Books of 2016

This past year turned out to be another successful twelve months of reading. The first eight months I was living in a non-English speaking country which made me very dependent on my Kindle. Unfortunately, the secondhand Kindle I was gifted a few years ago finally hit the dust. Fortunately, it broke just a few weeks before a friend came to visit so she was able to bring me a replacement.

I hit my primary goal of reading more books than in 2015. I read 55 books. However, I did not reach my secondary goal of reading all the writers on Powell's 25 Women to Read Before You Die list. I only read works by four of the writers on the list. (However, I've read a total of 11 of the writers in my lifetime.)

Here they are:

1. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (160)

2. Room by Emma Donoghue (417)

3. Dare Me by Megan Abbot (305)

4. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (240)

5. The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin (335)

6. Cartwheel by Jennifer duBois (419)

7. Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary (192)

8. Wildflower by Drew Barrymore (288)

9. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit (171)

10. All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister (605)

11. In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume (416)

12. When We Were on Fire by Addie Zierman (402)

13. Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary (208)

14. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman (327)

15. Wallflower at the Orgy by Nora Ephron (187)

16. How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger (576)

17. A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer (366)

18. Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary (224)

19. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (176)

20. Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession with Meat is Killing Us by Garth Davis, MD (389)

21. Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein (320)

22. A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight by Maria Toorpakai (337)

23. We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to Cover Girl the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement by Andi Zeisler (304)

24. The Starch Solution by Dr. John A. McDougall (368)

25. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (146)

26. The Clasp by Sloane Crosley (385)

27. The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong (282)

28. The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West by Michelle Goldberg (336)

29. The Vegetarian by Han Kang (160)

30. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (180)

31. The Wrong Girl by Zoe Foster (266)

32. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (256)

33. Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism by Melanie Joy, Ph.D. (210)

34. Sex Object: A Memoir by Jessica Valenti (224)

35. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson (581)

36. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer (336)

37. Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty (432)

38. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (336)

39. You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein (304)

40. Weightless by Sarah Bannan (336)

41. Future Perfect by Jen Larsen (320)

42. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (208)

43. Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West (272)

44. Modern Lovers by Emma Straub (366)

45. I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee (256)

46. The Girls by Emma Cline (368)

47. My Life On the Road by Gloria Steinem (304)

48. The Healthiest Diet On the Planet by Dr. John McDougall and Mary McDougall (224)

49. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (384)

50. Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini (279)

51. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (288)

52. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson (288)

53. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (368)

54. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (208)

55. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (240)

In 2017 the plan is to read at least 56 books, read more writers on Powell's 25 Women to Read Before You Die list, and to focus on reading more Canadian writers. 

Books of 2006

I've recently been going through my belongings and pared everything down to just a few boxes. In the process I came across an old notebook that contained the list of books I read in 2006. For safekeeping I'm adding that list to the blog.

Books of 2006

1. Why I'm Like This by Cynthia Kaplan
2. An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
3. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris
4. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
5. Nine Stories by JD Salinger
6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
7. Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks
8. The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe
9. The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby
10. A Private State: Stories by Charlotte Bacon
11. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
12. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
13. Nickel and Dimed: On Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
14. Queen of the Oddballs and Other Stories of Life Unaccording to Plan by Hillary Carlip
15. Bad Haircut: Stories from the Seventies by Tom Perrotta
16. Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond
17. Old School by Tobias Wolff
18. In the Garden of North American Martyrs by Tobias Wolff
19. The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories by Steve Almond
20. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
21. Namedropper by Emma Forrest
22. Thin Skin by Emma Forrest
23. The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body by Desmond Morris
24. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
25. My Life in Heavy Metal: Stories by Steve Almond
26. The Sign of the Burger: McDonald's and the Culture of Power by Joe L. Kincheloe
27. Mad Cowboy: The Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat by Howard F. Lyman
28. An American Tragedy: Volume One by Theodore Dreiser
29. The Remain's of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
30. An American Tragedy: Volume Two by Theodore Dreiser
31. The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas by Davy Rothbart
32. The Underground Man by Mick Jackson
33. Everybody Into the Pool: True Tales by Beth Lisick
34. Vegan and Vegetarian FAQ by VRG
35. Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare
36. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
37. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
38. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
39. The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist Vegetarian Criticial Theory by Carol J. Adams
40. College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-Eds, Then and Now by Lynn Peru
41. The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir by James Brown
42. The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring
43. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
44. Bitchfest edited by Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler
45. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris
46. The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
47. Running with Scissors b y Augusten Burroughs