What I Read Last Year--An INCOMPLETE List for 2007, the Common Era

EVERY SO OFTEN I start keeping a list of books that I've read. Once I even tried an annotated list. Trouble is, I never manage to stay interested in these lists, and the one I began last January in the foolishness of my new year's optimism was lost along with my little moleskine notebook.

So, this list will be incomplete, but I'm having fun looking at Lee's list for titles I also read, going through the bookcases, and remembering other books that have been returned to the library or loaned out. One book leads to another, both in time and in the mind, so I've remembered a lot, but not all, of them. Blogging about some--like the Stephen King and the Margaret Atwood--has made them stick in my mind better, which reminds me of Aidan Chambers' saying: "All writing is memory," which speaks both to how we write from memory and remember what we've written about.

The lists are in no particular order. Books that made a really strong impression on me are in bold, and are followed by a one word description.



Though I just started it, Jess Walter's The Zero blew me away in the first sentence, paragraph, page, three pages. Shelter, by Beth Cooley, (another Spokanite) also has a strong beginning. Titus Groan is a slow starter, but I can't wait to really get into it!

Read in 2007

1. Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep


2. Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment (Pevear and Volkhonsky, trans.) *tortured


3. William Faulkner: Sanctuary *whiskeyjar


4. Stephen King: The Dark Tower VII *hile!
   


5. Philip Roth: Everyman *compression


6. Ian McKewan: On Chesil Beach


7. Barry Lyga: The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl


8. Robin Brande: Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature


9. Aidan Chambers: This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordia Kenn *fearless
   


10. Auralie Sheehan: History Lesson For Girls


11. Jennifer Bell: High Maintenance


12. Kevin Brooks: Candy *breakneck
    


13. Denis Johnson: Tree of Smoke *truth?
    


14. Pamela Des Barres: I'm with the Band *love . . .
    


15. John Green: Looking for Alaska *Alaska.


16. Nick Hornby: How to be Good


17. Joy Nicholson: The Tribes of Palos Verdes


18. Jeff Eugenides: Middlesex *epic


19. Margaret Atwood: Alias Grace
    


20. Carrie Jones: Tips on Having a Gay Ex-Boyfriend *real


21. Alex Richards: Backtalk *snarkvoiced


22. Erin Hunter: Warriors: Into the Wild (r/a=read aloud)


23. JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (r/a) *finale


24. JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings ( r/a) *favoritest
    


25. ibid: The Sillmarillion (r/a)
    


26. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little Town on the Prairie (r/a ) *growing up:/


27. Julie Andrews Edwards: The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles r/a

I read part of these, but drifted away from them and want to get back-- includes short stories & essays:

1. Anton Checkov: Stories (Pevear and Volkhonsky translation)


2. Margaret Atwood: Surfacing


3. Joan Didion: The White Album *true


4. Peter S. Beagle: The Last Unicorn

Currently Reading:

1. Beth Cooley: Shelter


2. Jess Walter: The Zero *amazing
   


3. Cynthia Voigt: Dicey's Song


4. Mervyn Peake: Titus Groan

Just bought or received:

1. Jess Walter: The Zero


2. Peter Cameron: Someday this Pain will be Useful to You


3. Calvin Peake: Titus Groan


4. Henry Miller: Tropic of Cancer


5. Robert Penn Warren: All the Kings Men


6. Dostoevsk: Notes From Underground


7. Jonathan Ames: Wake Up, Sir

I'm going to read a lot more this year--starting tonight.

Happy reading and Happy New Year to you!

Love and Peace . . .