2009 Books in Review

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First off, here's the final list of books read in 2009,

Read Entirely in 2009
1. Heat Lightning - John Sandford (S) (M)
2. The Discworld Graphic Novels (The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic)- Terry Pratchett (GN) (SF) (S)
3. Brisingr - Christopher Paolini (YA) (S) (F)
4. Stolen - Kelly Armstrong (S) (V)
5. MacBeth (original text graphic novel) (GN)
6. Blood Lite (anthology) (SW) (V)
7. Buried Onions - Gary Soto (AOC) (YA)
8. The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues - Ellen Raskin (YA) (R ) (M)
9. The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin (YA) (R ) (M)
10. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (AOC)
11. City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau (YA) (SF) (S) (F)
12. Fables: Sons of Empire - Bill Willingham (GN) (S)
13. Wild Ducks Flying Backwards - Tom Robbins (SW)
14. Blue Light - Walter Mosley (AOC) (SF)
15. Snow White and Rose Red - Patricia Wrede (F)
16. Coraline - Neil Gaiman (R ) (YA)
17. Fledgling - Octavia Butler (AOC) (V)
18. Dawn - Octavia Butler (AOC) (S) (SF)
19. American Gods - Neil Gaiman (F) (R )
20. All the Colors of Darkness - Peter Robinson (M)(S)
21. White Witch, Black Curse - Kim Harrison (S) (V)
22. Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs (S) (V)
23. Chalice - Robin McKinley (F) (read a second time in December)
24. Beauty - Robin McKinley (F)
25. Dinosaur Tales - Ray Bradbury (R of most stories) (SF) (SW)
26. Wolfskin - Juliet Marillier (S) (F)
27. The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge - John Bellairs/Brad Strickland (M) (S) (YA)
28. Wolf Tower - Tanith Lee (S) (F) (YA)
29. Superior Saturday - Garth Nix (F) (S) (SF) (YA)
30. Dime Store Magic - Kelly Armstrong (S) (V)
31. Industrial Magic - Kelly Armstrong (S) (V)
32. Four is a Crowd - Emily Chase (S) (YA)
33. Dead Girls are Easy - Terry Gerey (S) (V)
34. Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere - Kate Harding & Marianne Kirby (NF)
35. Taste of Night - Vicki Pettersson (S)(V)
36. Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley (S) (SF)
37. Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs (S) (V)
38. Tithe - Holly Black (S) (F) (YA)
39. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld (S) (SF) (YA)
40. A Match Made in Hell - Terry Garey (S) (V)
41. Pretties - Scott Westerfeld (S) (SF) (YA)
42. Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris (S)(V)
43. Nation - Terry Pratchett (YA)(SF)
44. Damage Control - J.A. Jance (S)(M)
45. Haunted - Kelly Armstrong (S) (V)
46. Specials - Scott Westerfeld (S) (SF) (YA)
47. Broken - Kelly Armstrong (S) (V)
48. Hatter M - Frank Beddor, et al (S)(GN)(F)
49. A Child Across the Sky - Jonathan Carroll (F)
50. Stormy Weather - Carl Hiassen
51. Foxmask - Juliet Marillier (S) (F)
52. Jenny of the Tetons - Kristiana Gregory (YA)
53. Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie (M)
54. Adulthood Rites - Octavia Butler (AOC) (S) (SF)
55. Lucky You - Carl Hiassen
56. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (R ) (S) (F) (YA)
57. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (F) (R ) (S) (TA)
58. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation - Ray Bradbury, Tim Hamilton (R for text) (GN) (SF)
59. Wicked Prey - John Sanford (M) (S)
60. Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey (S) (F)
61. 8th Confession - James Patterson (M) (S)
62. Extras - Scott Westerfeld (S) (SF) (YA)
63. The Forest House - Marion Zimmer Bradley (S) (F)
64. Heir to Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier (S) (F)
65. Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs (S) (V)
66. Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman (GN) (R ) (S) (F)
67. Rose Daughter - Robin McKinley (F)
68. White Apples - Jonathan Carroll (F)
69. Making Money - Terry Pratchett (S) (SF)
70. The Dark Mirror - Juliet Marillier (S) (F)
71. Fables: The Good Prince - Bill Willingham (GN) (S)
72. Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi (AOC) (GN) (S)
73. The Blade of Fortiu - Juliet Marillier (S) (F)
74. Sandman: The Doll's House - Neil Gaiman (GN) (R ) (S) (F)
75. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (v.1) - Alan Moore (GN) (S) (SF)
76. Coraline: The Graphic Novel - Neil Gaiman (GN) (R ) (F) (YA)
77. Succubus Blues - Rachelle Mead (S) (V)
78. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (v.2) - Alan Moore (GN) (S) (SF)
79. Skin Tight - Laurel K. Hamilton (S)(V)
80. Palimpsest - Catherynne M. Valente (F)
81. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin (F) (S)
82. A People's History of the American Empire - Howard Zinn, et al (GN) (NF)
83. The Sharing Knife: Beguilement - Lois McMaster Bujold (F) (S)
84. The Gates of Sleep - Mercedes Lackey (S) (F)
85. Sandman: Dream Country - Neil Gaiman (GN) (R ) (S) (F)
86. Wildwood Dancing - Juliet Marillier (S) (F) (YA)
87. Skinny Dip - Carl Hiassan
88. Bread and Butter Journey - Anne Culver (YA) (S) (R )
89. Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs (S) (V)
90. No Humans Involved - Kelley Armstrong (S) (V)
91. Double Whammy - Carl Hiassan
92. The Wooden Sea - Jonathan Carroll (F)
93. Lady of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley (S) (F)
94. The House Where Nobody Lived - Brad Strikland (YA) (M) (S)
95. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare (S)(YA) (V)
96. Touch of Twilight - Vicki Pettersson (S)(V)
97. The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury (R ) (YA) (SF)
98. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
99. Sandman: Season of Mists - Neil Gaiman (GN) (R ) (S) (F)
100. Real Food for Mother and Baby - Nina Planck (NF) (S)
101. The Austure Academy - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
102. The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
103. The Vile Village - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
104. The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
105. The Carniverous Carnival - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
106. The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
107. The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
108. The Pentultimate Peril - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
109. The End - Lemony Snickett (YA) (S)
110. Quicker than the Eye - Ray Bradbury (SW) (SF)
111. Feminist Theory from Margin to Center - bell hooks (NF) (AOC)
112. The Ghostway - Tony Hillerman (S) (M)
113. The Sharing Knife: Legacy - Lois McMaster Bujold (F) (S)
114. Sandman: Game of You - Neil Gaiman (GN) (R ) (S) (F)
115. The Sharing Knife: Passage - Lois McMaster Bujold (F) (S)
116. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare (S)(YA) (V)
117. Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue (YA) (SW) (F)
118. The Sharing Knife: Horizon - Lois McMaster Bujold (F) (S)
119. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (R )
120. Odd and the Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman (YA) (F)

