I figured that since I’ve decided to keep better (and official) track of the books I’m reading this year, I’d compile a list of the ones I read last year. I’m sticking to fiction.
I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read for several years now, since around 2005, because I was really bad at remember whether I’d read books or not. Lots of them kind of faded together. I started with AllConsuming but stopped using it once it stopped getting updated. I used Shelfari for a while, then settled on Goodreads once everyone seemed to be using it. I have most of the books I’ve read in the last few years catalogued there, though I know I’ve missed some – especially in 2010.
Which means the list is probably missing a few. At least I hope it is because it seems rather short, though I really didn’t read much. It’s also not in perfect order.
I’ll use the style of Booklover, one of my favorite tumblogs, in which bold means I really liked it and italics means I really disliked it. If it’s neither of those, it was good enough. I’ll add an additional category, strikethrough, for the few books I tried to read and gave up on.
William Faulkner – Sanctuary
Terry Pratchett – Wyrd Sisters
Terry Pratchett – Pyramids
Don DeLillo – Point Omega
Don DeLillo – Falling Man
Don DeLillo – Mao II
Don DeLillo – Libra
Don DeLillo – Americana
Don DeLillo – End Zone
Don DeLillo – Great Jones StreetDon DeLillo – Ratner’s StarDon DeLillo – Underworld
John Connolly – The Gates
Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
Anonymous – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Horace Walpole – The Castle of Otranto
Matthew Lewis – The Monk
Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels
Haruki Murakami – Dance Dance Dance
Cormac McCarthy – Child of God
David Mitchell – Cloud AtlasCharles Dickens – Great Expectations
Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales
Wow. That is an embarrassingly short list. Note the DeLillo Binge. I read Americana, Mao II, and Great Jones Street twice, and there were several Thesis Monster-related nonfiction books thrown in there. But jeez – my English degree should probably be burnt.
But this year I’ll do better! One book a week is the goal, and with no classes left I’ll probably be pretty bored. And then there’s the mammoth procrastination. Wish me luck.
The best of the bunch, you ask? I’d say Americana, but I’m so turned off to DeLillo right now that I don’t care if I ever see any of it again. So I’ll say Cloud Atlas with Dance Dance Dance as a close second. I’ve now read every book Murakami has published in English with the exception of Underground, a nonfiction book about the Tokyo Gas Attacks, which is sitting on a bookshelf waiting. I completed my collection with a copy of Pinball, 1973 shipped from Japan. I think his new novel, 1Q84 is due out in English sometime this year, so that one’ll be a highlight, I’m sure, though I disliked his last one, After Dark. I’m going on about Murakami because he’s my favorite author. David Mitchell is kind of similar, as is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. All magical realism.
