My New Year’s resolution for 2010 was to read 36 books in the year.  I am happy to say that I not only accomplished the goal; I managed to make it a total of 41 books!

Here is a list of the books and authors in the order that I finished them (explanation for a random work related book being finished in the middle of reading the Harry Potter series).  Oh, and I’m not linking them to anything since I’m fairly certain you are all savvy enough to google them.

1.  Mansfield Park – Jane Austen

2.  Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

3.  Flight Lessons – Patricia Gaffney

4.  Almost Heaven – Judith McNaught

5.  Little House on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder

6.  Farmer Boy – Laura Ingalls Wilder

7.  On the Banks of Plum Creek – Laura Ingalls Wilder

8.  By the Shores of Silver Lake – Laura Ingalls Wilder

9.  The Long Winter - Laura Ingalls Wilder

10.  Little Town on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder

11.  These Happy Golden Years – Laura Ingalls Wilder

12.  The First Four Years – Laura Ingalls Wilder

13.  Lady of the Mansion – George McDonald

14.  Little House in the Big Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder

15.  A Single Shard – Linda Sue Park

16.  The Apothecary’s Daughter – Julie Klassen

17.  The Borrowers – Mary Norton

18.  Will Jesus Buy Me A Double-Wide?  (Cause I Need More Room For My Plasma TV) – Karen Spears Zacharias

19.  Married By Morning – Lisa Kleypas

20.  Love In The Afternoon – Lisa Kleypas

21.  One Day - David Nicholls

22.  A Woman’s Place – Lynn Austin

23.  Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert

24.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling

25.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling

26.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling

27.  The Me I Want to Be – John Ortberg

28.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling

29.  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling

30.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

31.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling

32.  On a Highland Shore – Kathleen Givens

33.  The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

34.  Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins

35.  Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins

36.  Rivals for the Crown – Kathleen Givens

37.  Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay

38.  Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

39.  Goddess of the Hunt - Tessa Dare

40.  Contingency Plans – David K. Wheeler (I know him!)

41.  The Romantics – Galt Niederhoffer

And some thoughts…

*My favorites were the series – namely the Little House series, the Harry Potter series, and the Hunger Games trilogy.  I was so sad when I finished with Harry Potter just because they were so fun to read.

*My least favorites were probably One Day, Never Let Me Go, and The Romantics.  This surprised me because they are all popular enough to either have been made into a movie or are in the process of being made into one.  None of them were terrible, but there were always a few things that annoyed me throughout each of those books.

*It’s fun to read over the list and remember different things about the year because of them like where I was when reading it or who recommended or lent it to me.  Lots of connections to all sorts of places and people.

2011′s Resolution:

I decided to continue in the same thread with this year’s resolution.  I plan to try and read 36 books again, but this time at least 6 of them have to be classics I’ve never read before.  Right now I’m thinking about The Scarlet Letter, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and something by Dickens.  These might change depending on what mood I’m in when I get to it, but there are quite a few books that I’m a bit ashamed to say I haven’t read especially since I was an English Lit major in college.  I apparently decided to start off with a bang because I began Anna Karenina last night.  817 pages and I have a feeling it won’t read as quickly as the Harry Potter series.

 

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