My Bookshelf, 2010 edition

I'm not sure how I managed it, but somehow in 2010 I worked my way through thirty-four books. To be fair, some of these titles were lighter than others, but still, I think that's a pretty good number. I'm not really someone who goes for those year-long reading challenges (a book per day or a book per week, etc.) because I expect it would make me a less attentive reader, more concerned with the number of pages left than the page I'm reading. 

Anyhow, here's what I read last year (excluding, of course, magazines and newspapers). Of the thirty-four titles on the list: 11 are rereads, 8 are non-fiction, 2 are poetry, 23 are novels, and 12 are Canadian. Clearly, I need to improve my poetry and short-fiction reading in 2011. All in all, though, those numbers indicate a reasonably balanced bookshelf.

Just like the last time I did this, the stars indicate rereads – can you believe that until this year I'd never read a novel by Margaret Atwood or Kurt Vonnegut? Consider those holes filled.

What I read in 2010:

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire*

Abel’s Island by William Steig*

American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center by William Langewiesche

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Vaillant

How Soccer Explains the World: An [unlikely] theory of globalization by Franklin Foer

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

The Adventuress by Audrey Niffenegger

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden*

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

The Boy in the Moon: A father’s search for his disabled son by Ian Brown

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat*

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman*

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Summer Sisters by Judy Bloom*

Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald*

The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White*

The Princess Bride by William Goldman*

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis*

Bloom by Michael Lista

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Pitouie by Derek Winkler

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

February by Lisa Moore

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson*

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart

This year, I'm looking forward to lots of new reading (and some rereading as well). At the top of my list are:

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud

Storyteller: The authorized biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock

Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut

Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

Tiger by John Vaillant

Here's to another great year of reading!