CutestLilBookworm's Reading Journal

I started a book blog about this time last year, but due to time constraints I did not maintain the site. But, I truly enjoyed signing up for various reading challenges and logging the various books read on a wide variety of topics and genres. Club Read seems like a much more low key way to chronicle my reading journeys in a no-pressure forum. I truly enjoy keeping track of the books...guess the best way to do this is to start now with what I'm reading in December and at the end of the month do a year review wrap up of all the books I've read in 2009

December 2009

Currently reading (listening to) Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup and it's good! Now I know what all the fuss was about. What I like most about the audio is the reader's ability to put on so many different accents and personalities...it brings the story to life even with some of the voices being a bit annoying. The story itself is compelling in that it explores how likely it is that people on quiz shows know facts about such a wide variety of topics simply because of their education level. It is more likely that quite a bit of what they know is not wholly from something they've learned in a book, but from random snippets of information picked up through living life. I'm only halfway through but I hope the ending includes him getting his one billion rupees.

New Additions

I always pick up a few books from the dollar rack at the local library. One of the things that helped me choose to by my new home was the floor to ceiling wooden bookcase...what a joy filling it up with wonderful titles. So, for 4 bucks I just picked up White Teeth by Zadie Smith, Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, and The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Welcome! I have the first three books you picked up from your local library, so I'll be interested to get your take on them. I thoroughly enjoyed White Teeth, and would like to give it another go in the near future.

What a gorgeous haul for $4! I thought Nervous Conditions was very intriguing.

I enjoyed Nervous Conditions and the sequel The Book of Not.

A gorgeous haul indeed...and all in great condition! Hopefully The Book of Not will end up on the dollar rack in the near future as well. So, I think White Teeth will be the first of this bunch that I will tackle. But I want to finish up a few other books in my partially read pile like Native Speaker and Half of a Yellow Sun. I did finish listening to Slumdog Millionaire and absolutely loved it; what a great ending! The only part of the book that I didn't enjoy was the fake war hero's tale. I had to skip over a minute or so of that part. It dragged on for way to long and was much too detailed.

Welcome! I enjoyed Nervous Conditions also and listened to the Seville Communion on audio back when I had a lengthy commute. If I remember correctly, I enjoyed it well enough but had some trouble keeping track of the foreign names while driving!

@ Avaland...I hope Seville Communion is as good as Queen of the South. Have you read that? It has lots of action where you actually find yourself rooting for the bad guy (well, bad girl actually...but she has her reasons, lol).

>9 CutestLilBookworm: no, I haven't and I can't remember enough of Seville to really comment (I listened to it before 2006, I think).

Cutestlilbookworm's 2009 Reading List

January
1. Rivalry: A geisha's tale by Kafu Nagai
2. Coffee Trader by David Liss
3. Executive Power by Vince Flynn
4. A Mercy by Toni Morrison
5. I Love my Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
6. Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
7. Separation of Power by Vince Flynn
8. Carrie by Stephen King
9. The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
10. Joy with Love by Hallmark

February
11. Executive Power by Vince Flynn
12. The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
13. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

**started an not finished: Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama and Watchers by Dean Koontz**

March
14. The Idiot's Guide to Organizing your Life by Georgene Lockwood
15. Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
16. Manage your Time to Reduce your Stress by Rita Emmett
17. Take Back your Life: Using Microsoft 2007 by Sally McGhee

April
18. Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte
19. Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
20. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
21. Addicted by Zane

May
22. Act of Treason by Vince Flynn
23. Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
24. Sail by James Patterson
25. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
26. Lifeguard by James Patterson
27. In Love and Trouble by Alice Walker
28. Fault Line by Barry Eisler

June
29. Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King
30. Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn
31. Silk by Alessandro Baricco

July
Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

** I did not complete any books from Aug - October due to house hunting, buying and moving**

November
32. The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum
33. Push: A Novel by Sapphire

December
working on Native Speaker, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, and Relentless

I think I'm actually going to pass on Relentless, this is the first Koontz book that I really DO NOT like!

Considering the number of significant changes that occurred in my life in 2009, I'm not surprised that I only finished 33 books. (But it is a little disappointing). I started a new job that is very demanding and requires a lot of travel and I also moved into a new home. Although I am on vacation this week, I still may not have enough time to complete another book before year's end. I think I will focus on planning and preparing my goals for the new year.

A couple of challenges for next year:

75 Book Challenge
Books Off the Shelf Challenge
Reading Globally

the 10 category challenge sounds fun too...I'll have to see if I can come up with enough categories to join

I will continue to keep a journal of my readings in Club Read 2010!