Books for the New Year

Since I am launching into the New Year sans school, I am excited about the number of books I am going to be able to read solely for fun. So I thought I'd make a list of what is waiting on my shelf:

Fiction:

1. Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast (the next in a series of trashy teen vampire fiction)
2. The King Must Die by Mary Renault (retelling of Theseus myths)
3. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (recommended by a guy in my 18th century class and my mom)
4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (because I should, I really should, why can't I make myself?)
5. Middlemarch by George Eliot
6. The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde (Aaron finished The Picture of Dorian Gray and really loved it, so we are going to read aloud a bit from this book)
   

Non-fiction:

1. The First Americans by Joy Hakim (I am trying this first book of her The History of US series)
2. The Lexicographer's Delimma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park by Jack Lynch (my Christmas present from Aaron's parents)
3. A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen (my birthday present from my ex-husband and fellow Jane Austen lover -- includes Eudora Welty, E.M. Forster, and C.S. Lewis)
4. Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (I didn't get through this the first time, not cause it wasn't interesting, but because I got sidetracked by fiction - - this is try number 2)
5. For A New Liberty by Murray Rothbard (a discussion with some anarchists friends made me want to delve further)

On Audio:

1. Phineas Gage by John Fleischman (a description of the case aimed at older children)
2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
3. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (extra reading I got interested in and didn't have time to read during my 18th century class)
4. Breaking Dawn by Stepanie Meyer (finishing up rereading the series from when I saw New Moon recently)

I also thought my readers might be interested in some year end stats. Strangely enough, I, who cannot usually keep a grocery list, keep a monthly account of the books I read (including audio, large groups of poems or essays, and long poems, excluding picture books and short poems).

In 2009, I read 89 books. 62 of those books were new to me. 31 of the books were read for school. Only 3 of the books for school were things I had read before. That means I only read 34 books that were new to me purely for my own enjoyment. I reread 52 books for my own enjoyment.

15 of the books were non-fiction. 13 were collections of poems or long poems. 3 were plays. 1 was a collection of short stories. 1 was a kind of proto-novel. 53 were novels.

Here is the breakdown of how many books I read by months:
Jan - 7
Feb - 6
Mar - 8
April - 10
May - 4
June - 4
July - 9
Aug - 10
Sept- 10
Oct - 12
Nov - 9
Dec - 10

It's funny that I was off of school and work in most of May and June, and yet I read the fewest books then. Maybe because I had Livy with me during the week. It will be interesting to see how this semester goes, since I will have her with me during the week again. Hopefully I'll read more that 4 books a month!

I noticed one interesting thing this year. I did not reread E.M. Forster! Nor did I reread Pride and Prejudice! I should probably move those right up the list for the New Year.

Note to readers: If some of you are inclined to add up the numbers above and see if they are right, do so at your own peril. Anyone who reads this much, and this much fiction especially, is a literary type person. I neither know nor care whether these numbers add up exactly. I don't often do rereads of my own posts to edit, and I certainly did not recheck all those numbers.