50 books in 2010

The beginning:

My dad is a speed reader. Once, he taught me how. We were in the mall, waiting for my mom to finish Christmas shopping. So my dad took me to a bookstore, back when they had those in the mall. Back when they only sold books. We sat on the floor against the glass rail on the upper level, and I could feel the floor vibrate with all the footsteps of shoppers under me as I read.

Unfortunately, I don't really speed read. I know how, but when I read I tend to read a paragraph, then go back and read it again. When I read a book, I basically read it twice at once.

In January 2010, I started using the website goodreads.com. I saw a virtual book club with the same name as this blog entry. I thought "Pshaw. Who the heck has time to read 50 books in a year? That's like a book a week! Certainly no one who has kids." The last time I got really into reading, it took me 7 years to finish a series (of course I did have to wait a few years at the end for the last books to come out, and I also had 2 children in the midst of the series, but still...)! Well, probably sometime in March I realized that was exactly the pace I had been going: a book a week. So I decided to set the goal for myself.

I did it:
And so, I read 50 books in 2010. I did it! Thanks especially to my book-buddy, Erin, who basically started me on this journey of words in 2010, and then helped me to complete it by being my cheerleader when I was ready to throw in the towel around the upper-30s.

I don't plan on setting any lofty reading goals for myself this year. It did get stressful at times when a book was slow-going and I was worried I would fall too far behind. But it did re-awaken in me a love of reading. Perhaps a love I hadn't felt as strongly until this point in life. You would think an English-major would have loved to read, but I am going to be completely honest with you, reader, and confess that there were many, many assigned books that I did not read. I merely got the "gist" of them from those forbidden yellow pamphlets. But I can assure you that I actually read all 50 books below, and I can further assure you that I will continue to always have a book or 3 on my nightstand from now on (or on my iPad).

Books I loved:
It's hard to pick a favorite, I read a lot of great books. The Book Thief is definitely in the top 3, and possibly my favorite of all. If you haven't read it, please do yourself a favor and do so. I also really loved the Time Traveler's Wife. There were a few books that I was just so completely absorbed in that even when I put it down, I was still living the story. That was one of them. Another was Blindness. Haunting and so incredible.

I thoroughly enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, The Help, No Country for Old Men and the Five People You Meet in Heaven. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

Books I didn't love so much:
Dear John (boring boring boring & trite), Circle of Friends, How to Make an American Quilt and the Bridges of Madison County (they were ok but honestly I liked the movies better). Wildwater Walking Club and Friday Night Knitting Club (super boring and hard to get through).

Cute, Fun Books:
I read a lot of "chick-lit" this year, mixed in with my post-apocalyptic tendencies in order the lighten the mood perhaps. Some cute and fun ones included the Beach Street Knitting Society books and the Magic in Manhattan series.

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