Saturday, January 07, 2006

Slacker no more! Checking two things off my list this morning -- big book round up of 2005 and posting a photo from New Year's.

Okay, photo first:


Aren't we frickin' adorable?

So now that's over.

107 Books in 2005

I'm not going to link these. I'm also going to be a total slacker and not write reviews of the books I read in the fall. But I will for one book because it is SO AWESOME that everyone should read it. Wait until after the list for more info!

1. Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Bob-Whtie Cave
2. Trixie Belden adn the Mystery on Cabbot's Island
3. White Bikini Panties
4. Getting Garbo
5. Pursuading Annie
6. The Family Tree
7. Guiding Lights
8. Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Emeralds
9. Every Boy's Got One
10. The Cloud Atlas 2/28
11. Empires of Light 3/4
12. The Librarian 3/12
13. Perfect Switch 3/20
14. A Hard Man is Good to Find 3/20
15. When He Was Wicked 3/21
16. Charmed 3/21
17. Since You're Leaving Anyway, Take Out the Trash 3/22
18. Secrets of the Night 3/27
19. Jack and Jill 3/28
20. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America 4/4
21. The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright 4/4
22. The Damsel in this Dress 4/8
23. Hot and Bothered
24. I'm No Angel
25. Whole Lotta Trouble
26. The road to Purgatory 4/11
27. Millard Filmore, Mon Amour 4/19
28. Unshelved 4/18
29. The Virgin 5/1
30. Swing 5/2
31. The Blue astle 5/3
32. A Tangled Web 5/6
33. The Cat Who Went Bananas 5/6
34. Josie and Jack 5/7
35. I'm not the New Me 5/8
36. Take a Hint, Clint 5/12
37. Prep 5/15
38. Blink 5/19
39. Whose Wedding is it Anyway?
40. The Wisdom of Crowds
41. Painted for the Kill 6/6
42. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community 6/7
43. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
44. Adventures in a TV Nation 6/15
45. Better Together: Restoring the American Community 6/20
46. Summer in the City 6/21
47. The Dating Game 6/22
48. Three Bedrooms in Chelsea 6/27
49. The Second Assistant: A Tale from the Bottom of the Hollywood Ladder 6/28
50. The Pursuit of Love 6/30
51. At the Shores 7/3
52. 44 Scotland Street 7/4
53. It's In His Kiss 7/5
54. Man Hunting 7/7
55. Thursday's Child 7/7
56. Superior Death 7/9
57. Love in a Cold Climate 7/11
58. Original Cyn 7/16
59. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 7/17
60. Miss Library Lady 7/17
61. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 7/17
62. Plain Language 7/18
63. Do You Come Here Often? 7/20
64. Not a Girl Detective 7/20
65. I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason 7/24
66. Wolves in Chic Clothing 7/24
67. Vegan Virgin Valentine 7/28
68. How to Win Friends and Influence People 8/1
69. The Historian 8/4
70. Unimaginable Zero Summer 8/6
71. The Pajama Game 8/7
72. Mafia Chic 8/9
73. Confessions of a Teen Sleuth 8/17
74. The Go-To Girl 8/20
75. Lion fo Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer 8/22
76. The Waitress 8/23
77. The Glass Castle 8/25
78. Dreaming in Black and White 9/5
79. Never Let Me Go 9/2
80. Happiness Sold Separately 9/7
81. A Garden in Paris 9/10
82. The Genius Factory 9/15
83. To Darkness and To Death 9/17
84. Freakonomics 9/22
85. The Illustrated Mum 9/25
86. Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way 10/6
87. How to Be Famous 10/12
88. The Sound of Her Name 10/14
89. The Man Camp 10/15
90. The Wonder Spot 10/26
91. Match Me If You Can 10/28
92. The Girls They Left Behind 10/28
93. Mr. Blue 11/10
94. The Bachelorette Party 11/13
95. Lost Geography 11/11
96. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her 11/15
97. Double Date 11/15
98. Double Feature 11/17
99. Showboat Summer 11/20
100. Double Wedding
101. The Undertaker's Wife 12/2
102. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Men I've Dated 12/12
103. Lunchonette: A Memoir 12/13
104. The Girl She Left Behind 12/15
105. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 12/24
106. The Accidental Masterpiece 12/26
107. As Simple As Snow

Grand totals:
38 Chick lit/romance novels
33 Plain fiction books
17 Young Adult/Children's books
18 Non-fiction books

Not bad! I knew that I read more non-fiction than before, but I do honestly read a big, big chunk of fiction. Yup, 89 out of the 107 were fiction! I think part of the big romance novel/chick lit comes from working at the library and wanting something fluffy to read at lunchtime. I don't think it's bad, but perhaps I should work on getting the fiction/non-fiction ratio up.

Anyway, what would I recommend reading? Typing up my list really made me remember reading most of these books, so I've got a few.

As Simple As Snow is awesome. Seriously, I bought it! I LOVE this book. It's a mystery with codes and a disappearing girl. Teenage love and dealing with loss. Great quick read. I am rereading it when it comes to try to figure things out. READ IT!!!!! BTW, it's a YA book. Awesome for all ages though.

I don't think I wrote a review of Lost Geography, but it's another
really good book about three generations of a family. I forgot about it, but it was a book that I would definitely consider re-reading.

At the Shores was probably my favorite book of the summer. A boy's coming of age story that really made me understand (a little) why boys do the things they do. Excellent, excellent!

Prep was great. It made a lot of top 10 of 2005 lists, but it seriously is good. I love stories with midwesterners in them.

The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright was a really creepy book, but very, very fascinating. I would definitely recommend it. I keep meaning to find her picture books at the library.

The Family Tree was another excellent book that I recommended to a lot of people. Set in England, it's about a family during different time periods -- I think it was the present and the 1970s. Good stuff and lots of pop culture references. Can't really go wrong with pop culture!

The Devil in the White City was another fascinating read. I found the details about the fair to be interesting and the psychopathic serial killer was also very fascinating, especially because the juxtaposition worked! I know it's a few years old, but if you haven't read it, READ IT!

The Glass Castle was another really good biography. It has to be read to be believed, but her story of struggle with her family -- living out in the dessert and in the backwoods of West Virginia (?) is something that will stick with me the rest of my life.

The Wonder Spot, by Melissa Banks, was a really good set of short stories chronically the life of a young woman. I wasn't a big fan of The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, but this one was really good. I enjoyed reading it in the fall.

Unimaginable Zero Summer. The last book I'll talk up. I really liked this book, all about the approaching high school reunion in a town outside of Chicago. Great midwest setting and the characters seemed like people you would like to be friends with. It's more of a Generation X book than my generation (the Millenials or Generation Y, whatever label you want to put on me), but I still really related with it.

So, I've already managed to read three books this year.

1. Lovehandles 1/5

An Avalon Romance about a radiostation (WLVH, Lovehandles, where love is more than just a song) which was totally cheesy. Totally. But how can you pass up a book with a title like that? The answer is you can't. Or if you're me, you can't. Please don't read this unless you are deathly bored.

2. Patti Lewis, Home Economist 1/5

Another Career Romance for Young Moderns. At the library, there is a display of YA fiction from the basement and I keep reading it. I love cheesy 1950s (or earlier!) YA fiction. It rules!

3. Mystery at the Fair 1/6

Another YA Fiction from the basement. Total fluff.

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