Well, it’s been quite a year, literarily-speaking (not to mention the parts of my life that don’t involve books). This is the first year I’ve recorded what books I’ve read. For months beforehand, I’d had people suggest that I start a blog (my response invaribly being that my life wasn’t exciting enough to write about on a daily basis), and at the same time, I’d been wanting to keep a reading diary to keep track of the books I’d read and what I’d thought of them. I figured keeping an online reading blog would be the perfect fit. Little did I know that I would find a whole slew of like-minded folks, and that’s been one of the best things about keeping this blog. I’ve ‘met’ some wonderful, interesting people, and have discovered a veritible cornucopia of books to add to my wishlist. Thank you to all my fellow bibliophiles for enriching this experience beyond what I could have imagined.

In other book news this year, I was given the chance to work at an excellent library in Charlotte, joined a book club, got readdicted reinvolved in BookCrossing, and was even featured in an article on BookCrossing in the Charlotte area. My husband and I also designed and launched Bookwormz, a site that allows users to find (and add) independent bookstores throughout the United States. Unfortunately I had to leave both my job and my book club when we relocated back to Georgia a few weeks ago, but I’m hoping to start a book club where I’m living now, as well as find another job that incorporates my love of reading.

Santa (in the form of my husband) was also very good to me this year. Under the tree were Reading Like a Writer, Special Topics in Calamity Physics and The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived. I also got an appropriately themed calendar and a subscription to Bookmarks. And in my stocking was a bookstore giftcard, which has already been used to buy Little Children, The Last Days of Dogtown, The Birth House and The Expected One. All of these items were on my wishlist, so it was nice to pare that down a little bit!

And since no year-end blog post would be complete without a list, here are the books I read in 2006, with links to the original posts for each. I decided to choose a ‘top ten’ – which was more difficult than I anticipated, having read so many great books. Those that I chose for that (ahem) honor are bolded:

Fast Food Nation ~ Eric Schlosser
Tales of a Female Nomad ~ Rita Golden Gelman
Julie & Julia ~ Julie Powell
Life of Pi ~ Yann Martel
A Field Guide to Buying Organic ~ Luddene Perry and Dan Schultz
Prodigal Summer ~ Barbara Kingsolver
Fingersmith ~ Sarah Waters
Imagined London ~ Anna Quindlen
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction ~ Sue Townsend
So Many Books, So Little Time ~ Sara Nelson
The Thrall’s Tale – Judith Lindbergh
Into the Wild ~ Jon Krakauer
Kitchen Confidential ~ Anthony Bourdain
Fat Girl ~ Judith Moore
The Minister’s Daughter ~ Julie Hearn
How Reading Changed My Life – Anna Quindlen
The Readers’ Choice ~ Victoria Golden McMains
What to Read ~ Mickey Pearlman
A Year of Reading ~ Elisabeth Ellington and Jane Freimiller
The Reading Group Handbook ~ Rachel Jacobsohn
The Reading Group ~ Elizabeth Noble
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down – Anne Fadiman
My Sister’s Keeper ~ Jodi Picoult
Once Upon a Day ~ Lisa Tucker
The Reckoning ~ Sarah Pinborough
A Northern Light ~ Jennifer Donnelly
The Photograph ~ Penelope Lively
Sharp North ~ Patrick Cave
Birds in Fall ~ Brad Kessler
Summer Sisters ~ Judy Blume
Passing For Thin ~ Frances Kuffel
Kindred ~ Octavia Butler
Women of the Silk ~ Gail Tsukiyama
In Cold Blood ~ Truman Capote
Sand Dollar Summer ~ Kimberly Jones
The Kite Runner ~ Khaled Hosseini
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ~ Muriel Sparks
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ~ Mark Haddon
Bloodsucking Fiends ~ Christopher Moore
Atonement ~ Ian McEwan
Mayflower ~ Nathaniel Philbrick
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ~ Lisa See
The Tea House on Mulberry Street ~ Sharon Owens
(Un)arranged Marriage ~ Bali Rai
Literacy and Longing in L.A. ~ Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
Almost French ~ Sarah Turnbull
She Walks These Hills ~ Sharyn McCrumb
When the Emperor Was Divine ~ Julie Otsuka
Winner of the National Book Award ~ Jincy Willett
One Thousand White Women ~ Jim Fergus
Women Who Love Books Too Much ~ Brenda Knight
The Myth of You and Me ~ Leah Stewart
Water for Elephants ~ Sara Gruen
Fun Home ~ Alison Bechdel
Rebecca ~ Daphne DuMaurier
Hidden Latitudes ~ Alison Anderson
Persepolis ~ Marjane Satrapi
Eva Moves the Furniture ~ Margot Livesey
Maus I and II ~ Art Spiegelman
The Tooth Fairy ~ Graham Joyce
Goodnight, Nobody ~ Jennifer Weiner
Sleep, Pale Sister ~ Joanne Harris
Persepolis 2 ~ Marjane Satrapi
Blankets ~ Craig Thompson
The Shadow of the Wind ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. ~ Maria Amparo Escandon
Saints and Strangers ~ Angela Carter
Stuart: A Life Backwards ~ Alexander Masters
The Thirteenth Tale ~ Diane Setterfield
Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures ~ edited by Jennifer L. Leo
The Lambs of London ~ Peter Ackroyd
The Day the World Came to Town ~ Jim DeFede
The Woman in Black ~ Susan Hill
Interpreter of Maladies ~ Jhumpa Lahiri
Cold Comfort Farm ~ Stella Gibbons
Holy Fools ~ Joanne Harris
The Brontë Project ~ Jennifer Vandever
English Passengers ~ Matthew Kneale
The Time Traveler’s Wife ~ Audrey Niffenegger
The White ~ Deborah Larsen
Disappearing Ingenue ~ Melissa Pritchard
Challenging the Pacific ~ Maud Fontenoy
Across the Savage Sea ~ Maud Fontenoy
Carter Beats the Devil ~ Glen David Gold
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter ~ Kim Edwards
The Boleyn Inheritance ~ Philippa Gregory
The All of It ~ Jeannette Haien

Altogether, I read 87 books. I didn’t post about any books that for one reason or another, I didn’t finish reading – luckily those would be less than a handful. I seem to have read quite a bit of non-fiction, which surprises me as I considered myself more of a fiction reader. I can definitely see my love for YA literature, one of my favorite genres. This was also the year that I discovered graphic novels, and my enjoyment of them was a pleasant surprise.

Here’s to a great 2007 – surrounded by friends, family and books! Happy New Year, Everyone!