Early 2010 I started writing down all the books I read. Partly to see how many books I read in a year–but also to remind myself in case I forget…
In the past year I have read–on top of all the reading I do for my clients and the submissions I read–41 books!
For those interested in what I read, because that’s what I’m looking for in the queries that come in, below is a list of my recent literary triumphs:
The Good Daughters
The Slap
The Birth House
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing
No and Me
Arrival City
The Postmistress
French Women Don’t Get Fat
Annabel
By Nightfall
Never Let Me Go
Something Borrowed
Something Blue
Remember Me?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
The Tiger’s Wife
The Secret Daughter
Nineteen Minutes
The Night Circus
The Paris Wife
The Underside of Joy
Birds of Paradise
Heart of the Matter
Let the Great World Spin
One Day
With Your Crooked Heart
Barefoot
Unlimited
Girls in White Dresses
The Three Weissmans of Westport
Far to Go
Women Up On Blocks
The Sense of an Ending
The Submission
The Leftovers
The Marriage Plot
Steve Jobs
Bossypants
I am currently reading 1Q84. What are you reading?
I do this too, also mainly because I wanted to see how many books I read in a year. My aim is to get to 50, but in the three years I’ve been doing this I’ve only made it 40. (only on 35 so far this year!)
I was interested to read your list, but found myself craving a brief review of each book (I know – incredibly time-consuming and probably not possible!)
Last year a friend bought me a ‘reading journal’ for Christmas, so I can scribble down some notes about each book, and this has proved very useful for recommending to friends or for writing reviews for my blog.
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I think it’s a great idea to write them all down. I am going to continue to do it and next time when I write this post I’ll include a note as to what I thought. I don’t do reviews on my blog, but next time I’ll be happy to share a few quick thoughts.
Everyone should have a reading journal!
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I do this to!In a list with title, autor,date and language. It helps me to remember the content of the books!Even if I look a little bit crazy…=)
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Not crazy, organized :)
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I keep an Excel spreadsheet. It’s nice to be able to look back on when I read a book. I’m reading The Girl Who Played with Fire right now.
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I write mine in a little notebook I got in the Netherlands that has Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring on the cover, also the cover of the novel with the same title! Feels like my little literary journal.
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I have been keeping a reading list since 2004 – it started because I sometimes forget what I read and want to remember the good ones and not return to the bad books. It turned into kind of a journal that I hope my daughter can use when she is older to enjoy reading.
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I almost got a little teary-eyed, what a beautiful sentiment. We can only hope we have children that love to read so they can inherit our shelves of books ;)
Remembering the good and the bad is a good tip. I might need to start putting a star beside them, or writing in coloured pens.
Thanks, Emily!
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Another great post, Carly! I use Good Reads to track what I’m reading. I’ve just started using it this year, although I’m still debating about using a notebook instead. For one thing, a notebook will always be there (while I can’t control what happens to Good Reads).
It’s interesting to look back over the mix of what I’ve read so far this year. I had no idea I read so much non-fiction. I wish I had been tracking my reading for a long time like Emily C above!
I’m going to have to add several of the books on your list to mine – thank you!
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That’s funny because when I wrote mine up I didn’t realize I read so much fiction!
I wish I started much longer ago too. You have to start somewhere though!
Thanks, Carrie!
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