02 January 2011

Resolution to Read

Remember how I had a list of ten resolutions at the beginning of 2010? It was going to be my finest year; the year I did everything I had ever wanted to do but for one reason or another had put on the back burner. Yeah, well, that didn't happen. The year threw me one too many curve balls and I just couldn't cope. So let's just skip the review of 2010 shall we?

The one goal I did get close to accomplishing was the reading of 100 books. I decided to do this when a friend mentioned how she had to read 100 books in a semester for a Children's Literature class. I believe about twenty of them had to be what the education world calls "chapter books," and the rest could be picture books or non-fiction titles. I thought, "Huh! I bet I could read 100 books, but all of them chapter books. Remember that one time I read 10 books in a week?" Arrogant, wasn't I? It came to bite me in the end, don't worry. I somehow forgot to account for the fact that I now have three kids to raise and a house to clean and clean and clean again. And perhaps I didn't realize how much time I waste on TV and internet usage. By November I was scrambling to read one or two books a day and neglecting most of my other responsibilities. So all in all, I only read 97 books and a few dozen I am embarrassed to have counted because they were so short, but oh well.

Here they are in chronological order:

1- Viking Ships at Sunrise by Mary Pope Osborne

2- Vacation under a Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne

3- Lions at Lunchtime by Mary Pope Osborne

4- The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

5- Good Morning, Gorillas by Mary Pope Osborne

6- The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart

7- Day of the Dragon King by Mary Pope Osborne

8- Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

9- Tigers at Twilight by Mary Pope Osborne

10- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

11- The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

12- Papa Married a Mormon by John D Fitzgerald

13- Mamma’s Boarding House by John D Fitzgerald

14- On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck

15- Civil War on Sunday by Mary Pope Osborne

16- A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

17- Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

18- Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

19- Best Shorts: favorite short stories for sharing selected by Avi

20- Shopaholic takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

21- The Book of Mormon

22- Born Standing Up (Audio CD) by Steve Martin

23- The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy

24- The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

25- Night of the New Magicians by Mary Pope Osborne

26- Night of the Ninjas by Mary Pope Osborne

27- The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

28- The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

29- Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne

30- Dark Day in the Deep Sea by Mary Pope Osborne

31- A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

32- Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne

33- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

34- The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

35- The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

36- Lucinda’s Secret by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

37- The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

38- The Wrath of Mulgarath by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

39- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

40- Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

41- Charlie Bone and the Time Twister by Jenny Nimmo

42- Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy by Jenny Nimmo

43- Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors by Jenny Nimmo

44- Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne

45- Charlie Bone and the Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo

46- Charlie Bone and the Beast by Jenny Nimmo

47- Charlie Bone and the Shadow by Jenny Nimmo

48- Charlie Bone and the Red Knight by Jenny Nimmo

49- Season of the Sandstorms by Mary Pope Osborne

50- Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff

51- Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

52- Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt

53- A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt

54- Twister on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne

55- The Nixie’s Song by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

56- A Giant Problem by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

57- The Wyrm King by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

58- Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

59- Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech

60- Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

61 – The Wednesday Letters by Jason F Wright

62- The Robe by Lloyd C Douglas

63- The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

64- Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne

65- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

66- Tonight on the Titanic by Mary Pope Osborne

67- Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne

68- Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer

69- The Time Thief by Linda Buckley-Archer

70- The Time Quake by Linda Buckley-Archer

71- Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey

72- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

73- Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

74- River Secrets by Shannon Hale

75- Forest Born by Shannon Hale

76- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

77- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

78- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

79- Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent

80- The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup

81- Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka

82- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

83- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney

84- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney

85- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney

86- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

87- The Not-So-Jolly Roger by Jon Scieszka

88- The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud

89- The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

90- The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

91- A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

92- The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo

93- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

94- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

95- The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney

96- Oh Say, I Can’t See by Jon Scieszka

97- Polar Bears Past Bedtime by Mary Pope Osborne

I'm afraid if I add commentary or recommendations this post will be a mile long so perhaps if you are interested in any additional info you could comment and I will write more as necessary.
Happy Reading!

4 comments:

  1. I say count it. 97 is darn close to 100 and if your year was crazy, you deserve a little buffer room. I still haven't read Mockingjay because I rarely buy books and I'm at the bottom of the reserve list at the library. Was it as violent as I've heard?

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  2. I enjoyed looking through these. Did you love Papa Married a Mormon or what? That's one of my favorites. How did you like the Attolia series? And how about the Time Travelers series?

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  3. Camille - Melanie has Mockingjay if you want to borrow it and I didn't think it was any more violent than the first one, well maybe a little. I cringed through the entire first part of Hunger Games wondering why I was even reading these books but they turned out to be pretty good.

    Bridget - I did love Papa Married a Mormon, thanks for blogging about it so I could discover it! I liked "The Thief" the best in the Attolia series; I thought it could have been a stand alone book, but I guess there aren't too many of those these days. And I enjoyed the Time Travelers series too, I'm thinking about reading to my husband.

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  4. I say 97 is pretty amazing!! You are awesome!

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