2010 in Review

How I rung in the new year: on the slopes in Lake Placid

2010 was a pretty sweet year in all things non-book related—aka, "in real life." I successfully fulfilled all of my New Year's Resolutions, which were:

1. Be able to run more than a mile
2. Join an adult soccer league
3. Go on a vacation to somewhere I'd never been
4. Explore new restaurants in the city

In terms of reading, I've been in a blog funk lately and at this point I'm just aiming to write down things that I personally want to remember about what I read. I apologize for boring my few faithful readers with my mega-long Howard Zinn reading project, but it was just something I've wanted to do for a while. It's one of those reading projects that make you feel so accomplished once you finish (and I will actually finish tomorrow, once I post my reading notes on the final section...only 2 weeks late).

However, I'm out of the Howard Zinn reading funk and am excited about things sitting on my shelves waiting to be read. I just have to get through this unreasonably long book about philosophy for my book club first. Why a 558 page book was chosen to read over the busy holidays, I will never know. Also philosophy totally stumps me. And by "stumps" I mean "completely bores." I tried to read it twice in the car yesterday heading back from Lake Placid and both times I dozed off.

But as for the year in review, I read a total of 58 books this year which is two less than my personal record of 60 from 2009 (I blame Howard Zinn for slowing me down). My favorites were:

1. When Everything Changed by Gail Collins — the first satisfying history book I'd read in quite a long time. The history of women since 1960 is definitely an interesting one and even better to discuss with my mom.
2. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel — discovered during my brief graphic novel kick (which will start up again soon!). Great mix of plot, narration, and perfect illustrations about the author's semi-dysfunctional childhood and adolescence. 
3. The Betsy-Tacy series by Maude Hart Lovelace — I still have the last two books left but I sure do love some children's fiction from simpler times of the past.
4. Finny by Justin Kramon — I love novels that follow a likable/interesting/quirky character through different points in his/her life and this did just that.

I haven't thought of my real life resolutions yet, but my reading resolutions are pretty much the same as always: branch out, remember more, and beat my record! (that's the competitiveness in me.)

Happy new year!