BOOKS READ IN 2010

It looks like it’s time for my annual book list! Hard to believe another year has passed already. It’s also hard to believe just how many titles I have on here! Wow. I’m astounded at my 87 completed in 2010. Granted many of these were super quick; I read my usual dozen-ish graphic novels and manga. The Superman alt-history blew my mind and Library Wars managed to do the impossible and be even better than Mixed Vegetables. I caught up with the authors for three series (Anita Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, and Harry Dresden), including their various short stories, and now have to wait for new publications. I only re-read two books – Mostly Harmless and Around the World in 80 Days – until the end of the year when I did my typical pre-movie Harry Potter re-read.

The majority of my reading outside of those three series has been either Young Adult fantasy or non-fiction and memoirs. I find that an interesting dichotomy. My favorite of the latter was Cities of Gold, one of the trio of Spanish Colonialism books I read. The most all-consuming YA books were the Hunger Games trilogy. I still spend every night with thoughts of those characters and events occupying my thoughts as I fall asleep.

I only skipped a single month’s title for book club this year, which I think is a record. I put the book club selections in italics (exception is Holes which was a selection the year before I joined) just to see how they space out through the year. I’m trying to pick a favorite of those and can’t narrow it down, which I think is a good thing! The top of the pile is Changed Man, Kim, Cannery Row, and Babbit. Ooh, I never noticed that only one of those is a modern selection; the rest are all Classics! Well, they’re Classics for a reason I guess.

My reading resolution last year was to read more books that are already on my shelf, already in my collection. I failed. Only about a half-dozen were books that had been sitting around, waiting to be read. About the same number were books I bought to be read immediately or were re-reads. Clearly I need to cull the stuff I haven’t read yet because it’s just not happening. Instead, I got into the habit of immediately requesting books from the library if I read a review of them that I found compelling. About 8 or 10 were based on reviews. Most were varying degrees of hits but These Children Who Come at You with Knives was my second most hated read of the entire year (Blood Lite getting the dubious honor of being the hands-down worst thing I read). I allowed my current read to direct my next read for another handful of titles (for instance I read both Astrid Lingrens because of Dragon Tattoo). I haven’t let that happen in a couple of years and I forgot how pleasant it can be and how many fun surprises it can dig up.

I’m not making a reading resolution this year. I’ve decided to make a sewing resolution instead: Sew More. Or, more specifically, Finish Existing Sewing Projects Before Starting New Ones. We’ll see what happens…


1. Mostly Harmless Douglas Adams
2. Mixed Vegetables, Vol. 5 Ayumi Komura
3. Incubus Dreams Laurell K. Hamilton
4. Around the World in 80 Days Jules Verne
5. Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer
6. Blood Rites Jim Butcher
7. Micah Laurell K. Hamilton
8. Strange Brew Edited by P.N. Elrod
9. Trouble with Lichen John Wyndham
10. Holes Louis Sachar
11. Danse Macabre Laurell K. Hamilton
12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 5 Predators and Prey Joss Whedon
13. And Another Thing… Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three Eoin Colfer
14. Mixed Vegetables, Vol. 6 Ayumi Komura
15. The Harlequin Laurell K. Hamilton
16. A Changed Man Francine Prose
17. Must Love Hellhounds Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brooks
18. Blood Noir Laurell K. Hamilton
19. Dead Beat Jim Butcher
20. Kim Rudyard Kipling
21. Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle Jim Butcher
22. Farscape Uncharted Tales: D’Argo’s Lament Keith R.A. DeCandido
23. Proven Guilty Jim Butcher
24. Skin Trade Laurell K. Hamilton
25. Farscape: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning Keith R.A. DeCandido
26. White Night Jim Butcher
27. Farscape Strange Detractors Keith R.A. DeCandido
28. Small Favor Jim Butcher
29. My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon Edited by P.N. Elrod
30. Year of Wonders Geraldine Brooks
31. Backup Jim Butcher
32. Flirt Laurell K. Hamilton
33. Turn Coat Jim Butcher
34. Mean Streets Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, Thomas E. Sniegoski
35. Bite Me Christopher Moore
36. Changes Jim Butcher
37. Dead in the Family Charlaine Harris
38. The Horror Writers Association Presents Blood Lite: An Anthology of Humorous Horror Stories Edited by Kevin J. Anderson
39. Mixed Vegetables, Vol. 7 Ayumi Komura
40. Cannery Row John Steinbeck
41. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 6 Retreat Jane Espenson
42. Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side Edited by Charlaine Harris
43. Highlander: An Evening at Joe’s Edited by Gillian Horvath
44. Bullet Laurell K. Hamilton
45. Bitter Grounds Sandra Benítez
46. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World Tony Horwitz
47. Farscape: Gone and Back Keith R. A. DeCandido
48. B is for Beer Tom Robbins
49. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
50. Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott
51. Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope Chris Warner
52. Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren
53. Superman: Red Son Mark Millar
54. Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest Douglas Preston
55. Bill Bergson, Master Detective Astrid Lindgren
56. Mixed Vegetables, Vol. 8 Ayumi Komura
57. Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison Piper Kerman
58. Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1 Hiro Arikawa & Kiiro Yumi
59. Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo
60. Nim’s Island Wendy Orr
61. Cities of Gold: A Novel of the Ancient and Modern Southwest William K. Hartmann
62. One Day David Nicholls
63. Dark and Stormy Knights Edited by P.N. Elrod
64. Keys to the Repository Melissa de la Cruz
65. The Freddy Anniversary Collection Walter R. Brooks
66. The Windows of Brimnes Bill Holm
67. These Children Who Come at You with Knives Jim Knipfel
68. Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files Storm Front Vol. 1 Mark Powers
69. The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy
70. Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 2 Hiro Arikawa & Kiiro Yumi
71. Death’s Excellent Vacation Edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner
72. Rules of Engagement Peter Morwood
73. Babbitt Sinclair Lewis
74. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix JK Rowling
75. Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files Jim Butcher
76. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince JK Rowling
77. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows JK Rowling
78. The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
79. Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food Anthony Bourdain
80. Nightshade Laurell K. Hamilton
81. Firelight Sophie Jordan
82. Catching Fire Suzanne Collins
83. Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work Tim Gunn
84. The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise Julia Stuart
85. Misguided Angel Melissa de la Cruz
86. Mockingjay Suzanne Collins
87. Star Wars: Tag and Bink Were Here Kevin Rubio