was the first time I read the series in order and it benefits the books to do it that way. Lehane is one of my favorite authors. It doesn't help that my "Miser" stories fit his formula for these books almost exactly ;-D
8. Darkness, Take My Hand, Dennis Lehane. (5/30-6/3) 355 pgs
9. Sacred, Dennis Lehane. (6/4-6/8) 358 pgs
10. Gone, Baby, Gone, Dennis Lehane. (6/8-6/14) 412 pgs - Please, please, please, Affleck, don't screw this up. I'm already dubious... making a movie from the fourth book in a series... And it's AFFLECK...
11. Prayers For Rain, Dennis Lehane. (6/15-6/18) 375 pgs
12. Dead Run, PJ Tracy. (6/24-6/28) 347 pgs
13. Quantum Leap: Heat Wave, Melanie Kent. (7/1, 7/4) 235 pgs
14. Hit List, Lawrence Block. (7/10-7/17) 358 pgs
15. Small Town, Lawrence Block. (7/18-7/28) 532 pgs - This and Book 14 were both re-reads. I don't know why... I just got on a Block fix suddenly and these were the only books of his I owned. :D
16. SG-1: Survival of the Fittest, Sabine C. Bauer. (8/05, 8/06) 367 pgs
17. It, Stephen King. (8/01-8/04, 8/06-8/14) 1,138 pgs - You'll notice a bit of overlap with these two books. See, I had just started "It" when the SG-1 book arrived. There was a promise of lots of Janet in the Stargate book, so I put "It" aside and read it (in one day, you'll notice ;-D). Then I went back to the killer clown.
18. Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii, Lee Goldberg. (8/15-8/17) 286 pgs - I went from "It" to a book about Adrian Monk. I'm surprised I didn't get literary whiplash. *G* I think I just wanted something light and fun after that book...
19. Saving Fish From Drowning, Amy Tan. (8/20-8/28) 472 pgs - 2006 should go down as the year of the re-read for me, I think... this is yet another one. I got it for Christmas last year and really enjoyed it. So... :D
20. On Writing, Stephen King. (8/30-8/31) 290 pgs - My Mom re-reads the Bible over and over. Me? Stephen King's "On Writing." *G* Has helped IMMENSELY, I think. Or maybe it just makes me feel better about my own writing. Either way, I usually try to at least thumb through it at least once a year.
21. Bag of Bones, Stephen King. (9/3-9/8) 732 pgs - This isn't officially a re-read. I tried reading this when it first came out, but I never got very far into it. This time, I felt I had grown as a reader and gave it another shot.
22. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, Stephen King. (9/11-9/13) 231 pgs - ANOTHER re-read. I read The Drawing of the Three and then tried to go back and read the Gunslinger. The two were so radically different I was thrown out of it. But, again, I felt I had grown as a reader and decided to give it another go.
23. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, Stephen King (9/14-9/20) 463 pgs
24. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, Stephen King (9/20-9/24) 588 pgs
25. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Stephen King (9/24-9/30) 694 pgs
26. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King (9/30, 10/06) 925 pgs
27. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Stephen King (10/06-10/08) 542 pgs
28. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, Stephen King (10/09, 10/15) 1,031 pgs
29. A Grave Talent, Laurie R. King (10/25-10/28) 342 pgs - Not only the year of rereads, the year of reading series in order. I had skipped the first book in this series the first time around and decided to go through it again almost in order (now that I had forgotten what happened in the others). This was caused by the knowledge a new book in the series had been released.
30. Night Work, Laurie R. King (10/29-11/1) 386 pgs - I read this one out of order. What can I say, I was waiting for the other two books to be delivered! :D
31. To Play the Fool, Laurie R. King (11/1-11/2) 286 pgs
32. With Child, Laurie R. King (11/3-11/5) 291 pgs
33. The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King (11/6-11/11) 356 pgs
34. Cell, Stephen King (11/11-11/14) 351 pgs
35. The Green Mile, Stephen King (11/17-11/21) 536 pgs
36. Jackdaws, Ken Follett (11-23, 11-30) 480 pgs - Do I even have to say it? Re-read!
37. The Night Watch, Sarah Waters (12/5-12/10) 446 pgs - You'll see from the dates I opened my birthday present early. ;-D But hey! I was desperate for a book and, miracle of miracles, a book-shaped package showed up! What's a voracious reader to do? *G*
38. The Sex Lives of Cannibals, J. Maarten Troost (12/11-12/14) 272 pgs - Can I just say how proud I am to have this title on my list? *G* It's also the only non-fiction on the list! Well, unless you count On Writing...
