2009: the year in review

Oh, goodness, is it really 2010 already? Happy new year! Though, technically, the new decade doesn’t start until next year. It seems like yesterday I was standing in some stranger’s backyard in London watching fireworks in celebration of Y2K (my family had been vacationing in Egypt for Christmas—in a mostly Muslim country, go figure—and we stopped in London on our way back to the States). That was the year that Robbie Martin’s “Millennium” was playing, over and over again! I wasn’t keeping a reading journal or keeping track of what I read back then, but I do remember what I read in December or January of that year. Death on the Nile was one, as was One Hundred Years of Solitude (I was on a Gabriel Garcia Marquez kick that fall and winter, and read everything I could get my hands on by him). I also read a fair bit of Judith Tarr that winter.

As for five years ago, this time last fall and winter, I read books like I Am Charlotte Simmons (memorable because it was awful), a bit of Jean Plaidy, a lot of David Liss, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The Master, by Colm Toibin, and The Egyptologist, by Arthur Phillips. I’d just started reviewing books on Amazon.com, and that’s why I can better remember some of these books.

This time last year, when I’d been blogging for about a year, I read books like A Foreign Affair, Niccolo Rising, Drood, and Bleeding Heart Square.

As for more recently, this year I finished a total of 141 books (the full list can be found here), which is actually one more than I finished last year! I was introduced to some new great authors, including Susanna Kearsley and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, and I became more familiar with the novels of Elizabeth Chadwick, Mary Stewart, and others. Prior to this year, I’d only read one of Persephone’s titles; but after reading The Priory in March and visiting London in September, where I went to the incomparable Persephone Bookshop in Lambs Conduit Street (twice), I’ve now read four more, am currently read Susan Glaspell's Fidelity, and have a number of others on my TBR pile.

I also returned to a lot of authors: 28 of the authors I read this year were second-time-arounders, and countless others I’ve now read three or more of their books. I read 59 new-to-me authors.

I seemed to read a lot of historical fiction this year, and “traveled” to: England, Scotland, United States, Italy, Egypt, France, Spain, Russia, Ireland, Wales, Turkey, Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, Norway, and Greece. In time, I’ve traveled everywhen from ancient Egypt to present-day. To be sure, I read some duds this year, but they seemed to be fewer and far between—maybe I’m getting better at picking books I’ll like?

I went back to my reading list for 2008, to see what my goals were for 2009—to reduce my TBR pile “to a more manageable size.” Ha! At the end of last year, my list was about 100 books—now it’s nearly double that size, about 190 (not all of which are books I own, but I’m rather indiscriminate about the books I add to my TBR!).

The stats:

Number of books read: 141
Number of re-reads: 1
Number of distinct authors: 110
Male authors: 19
Female authors: 91
Most frequent author: Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (11)
New-to-me authors: 69
Second-time around authors: 28
Longest book completed: New York: The Novel (Ballantine; 860 pages)
Shortest book completed: The Victorian Chaise-Lounge (Persephone; 99 pages)
Most productive month: May, August, November, December (14 books each)
Least productive month: February (6 books)
Books first published in 2009 (my edition):
Reviews posted in 2009: 49

Genres (some may overlap):
Fiction: 131
Chick lit: 4
Historical fiction: 94
Classics: 7
Mystery: 14
YA: 0
Short Stories: 0
Other:
Nonfiction: 10
History: 8
Biography: 2
Memoir: 2
Women’s Studies:
Essays: 2
Other:

Books from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list: 1
Author nationalities: US, UK, Canadian, Spanish, Dutch, New Zealand, Italy, Norway
Settings (country): England, Scotland, United States, Italy, Egypt, France, Spain, Russia, Ireland, Wales, Turkey, Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, Norway, Greece, Netherlands
Settings (US states): New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa, Washington

Favorite books of 2009:
Everything by Elizabeth Chadwick
Sophia’s Secret
The Priory
The Last Queen
The Angels Game
The Jewel Box
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte
In a Dark Wood Wandering
Cleopatra’s Daughter
anything by Mary Stewart
The Street Philosopher
The King’s Mistress
The Making of a Marchioness
Miss Buncle’s Book
The Lacuna
Little Bird of Heaven

Least favorite books of 2009:
The Reliable Wife
The Russian Concubine
The Dud Avocado
The Traitor’s Wife
Silk
The Swan Thieves