Before you say anything, I know it’s taken me long enough to write this post. January 2010 is half over at this point. Still, I wanted to take the time to look back on what I read and done with my blog during 2009.
2009 was a great year. I read more books and pages than I ever had before. I know that I only scratched the surface of what was published. We are blessed like no readers ever before.
Here are the statistics:
Books Read: 93
Pages Read: 32,438
Average Pages per Book: 349
Odd Facts: 8 of the books I rad had 288 pages. 7 books had 384 pages and another 7 had 416 pages. There were several other page numbers shared by 4 and 3 books. Interesting how different books tend to have similar page numbers. I would have thought that 93 books could easily have had 93 different page numbers.
Challenges Completed: R.I.P. IV, Peril the First, War Through the Generations
First Theme Week: I held my first theme week in August ~ Dog Days of Summer. It was a lot of fun and I was blown away by the support and participation. There will definitely by another DDoS in 2010.
Favorite Post: Where I discuss my literary infidelity. Since writing that post, I have given in to The Hunger Games phenomenon and finished both books this month. I’m still a tramp at heart, though. LOL!
Award: My review of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger was selected by her publicist as one of the top 10. I received an autographed 1st addition, which I adore.
Book Bloggers Met: 14+ (yeah!).
- In February, I met Jaime from Confessions of a Bibliophile and Kathy from Bermudaonion’s Weblog in Blacksburg. Miriam from Hatchette Book Group was also there. We met for lunch a second time in 2009 and both afternoons were fantastic.
- I met Deborah from Books, Movies and Chinese Food and Swapna from S. Krishna’s Books in D.C. while I was attending a training session. It was a great meal. They picked the perfect restaurant.
- The National Book Festival was a wonderful (if a little damp) place to meet even more book bloggers: Michelle from GalleySmith, Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog, Amy from My Friend Amy, Trish from Hey Lady! Watcha Readin’?, Cara from Ooh… Books!, Nicole from Linus’ Blanket, Jill from Rhapsody in Books, Anna from Diary of an Eccentric, and Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit. I know there were several others there as well, including Deborah and Swapna. If I missed, please forgive me!
- On a November business trip to Orlando, I got to eat dinner with Sandy from You’ve GOTTA Read This!. I honestly felt like we were old friends. We could have talked all night.
New Look: I moved to self-hosting in 2008, but in 2009 I invested in a new, professional look. Karen from Simply Amusing Designs really brought my vision to life. I feel like I now have a brand for my blog.
New Gadgets: I got my Kindle in October and I’m loving it! I also got a Flip Camcorder for Christmas. My tripod has come in the mail, so I’m hoping to get started with some vlogs very soon.
New Perspective: As the year came to a close, I found myself dissatisfied with the way I was feeling constant pressure to read specific books by a specific time. This was no one’s fault but my own and it called for a fresh look at my reading. I became determined that in 2010 I would read deliberately.
Favorite 10 Books I Read: As I did last year, I’m not picking a top book. I’m listing my 10 favorites, listed in alphabetical order below:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Here’s looking forward to a spectacular 2010!
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yay! it was great meeting you TWICE last year! hopefully will get to see you again in 2010!
What an amazing award!!
I have either read – or plan to read – nearly every book listed in your top 10 of 2009! We must have similar literary tastes. I loved 84 Charing Cross Road (and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street) as well as the Uncommon Reader.
What a great year! I loved getting together with you too! I squealed when I read that about your Her Fearful Symmetry review!!! Congratulations!
I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to meet you. Hopefully we’ll be able to connect again over the course of 2010
What an awesome year for you! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and having our 3 hour gabfest/dinner! You don’t mess around with your book picks…I found myself nodding at many of them. (FYI, I am listening to The Girl Who Played With Fire, and the first time I heard the phrase “all the evil” I about choked laughing!) Let’s have a great, deliberately reading, thinner 2010! Now go drink some water or something.
you did awesome in 2009
Looks like you had an awesome reading year in 2009! I noticed that many books I read have the same page number, too; funny fact!
I love your top ten list : many titles there I want to read, too!
Great overview of 2010. Congrats on a wonderful blog!
[...] who came up with the ‘Literate Housewife” moniker and it fit like a glove. After my 2009 recap yesterday, the rest is [...]
Great wrap– it was worth the wait! I remember your blog from before the makeover.
Hope your 2010 is all you want it to be.
What a great year you had! It was a lot of fun meeting you at the book festival. I just finished The Uncommon Reader and thought it was great.
Yah! I’m not the only one who thought An Uncommon Reader was one of the best books read last year!
You’d a great year, Jennifer! I can’t wait to read Foreign Tongue and thanks so much for sending it to me!
Looks like you had a fantastic year in 2009. I agree, we readers are so lucky to have such a vast array of wonderful books at our disposal. Sometimes it gets overwhelming, because I will never be able to read every single book I would like to read. That is why I was so intrigued with your idea of reading deliberately in 2010. I have been much more selective in 2010 so far with what I read. Since I can’t read everything I would like to, I have been trying to prioritize a lot more.
Oh just stop with the list! There are quite a few on your top 10 I want to read.
Hunger Games was excellent wasn’t it? It was about time for something different.
Quite a few of these were on my favorite list for 2009. I’ll have to check out the two on your list that I haven’t read. Great list!
You had a great year. And I’m so jealous that you got to meet so many fellow bloggers!
93 books is awesome! Remember when you thought 52 in a year was going to be a tough goal?
There are some great books on your list. I’m glad that you were happy with your progress and had a great time meeting bloggers in real life. I wish you luck with reading deliberately in 2010!
Hopefully, we’ll meet again in NYC!