Mid-Year Reading Report
So it’s July now and that means the year is half over! I have come to the conclusion that I have been in a blogging rut the ENTIRE year. People, I still have about 20 books from 2009 that are still in my review pile. Slowly working on that. I guess when I said that I was going to take it easy this year, I ended up taking it too easy! And yes – the review pile makes me feel guilty every time I look at it.
Because I haven’t been doing a monthly wrap up this year, I thought I would take a moment and at least share with you what I’ve read thus far in 2010.
Fiction
- That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
- The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
- The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash
- Get Lucky by Katherine Center
- The Birth House by Ami McKay
- Little Bee by Chris Cleave
- Gabriel’s Story by David Anthony Durham
- A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi
- Recovering Charles by Jason Wright
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- The Last Will of Moriah Leahy by Therese Walsh
- I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wellsn (debated – is this YA or adult?)
- Room by Emma Donoghue
Young Adult Fiction
- The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart
- If I Stay by Gayle Forman
- After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
- Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale
- The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters
- Liar by Justine Larbalestier
- The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
- Uglies by Scott Westerfield
- Pretties by Scott Westerfield
- Specials by Scott Westerfield
- The Surrender Tree, Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
- Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis
- Artichoke’s Heart by Suzanne Supplee
- Keep Sweet by Michelle Dominguez Green
- Keesha’s House by Helen Frost
- The Ring by Bobbie Pyron
- Split by Swati Avasthi
- Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards
- Matched by Ally Condie
- Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
- Beautiful by Amy Reed
- The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison
Middle Readers
- The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon
- Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham
- All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg
- All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop
- Dovey Coe by Frances O’Roark Dowell
- Witness by Karen Hesse
- Year of No Rain by Alice Mead
- Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
- 42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
- Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry
- The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales by David Lubar
- Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford
- Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It by Sundee Tucker Frazier
- Operation Yes by Sara Holmes
- The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli
- When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
- The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
- My Brother the Dog by Kim Williams-Justesen
- In Grandpa’s House by Philip Sendak
- Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom by Frank Wright
- Romana Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Clearly
- A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant
- Clementine, Friend of the Week by Sara Pennypacker
- Trackers by Patrick Carmen
- Boom by Mark Haddon
- Tales from a Not So Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell
- Cracker, The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata
Picture Books
- Finding Lincoln by Ann Malaspina, Illustrated by Colin Bootman
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes, Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
- My People by Langston Hughes, Photographs by Charles R. Smith Jr.
- Ron’s Big Mission by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden, Illustrated by Don Tate
- Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change by Michelle Cook
- We Are the Ship, The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
- In the Garden by Peggy Collins
- Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban and Illustrated by Henry Cole
- Ninety-Three in My Family by Erica S. Perl, Illustrated by Mike Lester
- Dogs on the Bed by Elizabeth Bluemle, Illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
- Little Skink’s Tail by Janet Halfmann, Illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein
- Scaredy Squirrel at Night by Melanie Watt
- Firefighter Ted by Andrea Beaty and Pascal Lemaitr
Non-Fiction
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
- Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet (memoir)
- The Year My Son and I Were Born: A Story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood, and Self-Discovery by Kathryn Lynard Soper (memoir)
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (memoir)
- Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change by Michelle Cook (picture book)
- The Blue Cotton Gown, A Midwife’s Memoir by Patricia Harman (memoir)
- My Bridges of Hope: Searching for Life and Love After Auschwitz by by Livia Bitton-Jackson (juvenile memoir)
- A Place to Hide: True Stories of Holocaust Rescues by Jayne Pettit (juvenile)
- Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth and Everyday Magic by Martha Beck (memoir)
- It’s All Too Much, An Easy Plan For Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh (self-help)
- Shattered Silence, The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter by Melissa G. Moore (memoir)
- Surviving the Angel of Death, The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Kor (memoir)
So including books left over from 2009 that’s about 60 book reviews behind. Gulp! Kind of makes me want to just go back outside and play with the boys instead. Or at the very least read another book. I’m not where I’d like to be in terms of my general fiction. Seeing it laid out like that makes it look really bare. I’d like to even that out before the end of the year. But I do like the number of memoir’s I’ve read this year. And it looks like middle readers takes the cake so far.
Have we read some of the same books? What is the one book (new or old) that you would recommend I must read this year?
