2009 Books to Read

Jan 4, 2009 at 7:59 PM
26 comments

2008 was a pretty pathetic reading year for me, but I intend for 2009 to be quite different. So here's the preliminary list of things to read in 2009.

This list is not a complete copy of those things I posted last year and didn't read, as I made several changes. But it's pretty close. Books with an asterisk are those that were on my list for the first time last year. Those books that have been on my list the past two and three years are indicated with a (2) and (3) respectively. And the sad thing is, it's basically the entire list.

Books to Read in 2009:

1) Niffenegger, Audrey – The Time Traveler's Wife (3) (currently reading)
2) Stoker, Bram – Dracula (3) (currently reading)
3) Benderson, Bruce – The Romanian: Story of an Obsession* (currently reading)
4) Lengyel, Olga - Five Chimneys (currently reading)
5) Lagnado, Lucette Matalon and Sheila Cohn Dekel - Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz (currently reading)
6) Riordan, Rick - The Demigod Files (due out in February)
7) Clare, Cassandra – The Mortal Instruments, Book Three: City of Glass (due out in March)
8) Riordan, Rick – Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book Five: The Last Olympian (due out in May)
9) DuPrau, Jeanne - The People of Sparks
10) Slash (with Anthony Bozza) - Slash
11) Scott, Michael - The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
12) Keneally, Thomas - Schindler's List
13) Segal, Lore - Other People's Houses
14) Riordan, Rick - The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones
15) Stroud, Jonathan – The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate*
16) Black, Holly - Ironside*
17) Barry, Dave and Ridley Pearson – Peter and the Secret of Rundoon*
18) Rowling, J.K. - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* (reread)
19) McEwan, Ian - Atonement*
20) Lewis, C.S. – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle* (rereads)
21) Blake, James – Breaking Back*
22) Barrie, J.M. – Peter Pan*
23) Haggard, H. Rider – King Solomon's Mines*
24) Clarke, Susanna - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2)
25) Larsen, Eric - Devil in the White City (2)
26) Willig, Lauren - The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (2)
27) Sparks, Nicholas - The Notebook (2)
28) Berendt, John - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (2)
29) Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility (3)
30) Gaiman, Neil - American Gods (3)
31) Goldman, William - The Princess Bride (3)
32) Pierce, Tamora - Trickster's Queen (3)
33) Rice, Anne - Interview with the Vampire (3)
34) Golden, Arthur - Memoirs of a Geisha (3)
35) Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island (3)
36) Maguire, Gregory - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (3)
37) Virgil - The Aeneid (3)
38) Dumas, Alexandre - The Count of Monte Cristo (3)
39) Japrisot, Sebastien - A Very Long Engagement (3)
40) Carroll, Lewis - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (3)
41) Homer - The Iliad (3)
42) Homer - The Odyssey (3)
43) Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales (3)
44) O'Neill, Jamie - At Swim Two Boys (3)
45) Bray, Libba - A Great and Terrible Beauty (3)
46) Burnett, Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden (3)
47) Gaiman, Neil – Neverwhere (3)
48) Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray (3)
49) Tolkien, J.R.R. - The Hobbit (3)
50) Alcott, Louisa May - Little Women (3)

I foresee the same issues with this list as previous ones, which is that there is a lot of so-called "classic" literature on it. However, I have been making some headway on some of the classics the past few years (currently working on 'Dracula', actually), and am thinking that if I mix them up with the easier-to-read titles that I should be okay. I am going to try really REALLY hard to get those books with a (3) by them off the list this year. Consider it my secret ultimate goal, or something. :-P

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I usually like to do a post with all the books I've read in the year, but this year I didn't get around to it. I counted 51, realized that it was actually 52, and then realized that 75% of them were re-reads. It's good to see someone else has read American Gods and Neverwhere as many times as I have! I've read some books 9 or 10 times, and I don't think you should try to get them off your list. Would you scold someone for watching the same movie over and over? If you like it, keep reading it. There is always time for new books later.

Heh. I had 16 total books read last year, which is just really sad.

The (3)s and (2)s next to some of those titles actually relate to the number of years the book's been on my to-read list - I've not actually read any of them as of yet. Books I'm wanting to reread have (reread) after their titles. Although I know several people who have read lots of Gaiman's books multiple times, so you're definitely not alone in your love for his writing!

[this is good]

Quite a list! What are the criteria? I have never read the Aeneid in translation but when we did it in AP Latin we skipped a few of the books. Partly because of time and partly because, like Leviticus and Numbers, some of the books are just too much minutia for the average curious reader.

If you're into the classics with a fantastic angle I highly recommend reading Dante's Inferno and Purgatory (Paradise is not so terribly interesting unless you are a scholar of the Papacy or saints). Try to get a blank verse translation. No rhyme makes the cantos easier to read.

Good luck. Have fun!

If i posted all the books i read last Year, I'd probably take up a couple pages. I set a goal to read the whole fiction section of our school library, and I almost finished too... until they got more books.... But that is quite a list, I've read most of them myself.

I've read Dante's Inferno - it was a requirement in my British/World Lit class in high school, and was probably my very favorite of all the things we read, although I liked what we read of The Canterbury Tales, too.

