Clearing Out The Cobwebs

So how about I just sneak in and pretend I haven’t been totally MIA for the past two months? Ok? Good! Just mind the cobwebs and try not to write smart-alecky comments in the dust :P

Whoa it’s finally 2010, I’m pretty stoked even though everything I date for the next five months or so will look like this – 2009 2010 – It was pretty near 2005 before I managed to not start every date with a 19.

Anyways, hope everyone has had an amazing year. I’m a bit late to the party and my google reader resembles the fallout of a nuclear war zone. However I did see this snazzy-cool end of year questionnaire over at the fantabulous Madame Care’s! I decided to snag it seeing as how she borrowed it from my favorite fizzybeverage Jill, who also borrowed it from the original creator Savidge Reads (who is the newest awesome blog addition to feed reader.) I did change a couple of the questions up so if you want the original follow the links above.

Here we go….

How many books read in 2009?

Counting up the total makes me think I’m either a super-reader or a super-geek with no social life … but I’m super-pumped about my stats any which way! 228 books read in 2009! And to make my super-geekiness even more probable I kept track of how many pages too. That total is 64446 which is awesome because it’s palindromic and I’m all about symmetry!!

How many graphic novels versus traditional text? 

44 graphic novels and 184 traditional books. Both groups containing a mixture of genres, reading levels and types (fiction, non-fiction, memoir.)

Male/Female author ratio?

116 female. 103 male. 9 male & female. These are my favorite stats because I really wanted to read an even amount this year and ending up with more women authors was fantastic!

Favorite book of 2009?

I’ve never rated my books … hate doing it to tell the truth. It feels so unfair of me because really sometimes a truly great book just walks into my life at the wrong time. Reading so many different types of books makes it harder still cause at different times I yearn for stuff that is silly or scary or serious. If I could choose 5 books from this year that I’ve enjoyed immensely they would be Fruit by Brian Francis, Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, Tunneling To The Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson and Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards. Honorable mention should go to Patrick Ness’ Knife of Never Letting Go, damn that book broke my heart.

Least favourite?

Hurry Down Sunshine – The best example of my hopes for a book being hit by a truck and dragged for 40 miles across broken glass.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why?

The only book that I didn’t finish reading was Dora Borealis by Daccia Bloomfield. While reading it I just wasn’t getting pulled in. My concentration was pretty scattered at the time. Funny thing is I returned it to the library and then wrote a DNF post about it, and about a month later I bought a copy. It is a book that I am really wanting to finish when the time is right.

Oldest book read?

Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House and Edward Goreys’ Curious Sofa are two of the older ones I read this year, published in 1959 and 1961.

Newest?

Absolutely no idea! That’s one thing I would like to change about how I keep track of my books read. Right now I only list publication year, but I’m thinking of adding the months from now on.

Longest and shortest book titles?

Longest Title – 101 Questions Your Dog Would Ask Its Vet If Your Dog Could Talk by Bruce Fogle and Lalla Ward. It was published in the early 1990’s but the information inside was really helpful.

Shortest Title – Sum by David Eagleman. A very interesting collection of different opinions and beliefs concerning what waits for us in the afterlife.

Longest and shortest books?

The shortest at 32 pages was Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet, the illustrations were so beautiful that I spent lots of time looking through it. So small page count doesn’t necessarily mean less to enjoy. The longest book I read was Stephen King’s Under The Dome, with a whopping 1074 pages. But it was quite good so I flew through it like it was a pocket book.

How many books from the library?

Love my library and it shows since nearly 33% of my books read came from there. In total I read 74 books courtesy of the Halifax Public Library.

Any translated books?

Hmm … never thought to keep track of this. However I am currently reading a wonderful French-to-English translation of Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner. It’s one of the books that were chosen for this years Canada Reads event.

Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?

I’ve got some high ones in this category mainly because of re-reading certain series’. From the Sookie Stackhouse series I read 9 by Charlaine Harris. Then I read 6 of the Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn.

Any re-reads?

The first 2 or 3 from both the Sookie Stackhouse and Kitty Norville series’ were re-reads – if it’s been awhile between series books I like to reacquaint myself. Also I’m re-reading the entire Vampire Diaries series. And just cause he is so fuggin’ awesome I re-re-read Generation X and Girlfriend In A Coma by Douglas Coupland.

Favourite character of the year?

Manchee. Hands down.

How many CanLit books read?

I’m crazy excited to have read 20 books by Canadian authors this year. And also glad to have found a special section at my fave bookshop devoted to Canuck literature.

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin – thanks to Dewey’s review and the Dewey Reading Challenge.
Queenie Chan’s Dreaming series – thanks to Kailana’s review.
Horns & Wrinkles – Great kids book I found thanks to Darla D, Natasha and Nymeth.
Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness – Chris’ review convinced me this would be amazing.

Which author was new to you in 2009 that you now want to read the entire works of?

Off the top of my head I would have to say David Almond and Joan Didion. I was introduced to Almond this year through the book Skellig and it was pure magic. And The Year of Magical Thinking was my first and definitely not last book by Joan Didion.

Which books are you annoyed you didn’t read?

I’d desperately wanted to read Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. But I’m not annoyed really, it just means I have one more book to look forward to. 

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon have both been on my to-be-read list forever. So I am glad that I knocked those two off. Although they are both first in a series books so it kinda added more to my to-be-read list. *sigh* :P

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Happy 2010 Everyone!! Wishing you all the best in this new year!

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