My Best Books of 2009

For the first time ever, I was able to read at least 50 books in a year. It was a huge accomplishment for me! A few things I learned about myself in 2009:

• I read a lot of books I consider "grocery store reads" and really enjoyed some of them.
• I liked some of the books people recommended to me that I would not have otherwise read (namely The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Bitten by Kelley Armstrong).
• I realized that I was a book snob before and opening myself up to new things helped me have great conversations in groups on Shelfari and also helped me find forums that I felt comfortable posting in. I did not have any fun in a forum that discussed a different classic book every month--they were too book snobby for me!
• Joining Shelfari was great! I met a lot of people in the Anne McCaffrey and All of Her Worlds group that I share a lot in common with bookwise!

My Favorite Books of 2009

1. Atonement - Ian McEwan
2. Hyperion - Dan Simmons
3. The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
6. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. LeGuin
7. Heaven's Net is Wide - Lian Hearn
8. The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman
9. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
10. Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to Recovery - Janet F. Kitz
11. In the Woods - Tana French

I am definitely looking forward to reading in 2010. I plan on continuing to read more things that people recommend, and I'm really excited about the reading challenges I've added. I am definitely a goal oriented person so I hope having the little meter under the challenges will really motivate me.

What are your goals (reading or otherwise) for 2010? What were your favorite books of 2009?

Where to Find Reading Challenges

A few people have asked me where to find the reading challenges I've posted about. Here are a few places that I've found with good challenges:

• Miz B's Reading Challenges
• A Novel Challenge
• Royal Reviews - A Realm of Recommended Reads
• Ready When You Are, C.B. - Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge
• Passion for the Page
• Book Chick City - Challenges
• The Scrabblequeen Knits, Too - Flashback Challenge

I am contemplating the Filling in the Gaps Challenge that was posted by Kristi from Passion for the Page and I am definitely looking for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Challenge that fits my needs. I may try the one from Royal Reviews, but I'm not sure. I read a lot of Fantasy and some Science Fiction so it'd be nice to add one.

If you have a challenge on your blog that you'd like to add to my list, please post a comment and I'll put it on my list!

In the Woods - Tana French

In small town Knocknaree, Ireland, a young girl has been found dead in the woods. She has carefully been placed on an old, stone altar. Detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox get assigned to investigate the case. Some years before, two young children disappeared from these same woods. Are the cases related? 

Tana French's debut novel is brilliant. The book took me in so many different directions that I was never sure who was the murderer. Detective Rob Ryan has a link to the older disappearances--he was the third child that was in the woods that day and was found standing in blood soaked shoes. The mystery deepens because he cannot remember what happened in the woods that day. His past haunts him as he struggles to remember. 


I have read a few thrillers this year and this was definitely one of the better ones. There were so many suspects and the crime scene was only half found so I never knew what was going to happen next in the book. I found myself reading at night with my Mighty Bright light in bed and I'd look up and see the clock beaming 4:00 am. While I don't like the insomnia that it's caused, I love books that engage me so much I am unaware of time passing. 


I never like to give away too much when I read thrillers or mysteries because I don't want to ruin the story. I will say that this book kept me guessing and was really well written. If you are looking for a book with a complicated plot that isn't scary, you should give this book a try. I will definitely be picking up the followup, The Likeness for my Thriller and Suspense Challenge in 2010. 

Challenges 2010 - Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge 2010

I am adding one more reading challenge for this upcoming year. It is hosted by Book Chick City. I haven't chosen my books yet, but I really enjoyed reading in the Thriller genre this last year so I am looking forward to this challenge! I will post a link to my ongoing list when I start my first book!

Timeline: 01 Jan 2010 - 31 Dec 2010

Rules: To read TWELVE (12) thrillers in 2010

Details: 

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront then you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• If you decide to participate in this challenge please use the links I have set up below with the buttons to post on your sidebar, this way others can find their way back to this post and join in the fun.

• If you decide to join this challenge be sure to create a post telling others, please make sure you add a link back to this post so others can join in.
• You can join anytime between now and the later part of next year.
• There will be a place for you to link your reviews, but this is optional.

Raved About Reads Challenge

I know that I've already posted about the RYOB Challenge, but I found another challenge on MizB's blog. It's call the Raved About Reads Challenge and is a perpetual challenge for books that have been recommended to you, but you haven't gotten around to reading yet. 

Here are the rules:

Create – and read! – a list of books that you’ve always heard others rave about, and thought you should read yourself… but always put off reading “until later”.

