Beginnings

Welcome friends! I have started this entry in the global technosphere because I have been in love with books since the age of 2. Among the busy business of being a new teacher, this is my outlet for sharing thoughts on a love of reading a wide variety of books. My inspiration can be summed up with a yearbook quote from a teacher written when I was 8: "To the only girl at recess I see reading a book. Good for you!"
My blog title is quoted from a classmate who asked me this once. Believe it or not, I've also heard it as a teacher :D

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Best of 2010 Choices & Survey

Even though we're still 23 days away from 2011 (eep!), I don't anticipate finishing any more books before then.  Right now, I'm all about finishing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and if I can do that before New Year's Rockin' Eve, then I'll be happy :D

Books Read in 2010 (14) (listed alphabetically; click titles for reviews)
Bear Came Over the Mountain, The- Alice Munro
Book of Ruth, The- Jane Hamilton
Freedom- Jonathan Franzen
Handmaid's Tale, The- Margaret Atwood
Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger
Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, The- Oliver Sacks
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed & Other Things I've Learned- Alan Alda
On Writing- Stephen King
One True Thing- Anna Quindlen (re-read)
Pride & Prejudice- Jane Austen
Time Traveler's Wife, The- Audrey Niffenegger
Under the Dome- Stephen King
Wishful Drinking- Carrie Fisher
World According to Garp, The- John Irving

...Apparently, I miscounted my titles in my year-to-date totals from my monthly summary posts *ahem*.  I probably included anything read from August 2009-August 2010 when I started this blog.  Well...that's a bummer :(  To be fair, Under the Dome was a real chunker at 1000+ pages :D

Top 10 Read in 2010
1)  The World According to Garp by John Irving
2)  The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
3)  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
4)  On Writing by Stephen King
5)  The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
6)  Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
7)  The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks
8)  Under the Dome by Stephen King
9)  Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
10)  Never Have Your Dog Stuffed & Other Things I've Learned by Alan Alda

Perpetual Pageturner is hosting an end-of-year survey that I'm going to take a crack at:

Best Book of 2010
The best book I read in 2010 (though published years earlier) is The World According to Garp by John Irving.

Worst Book of 2010
As much as it received countless critical raves, I gave up on Freedom by Jonathan Franzen after about 200 pages.  Here's why.

Most Disappointing Book of 2010
Probably Freedom.  I expected it to be better than The Corrections but it turned out to be nearly equally undesirable.

Most Surprising (in a good way) Book of 2010
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.  I really wasn't sure if I would get through it, but I came to enjoy it very much when I only thought I would just like it.

Book You Recommended to People Most in 2010
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Best Series You Discovered in 2010
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  I'm already anticipating the next two books!

Favourite New Authors I Discovered in 2010
Audrey Niffenegger, John Irving, Margaret Atwood.

Most Hiliarious Read of 2010
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher.  Read it out loud & I'll guarantee you'll be in stitches :D

Most Thrilling, Unputdownable Book of 2010
Under the Dome by Stephen King.  Nonstop suspense, then it evens out somewhat at the halfway point, and from page 700 to the end, it barrels along again!

Book You Most Anticipated in 2010
Under the Dome and Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King.  Now that I've finished Dome, it's on to the short stories!

Favourite Cover of a Book Read in 2010


Most Memorable Character in 2010
Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  Such a complex, wild genius.

Most Beautifully Written Book in 2010
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.  Her descriptions are just breathtaking.

Book That Had the Greatest Impact on You in 2010
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  It allowed me to discover dystopian fiction at its best.

Book You Can't Believe You Waited UNTIL 2010 to Finally Read
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.  Duh?!

New Favourite Book Blog Discovered in 2010
I started this blog in August, so all the blogs I've been following are newly discovered :)

Favourite Review I Wrote in 2010
Just from skimming a few, I like my retro review of The Hours by Michael Cunningham (click to read).

Best Discussion You Had on Your Blog
Probably the Top Ten Tuesday memes.  They provide lots of topics to discuss.

Most Thought-Provoking Review or Discussion You Read on Someone's Blog
I haven't read it yet, but the responses to the censorship controversy surrounding Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was eye-opening.

Best Event That You Participated In
The weekly memes I join in on have been a great way to socialize online & meet other book bloggers :)

Best Moment of Book Blogging in 2010
Getting my first follower.  Every blogger is grateful for that moment when you realize at least one other person (besides yourself!) is reading what you write.

Best Bookish Discovery
Book blogging! :D


If you participate in this survey, leave your link in the comments field.  I'd love to read your responses :)

8 comments:

  1. You've read some great books this year. P&P and Time Traveler's Wife and 2 of my favs. I'm posting my survey answers on Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just reminding you to please nominate your favorites for the Indie Literary Awards. Deadline is December 15.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cool idea! I might have to do this! My all-time favorite book is Time Traveler's Wife...love, love, love it! It's a book I have reread, and I pretty much don't reread books. Also like Her Fearful Symmetry but it was so different from Time Traveler's Wife, which, did I mention, I love, love, love? :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I didn't read it THIS year, but Stephen King's "On Writing" is one of my favorite non-fiction books ever. "Under the Dome" is memorable to me also because it was the first book I ever read on an e-reader. I am looking forward to "Full Dark, No Stars" as well.

    Happy reading in the new year ahead!

    -Jay

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree book blogging has enriched my reading.

    carol

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for all your comments! It has certainly been a great year for reading :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fun survey! I agree with you on Wishful Drinking. Carrie Fisher's is quite a talented writer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh no. You didn't like Freedom. I thought Corrections was awfully depressing, but well written. I have been waiting for a very up-ish mood to tackle it.

    Here's my Best Of list: http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2010/12/sunday-salon-best-of-2010-in-books.html

    ReplyDelete