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Take it easy on yourself – this is a hobby, not a job, so it’s for fun. I’d like to see reviews of I am Not a Serial Killer and Artichoke’s Heart.
on July 2nd, 2010 at 5:56 amWhy is it so hard to write these darned reviews sometimes? I have actually gotten ahead, so I do have some lazy time to not write my reviews before it catches up with me. Still! Sometimes I’m just not motivated. I’ve got my mid-year update coming tomorrow. It feels good to at least take stock. I have a new mission. For awhile, I told everybody they had to read The Help. Then I was telling everyone they had to read Jacqueline Woodson. Now I think everyone needs to read Marisa de los Santos. “Love Walked In” and “Belong To Me” are my new favorite, recommend-to-everyone reads.
on July 2nd, 2010 at 6:26 amWhile I want to say ‘take it easy, 60 reviews behind is no big deal’, I’m like freaking out at the thought of it!
Then again, I have a problem scheduling posts in advance because I want it to publish immediately so I can get the books’ link to the appropriate challenge posts and pages and my ‘read this year’ list. I’m so laid back in my real life and anal retentive on the blog. 
I am interested in seeing your reviews of the Uglies series as I read the first book, but I haven’t decided if I should pick up the rest.
on July 2nd, 2010 at 6:58 amI really want to read If I Stay, it’s on my TBR but I can’t see myself getting to it any time soon. Best of luck with the reviews! The upshot is once you’ve got a few done you’ll have some rainy day posts.
As you like memoirs I’d recommend Lisa See’s On Gold Mountain, about the Chinese side of her family setting up business in America, it reads like a novel.
on July 2nd, 2010 at 8:32 amI LOVED Circle of Souls and the Emma-Jean Lazarus books!!
on July 2nd, 2010 at 9:51 amGreat year so far! Love coming to your blog Natasha!
on July 2nd, 2010 at 10:03 amAll new authors to me except Jodi Picoult.
One of my favorite books from 2010 is:
`The Last Christian` by David Gregory
on July 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 pmI’m way behind on my reviews – and I’ve also read a lot fewer books so far this year than you have! But as long as we’re having fun, right?
on July 2nd, 2010 at 10:42 pmYour list has inspired me to keep reading. At the very least (even if I do not get my own reviews posted). I’m no where near my list of last year and I feel terrible about it, but I feel like inspirations kicked in finally. Hopefully, I can salvage the rest of the year. Anyway keep reading! I love your reviews, but it’s all about the reading and like other said having fun!
YaY for Uglies! I just started the series this year myself. ;D
on July 2nd, 2010 at 10:48 pmMy husband just read the whole Uglies series and really enjoyed it.
on July 3rd, 2010 at 4:31 am60 reviews? How do you remember the ones that you read last year? I still have a handful that I read while on my blogging break but by now I’ve forgotten them enough that I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing about them. I’m trying to get my hands on the audio version to catch up but most aren’t available.
And even though you’re behind, I’ve been enjoying your “When I’m not reading” posts.
on July 3rd, 2010 at 6:20 pmI hadn’t really thought about July 2nd being the half way point of the year. Oh my! I can’t believe how much you have accomplished! What a great list of books. Hang in there…you’ll get to the others.
on July 4th, 2010 at 8:37 amWell I don’t feel so bad now. I’m at LEAST 30 reviews behind and I have review books I received over a year ago I haven’t even READ yet.
Of course I’m trying to keep up TWO blogs. I find when I get this one the way I want it, I slack on the other and when I get the other to where I want it, I slack on this one.
on July 5th, 2010 at 5:52 pmWe have some overlap! Good to know I’m not the only one behind on reviews.
Didn’t you just love Heart of a Shephard? I wish it had gotten more attention!
on July 6th, 2010 at 6:03 pmOh wow. I had to finally just call it quits on my 2009 books and posted mini-reviews instead of full reviews. It made me sad, because every one of those books deserved its own review, but it was driving me crazy! Good luck with yours!
on July 6th, 2010 at 9:05 pmWow! You read a lot of books. I highly recommend you read Priscilla the Great when it comes out. But then again, I’m biased. It’s about me!!!
on July 10th, 2010 at 9:56 pmBut seriously. Have you read The Time Travelers Wife or The Blindside? That’s what I’ve read lately. I have a thing about reading the book before I see the movie.