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The year in reading – Part I Posted: 12 Aug 2009 01:37 PM PDT Welcome to the annual review of My Year in Reading. In Part One, I will give an overview of my Books to Read List, the changes in the list, and the most notable or ignoble books I’ve read between August 2008 and August 2009. In Part II I’ll expose my list. I’m going to cut to the quick and place the awards up first. Note: I’m not going into “best of” or “worst of” lists. But the book I’m most likely to reread was obviously a pleasurable experience that offered real depth. The book I’m most likely to recommend is one that, subjective tastes aside, I am willing to stake my reputation on. Biggest surprise is a book that exceeded my expectations. All inverses apply. Longest time on list: Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace Newest book on list: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (Added in 8/10/09, read 8/11/09) Most recently read: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman Most likely to be read next: Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi 2008 Book I Most Want to Reread: If on a winter’s night a traveller, Italo Calvino. I am 100% certain that I will reread this book. Runner-up: Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy. 2008 Least Likely to be Reread: The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. 2008 Least Forgettable Award: Mistborn: the Well of Ascention, Brandon Sanderson. While Mistborn I had a “twist” and Mistborn III had a twist, Mistborn II had a TWIST. I will never forget how ashamed, angry, and delighted I was when I turned the last page of that book. 2008 Most Forgettable Award:The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Gordon Dahlquist. I was (unpleasantly) surprised when I saw this highlighted as read on my list—I had, in fact, forgotten about it. 2008 Most Pleasant Surprise – Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami. I was afraid this book would be too bizarre and aspire to be too literary for my tastes. It was a wonderful introduction to Mr. Murakami’s corpus. 2008 Worst Surprise - Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald. While my professor enjoyed this book, he was surprised by the class’s backlash against the whiny hero, dull pacing, and the disagreeable secondary characters. In 2008, there were 217 books on my Books to Read list. The list comprised the MLA’s Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, plus the 53 non-duplicitous selections by the Radcliffe Publishing Course’s corresponding Top 100 list. The remaining 66 were books of my own selection, of which the 12 Wheel of Time books were the single largest constituent. As of 8/2008, I had read 24 of the 219, or 11%. In the 12 intervening months, the list grew by 34 to include 253 items. The largest single constituent was a volume containing the “Short Novels of Dostoevsky” I purchased at a book faire for $2. The second largest subset was the four novels required for my senior capstone class. The list grew at an annual rate of 16%. As of 8/09, I had read 44/253, or 17%, an increase of 20 books or 120%. 12 of those books were added to the list after 8/08. There is a margin of error of 2%* At the current rate of reading and list expansion, I will have completed my list in 2013. * The margin of error exists in regards to Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, which I was supposed to read in its entirety but didn’t quite finish.

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