Reading

In January of 2009, I was feeling pretty shitty about the severe decline of my reading habits. A former English Lit. major, I'd all but stopped reading. So, I resolved to read 52 books in a year, which averages out to a book a week. Some weeks I didn't read at all, and other weeks I read 5 or 6 (admittedly unchallenging) books. In the end, I accomplished my goal. At the beginning of 2010, I decided to "ditto" the reading resolution.


But I've decided that 2011 will be different. Since my job requires little more than basic motor skills, and since I've reverted to watching endless amounts of mind-numbing television, and since I've developed some pretty lazy reading habits, my critical thinking skills have become dulled. So, in what will surely be another misguided attempt at self-improvement, I've decided to up the ante:


As before, in 2011 I will read 52 books.
HOWEVER. 
I will also write 52 reviews.


Hopefully, committing to this goal will provide the incentive to read better books. And actually think about what I've read. The reviews will all be linked here, on the "A Book A Week" page.


I'm fucking lazy.


2011 Reading List
1. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (1.1)
2. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (1.2.)
3. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1.3)
4. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (1.16)
5. True Grit by Charles Portis (1.17)
6. Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (1.21)
7. The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi (1.23)
8. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (1.25)
9. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (1.28)
10. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (1.30)
11. The Mysterious Benedict Society & The Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart (1.31)
12. The Mysterious Benedict Society & The Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart (2.1)
13. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler (2.3)
14. Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories ed. by John Joseph Adams (2.9)
15. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (2.13)
16. Paper Towns by John Green (2.15)
17. The New Kings of Nonfiction ed. by Ira Glass (2.18)
18. The Windup Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi (2.23)
19. Hyperspace by Michio Kaku (2.24)
20. Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday with William Dufty (2.25)
21. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (2.25)
22. Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Cameron Crowe (2.28)
23. Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut (3.1)
24. 1984 by George Orwell (3.3)
25. It Happened in London by Julia Quinn (3.4)
26. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen (3.5)
27. The Powerbook by Jeanette Winterson (3.5)
28. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco (3.11)
29. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson (3.14)
30. The Devil in The White City by Erik Larson (3.16)
31. Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (3.17)
32. The Crazed by Ha Jin (3.18)
33. The Monster of Venice by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi (3.19)
34. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3.22)
35. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell




2010 Reading List
1. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (1.2) 
2. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (1.9)
3. And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (1.15)
4. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (1.19)
5. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (1.21)
6. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (1.25)
7. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima (2.9)
8. Stitches by David Small (2.10)
9. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (2.15)
10. The Dark Side of The Light Chasers by Debbie Ford (2.17)*
11. Persuasion by Jane Austen (2.22)
12. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (3.23)
13. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (4.10)
14. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins (5.19)
15. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (5.20)
16. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (5.21)
17. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (5.24)
18. Girls in Pants: The Third Summer by Ann Brashares (5.25)
19. Forever Blue: The Fourth Summer by Ann Brashares (5.26)
20. Dune by Frank Herbert (5.30)
21. Geektastic ed. by Holly Black (6.6)
22. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (6.12)
23. The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde (6.26)
24. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (7.1)
25. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut (7.9)
26. Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn (7.12)
27. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (7.14)
28. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (7.15)
29. An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (7.18)
30. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (7.19)
31. To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn (7.20)
32. When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn (7.22)
33. It's In His Kiss by Julia Quinn (7.24)
34. On The Way To The Wedding by Julia Quinn (7.25)
35. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (9.1)
36. Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson (9.8)
37. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (9.26)
38. My First Five Husbands and The Ones Who Got Away by Rue McClanahan (10.14)
39. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (10.18)
40. Palo Alto by James Franco (11.4)
41. Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins (11.6)
42. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (11.16)
43. The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá (11.16)
44. Sleep Walk With Me by Mike Birbiglia (11.20)
45. Looking for Alaska by John Green (11.21)
46. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu (11.23)
47. The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker (12.4)
48. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk (12.6)
49. On Writing by Stephen King (12.8)
50. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (12.8)
51. Sex At Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá (12.12)
52. The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson (12.13)
53. Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher (12.16)
54. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (12.17)
55. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (12.18)
56. The Once and Future King by T.H. White (12.29)


2009 Reading List
1. Hairstyles of The Damned by Joe Meno (1.12)
2. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (1.20)
3. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (1.26)
4. The Fall by Albert Camus (3.11)
5. The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball (3.13)
6. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (3.19)
7. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July (3.21)
8. Bowl of Cherries by Millard Kaufman (3.24)
9. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (3.25)
10. The Will To Whatevs by Eugene Mirman (3.27)
11. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (4.4)
12. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters... by J.D. Salinger (4.9)
13. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre (4.30)
14. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (5.2)
15. How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton (5.5)
16. The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith (5.6)
17. Dubliners by James Joyce (5.11)
18. A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (6.25)
19. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (6.30)
20. In a Sunburned County by Bill Bryson (7.4)
21. City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau (7.4)
22. The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One: The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud (7.8)
23. Septimus Heap, Book One: Magyk by Angie Sage (7.13)*
24. Septimus Heap, Book Two: Flyte by Angie Sage (7.16)*
25. Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (7.17)
26. Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (7.17)
27. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (7.18)
28. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (7.20)
29. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (7.23)
30. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (7.25)
31. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (7.31)
32. We Thought You Would Be Prettier by Laurie Notaro (8.10)
33. The Alchemists: Fathers of Practical Chemistry by Richard Cummings (8.27)
34. The Destruction of Atlantis: Ragnarok, or The Age of Fire & Gravel by Ignatius Donnelly (9.13)
35. Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland (10.1)
36. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) (10.6)
37. Beauty's Punishment by A.N. Roquelaure (10.11)
38. Beauty's Release by A.N. Roquelaure (10.12)
39. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (10.22)
40. The House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones (10.25)
41. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (11.3)
42. Castle in the Air by Dianna Wynne Jones (11.13)
43. Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody (11.20)
44. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (11.22)
45. Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (11.23)
46. Calling on Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (11.23)
47. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (11.24)
48. The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody (11.28)
49. Ashling by Isobelle Carmody (11.29)
50. The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody (11.30)
51. Wavesong by Isobelle Carmody (12.1)
52. The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody (12.3)
53. The Forever Kiss by Angela Knight (12. 5)
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