There's not so much "criteria", really. It's more "these are the books I've owned for ages and never read". :)

Oh, goodness, I could never read all the books in the library where I work - at least, not in one year! I'll be lucky to manage 50 in 2009, and more than likely, based on previous years' attempts, it won't actually be the 50 on this list.

I notice that on most "books read" lists I've read that most books on such lists are fiction. I wonder why most people read so little non-fiction?

I personally find it more difficult to get through nonfiction books. They're not as easy for me to read, and I therefore tend to take longer to get through them. Not sure if that's a general trend or not, but it's definitely something I have to deal with when I do try to include nonfiction books into my reading!

I *love* The Time Traveler's Wife. It's possibly my favorite book ever.

Also, Holly Black is quite possibly a god(dess), and The Princess Bride is also excellent, although I wish more fans of the movie would read it.

Merin replied to Carly the Jagyularr’s comment:
Jan 6, 2009
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I honestly tried to read The Princess Bride a couple years ago and could NOT get into it. So I'm going to read it this year with a friend who adores it, which should help.

And yes. Holly Black is extremely awesome. :)

Well, get American Gods. I couldn't put it down once I started. And the Hobbit is one of my favourites. I must have read that at least five times.

Merin replied to prolificdyslexic’s comment:
Jan 7, 2009
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Oh, I own it! I just haven't read it yet. Nearly every book on that list is one I own and haven't read (or finished). To say I have a lot of books would be an understatement.

And my mom really enjoyed The Hobbit, so I'm looking forward to it, as she and I have pretty similar tastes.

prolificdyslexic replied to Merin’s comment:
Jan 7, 2009
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Hehe. That sounds quite similar to my situation. In my case, I have a stack of unread Bill Brysons (in addition to others).
I assume that you've read Lord of the Rings?

Merin replied to prolificdyslexic’s comment:
Jan 7, 2009
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Yes, I've read the LotR books. They were on my to-read list a couple of years ago. :)

It was actually pretty easy. I had nothing to do other then to babysit and when I did the kids were always asleep. so I had a lot of time on my hands. I averaged about a book a day. I read pretty fast too.

Depending on the length of the book, I can sometimes do one book in a day. I'm nearly finished with The Magician's Nephew, which I just started this morning - only one chapter to go. But it was a slow day in the library, so I got a lot of free time to read, as well as my usual reading break during my half hour for lunch.

I loved that series, I am actually starting The Host by Stephenie Meyer.Its going slow though. Its got 600 or so pages so it may take me two days. I hope its as good as the Twilight Series, but i doubt it from what I've read so far.

I have that one sitting on my shelf. Not sure if I'm going to read it or not, though. I only read Twilight and New Moon, as there was a huge break before Eclipse was released and I just sort of ... didn't care once it'd come out. I own it, but have only read the first few chapters, and then the chapter about Jasper's history, and the end. I didn't read Breaking Dawn at all - don't even own it. I was totally spoiled for it and didn't feel like wasting my money. :-P

I think The Host is supposed to be part of a trilogy, and I really hate having to wait for subsequent books to come out. So perhaps I'll pick it up once there's more of the series to read. It'd be stupid not to read it eventually, seeing as I spent the money on it!

And I love the Narnia books. I'm just starting The Last Battle, though, which is my least favorite of the bunch.

Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire is excellent, much much better than Twilight in my opinion, though they can't really be compared directly to each other, just too different except that they both have vampires and love in it. I've read most of her vampire books, the later ones are not as good as the first few. Her book The Witching Hour is fantastic too.

Atonement... the book bored me, I couldn't finish it. Anything Jane Austen is good :) The Time Traveller's Wife was disturbing. I loved and hated it at the same time.

[this is good]

Lol, I need to make a list like this... I never thought of doing one for a year, and I have so many books I own and have never picked up. Mostly cause I've been living abroad for the last two years, and my 300+ volume library can't come with me. But thanks for the idea - I have a few things in mind. And I love lists. They make me feel so accomplished.

Ironically, I have the feeling that once I start school again (for library science) I probably won't have time to read much...

My roommate in college told me to read The Time Traveler's Wife, so I bought it but haven't gotten through it yet. I know where it's going, which is making it hard for me to finish it.

I've heard that about Atonement, but I'd still like to attempt it. And I only own one Anne Rice book, and it's Interview. I'm glad it's better than Twilight because, while I couldn't stop reading them, the books really weren't all that fabulous. :-P

Merin replied to Cinnamingirl’s comment:
Jan 17, 2009
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I've done a list like this the last three or four years. It's fun for me to see where I veer off - I never have managed to actually stick to the list exclusively. :)

I really like impressive list yours, it's similar to mine (if i made a list)

Goldman, William - The Princess Bride is a really good one, it's funny and happy ^_^

p.s thanks for adding me! i like your reviews!

No problem! I'll hopefully have another review soon, if I could just finish "Dracula". I've been working on that one for what seems like forever! :)) I tried to read "The Princess Bride" a few years ago and couldn't get into it at all, even though I LOVE the movie. So I'm going to read it with a friend this year (she loves the book and the film) and hopefully that will work out better.