The Day of Reckoning

And so we have arrived. It is New Year's Eve, the end of the year, and time to be weighed in the balances. Last January, dismayed that I had fallen off the literary wagon and become recreationally illiterate, I resolved to take it one day at a time and read 50 books in 365 days. I admitted that I was powerless over Recreational Illiteracy and that my life had become unmanageable; I came to believe that a Power/Bookstore/Library greater than myself could restore me to sanity; I made a decision to turn off my TV and turn my life over to the care of Amazon. I did not fully succeed. With 7 hours of reading time left in 2010, I have read 48 books--2 shy of my goal. They are:

1. And Only to Deceive - Tasha Alexander
2. A Poisoned Season - Tasha Alexander
3. A Fatal Waltz - Tasha Alexander
4. Tears of Pearl - Tasha Alexander
5. The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
6. Possession - A.S. Byatt
7. Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
8. The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier
9. Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
10. The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay
11. Diary of a Provincial Lady - E.M. Delafield
12. Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
13. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
14. A Beautiful Blue Death - Charles Finch
15. The Magicians - Lev Grossman
16. What Angels Fear - C.S. Harris
17. The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
18. Ripley Under Ground - Patricia Highsmith
19. Ripley's Game - Patricia Highsmith
20. The Mist in the Mirror - Susan Hill
21. The Small Hand - Susan Hill
22. Never Let Me Go - Katsuo Ishiguro
23. The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
24. Dressed for Death - Donna Leon
25. Through a Glass Darkly - Donna Leon
26. A Sea of Troubles - Donna Leon
27. Willful Behavior - Donna Leon
28. Doctored Evidence - Donna Leon
29. About Face - Donna Leon
30. Death in a Strange Country - Donna Leon
31. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
32. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
33. My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier
34. The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn - Robin Maxwell
35. Mademoiselle Boleyn - Robin Maxwell
36. Evening - Susan Minot
37. The Night Bookmobile - Audrey Niffenegger
38. An Instance of the Fingerpost -Iain Pears
39. Lush Life -Richard Price
40. Excellent Women - Barbara Pym
41. A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym
42. Some Tame Gazelle - Barbara Pym
43. The Dead Travel Fast - Deanna Raybourn
44. Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn
45. Silent in the Sanctuary - Deanna Raybourn
46. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
47. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily - Lauren Willig
48. The Mischief of the Mistletoe - Lauren Willig

Though I would have liked to have the "full set," as it were, with 50, I'm proud of this accomplishment. It's certainly leagues beyond my normal yearly "book count." These 48 include authors I wasn't familiar with before and now adore (Barbara Pym, Deanna Raybourn, Charles Finch, Katsuo Ishiguro), books I'd been meaning to read but hadn't gotten around to (Possession, The Name of the Rose), books I hadn't planned on reading and found greatly disappointing (The Power of One, Lush Life). I've discovered new genres--gothic/horrid novels, Victorian mysteries--that will now be mainstays. And I look forward to trying again in 2011 and continuing to expand my horizons.

Maybe putting a number--50--on reading isn't really the answer. I don't want to start rushing through books or picking "easy" ones just to meet a quota. Maybe a better attitude/approach is to always be reading something. Before this year I could go months at a time without an answer to "so, what are you reading now?" or even "read any good books lately?" I love that I've changed this. I love that I always have a novel in my bag and on the bedside table. I love being able to update my status pretty much every single day on Goodreads. I have loved almost every minute of this year of reading "dangerously," and I know that 2011 will be no different.

In light of this overwhelmingly maudlin positivity, I will close out my last post of the year with the top 10 best of the 48, in no particular order:

1. Possession - A.S. Byatt
2. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
3. Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
4. The Magicians - Lev Grossman
5. Excellent Women - Barbara Pym
6. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
7. Never Let Me Go - Katsuo Ishiguro
8. The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
9. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily - Lauren Willig
10. A toss-up between The Dead Travel Fast and Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn

2010, it's been real.