I did it! I completed my reading resolution for 2011! {{{Sorta.}}}
For any newcomers around here, the resolution I made last January was to read People Magazine's Top Ten Books from 2010. Equipped with a brand-new kindle, I figured this would be a fun way to expand my horizons by reading books I wouldn't normally choose. The goal was to read all ten books from the list, and even 3 of the honorable mentions if time allowed. Here's a quick refresher of the list, but you can read the short descriptions and my thoughts by clicking over to my original post (that I've updated along the way).
Room by Emma Donoghue The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Freedom by Jonathan Franzen Life by Keith Richards I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Just Kids by Patti Smith Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 One Day by David Nicholls
Here's the truth: I only made it through 8 of the books. Technically 7.5 because I gave up on the one shaded in green. The two in blue are the ones I didn't make it to at all. I have two friends that are completely different who both read Freedom and neither enjoyed it. That zapped my motivation to squeeze it in. The Mark Twain autobiography just seemed like a daunting task since it's so long. I put it off and put it off until it was too late to read it in 2011. I may come back to it another day, who knows. I decided mid-December that these two just weren't going to get read. I had one more left to make it to 8 so I buckled down and read during the holidays. I finished the last couple chapters a mere hour before we left for our New Year's Eve party.
As for the 3 honorable mentions (The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy), they didn't get touched in 2011. Now that the first movie's out, I'm trying to jump on the bandwagon and read them. I just started it a night or two ago and have only read 1 chapter. Everyone has told me it's hard to get into so I've been bad about not picking it up to keep going. I hate books that have a slow start!
But the 8 books from the top ten aren't all that I read this year. In between these, I had to turn to books that were more my style to keep my reading momentum going. Here are the books that round out my complete reading list:
True Colors by Kristin Hannah The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I know 15.5 books is not very many for one year (it certainly doesn't compare to the 68 my sister-in-law Jill read!), but I'm still proud of myself. It's hard to find time to read between working full time and all my craft/woodshop projects! And I'm a slow reader, especially if I don't like the book, so there's that. I haven't set any real resolutions yet for 2012, but maybe it should be to read 20 books. I'll just up my number a little, but I'm not going back to People Magazine's suggestions! The plan is to read the Dragon Tattoo trilogy first. After that, I think I want to re-read the Hunger Games series - at least the first one - before the movie comes out in March. Can. Not. Wait. The trailer looks so good!
So with that, I'll call this little reading adventure over. Now the question is, what should I read in 2012? Any suggestions?
And for what it's worth, my suggestions from these lists would be the Hunger Games if you haven't already read them, and definitely Unbroken.