What did you read in 2004?

[redheadedali]

i wish i've read more but here are my favorites from this year.

the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky
shopgirl by steve martin
stardust by neil gaiman

Yay to all of these! :) I also agree with whoever said The Time Traveller's Wife.

I just read True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooks, which was much better than I was expecting - I bought a copy for my aunt for Christmas. I just read the second and third books in Jen Van Meter's Hopeless Savages series, and while the third one was just kind of eh, the second one was really good. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve was excellent - it reminded me a lot of Pullman's His Dark Materials books. The sequel just came out, and I can't wait to read it.

Alison, high school librarian extraordinaire

[Craft Forums]

[xuli]

You can keep track with your livejournal - make a "private entry" and save it to your memories, then just edit it and add books as you go :)

That's a fabulous idea. I'm going to try that for 2005.

It would be really cool to know how many books I've read in a year too - I have no idea, but I know it's a lot. I'll come back and impress everyone with this info in 2005 (conveniently forgetting to mention that I'm also a grad student, so I basically read for a living).

[brdgt]

So far though, I've really enjoyed:

Three Junes (I can't recall the author right now)...

My mother-in-law lent me that earlier this year and I still haven't read it, it seemed a little too "Oprah book clubbie" to me, so it's good to have another opinion! I think I'll bring it on my plane ride back east.

[soapandwater]

Brdgt, don't be too hard on the Oprah Book Club. They DID put The Heart is a Lonely Hunter on there, which I READ THIS YEAR! I forgot about that one.

It's great. But then, it's an older book, so maybe older books on the bookclub have more merit than newer ones?

[jangrl]

My mother-in-law lent me that earlier this year and I still haven't read it, it seemed a little too "Oprah book clubbie" to me, so it's good to have another opinion! I think I'll bring it on my plane ride back east.

at least your sibling didn't send you a sweeping historical novel about jesus and redemption.

off topic but how does one handle that? you know, when someone tells you, 'you have to read this book!' and goes out of their way to lend you/buy you a copy or whatever, and it's totally not your taste. do you try and read it anyway to be polite, or do you end up sending it to the local goodwill without remorse?

jangrl

[soapandwater]

Jangrl, find notes about it online just in case you get quizzed on the plot! "Was it A.) Pontius Pilate B.) Pilates or C.) Pirates?"

[xuli]

off topic but how does one handle that? you know, when someone tells you, 'you have to read this book!' and goes out of their way to lend you/buy you a copy or whatever, and it's totally not your taste. do you try and read it anyway to be polite, or do you end up sending it to the local goodwill without remorse?

Actually, I sell it on amazon.com, totally without remorse. (In case that will make you feel better about giving the book to Goodwill!) But I only do it after saying "please don't give me books -- the fact that I read all day long for a living makes me very choosy about what I read."

Oh, dear, I sound so ungrateful! I should specify that I only do this with books given to me by my mother. Usually when close friends give me books, they have a good idea of what I'll like.

[boheme-anne]

I'll blame it on being a lefty, but I only read and buy books that are biographies, autobiographies, and instructional books. (when I say instructional, it's usually "how to faux finish" or something crafty). Anybody have recomendations of good art/craft related instructional books?

[Slinkster]

Here is what I can remember from the past few months:

Syrup-Maxx Barry
Middlesex-Jeffrey Euginedes
About a Boy-Nick Hornby
The Blood Canticle & Merrick-Anne Rice (huge weakness)
Harry Potter and The Sorceror's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets & The Prisoner of Azkaban
The Little Friend-Donna Tarte
All Over Creation-Ruth Ozeki

I know there were plenty more...I have been reading non-stop lately.

[Ann Berry]

I wish I had read more too. I read:

James Patterson's
Four Blind Mice
The Big Bad Wolf
(The two latest in the Alex Cross series . . .)

Truth and Beauty by Anne Patchett (I had read Autobiography of a Face a number of years ago)

KnitLit

KnitLit (too)

Beyond Stitch and Bitch by Scruggs

Have much more to read . . .