Wednesday, January 04, 2012

And the 61 books I read last year were...

About 5 years ago I made the New Year's resolution to read 50 books in one year. Keeping track was just a list of authors and titles in a Word document. Since then I've kept 50 as my annual goal and have a Word document for each year. Whenever anyone asks me for reading suggestions I just skim those files.
2011 was a year of the series. Two years ago my friend Todd convinced me to read all of the Star Wars novels, so a bunch of those were gone through. Also discovered the Hunger Game books by Suzanne Collins and The Dresdin Files by Jim Butcher, both good fantasy series.

If the unintended theme of 2011 was "series." then I'm already seeing 2012's theme as being "reread." The 13th and final Wheel of Time book will be coming out this year (one of the greatest fantasy series since Lord of the Rings), so I've already begun reread that series. With a desire to get back to reading some classics, I have my sights on rereading "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Brothers Karamazov" to start that off. I also find my heart moving toward books that have been really challenging and encouraging to me in the past: "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton, "The Pursuit of God" by Tozer, "The Confessions of St Augustine," and "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard.

So many books, so little time. But here are the 61 from last year:
  1. Gracenomics – Mike Foster 
  2. Under the Dome – Stephen King 
  3. The Postcard Killers – James Patterson 
  4. Star Wars: Vortex – Troy Denning 
  5. Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann 
  6. Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom – Stovall 
  7. Feed – Mira Grant 
  8. About Schmidt – Louis Begley 
  9. Cross Fire – James Patterson 
  10. Of Love & Evil ~ Anne Rice 
  11. Kings of the Earth ~ Jon Clinch 
  12. The Hunger Games ~ Suzanne Collins 
  13. Don't Blink ~ James Patterson 
  14. Catching Fire ~ Suzanne Collins 
  15. Star Wars: The Approaching Storm ~ Alan Dean Foster 
  16. Mockingjay ~ Suzanne Collins 
  17. Storm Front ~ Jim Butcher 
  18. Poke The Box ~ Seth Godin 
  19. To Be Told ~ Dan Allendar 
  20. From God To Us ~ Geisler & Nix 
  21. The Journey From Texts To Translations ~ Paul Wagner 
  22. A General Intro to the Bible ~ David Ewert 
  23. What the Night Knows ~ Dean Koontz 
  24. Whispers ~ Bill Hybels 
  25. Star Wars: Hard Contact ~ Karen Traviss 
  26. Life After God ~ Douglas Coupland 
  27. Kraken ~ China Mieville 
  28. Unbroken ~ Laura Hillenbrand 
  29. When Good Men Get Angry ~ Bill Perkins 
  30. Faithful Place ~ Tana French 
  31. Everything That Rises Must Converge ~ Flannery O'Connor 
  32. 10th Anniversary ~ James Patterson 
  33. Tick Tock ~ James Patterson 
  34. Bossypants ~ Tina Fey 
  35. The Lost Gate ~ Orson Scott Card 
  36. Star Wars: Red Harvest - Joe Schreiber 
  37. Star Wars: Deceived ~ Paul Kemp 
  38. The Dead Town ~ Dean Koontz 
  39. Deadline – Mira Grant 
  40. Towers of Midnight ~ Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson 
  41. Star Wars: Conviction ~ Aaron Allston 
  42. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 ~ Sean Williams 
  43. Star Wars: Shatterpoint ~ Matthew Stover 
  44. Townie: A Memoir ~ Andre Dubus III 
  45. Star Wars: The Clone Wars ~ Karen Traviss 
  46. Star Wars: Wild Space ~ Karen Miller 
  47. Fool Moon ~ Jim Butcher 
  48. The Memory of Earth ~ Orson Scott Card 
  49. Grave Peril ~ Jim Butcher 
  50. The Call of Earth ~ Orson Scott Card 
  51. The Last Four Things ~ Paul Hoffman 
  52. Game of Thrones ~ George Martin 
  53. Summer Knight ~ Jim Butcher 
  54. Immanuel's Veins ~ Ted Dekker 
  55. The Litigaters ~ John Grisham 
  56. Death Masks ~ Jim Butcher 
  57. Damned ~ Chuck Palahniuk 
  58. Blood Rites ~ Jim Butcher 
  59. Pearl Harbor Ghosts ~ Thurston Clarke 
  60. Divergent ~ Veronica Roth 
  61. Tribes ~ Seth Godin 
Tomorrow I'll list out my favorite fiction and non-fiction works from the list and explain why they were. 

What were some of the books you read last year?

5 comments:

SHIRENE said...

I didn't count but my list is probably as long. DId you like Hunger Games and Divergent? I read this series by Michelle Sagara that was really good, easy reads,but good.

zanetta said...

What an inspiration! My life doesn't allow me to read as much as I want but with the kids grown and leaving home I'm sure it's in my future. will be interested in the breakdown of he list. thanks, Bobby

Jessica said...

I think it's time to switch from Word to Goodreads full time. ;) None of my friends are updating frequently, so it's making my experience there a little more boring, and with the speed you read, you could probably contribute lots of updates. :)

bobby moss said...

Jessica - I'm actually planning on updating my Goodreads this week. I love that site! Just forget to update it book by book.

Loved Hunger Games and Divergent. I didn't know anything about Divergent but read it because my sister-in-law got it for Christmas. It's VERY good in my opinion.

Shirene said...

Hey I am on goodreads Jessica, but no idea how to be friends with people on there.I update it a lot though! You and Bobby should add me or whatever you do :)