A Year In Books

I’ve read a lot this year. Recently a few people have asked what sort of books I’ve been reading. Being the nerd that I am, I’ve kept a list. There are also two sentence summaries of each book; a list of favourite quotations and a running page count in a notebook with the list. But let’s not get carried away.

Yes. I am aware it is heavy on the Soviet inspired stuff. And that Dostie and Dickens are conspicuously absent. Oops. Don’t judge me for the presence of Chick-Lit.
* denotes the books I recommend
+ denotes the books I’ve read before

- Azerbaijan Diary: T. Goltz
- Suite Francaise: I. Nemirovsky
- Eat Pray Love: E. Glibert
- House For Mr. Biswas: VS Naipaul
- Someone Else’s Daughter: ??
- Belong to Me: M. de Los Santos
- A Dive From Clauson’s Pier: A. Packer
- Love Walked In: M. de Los Santos
- Out Stealing Horses: P. Petterson
- A Kiss For Maddelena: C. Castellani
- Chasing Harry Winston: L Weisberger
- The Jane Austen Book Club: K.J Fowler
- My Sister’s Keeper: J. Picoult
- The Bronze Horseman: P. Simmons * +
- The Soloist: S. Lopez
- The Freedom Writer’s Diary: E. Grunwell
- Confessions of a Shopaholic: S. Kinsella
- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: D. Woblenski *
- The English: A Portrait of a People: J. Paxman
- Revolutionary Road: R. Yates
- Like Water For Chocolate: L Esquivel *
- A Window Across the River: B. Morton
- The Secret Speech: T.R. Smith
- Crossing Washington Square: J. Rendell
- Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society: M.A. Shaffer *
- Water For Elephants: S. Gruen * * * (READ THIS!)
- Lost and Found: J. Sigaloff
- Julie and Julia: J. Powell
- Me Talk Pretty One Day: D. Sedaris
- Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard: K. Desai
- The Mermaid Chair: S.M. Kidd
- A Tree Grows In Brooklyn: B. Smith *
- The Shipping News: E.A. Prolux
- The Joy Luck Club: A. Tan
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: J. le Carre
- The Heretic’s Daughter: K. Kent
- Girls of Riyadh: R. Alsanea *
- The Other Queen: P. Gregory
- How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents: J. Alvarez
- The Girl in Hyacinth Blue: S. Vreeland
- The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: M. Chabon
- Two Years in Poland and Other Stories: A Peace Corps Memoir: L. Siddell
- Harvesting the Heart: J. Picoult
- How Soccer Explains the World: F. Foer
- Bliss, Remembered: F. Deford
- The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War: A. Seierstad
- Nineteen Minutes: J. Picoult *
- The White Tiger: A. Adiga
- Rumour Has It: J. Mansell
- Africa United: S. Bloomfield
- The Piano Tuner: D. Mason
- The Other Side of the Story: M. Keyes
- Absurdistan: G. Shteyngart *
- The Red Scarf: K. Furnivall
- Marley and Me: J. Groban
- The Secret Life of Bees: S.M. Kidd +

And the most quotable entry in the quotation collection:

“[Dressed] Like a missionary, her cousins will say, like one of those Peace Corps girls who have let themselves go so as to do dubious good in the world.” - How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

This little gem inserts itself into almost every conversation my site-mate and I have about the deterioration of our wardrobes.