* You can choose books that you’ve recently heard of IF a bunch of people are raving about how good they are and how everyone should read them.

* Your list has to have at least 3 books on it. Of course, you can make it much longer than just 3 books. But, you could also just read 3. That’s up to you.

* Yes, your list of books can overlap with other challenges.

* There are no limitations on genre… books can be fiction, nonfiction, religious, secular, etc.

* Audiobooks and E-books are allowed.

* This is a PERPETUAL challenge, meaning it is ongoing ~ there is no time limit.

The link to the original site is http://ishouldread.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/coming-soon/

Here is my list so far:

• Against a Dark Background - Iain M. Banks
• All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
• Dust to Dust - Tami Hoag
• Kill the Messenger - Tami Hoag
• Prior Bad Acts - Tami Hoag
• Enchantment - Orson Scott Card
• Magic Street - Orson Scott Card
• Pastwatch - Orson Scott Card
• The Memory of Earth - Orson Scott Card
• Evermore - Alison Noel
• First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Behrendt
• The Final Empire (Mistborn: Book 1) - Brandon Sanderson
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers
• Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
• The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood
• Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth: Book 1) - Terry Goodkind
• Stolen - Kelley Armstrong
• Same Kind of Different as Me - Ron Hall and Denver Moore w/ Lynn Vincent

Challenges 2010 - Read Your Own Books

I've been looking at a few other book blogs and found that some people are very active in reading challenges. They look like so much fun that I'm going to try at least one this year. This one is hosted by MizB and her blog can be found at http://readerchallenges.wordpress.com. It's the Read Your Own Books Challenge and goes from January 1, 2010-December 31, 2010.

Here is the info:

The rules are simple:

• Pick a number of books you’d like to read in one year
• Choose those books from your OWN collection
• Read them between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010

And, that’s it!

Some other guidelines for this challenge:

• Re-Reads are NOT allowed (the challenge is to get more of your own books read that have been sitting there waiting!)
• Audiobooks & e-books ARE allowed
• You do NOT need a blog to participate — you can leave comments on this post with your progress

She is going to post a Mr. Linky to sign up for the challenge on January 1, 2010. If you are interested, please visit her blog and sign up! It looks like a lot of fun!

I will post another blog entry with my list of books toward the end of the year which is coming up soon! Be sure to check back to see my list. If you are entering the challenge as well, make sure you post a comment with a link to your blog so that I can look at your list too!

Anne McCaffrey BotM - Dragonflight

I joined Shelfari a few months ago and got an invite to join an Anne McCaffrey group soon after I signed up. It is my FAVORITE group on Shelfari. We have great conversations about Ms. McCaffrey's books and about lots of off-topic subjects too! Last month, we started reading a Book of the Month and the book was the first Dragonriders of Pern novel - Dragonflight. It had been over 15 years since I last read the book which I remember enjoying a lot as a kid. It was published in 1967 or 1968 and was Anne McCaffrey's first novel about Pern if I am remembering correctly.



A few observations that I definitely did not pick up on as a child:

• The Masterweaver in the novel is named Zurg so the whole time I was reading it I was thinking of the Evil Emperor Zurg from Toy Story (which most definitely did not exist when I was a kid)
• The Weyrleader F'lar shook Weyrwoman Lessa a lot which we all agreed in the group would probably not happen if she wrote the book in more contemporary times.
• I found Lessa to be more petulant as an adult than I did as a child. I still love her though!

It was such a treat to be able to pick up the book again after so many years. While time may have changed and some of the behavior in the book is a little archaic (like F'lar's behavior toward Lessa), I still enjoyed the book just as much as I did when I was younger. I loved how reacquainting myself with the Lessa's story--how she grew up as a drudge in Ruatha after Fax came and invaded the Hold, and her move to Benden Weyr where she Impresses a gold dragon named Ramoth that is about as strong willed as she is. It has also been many years since Thread has fallen and F'lar is trying to get the few dragons that remain ready to fight it.

When I was in Powell's books a few years ago, one of the employees said that, "No one does dragons better than Anne McCaffrey." It's true. I love her description of them and the special bond they have with their riders. I love the way she makes them such an integral part of the story and how they have such individual personalities. Rereading this book reminds me why I dreamed of living on Pern as a kid and even today I still feel that if I could live on a fictional planet, Pern would be my choice. I am so connected with all the characters since they each have their own stories in different books that in a strange way they are family to me. Dragonflight was just as special to read the second time around. I loved it and the Pern books will always be on my favorite list!