Nuts & Mutton

100 books in 2009. FAIL.

I signed up for the 100 books in 2009 challenge and failed miserably, much to my shock and horror. Given my lifetime habit of reading at least two books a week, the Challenge seemed like a snap. But, in the heel of the hunt, as my old Irish Mammy used to say, I managed to read a mere 57. I don’t think I have had such a fallow reading year since the first twelve months after #1 Son was born, when the double-whammy of no longer commuting to work by train and falling into bed every night too exhausted to make it through more than a page at at time, severely cut into my reading.

But all is not lost. I have made a New Year’s Resolutionâ€”possibly the most difficult resolution I have ever madeâ€”to whit: I solemnly pledge that I will not buy another book until I have finished all the unread books I have amassed. Â So there.

~~/)~~ Â Â Â ~~/)~~ Â Â ~~/)~~

I shall start with these, which have been gathering dust by the fireplace, waiting for me to get to them, and briefly comment as I go. I will place one to four five â˜† next to the title when I have read it to indicate how much I enjoyed it. A â˜… will indicate not worth reading. Hopefully there will be very few of the latter.

The Celtic Ring by Bjorn Larsson â˜† â˜†
The Double Bind by Chris Bojalian
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Pope’s Children by David McWilliams
Netherlands by Joseph O’Neill â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Time in Between by David Bergen
Sundays & Silence by Gina B. Nahai
Cruising for Cowards by Liza & Andy Copeland
A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre

And then there are these, towering by the bed …

South Dublin – How to get by on, like, 10,000 Euros a day by Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
Extraordinary Canadians: Emily Carr by Lewis DeSoto
Extraordinary Canadians: Nellie McClung by Charlotte Gray
I Don’t Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges
The Photograph by Penelope Lively
Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin
My Mother’s Daughter: A Memoir by Rona Maynard â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
A Scientific Romance by Ronald Wright
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald
It’s Your Boat, Too by Suzanne Giesemann
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Doors Open by Ian Rankin
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
The Going Rate: A Matt Minogue Mystery by John Brady

Wow. Guess I don’t have to buy any books for the first few months of the challenge …

Some additions to the list, supplied as loaners by my well-read Sister-in-Law, who passes on her wonderful reading finds to me:

Afterimage by Helen Humphreys â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
Everything in This Country Must by Colum McCann
Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell (LOVED his Cloud Atlas!)
Fault Lines by Anne Rivers Siddons â˜† â˜†

A children’s book, recommended to me by #1 Son:

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†

Two books picked up at the grocery store (way to make shopping bearable!):

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibbs

Just arrived from my trusty online bookstore:

Stet by Diana Athill â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Instead of a Letter by Diana Athill
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†

On order from same bookstore and eagerly awaited (so much for not buying any books for the first few months!):

The Female Brain by Louann Brizenden
I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Reluctant Mr Darwin by David Quammen â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Lost Chord by Ian Thomas
Philip and Elizabeth by Gyles Brandreth â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Picked up while buying a birthday gift for somebody else:

Priest by Ken Bruen â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†

Yet more books …

The Broken Parachute Man by Robert B. Bolin â˜† â˜† â˜†
Up Island by Anne Rivers Siddons â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Ladies’ Lending Library by Janice Kulyk Keefer â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Side-Yard Superhero by Rick D. Niece â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Origin of Species by Nino Ricci â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Perfecting by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer
The Black Donnellys by Nate Hendley
Jesus Swept by James Alexander Protzman â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Confessions of a Former Child by Daniel J. Tomasulo â˜† â˜† â˜†
Coraline by Neil Gaiman â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The People of Sparks (the second Book of Ember) by Jeanne DuPrau â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Sanctuary by Ken Bruen â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Life Sentences by Laura Lippman â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Souvenir of Canada 2 by Douglas Coupland â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Wildtrack by Bernard Cornwell
The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way by Bill Bryson
A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols
Passage by Connie Willis â˜† â˜† â˜†
Oyster by Janette Turner Hospitalâ˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Pact by Jodi Picoult â˜† â˜† â˜†
Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot
Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau (the Third Book of Ember)â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Dial M for Merde by Stephen Clarke â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Strange Fatality by James E. Elliott â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Eye of the Leopard by Henning Mankell â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Labour Day by Joyce Maynard â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The City & The City by China Mieville â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris â˜† â˜† â˜†
Generation A by Douglas Coupland
Love and Summer by William Trevor â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Cross by Ken Bruen â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Sidetracked by Henning Mankell â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell
Losing Confidence by Elizabeth May â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
One Step Behind by Henning Mankell
Firewall by Henning Mankell
The White Lioness by Henning Mankell
The Complaints by Ian Rankin
Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†

Yay! One hundred! Now all I have to do is read them and at this point, mid-October, I am falling sadly behind. Blerch. As they say in the Twitterverse #100bookchallengeFAIL!

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Beyond Belfast: A 560-Mile Walk Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet by Will Ferguson
Star Bright by Andrew M. Greeley
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance ed. by Robert Proctor & Londa Schiebinger
The Way of the Ship by Derek Lundy
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel
The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜† â˜†
Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay â˜† â˜† â˜†
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel

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