2 posts tagged “book list”

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

The following is the list of books I am planning on reading in 2008. There are fifty of them, as there have been in previous years. I came close to meeting the goal of 50 in 2007, falling short by eight. Hopefully this year will be different.

Any title with an asterisks (*) is a book that was on last year's list. Any title with a (2) is a book that was on my 2006 AND 2007 list. There are an annoyingly large number of these.

1) Niffenegger, Audrey – The Time Traveler's Wife (started – currently on page 129) (2)
2) Pullman, Phillip – His Dark Materials, Book Two: The Subtle Knife (started – currently on page 72)
3) Benderson, Bruce – The Romanian: Story of an Obsession (started – currently on page 138)
4) Stroud, Jonathan – The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy's Gate (started – currently on page 59)
5) Black, Holly - Ironside
6) Barry, Dave and Ridley Pearson – Peter and the Secret of Rundoon
7) Meyer, Stephenie - Eclipse
8) McEwan, Ian - Atonement
9) Lewis, C.S. – The Chronicles of Narnia (five books total) (reread)
10) Blake, James – Breaking Back
11) Haggard, H. Rider – King Solomon's Mines
12) Barrie, J.M. – Peter Pan
13) Pullman, Phillip – His Dark Materials, Book Three: The Amber Spyglass
14) Rowling, J.K. - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (reread)
15) Clare, Cassandra – The Mortal Instruments, Book Two: City of Ashes (due out in April)
16) Riordan, Rick – Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth (due out in May)
17) Obama, Barack - Audacity of Hope*
18) Clarke, Susanna - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell*
19) Larsen, Eric - Devil in the White City*
20) Sparks, Nicholas - The Notebook*
21) Willig, Lauren - The Secret History of the Pink Carnation*
22) Berendt, John - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil*
23) Bissinger, Buzz - Three Nights in August (2)
24) Virgil - The Aeneid (2)
25) Maguire, Gregory - Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2)
26) Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island (2)
27) Golden, Arthur - Memoirs of a Geisha (2)
28) Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility (2)
29) Gaiman, Neil - American Gods (2)
30) Goldman, William - The Princess Bride (2)
31) Gregory, Philippa - The Other Boleyn Girl (2)
32) Pierce, Tamora - Trickster's Queen (2)
33) Rice, Anne - Interview with the Vampire (2)
34) Dumas, Alexandre - The Count of Monte Cristo (2)
35) Japrisot, Sebastien - A Very Long Engagement (2)
36) Carroll, Lewis - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (2)
37) Homer - The Iliad (2)
38) Homer - The Odyssey (2)
39) Coulter, Catherine - The Sherbrooke Twins (2)
40) Coulter, Catherine - Lyon's Gate (2)
41) Stoker, Bram – Dracula (2)
42) Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales (2)
43) Coulter, Catherine - Season of the Sun (2)
44) O'Neill, Jamie - At Swim Two Boys (2)
45) Bray, Libba - A Great and Terrible Beauty (2)
46) Burnett, Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden (2)
47) Gaiman, Neil – Neverwhere (2)
48) Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray (2)
49) Tolkien, J.R.R. - The Hobbit (2)
50) Alcott, Louisa May - Little Women (2)

I picked up The Subtle Knife today and read another chapter in that, so that's probably the book I'll finish next, since my interest is renewed after seeing The Golden Compass in the theatre today. Once I do finish it (or whatever book I read instead) I will post a "review" here. The goal is to have a review for every single book I read this year. That may actually be more of a challenge than reading the books in the first place. :-P