My Year in Books

Book Club
I've always wanted to be in a book club, so this year I gathered the other women I had heard utter that phrase and got one going. I hope the other ladies in the club are as happy with it as I am- it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that I'm going to get to discuss books and life with them once a month!

Connor reads for pleasure
Finally, Connor is starting to see reading as less of a chore. He voraciously read the first Harry Potter book and somehow that changed how he saw all other books. Suddenly they became entertainment to him. One of the best moments I've had recently was when Connor and I curled up together on his bean bag and each read our own books quietly together. Yay for family reading time!

The Master Butcher's Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich
Easily the best book I read this year. Outstanding.

Audible.com
I finally figured out how to successfully incorporated audiobooks into my regular routine. It has allowed me to "read" a lot more than I would have otherwise, and I'm so grateful for that! The only problem I've had is that I've recently been listening to Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, which is really long, and I'm doing it at the time of year when I'm less likely to take long walks or do a lot of jogging, which is when I usually listen to books. So I'm having a hard time getting through the book as quickly as I'd like. Otherwise, audiobooks have been very good to me this year. I get most of them through audible.com, if you're interested in giving it a try. They have a pretty cheap introductory offer.

Read in 2010
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Wench, Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
Sh*t My Dad Says, Justin Halpern
The Neon Rain, James Lee Burke
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, Lee Smith
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Babycakes, Armistead Maupin
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson
Black Cherry Blues, James Lee Burke
Cimarron Rose, James Lee Burke
A Stained White Radiance, James Lee Burke
The Girls in the Office, Jack Olsen
Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, Mary McDonagh Murphy
The Way Home, George P. Pelecanos
Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer
In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, James Lee Burke
Samaritan, Richard Price
Significant Others, Armistead Maupin
Shoedog, George P. Pelecanos
The Master Butcher's Singing Club, Louise Erdrich
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
Out of Sync, Lance Bass
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
An Education, Nick Hornby

Not read in 2010
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons
I got this book for Christmas last year and started it then. I'm on page 494 right now, steadily reading a page or two a day. I'll get through it eventually.