Overview for 2008

I have never done this before, but I feel like taking a look at what I have read this year. I look though my blog around Christmas every year, because from this list I choose books to give to friends. I also like to put the past year's books into an Excel file, so I can do some sorting by author, year, etc. This year at times I haven't been as diligent recording books I've read, so I might have missed some, and I usually don't include any Latvian reading I have done, though I don't do much - maybe it is out of embarrassment on how little I read in Latvian. Even so, by the end of the year I should have about 60 books under my belt, and I feel this is pretty OK, considering my busy life. At this point I have 58 books in my list, 19 of them published in 2008. Actually most of what I read is recent - 72% from the last four years. It is wonderful to not be constrained by any required reading, so I just read what interests me, what lands in my scope of awareness. And since most of what I "read" I actually listen to, it means that my Audio Books store is highly influential in my choices. They get all the bestsellers, and that is the shelf I tend to browse first, and at times I will ask their advice, especially when I'm looking for some light reading.

My biggest find and joy was Geraldine Brooks. People of the Book was immediately my favorite book of the year, and then a patron at the library suggested other books by her, so I read every book she has written, except for March, which I will tackle this coming year. I couldn't wait till Christmas, so I started sharing People of the Book with friends earlier in the year. I liked all her books, but the one that blew me away was Nine Parts of Desire: the Hidden World of Islamic Women. That too was shared earlier in the year.

I also followed up on previous favorite authors, such as Elizabeth Gilbert with her book of short stories Pilgrims and the biographical Last American Man, both good but not as inspiring as Eat, Pray, Love. From Louise Erdrich I read her latest - Plague of Doves.

I went to Sweden for a couple of days this March and wanted to read something by Swedish authors. I picked up a few books there, got a few more back home. The best was Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, first of a mystery trilogy and the only one translated into English. That led me to a book by one of my favorite children's authors - Astrid Lindgren, and I got an old beat-up copy of Bill Bergson, Master Detective.

[I will post this, though incomplete, to make sure I don't forget to continue it.]