Book Addict: Final Total for 2009 and some favorites

Well, the final total number of books I read in 2009 is (drumroll, please) . . . .

93!

That's a lot of books, if I do say so myself.

Here are some of the useless statistics:

The month I read the most: June (with 13!)

The month I read the least: March (only 4)

For 7 months out of the year, I read between 4-7 books, and the other 5 I read between 9-13 books.

# of non-fiction books: 21

# books dealing with special needs issues: 6

# of "classics": 8

# of children and/or YA fiction: 33

YA fantasy series I read: Harry Potter, Fablehaven, Inkheart, The Anybodies, and Into the Wild. I think I'm doing pretty well in keeping up with the books my kids want to read. :) This year it looks like we'll all be moving through The Lightning Thief books.

Here are some of my overall favorites from last year:

1. Five Quarters of the Orange - Joanne Harris

2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

3. Healing ADD - Daniel Amen

4. The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life - Steve Leveen

5. Camilla - Madeleine L'Engle

6. all the Harry Potter books lumped together - JK Rowling

7. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski

8. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy

9. The Year My Son and I Were Born - Kathryn Soper

10. Into the Wild and Out of the Wild - Sarah Beth Durst

11. The Disapparation of James - Anne Ursu

12. Speak - Louise Halse Anderson

Obviously, I read more books that I enjoyed than just these, but I have to limit the list somehow, so these are the ones that stood out to me as I looked over the list.

I am hoping to get back into the routine of doing monthly book reviews of the books I've read. It's kind of hard to keep up on it, but it sure is fun. :)

Any thoughts on these books I picked? Any other thoughts on books for today? Any bets on whether or not I'll reach 100 books read this year? (hehehe)

Some of my sorta long term reading goals are to read all of Madeleine L'Engle's books, try to read at least one "classic" (or book from the '1001 books you must read before you die' list) a month, read at least one Shakespeare play a year, keep up on the bookclub books (that's a relatively easy one!), read all of the Jane Austen and Bronte sister books . . . and I think those are the only ones I've actually articulated in my little brain - to work on over my lifetime, you see. I'm in no rush.

Anyway - I've also been working a bit on that personal poetry compilation project of mine I mentioned awhile back here and here (which you will most likely never see - hehe). I've got 165 poems posted so far, and ohhh sooo far to go. It is sort of overwhelming - but still fun. I am sorely tempted to leave some out, but I promised myself I wouldn't - so even though it is almost painful, I am forging ahead completely uncensored. Making slow erratic progress in spurts and stops - but maybe sometime before I die it will be completed. That's my only hope anyway.

And that's my news in the reading/writing realm. :)

Thanks for supporting my addiction and happy reading . . . .