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

Books Read by Year

I only started tracking the books I read when this blog started up in August 2010, so sorry to say that any books read prior to then have either been reviewed & listed under Author (where you can also find all books I've reviewed) or are long since forgotten :(

Titles are listed by year that I read the book (with the grand total in brackets) & then alphabetically.  Click titles for reviews.  My ranking of each book is in ( ).


2012 (total:  11)
*Totals exclude DNF books, but they are listed below

11/22/63- Stephen King (A)
Contact- Carl Sagan (A)
Coraline- Neil Gaiman (B)
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next series, #1)- Jasper Fforde (A)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest- Millennium series, #3- Stieg Larsson (B)
The Girl Who Played With Fire- Millennium series, #2- Stieg Larsson (B)
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte (A)
Persuasion- Jane Austen (A)
Pygmalion- George Bernard Shaw (A)
Seriously...I'm Kidding- Ellen DeGeneres (B)
Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good- Paul Newman & A.E. Hotchner (B)


2011 (total:  58)
*Totals exclude DNF books, but they are listed below

A is For Alibi- Sue Grafton (#1- Kinsey Millhone series) (A)
Alice in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll (A+)
American on Purpose- Craig Ferguson (B)
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret- Judy Blume (A)
Atonement- Ian McEwan (A+)
Bag of Bones- Stephen King (A+)
Born Standing Up- Steve Martin (A)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas- John Boyne (A+)
The Cider House Rules- John Irving (B)
Cloris: My Autobiography- Cloris Leachman (C)
The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas (A+)
Earth (the Book)- Jon Stewart & staff of The Daily Show (B)
Emma- Jane Austen (B)
An Exaltation of Larks- James Lipton (A)
Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury (A+)
Film Flam- Larry McMurtry (C)
Full Dark, No Stars- Stephen King (A)
The Giver- Lois Lowry (B)
The Gunslinger (Dark Tower series, #1)- Stephen King (C)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone- J.K. Rowling (#1- Harry Potter series) (A+)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- J.K. Rowling (#2- Harry Potter series) (A)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- J.K. Rowling (#7- Harry Potter series) (A+)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- J.K. Rowling (#4- Harry Potter series) (A)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince- J.K. Rowling (#6- Harry Potter series) (A)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- J.K. Rowling (#5- Harry Potter series) (A)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- J.K. Rowling (#3- Harry Potter series) (A)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers (A)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The- Douglas Adams (#1- HHGTTG series) (A)
It- Stephen King (A)
The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini (A+)
Life Itself- Roger Ebert (B)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis (#1- Chronicles of Narnia series) (A)
Me Talk Pretty One Day- David Sedaris (A)
Middlesex- Jeffrey Eugenides (A)
Misery- Stephen King (A)
Night- Elie Wiesel (A+)
Night Shift- Stephen King (A)
The Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway (A)
Oprah: A Biography- Kitty Kelley (B)
Paul Simon: A Life- Marc Eliot (B)
Pet Sematary- Stephen King (A)
The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde (A)
A Prayer For Owen Meany- John Irving (A)
Rabbit, Run- John Updike (C)
Rebecca- Daphne du Maurier (A)
Sense & Sensibility- Jane Austen (A)
A Short History of Nearly Everything- Bill Bryson (A)
The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History- John Ortved (B)
The Stand- Stephen King (A)
Stone Diaries, The- Carol Shields (B)
Teacher Man- Frank McCourt (A)
This Time Together- Carol Burnett (B)
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee (A+)
A Twist of Lemmon- Chris Lemmon (B)
Water For Elephants- Sara Gruen (A)
Wonder Boys- Michael Chabon (A)

DNFs: 
Slaughterhouse-Five- Kurt Vonnegut
The First Wives Club- Olivia Goldsmith
The Taking of Pelham 123- John Godey
We Need to Talk About Kevin- Lionel Shriver


2010 (total: 17)
Totals exclude DNF books, but are listed below

84 Charing Cross Road- Helene Hanff (A+)
Bear Came Over the Mountain, The- Alice Munro (B)
Book of Ruth, The- Jane Hamilton (A)
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The- Steig Larsson (A)
Handmaid's Tale, The- Margaret Atwood (A+)
Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger (B)
Last Words- George Carlin (A)
Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, The- Oliver Sacks (A)
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed & Other Things I've Learned- Alan Alda (A)
On Writing- Stephen King (A+)
One True Thing- Anna Quindlen (A+)
Poisonwood Bible, The- Barbara Kingsolver (A+)
Pride & Prejudice- Jane Austen (A)
Time Traveler's Wife, The- Audrey Niffenegger (A+)
Under the Dome- Stephen King (A)
Wishful Drinking- Carrie Fisher (A)
World According to Garp, The- John Irving (A+)

DNFs:
Freedom- Jonathan Franzen