Through the Years - Number Ones

I'm scheduling this post out for January 1, 2013. If it actually posts and there's anyone around to read it, that means we made it. There was no Mayan Apocalypse. The end of the Mayan calendar was just because the poor calendar maker had to stop somewhere. He was pretty tired.

Anyway, I started this blog in 2009 as an offshoot of my activity on Shelfari. But I'd joined Shelfari to save my sanity back in 2006, right after I'd graduated from college. I've been keeping track of my number one favorite reads from each year since then. Here they are:

2006 - Jude the Obscure (Signet Classics)

2007 - Jane Eyre (Dover Thrift Editions)

Jane Eyre is your first rate super heroine. I loved this book. It seems before its time in the way that Jane never compromises herself. She stays true to who she is and doesn't let circumstances, people, or religion, dictate her life. I definitely was not expecting this to be as good as it is, and breezed through it very quickly. 

2008 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

I loved this book from beginning to end. I have so many things to say, but nothing quite grasps just how good this was. Kavalier & Clay will stay with me for a long time. Absolutely beautiful. Funny in a way that you must sometimes laugh in the hands that life deals you. True in spirit. Amazing.  

2009 - The Shining

Loved, loved, loved. I recently became obsessed with the movie, thinking it incredibly amazing. Beyond a horror story, the study of the human character. And the nature of evil. And god, Jack on that staircase and Wendy with the bat. I could watch that scene over and over. Anyway, I've never (except for when I was in middle school reading R.L. Stine and realize that his books were too juvenile for me) had the desire to read King, but the word from everyone was: If you liked the movie, you'll love the book.

The book was, as it often is, so much better. I've a respect for King I never thought I'd have. Though, you can't truly say that until you try. What a fantastic writer! This man knows where it's at. The book was absolutely amazing, much more than a horror story, with it's exploration of familial relationships and the essence of evil. 

2010 - Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People

Wow.

Raven is the story of Jim Jones and the People's Temple - told by Tim Reiterman, a journalist who survived the massacre of the Ryan party in Guyana just hours before more than 900 People's Temple members committed "revolutionary" suicide with poisoned Grape-Aid. Reiterman begins at the beginning - the birth and early life of Jim Jones and moves carefully forward, in almost 600 pages, to chronicle the rise and fall of a people who put their lives in the hands of a sociopath. 

2011 - Geek Love: A Novel

Not at all what its title implies - even when you find out exactly what Katherine Dunn means by Geek. Should have been called Freak Love, but I think the mystery and the - "Oh my god, this isn't about two nerds falling in love?" is half the attraction.

Concerning a traveling carnival whose acts were bred instead of hired - the story is told by Olympia Binewski, a bald, albino, hunchback dwarf and the youngest daughter of Lil and Al Binewski. 

2012 - Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

Last Call is  intelligent, thorough,and fun. The book had me researching and discussing a topic I hadn't given much thought of before. 

Top 10(ish) of 2012 (& See Ya Later?)

I've slowed down considerably at the end of this year, and I'm not sure why. Other interests and activities - a lot of crocheting, letterboxing, hiking, and watching of both Bones & Buffy via Netflix. I haven't felt like reading a GD thing since deciding to not finish the terrible Casual Vacancy, which means I didn't at all meet my goal of 44 novels - reaching only 31. Still - I read some quality literature this year and it doesn't all fit neatly into a Top 10.

Top 7 5-Star Reviews

7. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
6. Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick
5. Inside Out & Back Again - Thanhha Lai
4. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver (and about Adam Lanza)
3. The Climb - Anatoli Boukreev
2. Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer 
1. Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition - Daniel Okrent

I really love it when my favorite books of the year are non-fiction titles.

#s 8, 9, & 10

There are too many titles that fit the last few numbers on my list. Forced to choose by my own controlling nature, I'd go with:

10. Legend of a Suicide - David Vann
9. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
8. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin

However, the following titles are all just as incredible and could take the place of any of the above:

Green Hills of Africa - Ernest Hemingway
Kingdom Come - Mark Waid, Alex Ross
The Walking Dead - Robert Kirkman
Babbitt - Sinclair Lewis
The Postmortal - Drew Magary
Lump - Leena Luther

To finalize, I was sitting in my library and staring at my shelves and realized that I'd really like to spend a year reading with abandon. That means reading whatever I please without worrying about posting reviews or maintaining any lists. I've taken leave before and reserve my right to do it again - I'll be stepping away from this for a little while. Posting will be sporadic and few. I have a post set to go up at the end of the year, if we make it beyond the End of the World. Otherwise... radio silence.

Top Ten Favorites of All Time

Part of the new blog look was creating this awesome Feed Your Addiction Bookstore where my readers could shop for books if you all felt like taking my recommendations. In going through the exercise to populate each of the sub-stores with books, I realized - I've never done a Top Ten Favorite Books of ALL TIME as listed on Shelfari. Here goes - in absolutely no particular order.