Chapter books read with Son
1-7 The Magic School Bus Chapter Books (v. 5, 14, 16-20)
8-11. Captain Underpants (v. 1, 3-5)
Dinosaurs - Magic Treehouse Reference Book
Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major - Ron Kidd
Chasing George Washington - Ron Kidd
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - JK Rowling (R for me) (S)

Started in 2008 or before, finished in 2009
1. Shakespeare's Christmas - Charlaine Harris (2008) (S)
2. Divine Horsemen, The Living Gods of Haiti - Myra Deren (2006) (NF)

In progress (if not started in 2009, starting year in parens)
Ulysses - James Joyce (2005)
Jambalaya - L. Tisch (2007) (AOC) (NF)
Who Let the Dogs In - Molly Ivins (2008) (SW) (NF)
13 1/2 - Nevada Barr (M)
Lover Avenged - J.R. Ward (S) (V)


Island of the Could Not Finish
Guilty Pleasures v 2 - Laurel K. Hamilton (GN) (S) (V)
One for the Money - Janet Evanovich (S)(M)
Tag Against Time - Helen Hughes Vick (YA) (S) (SF)
Un Lun Dun - China Mieville (YA) (F)
No Defense - Kate Wilhelm (S)(M)


Some coding:
(AOC) = Author of Color
(F) = Fantasy
(GN) = Graphic Novel
(M) = Mystery
(NF) = Non-fiction
(R ) = Reread
(S) = Series
(SF) = Science Fiction
(SW) = Short Works
(V) = Vampires, werewolves, and witches, oh my!
(YA) = Young Adult

And now for some analysis:
So, definitely met the standing 100+ books goal with 120 unique books last year.
In addition, there were 2 books that I started prior to this year and finished, one that’s part of a mystery series, another non-fiction history of Haitian voodoo.
I gave up on 5 books entirely. Of these, 3 were by authors I’ve read before and enjoyed, including one adaptation from a book I enjoyed originally and one sequel.
As of Jan. 1, I had 5 books still in progress (note that of the 2 started in 2009, 1 I’ve given up on and 1 is completed, but that’s for a year from now). The 3 remaining are from previous years. Maybe this will be the year I actually plow through Ulysses.

I got pretty haphazard about tracking reading with the boy this year. Ultimately, I just started noting books that I would/have read on my own as well. I’m just not up for keeping track of 40 Scooby Doo chapter books.

As for the rest of the analysis:
• 15 of these were rereads, and that doesn’t count that I read 1 book twice.
• 83 were books in series of various kinds.
• In terms of genre, 39 were fantasy (as defined personally), 37 were YA, 19 sci-fi, 22 involved vampires, werewolves or other staples of urban fantasy (I categorized these differently, because Anita Blake just feels different to me than, say, Mists of Avalon), 11 were mysteries
• In terms of form, 5 were short works (usually short stories), 17 were graphic novels and 4 were non-fiction (and 1 of those was a graphic novel)
• Looking at authors, only 8 books were written by authors identified as non-white, 26 total were new to me (accounting for roughly 38 books read) and approximately 58 distinct authors represented overall.

Every year I tend to beat myself up for the fact that I read a lot of genre fiction and not a lot of “classics” or books that are generally heralded as books of substance. But screw that. I read for entertainment and what entertains me are stories about vampires and fictional societies where magic exists in some form and dystopic alien worlds and mysteries where I can lose myself for a while. I could whip out my hairshirt about the fact that I don’t really enjoy biographies and non-fiction much outside of humorous pop-cult essays, but really, why bother. I still read more than probably 90% of the population and I’m teaching my kid to value reading for its own sake and am continuing to discover new sub-genres and authors that I thoroughly enjoy. So, go me. Or something like that.