My Retinas Burn With Failure

What I Read In 2009:

1) JPod - Douglas Coupland
2) Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
3) I'm With the Band - Pamela Des Barres
4) Da Capo Best Music Writing 2008 - Various
5) Helpless - Barbara Gowdy
6) House of Meetings - Martin Amis
7) Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
8) Flight - Sherman Alexie
9) Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
10) New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
11) Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
12) Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer
13) The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
14) Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill
15) I & I - George Elliot Clarke
16) Colours Insulting to Nature - Cintra Wilson
17) The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
18) From Hell - Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
19) The Road - Cormac McCarthy
20) Half the Sky - Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn
21) Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
22) Our Band Could Be Your Life - Michael Azzerad
23) Wonderland Avenue - Danny Sugerman*
24) John Steinbeck - Cannery Row*
25) Black Water - Joyce Carol Oates*
26) Youth in Revolt - C.D. Payne*
27) First Love, Last Rites - Ian MacEwan*
28) Dance Me Outside - W.P. Kinsella*
29) Whiteman - Tony D'Souza*
30) The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For - Alison Bechdel*
31) Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues - Loren Rhoads (editor)*
32) The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls*


* blogs pending

Of the 100 books I swore to read by the end of 2009, I read 32.

How do I feel about it?

When I learn about the efforts of people like this woman , I feel sort of crappy about it. But when I look at the cumulative effects of this blog and the book reviews I logged, I feel better. It sparked a lot of great conversations, if nothing else. I figured out a little more about my personal tastes; distressingly, I also had to confront my lack of focus and especially my lack of conviction (and conciseness) when it came to actually blogging about the books I'd read.

I've decided to continue the blog in order to firstly, complete the reviews that are still pending (I think I need a new word limit) and secondly because I read more when I blog about reading than when I don't. New challenges and new features are on the horizon. Recipes. Fan fiction. Trash. Pictures. Videos. The internet.

In the meantime, more reviews, and suggestions for new books are, as always, welcome. Thanks to the devoted few who followed (and continue to follow) along.

Love, Lang