Ishmael - This book brings up so many difficult to comprehend realities about the state of the world in which we live. And, even though it's about taking care of the planet we live on - I didn't find it preachy or over-the-top. Just incredibly written and so very moving. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

Cat's Cradle - My favorite Vonnegut, for sure. Cat's Cradle: A Novel

Hamlet - Just such an amazing play. My copy of Hamlet is so well-worn and filled with notes, it'd be ridiculous if I didn't include it in my Top Ten. Hamlet

The Sun Also Rises - And the book that made me fall in love with Ernest Hemingway. Since my relationship with the author is fairly deep, this book (also well-worn and FILLED to the brim with notes) will forever hold a special place in my heart. The Sun Also Rises

The Count of Monte Cristo - I tore through this book when we read it in high school. I've been meaning to give it a re-read for years. Maybe next year, I'll take the time to read through all of my favorites and see if they still hold the same enchantment for me. The Count of Monte Cristo

Fall On Your Knees - This is one that's sure to never leave my list. I've read it several times and fall even more in love with it every time. It's incredibly haunting. So beautifully written, it hurts. If this wasn't such a contemporary novel, it'd certainly be a classic. Fall On Your Knees (Oprah's Book Club)

Lord of the Rings - Before Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom, there was the Fellowship. LOTR was the first book to ever cause me to miss characters I'd become even more familiar with than some of my own friends. The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition

Chronicles of Narnia - Read and re-read, again and again. The Magicians Nephew is my particular favorite of the series, as it gives the origin of the Wardrobe and the background of Professor Diggory Kirke. The Complete Chronicles of Narnia

Harry Potter - I've lost count of how many times I've either read or listened to these books. I don't think I'll ever grow tired of them. Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-7)

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - I re-read this one pretty often as well. I think it was the first book that I ever read that had such an amazing twist - it taught me that not every book is predictable and that girls can be heroes, too. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle


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Top Ten Books for 2011

I wish I had read more this year. It's my goal for next year to read more. And get some quality non-fiction in. Not just celebrity memoirs. Surprising though, for the so few books that I've read, there are three books that I read this year that stand out as clear favorites. I'm going to have a hard time choosing which one is the ultimate favorite of 2011. And books 9 - 5 are also pretty equally seeded.  But, I'll give it a go:

10. The Elephant to Hollywood - Michael Caine
9.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick
8. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
7. The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
6. Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
5. Life Among the Savages - Shirley Jackson
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Schaffer & Annie Barrows
3. Of Mice & Men - John Steinbeck
2. A Northern Light - Jennifer Donnelly
1. Geek Love - Katherine Dunn

It was so hard to choose between A Northern Light and Geek Love! I loved them both so much. But I think Geek Love was very clearly my favorite book of this year, especially with its tie-ins to last year's favorite book of the year.

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Top Ten of Twenty Ten

Though I haven't yet finished the last of my four books to finish before the end of the year, here are my Top Ten favorite books of this year. While From Eternity to Here is good, it isn't going to make this list. So I don't need to worry. This is seriously my favorite post of the year, every year.

10. Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
9. Faithful Place - Tana French
8. Valley of the Dolls - Jacqueline Susann
7. The Ear, the Eye and the Arm - Nancy Farmer
6. Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
5. The Giver - Lois Lowry
4. Hunger Games (trilogy) - Suzanne Collins
3. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
2. Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
1. Raven - Tim Reiterman


Also - a year end review of my resolutions:

- Read between 35 and 50 books this year. 35 being the final total of 2009 and 50(something) being the number I burnt myself out on in 07 and 08. I ended up with 34. Not too shabby. I read some good quality books this year.

- Stop using my credit card and fix my debt (it's already been two months since I last used it. Huzzah!) I got rid of the crippling debt on my credit card by applying for a personal loan and am no longer freaking out about the state of my finances. Now if I only had a million dollars....

- Read at least two works of non-fiction - filling out my notebook as I go along. I read Raven and I'm halfway through From Eternity to Here. I should finish before the end of the year.

- FINISH Les Miserables. I believe I have something like 3 or 400 pages left. No, but I'm considering focusing on TWO books only in 2011. This and War & Peace.

- Keep my apartment neat. Well, I kept it clean the week I was kitten sitting...

- Write a review for every book I read this year.

- Update my blog with all of my book reviews. That I definitely did.

- Write. Anything. I participated hardcore in NANOWRIMO this year. Didn't finish, but still made it to 30-something thousand words. I'm happy with my creative output this year.


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Top Ten of 2009

Since the woman in the upstairs apartment is blaring her TV and stomping around like it isn't 11 at night, I'm going to take the time to post my Top Ten of 2009. Though it's a tad premature, I'm confident it's complete, as I'm using these last weeks to finish up Lolita and possibly Raven. Sometime during the WEEK I HAVE OFF BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS (working in publishing is so great) I'll post a full list of the books I've read this year with their ratings.

This list only includes books I've read for the first time. So, Pride and Prejudice has a much higher rating than Mansfield Park and is on my reading list for the year, I've already read it about a thousand times and it doesn't count.

Drum roll. Please.

Top Ten of 2009!

10. American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis
9. The Beach - Alex Garland
8. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
7. V for Vendetta - Alan Moore, David Lloyd
6. Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin
5. The Likeness - Tana French
4. Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Andersen
3. Stitches - David Small
2. Watchmen - Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
1. The Shining - Stephen King

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