Reading inventory to date for 2004

[annathepiper]

So after having read not long ago on various people's posts on my Friends list about how apparently Americans are reading less and less these days (not very encouraging news for a girl who wants to be a writer, is it?), I got curious as to exactly how many books I've managed to read so far this year. Therefore, without further ado, I present my reading list for this year to date!


January 2004:

* Imitation in Death, J.D. Robb
* The Mauritius Command, Patrick O'Brian
* May the Best Man Die, Deborah Donnelly

February 2004:

* Murderers Prefer Blondes, Amanda Matetsky
* Justice Hall, Laurie King
* Changespell Legacy, Doranna Durgin
* No Earthly Sunne, Margaret Ball (re-read)
* Seer's Blood, Doranna Durgin (re-read)
* A Feral Darkness, Doranna Durgin (re-read)

March 2004:

* The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley (re-read, and really only sort of halfway read through this time ;) )
* To Shield the Queen, Fiona Buckley
* Cape Random, Bernice Morgan (begun)

April 2004:

* Pearl Cove, Elizabeth Lowell (re-read, partial)
* Midnight on Ruby Bayou, Elizabeth Lowell (re-read, partial)
* Moving Target, Elizabeth Lowell (re-read, partial)
* Der kleine Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien but translated in GERMAN! (begun)
* Dhampir, Barb and J.C. Hendee

May 2004:

* The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum
* The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum (re-read)
* Cape Random, Bernice Morgan (finished)
* Have His Carcase, Dorothy Sayers
* The Dark On the Other Side, Barbara Michaels (re-read)
* Into the Darkness, Barbara Michaels (re-read)

June 2004:

* Children of the Storm, Elizabeth Peters
* Die in Plain Sight, Elizabeth Lowell
* Dark Horse, Tami Hoag
* With Child, Laurie King (started)

July 2004:

* Season of Storms, Susanna Kearsley (re-read)
* With Child, Laurie King (continued)


New books read: 14
Old books re-read: 7
Books begun but not finished yet: 6 (old and new)

So, 21 total books read all the way through! Go me!

Comments

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

I've been trying not to keep track! I'm trying not to keep books around that aren't reference or classic/likely re-reads, since we are basically swimming in books at this point. I've been boxing them up as I finish and mailing them to English teachers (Maria and my brother), troops in Iraq, our library.... Sometimes I do bookcrossing.

My take on the survey is this: There are three categories of people. People who never read unless forced to get through the DVD player manual. People who read a book or two a year, Chicken Soup for the Chocolate Soul or something. And nuts like us. And perhaps there are fewer nuts now....

We seem to have some overlap in interests. I like Elizabeth Peters and Laurie King and have tried a Tami Hoag. Wonder if you might like Lindsay Davis? Just finished her latest, The Accusers. A detective in Ancient Rome, some romance, lots about the time and place, wry humor....

Cathy

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i read less now that i am writing a book. reading bad books feels awful, like it might be contagious, so i've gotten terribly picky :)

[annathepiper]

I need to go through my own books and take a good hard look at them--and figure out which ones I'm pretty sure I'll never read again. I too have book space at a premium, though once we move to the Kenmore house and we can better arrange our shelves, this won't be so much of a problem. :) The two sets of shelves that tinlail and lyricae kindly gave me are in the room used by risu now, and they're still mostly unused shelves!

I figure, though, that as I start packing those books will be a good time to do the inventory. And figure out what to do with the books I don't want.

Indeed, if you like Peters and King and have dabbled in Hoag, we do seem to line up some in interests. :) Davis sounds potentially interesting--I do like period mysteries, and if there's dabbles of romance and humor, all the better! I think I've actually seen those books of hers on the shelves when I've gone through the mystery section at the U-dub bookstore.

And I've got to glance at Janet Evanovich, too. poetry_lady and mamishka have both recommended her.

[annathepiper]

I'm with you on that--I do find that I have in fact been reading less now that I'm writing, though I've gotten pickier in general about my books over the last half dozen years or so. But I have indeed started finding myself nitpicking the work of other authors. ;)

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah! Stephanie Plum rocks!

[annathepiper]

I went to Barnes and Noble today and saw a lot of Davis' books, but not the first one, I think! I hate to start a series in the middle. :) I'll have to check the U-dub bookstore and see if I can find the first one there.

Janet Evanovich, on the other hand, seems to have scads of copies of her books around!