2010 favorites and my list for 2011

I would like to make a top ten list for this past year, but I only read twenty books this year, well, actually twenty-one books.  So a top ten list would be kind of silly. 

My favorite books of the past year are the Millennium Series -- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl Who Played with Fire and Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  Loved those books.  At the beginning of the school year, I let someone borrow my copy of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and haven't seen it since, no mention of it, so not even sure if the person is reading it or not.  But I decided to use that as my excuse to purchase the deluxe box set of the series. 

I also really liked The Invisible Bridge.  I thought that book was kind of amazing.  Now I'm even thinking of visiting Budapest this summer.

So those are my top four books.  Now I can start working on my reading list for next year.

I joined an online book club that has a reading challenge -- twelve books that have to be books that have been on our reading list for at least year, plus two alternates. 

Right now this is my list:

1. Witching Hour by Anne Rice (I've wanted to read this for years, I read the vampire books, but never this one.  I think I've been waiting for the right time to read it, a long break and a dark mood.)


2. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby  (I've liked everything he's written and have had a copy of this sitting by my bed for a couple of years.  I enjoyed the movie quite a bit.)

3. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Woman who Created Her  (another book I've had for years but have never gotten around to reading)
 
4. Water for Elephants (I want to read this before the movie comes out!)

5. Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (I started to read this last year, but knowing that it would be dark, I didn't feel I could handle it.  But it's something I must read, I read everything by Atwood.)

6. Persuasion by Jane Austen (I need to read something by Austen, and this was the book mentioned in Lake House.  I bought a very nice copy of this at Barnes and Noble a while back, but have never gotten around to reading it.)

7. Hitchhiker’s Guide the Galaxy (another one that has been on the reading list for years)

8. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingslover (Last year, I bought this for my mother because she's a big Barbara Kingslover fan, I planned to give it to her for Christmas, but when I saw that the book was about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, I decided I would try to read it before giving it to my mother.  A year later, still sitting by the bed.)

9. Schulz and Peanuts: A biography (another one I received as soon as the book was published and have yet to read it.)

10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (this is the Oprah influence here -- I've already read Tale of Two Cities)

11. Private Patient by PD James (PD James is one of my favorite authors, not sure why I've not read this yet.  I'm sure I bought it as soon as it was released.  But I always try to wait until I know I'll have a lot of time to read, hers are not books that work well with only a few pages a day.)

12. Fried Green Tomatoes (Loved this movie and have wanted to read the book for years)

Alternates
13. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy  (I read Tess when I was a teenager and I would like to read it again as an adult.)
14. On The Road by Jack Kerouac  (Everyone should read this at some point in her life, right?)

Other books I wanted to include on the list - Mists of Avalon, A Town Like Alice, and David Copperfield. 

Something about which I am very embarrassed is that I've only read one book by Dickens (Tale of Two Cities) and have never read anything by Jane Austen.  I recently tried reading Pride and Prejudice, but maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.  It was taking me forever and there was a hold on it at the library, so I had to return it before I could finish it.  I've since downloaded it to my Kindle, for free, but haven't felt any strong desire to continue reading it.  I added Persuasion to the list because it's mentioned so much in one of my favorite movies -- The Lake House. 

I got a Kindle for my birthday, but I still have an issue with paying for digital books.  Really difficult to pay for a digital file when I know I can get the books for free at the library.  However, I've downloaded lots and lots of free classics.  I'm hoping this will encourage me to get back to reading the classics. 

And there are several books released within the last year that I hope to read soon.  (We couldn't include books from the past year on our reading challenge list.)  The book I'm most looking forward to reading is Keith Richards' biography and I'm hoping to read Fannie Flagg's I Still Dream About You before I return to school next week.

Random book talk - coincidence, TV and movies

After I finished Suite Francaise, I started reading Sara Paretsky's Hardball.  I don't usually like reading books that are part of a series unless I've read all the books in the series.  But for some reason, I decided to go ahead and read this.  I'd seen a pop up add that said if I liked Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I should read Hardball.
I was checking out a stack of books, I saw Hardball on the new release shelf, so I got it.

On page 110, VI Warshawski is reading Suite Francaise.  I thought that was an odd coincidence, since I just finished reading that book.

In other book news, I'm really liking the show, Rizzoli and Isles.  I checked out a couple of the books -- including the first one (because I like to start at the beginning of a series).  Hope I like it.

And on the subject of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - I read they've cast the part of Lisbeth Salander.  I've never heard of the actress - Rooney Mara, but she has a huge job ahead of her, taking on the role of possibly the coolest fictional character ever!  I really like the casting of Daniel Craig and Robin Wright.  In the Swedish movie, I didn't think the person playing Erika was attractive enough.  I loved the person playing Lisbeth, but I had quite a few issues with the movie.  They changed several things from the movie.  I'm looking forward to the new version.