Trying to track my reading habits

I've been using a variety of methods to track my reading habits: this blog, Amazon wish lists (really more helpful for the "to-read" list), Pinterest boards (also more helpful for the "to-read" list), my "currently-reading" classroom sign, and Goodreads. I've been having trouble with Goodreads on my iPhone pretty much since the school year started and just today I finally read the error message and signed out and signed back in. And now it's working.

So, an updated list, cobbled together from the various sources:

1. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. Wildwood by Colin Meloy
3. In the Woods by Tana French
4. Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka
5. Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
8. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

9. Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

10. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

11. Sick Puppy by Carl Hiassen

12. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

13. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

14. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (okay, shut up!)

15. This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

16. The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

17. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
18. All We Ever Wanted was Everything by Janelle Brown

19. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

20. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

21. Igniting a Passion for Reading by Steven L. Layne

22. Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

23. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

24. The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer

25. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

26. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

27. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Currently reading: Murder in the Marais: An Aimee Leduc Investigation by Cara Black and Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Ray Bradbury (graphic novel)

To-read list (books currently in my possession from the library and from my most recent Scholastic book order):

1. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

2. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta

3. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

4. 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

6. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

7. Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

8. Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

I may be on track to read 40 books this year (the books listed above equal 37). It helps that I've decided to count the YA books that I read (and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference, like with Miss Peregrine) and that I have a student teacher right now, which allows me more time to read (and write! Check out 750words.com). My determination method has continued to evolve. I'm still pretty set on maintaining high standards for the books I personally read, but the book Igniting a Passion for Reading (see #20, above) has convinced me that it is important to read YA novels - nay, consume them - for the sake of the kids I teach. I've got lots of ideas for helping kids pick out "just-right" books and I'm excited to teach, and part of the plan is to read and recommend lots of books that my 8th graders may like. So, I've got this peculiar mix of award-winning adult novels and guilty-pleasure (for lack of a better term - I've expounded about how I detest that phrase before) YA books, plus my own pet genre, mysteries, represented in my list.

Onward! Two months left of 2012!

The New List and Selection Process

So far, this year, I've read:

1. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. Wildwood by Colin Meloy
3. In the Woods by Tana French
4. Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka
5. Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
8. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


Judging by the fact that 6 out of those 8 books are technically YA novels (though Wildwood is enormous and The Hunger Games trilogy packs an adult-sized emotional punch), I'd say I need to get moving on some of the adult books on my list.


Coming soon . . .


1. The Best American Short Stories 2011 (downloaded to my Kindle)
2. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (sort of waiting for paperback or when it comes to my small-town library)
3. What Maisie Knew by Henry James (this has been chilling on my Kindle for almost a year. Over the summer I finally landed firmly on the love side of my love-hate relationship with Mr. James.)
4. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011 National Book Award finalist)


I've recently decided that most of the books I read should be award-winning books. I've wasted a lot of time and energy and come away angry at too many sub-par books. If I know it's won an award, at least I know even if I personally don't care for it, it will be worth my time. All the books I read so far this year, and all the books on my to-read list, are award-winners or nominees. (The exceptions are books you can rely on to be excellent because of the authors, like James or Doyle, books that will be excellent because of the selection process, like the Best American series, books in a series that follow an award-winning debut, such as the Hunger Games series, or books by authors* I already like, such as Colin Meloy).  


*Not technically an author before Wildwood, but I've listened to and owned enough Decemberists albums to know that he's a talented lyricist. 

The Final Tally

Obviously, due to the drop-off in number of items added to the list and of postings posted over the last three months, life has been busy. Teaching is a job to love for the holidays and summers off, but it is a relentless beast during the actual working days. Even though it's break, I spent the last two days grading papers. I do, however, have a couple of books to add to the List, therefore completing it for 2011.

Books I've read this year

1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
22. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
23. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
24. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
25. Bossypants by Tina Fey
26. The Group by Mary McCarthy
27. Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile McCoy
28. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
29. The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Anthony Horowitz

So, I guess the grand total has to be 29. I was hoping for 40, but maybe in 2012!

Just for fun, a few of the YA books I read (though I can't say I honestly remember if this was all of them)

1. Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn
2. Peeled by Joan Bauer
3. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones
4. Heist Society by Ally Carter

And, a preview of my to-read list for 2012:

1. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (reading now)
2. His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
3. Wildwood by Colin Meloy
4. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
5. The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides

Happy New Year!

Keeping track, part three

I'm well on my way to thirty-plus books this year; actually, if you count the re-reads, I'm already at 29. Maybe I can make 40 books this year! That's not even counting the textbook I've had to read for the Composition class I teach, nor the numerous YA novels that I end up snacking on throughout the school year. 

Books I've read this year

1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
22. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
23. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
24. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
25. Bossypants by Tina Fey
26. The Group by Mary McCarthy

Books I've re-read:

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
3. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chestnutt

Keeping track, updated

Books I've read this year

1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
21. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
22. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
23. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Books I've re-read:

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
3. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chestnutt

Keeping track

In the very first class I took for my grad program, my professor recommended that we all keep a notebook where we record the titles and details about books we've read. I started to do that the following summer, which is now four years ago. Then came baby. And more grad classes. And four years' worth of papers to grade. And moving. And all that stuff. 

That notebook, in which I took careful notes about the seventh Harry Potter book as well as C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters, Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone, and Anne LaMott's Grace (Eventually), gradually faded into obscurity only to be resurrected last summer as a grad-school notebook for my Dickens class. (Interestingly, it started life as an ill-fated workout notebook, where I kept track of how much I lifted and what settings I put the machines on and number of reps at Powerhouse Gym in Morris, IL the summer before I got married.) It's now, sadly, tattered and full of boring notes about Pickwick Papers. 

But who am I kidding? I don't have time anymore to write full-page summaries of every book that I read, including my evaluations, number of stars, and important quotes. It's impressive enough, these days, to read a non-school book beginning to end, though I've done a better job of that this summer than I have in recent years.

So, if only to remind myself (and my "mom-brain") what I've read lately and why, here's a breakdown (roughly in the order I read them) for 2011 (not including YA novels, because those take like 2 seconds to read and I totally don't digest them):

1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
2. White Noise by Don DeLillo
3. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
4. American Tabloid by James Ellroy
5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson
6. Babel-17 by Samuel Delaney
7. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
8. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
9. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
10. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
12. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
13. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
14. The Story of Avis by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
15. Austenland by Shannon Hale
16. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
17. Daisy Miller by Henry James
18. Maggie, a Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
19. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
20. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells

Books I've re-read:

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
3. The Marrow of Tradition by Charles Chestnutt