Turning over a new leaf

It always annoys me when end-of-year lists come out before the year is over. It's as if nothing that happens from December 12-on counts because lists that sum up the year have to be made early. Because I hate that (and think things that happen at the end of December still count) I waited until 2009 was officially over to tally my bookshelf.

In more or less chronological order, here is what I read in 2009 (excluding the four or five books I read for school). I put stars next to rereads, but I'm not sure I read a bad book last year, so all these titles are recommendation-worthy.

The Paperback Book – Rick Mercer

Eucalyptus – Murray Bail *

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Lynn Truss *

Through Black Spruce – Joseph Boyden

The Pages – Murray Bail

Things I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Haruki Murakami

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami

Autobiography of Red – Anne Carson

Hooked – Carolyn Smart

Lullabies for Little Criminals – Heather O’Neil

The Far Pavilions – M.M. Kaye *

Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling *

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling *

Lives of Girls and Women – Alice Munro

Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi

A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute *

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Wild Sheep Chase – Haruki Murakami

Looking at it now, it seems like not that many titles. In some cases, that's because I got really attached to certain characters and didn't want to let them go, so I read more slowly to draw them out. It was a busy year but, for the most part, I managed to read what I wanted to read, which leaves 2010 open for all sorts of new titles (some of which Santa has already delivered).

I have stacks of books to read, really, but here are the top-five titles on the pile:

The Golden Mean - Annabel Lyon

The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood (also Oryx and Crake, they're sort of a pair)

Too Much Happiness - Alice Munro

Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Oh, I am excited!