Books Read 2010

Since I've been enjoying other people's lists of the books they read in 2010, I decided to post my own list, too.

The following are all the books I read in the past year, except for most of the picture books—I read a lot of picture books and don't always remember to add them to my Goodreads list, which is how I keep track of my reading these days. The notation "A" following an item means I listened to the audiobook, and "R" means it was a reread. Over the past year or so I discovered the joy of re-experiencing well-loved books in their audio versions, which has been an incredible treat. Especially the Lois McMaster Bujold books, and especially the Miles Vorkosigan titles, which are not only all wonderful in their own right but are narrated by the absolutely perfect Grover Gardner. (If you are new to Miles and want to experience the awesomeness for yourself, I recommend starting with Shards of Honor [available individually as an audiobook or packaged with Barrayar in the printed compilation Cordelia's Honor] and reading in internal chronological order, which is different from order of publication.) (Actually, what I really recommend is reading all the books in print first, then waiting a few years and going back and re-experiencing them as audiobooks. But I realize that's probably asking a lot.)

Aaaaaaanyway... here's the list.

1. A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
2. Stitches by David Small
3. Night Road by A. M. Jenkins
4. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
5. Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
7. Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold (A, R)
8. The Declaration by Gemma Malley
9. The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (R)
10. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (A, R)
11. Writing Fantasy Fiction by Sarah Lefanu
12. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (A, R)
13. Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy by Gardner R. Dozois
14. Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox
15. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (A)
16. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary (A)
17. Redwall by Brian Jacques
18. Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
19. Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold (A, R)
20. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (A)
21. The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson
22. The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer
23. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home (Season 8, Vol. 1) by Joss Whedon (et al)
24. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You (Season 8, Vol. 2) by Joss Whedon (et al)
25. Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks
26. Sabriel by Garth Nix (A)
27. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
28. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (A)
29. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
30. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (A)
31. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (R)
32. The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
33. The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, #1) by Michael Buckley
34. Hate That Cat: A Novel by Sharon Creech
35. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams (A)
36. The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones
37. Brontorina by James Howe
38. The Wizard Heir (The Heir Chronicles, #2) by Cinda Williams Chima
39. Well Wished by Franny Billingsley
40. Dramarama by E. Lockhart
41. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (A)
42. Monster by Walter Dean Myers
43. ttyl by Lauren Myracle
44. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (R)
45. Passage (The Sharing Knife, #3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
46. Under The Dome by Stephen King (A)
47. Horizon (The Sharing Knife, #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold
48. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (A, R)
49. Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (A, R)
50. Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
51. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (A)
52. Persuasion by Jane Austen (A)
53. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (A)
54. Sacred Scars (A Resurrection of Magic, #2) by Kathleen Duey
55. CryoBurn by Lois McMaster Bujold (A)
56. The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
57. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (A)
58. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (A, R)
59. The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King (A)
60. The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, #12; A Memory of Light, #1) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Reading now (started in 2010, but not yet finished): Scrawl by Mark Shulman and Northanger Abbey (A) by Jane Austen.

See ya, 2010

I hope everyone who's been stuck in the snow this week has made it home (or to whatever intended destination) safely by now.

I will not be sorry to see the end of 2010. There were some good parts in there too, of course, but I know this was a tough year in many ways for a lot of people, myself included, and I suspect I am nowhere near alone in looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow. Here's hoping 2011 brings lots of good things to all of us.

If you're the resolution-making type (or even just the resolution-reading type), head on over to Through the Tollbooth where we are posting our writing resolutions for the new year.

Have fun tonight, whatever you are up to! Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and all-around awesome 2011.

2010 is going to be OK

Just finished my second cup of coffee, which means it is time to get up from the computer and go do things. Mostly today's things will be about packing and getting ready for rez and getting my cat ready to spend ten days at my boyfriend's apartment while I am gone. There are things I wanted to get done before I go that will not get done, and I am deciding to be ok about this.

I think I want to make Deciding to Be Ok about Things my goal for 2010. I spend way too much time worrying about everything (and I mean seriously, EVERYTHING), and while there are some small number of things actually worth worrying about (e.g., health and well-being of friends and family), many of the things I worry about are just not worth it. Some things can just be ok. For example, it is ok that I didn't get all the reading done that I would have liked to do for the residency. It is ok that my apartment is a mess, and that my friend Kristin will see it this way when she comes over to water my plants next week. It is ok that I do not have my whole life figured out, and that I have big questions about lots of significant life things, and that I do not have a five-year plan or a fully updated checkbook register or a functional exercise regimen.

Which is not to say I'm not going to set goals for the coming year or anything like that. Actually the whole point is to direct my energy toward what matters, instead of wasting it on things that don't. I'm going to finish my Trelian sequel by March 1, which is my new deadline and which CANNOT be missed if I want the book to come out when it's supposed to. I'm going to finish the first draft of another novel that I'm working on, hopefully by July. I'm going to fix up my apartment, and paint and get curtains, and I'm going to cook more and try not to spend money like a crazy person. I'm going to exercise more, but it's going to be ok if that takes the form of long walks listening to audiobooks instead of my former ideal of going for runs and rejoining the gym.

I read David Small's Stitches last night (some of the reading for rez that I *did* finish) and by the end I was feeling pretty silly about some of the things in my life that upset me. Seriously, my life is pretty ok, more than ok, and some people have Real Problems and sometimes it helps to remember that and try to put things in perspective. Not that my life is all candy and roses by any means, and of course some things are going to get me down, but there are also many things in my life that I need to remember to be grateful for on a regular basis.

Anyway. I should get up and go do things now, for real. Need to pick up a package at the post office and stop at the bank for laundry and vending machine quarters for school, and pack and pack and transfer files to my laptop and update my iPod and everything else. I doubt I will post anything while I'm away, but if you're interested in getting a glimpse of the goings-on at the residency, VCFA alum Tami Brown will be posting at Through the Tollbooth, and Cynthia Leitich Smith will be tweeting VCFA faculty quotes on her Twitter page.