39. Wire in the Blood, Val McDermid (12/16-12/22) 496 pgs - Again, not a re-read, but another try. I had bought this, read about a chapter and then put it aside. This time I made it all the way through! Hurray! *G*
40. Thinner, Stephen King as Richard Bachman (12/22-12/23) 318 pgs
41. Dead Sleep, Greg Iles (12/24-12/26) 452 pgs
42. Nature Girl, Carl Hiaasen (12/27-12/28) 306 pgs
43. Turning Angel, Greg Iles (12/28-12/31) 499 pgs
And the total is: 12,070 total pages read (7,839 of which are Stephen King books)
I kind of cheated a bit with the last book. I'm not TECHNICALLY done with it. But the past two days, I've read 200 pages without breaking a sweat. I have less than 100 pages left, so... stands to reason I can count it. I'm definitely going to make myself finish it before midnight, though, so...
I just realized... I read seven books in December alone. And out of this list, 35 - THIRTY FIVE - of the 43 books were read in the last six months.
Boy. I really need to get in gear next year. I could have read 70 books this year!
Very early this year, I realized I was reading a crappy book just because I was trying to get my fifty-two total books. The first two books on this list, I really didn't like (#2, in my opinion, should never ever have been published because it is basically a bunch of ideas that the author didn't bother to coherently connect. I digress). Then, I started reading a really good book (#3) and it was taking me too long to finish it.
So, rather than put down the book I was actually enjoying, I decided I wasn't going to try for 52.
That said, I DID get close. But look at some of the books and lengths that I did read. I read the Dark Tower series! Start to finish! That's better than reading 52 books, I think. And look at all the Stephen King books! Holy toledo, I went on a King binge this year. ;-D
Now, on to the list. The number in parenthesis is the start and end date. Just because I kept records of that kind of crap. *G*
1. The Traveler, John Twelve Hawks. (1/3-1/11) 456pgs
2. Hawkes Harbor, SE Hinton. (1/12-1/14) 251 pgs - 251 pages too long, if you ask me. She did GREAT with the Outsiders, I thought. I mean, I read it in school. But then she went to vampires and... I don't know. It was just bizarre and poorly written and it made me iiiill.
3. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer. (1/31-2/12) 276 pgs - This is the book that made me give up my quest for 52 books. It took me a long time to read it, really long for such a short book, but I didn't want to stop just because I had a schedule to keep. So I decided to read what I wanted instead of having the 52 books. Alas. ;-D
4. Forever Odd, Dean Koontz. (3/12-3/13) 334 pgs - Yep, one day for this book. God, but I love Dean Koontz and his breezy style. ;-D
5. The Camel Club, David Baldacci. (3/14-3/25) 435 pgs
6. The Time-Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. 518 pgs - I didn't keep track of the dates on this book. I've lost track of how many times I've read it and I love it every single time.
7. A Drink Before the War, Dennis Lehane. (5/28-5/30) 277 pgs - Books 7-11 are another revisiting. I've read all these books before, but out of order. This was the first time I read the series in order and it benefits the books to do it that way. Lehane is one of my favorite authors. It doesn't help that my "Miser" stories fit his formula for these books almost exactly ;-D
8. Darkness, Take My Hand, Dennis Lehane. (5/30-6/3) 355 pgs
9. Sacred, Dennis Lehane. (6/4-6/8) 358 pgs
10. Gone, Baby, Gone, Dennis Lehane. (6/8-6/14) 412 pgs - Please, please, please, Affleck, don't screw this up. I'm already dubious... making a movie from the fourth book in a series... And it's AFFLECK...
11. Prayers For Rain, Dennis Lehane. (6/15-6/18) 375 pgs
12. Dead Run, PJ Tracy. (6/24-6/28) 347 pgs
13. Quantum Leap: Heat Wave, Melanie Kent. (7/1, 7/4) 235 pgs
14. Hit List, Lawrence Block. (7/10-7/17) 358 pgs
15. Small Town, Lawrence Block. (7/18-7/28) 532 pgs - This and Book 14 were both re-reads. I don't know why... I just got on a Block fix suddenly and these were the only books of his I owned. :D
16. SG-1: Survival of the Fittest, Sabine C. Bauer. (8/05, 8/06) 367 pgs
17. It, Stephen King. (8/01-8/04, 8/06-8/14) 1,138 pgs - You'll notice a bit of overlap with these two books. See, I had just started "It" when the SG-1 book arrived. There was a promise of lots of Janet in the Stargate book, so I put "It" aside and read it (in one day, you'll notice ;-D). Then I went back to the killer clown.
18. Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii, Lee Goldberg. (8/15-8/17) 286 pgs - I went from "It" to a book about Adrian Monk. I'm surprised I didn't get literary whiplash. *G* I think I just wanted something light and fun after that book...
19. Saving Fish From Drowning, Amy Tan. (8/20-8/28) 472 pgs - 2006 should go down as the year of the re-read for me, I think... this is yet another one. I got it for Christmas last year and really enjoyed it. So... :D
20. On Writing, Stephen King. (8/30-8/31) 290 pgs - My Mom re-reads the Bible over and over. Me? Stephen King's "On Writing." *G* Has helped IMMENSELY, I think. Or maybe it just makes me feel better about my own writing. Either way, I usually try to at least thumb through it at least once a year.
21. Bag of Bones, Stephen King. (9/3-9/8) 732 pgs - This isn't officially a re-read. I tried reading this when it first came out, but I never got very far into it. This time, I felt I had grown as a reader and gave it another shot.
22. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, Stephen King. (9/11-9/13) 231 pgs - ANOTHER re-read. I read The Drawing of the Three and then tried to go back and read the Gunslinger. The two were so radically different I was thrown out of it. But, again, I felt I had grown as a reader and decided to give it another go.
23. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, Stephen King (9/14-9/20) 463 pgs
24. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, Stephen King (9/20-9/24) 588 pgs
25. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Stephen King (9/24-9/30) 694 pgs
26. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King (9/30, 10/06) 925 pgs
27. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Stephen King (10/06-10/08) 542 pgs
28. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, Stephen King (10/09, 10/15) 1,031 pgs
29. A Grave Talent, Laurie R. King (10/25-10/28) 342 pgs - Not only the year of rereads, the year of reading series in order. I had skipped the first book in this series the first time around and decided to go through it again almost in order (now that I had forgotten what happened in the others). This was caused by the knowledge a new book in the series had been released.
30. Night Work, Laurie R. King (10/29-11/1) 386 pgs - I read this one out of order. What can I say, I was waiting for the other two books to be delivered! :D
31. To Play the Fool, Laurie R. King (11/1-11/2) 286 pgs
32. With Child, Laurie R. King (11/3-11/5) 291 pgs
33. The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King (11/6-11/11) 356 pgs
34. Cell, Stephen King (11/11-11/14) 351 pgs
35. The Green Mile, Stephen King (11/17-11/21) 536 pgs
36. Jackdaws, Ken Follett (11-23, 11-30) 480 pgs - Do I even have to say it? Re-read!
37. The Night Watch, Sarah Waters (12/5-12/10) 446 pgs - You'll see from the dates I opened my birthday present early. ;-D But hey! I was desperate for a book and, miracle of miracles, a book-shaped package showed up! What's a voracious reader to do? *G*
38. The Sex Lives of Cannibals, J. Maarten Troost (12/11-12/14) 272 pgs - Can I just say how proud I am to have this title on my list? *G* It's also the only non-fiction on the list! Well, unless you count On Writing...
39. Wire in the Blood, Val McDermid (12/16-12/22) 496 pgs - Again, not a re-read, but another try. I had bought this, read about a chapter and then put it aside. This time I made it all the way through! Hurray! *G*
40. Thinner, Stephen King as Richard Bachman (12/22-12/23) 318 pgs
41. Dead Sleep, Greg Iles (12/24-12/26) 452 pgs
42. Nature Girl, Carl Hiaasen (12/27-12/28) 306 pgs
43. Turning Angel, Greg Iles (12/28-12/31) 499 pgs
And the total is: 12,070 total pages read (7,839 of which are Stephen King books)
I kind of cheated a bit with the last book. I'm not TECHNICALLY done with it. But the past two days, I've read 200 pages without breaking a sweat. I have less than 100 pages left, so... stands to reason I can count it. I'm definitely going to make myself finish it before midnight, though, so...
I just realized... I read seven books in December alone. And out of this list, 35 - THIRTY FIVE - of the 43 books were read in the last six months.
Boy. I really need to get in gear next year. I could have read 70 books this year!