2009 booklist « Butterscotch Sundae

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In brief

This Day Last Year

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2010: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2009: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2008: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2007: J F M A M J J A S O N D
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Papa’s favorite ribs

2009 booklist

  1. “New Moon” by Stephenie Meyer.
    I enjoyed “Twilight,” but the characters started getting annoying in “New Moon.” I found it maudlin and goopy.
  2. “The Invention of Everything Else” by Samantha Hunt.
    I started out wondering whether I’d finish this book, and I ended up not being able to put the book down. The story isn’t flawless, but it definitely grabbed my attention.
  3. “Daphne” by Justine Picardie
    I wasn’t aware that Daphne duMaurier was related to the Peter Pan boys. Her story is pretty disturbing.
  4. “Eclipse” by Stephenie Meyer.
    Here’s what I wrote in my reading journal: “I don’t like where this is headed.”
  5. “Breaking Dawn” by Stephenie Meyer.
    I’m not sure why I felt so compelled to finish this series. The books overall were OK. I didn’t care for the ending, but I guess the author didn’t really have a choice unless she wanted to write an “unhappy” ending.
  6. “The German Bride” by Joanna Hershon.
    This was a nice departure from the typical Western.
  7. “Last Night at the Lobster” by Stewart O’Nan.
  8. “Serena” by Ron Rash.
    Disturbing
  9. “The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle” by Andrew Lycett.
  10. “Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China” by Jen Lin-Liu.
  11. “The Fruit Hunters” by Adam Leith Gollner.
  12. “Red Harvest” by Dashiell Hammett.
  13. “The Lace Reader” by Brunonia Barry.
  14. “About a Boy” by Nick Hornby.
  15. “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk.
  16. “The Geography of Bliss” by Eric Weiner.
  17. “Dead to the World” by Charlaine Harris.
  18. “Tara Road” by Maive Binchy.
  19. “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace.
  20. “The Cross-Country Quilters” by Jennifer Chiaverini.
  21. “Blood Brothers” by Nora Roberts.
  22. “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith.
  23. “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann.
  24. “The Chamber” by John Grisham.
    I read this in July, when we were at my uncle’s cabin. He’s been staying at the same little lakeside resort for decades, and it’s just lovely. I thought, “It would be great to have a family reunion or something here.” Which is how I found out that the cabin reservations are standing and someone basically has to die and then their kids have to not want to take over their week before there’s an opening. So much for that plan. What does this have to do with “The Chamber”? Very little. Except that there are hundreds of books in the resort’s office, and “The Chamber” was one of them.
  25. “The Hollow” by Nora Roberts.
    This, along with the first of the trilogy, was on my dad’s bookshelf. And so I read it, and I wrote in my reading journal: “I can’t believe I read this.” That’s about all I have to say about that.
  26. “The Education of Little Tree” by Forrest Carter.
    This is a really good book. It was also on Dad’s shelf.
  27. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by JK Rowling.
    I’d read the first three (maybe four) of the Harry Potter books. When I saw a bunch of them at Dad’s, I thought I’d reread them and then finish the series. I read the ones he had while we were there this summer, then I got the rest from the library once we’d returned. There were a few little things I wish would’ve been included in the final book, but all in all the series was enjoyable.
  28. “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets“
  29. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban“
  30. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire“
  31. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix“
  32. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince“
  33. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows“
  34. “P is for Peril” by Sue Grafton.
  35. “Black and White and Dead All Over” by John Darnton.
  36. “Out of Sight” by Elmore Leonard.
    Exceptional dialogue.
  37. “The Orchard Keeper” by Cormac McCarthy.
    Rockford loves Cormac McCarthy. I’ve read a few of his books and enjoyed a few of them, but this one? Not so much.
  38. “The Cider House Rules” by John Irving.
    This is one of my favorites, and it’s one of the reasons I find his disappointing books so disappointing.
  39. “Carter Beats the Devil” by Glen David Gold
  40. “Sunnyside” by Glen David Gold.
    “Carter” was pretty good, but “Sunnyside” nearly bored me to tears.
  41. “American Wife,” by Curtis Sittenfeld.
    I really enjoyed this, but I can’t remember why exactly. And I didn’t write anything down about it.
  42. “Run” by Ann Patchett.
    I started this after Rockford and the kids had left for my brother’s wedding in September. The house was absolutely silent, and the book was lovely.
  43. “What Was Lost” by Catherine O’Flynn.
  44. “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini.
    This book is well written and crushingly sad. It made me so grateful to have been born in the United States.
  45. “Something Missing” by Matthew Dicks.
    This is a strange little book about a thief who … I’m not going to try to explain it. It’s not a perfect book, but the main character is compelling enough to make it worthwhile.
  46. “The Angel’s Game” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
  47. “Julian Comstock” by Robert Charles Wilson.
    We were in the middle of watching the “Deadwood” series when I picked this up. I thought it was a Western. It is most certainly not. It’s sci-fi, but it was pretty good anyway.
  48. “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.
    Broke my heart again.