2006 New Author Alphabet Challenge

I read a total of 42 new-to-me authors to complete the challenge on November 10, 2006!
Five of these books got a 10 in my rating system. Check them out!

Aslet, Don - Clutter's Last Stand 6/10
Barnes, Kim - Hungry for the World 8.5/10
Brodeur, Adrienne - Man Camp 7/10
Coben, Harlan - No Second Chance 7.5/10
Chaon, Dan - You Remind Me of Me 7.5/10
Didion, Joan - The Year of Magical Thinking 7/10
Evanovich, Janet - Metro Girl 9.5/10
Flock, Elizabeth - Me & Emma 8.5/10
Giordano, Marie - I Love You Like a Tomato 8/10
Gerritsen, Tess - Vanish 9/10
Gutcheon, Beth - Domestic Pleasures 9.5/10
Gregory, David - A Day With a Perfect Stranger 5/10
Hosseini, Khaled - The Kite Runner - 9.5/10
Isaacs, Susan - Any Place I Hang My Hat - 8/10
Jackson, Joshilyn - Gods in Alabama 10/10
Kuffel, Frances - Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding Myself 7.5/10
Kersey, Cynthia - Unstoppable 7/10
Kimmel, Haven - A Girl Named Zippy 10/10
Kaysen, Susanna - Girl, Interrupted 7/10
Kaufman, Jennifer & Mack, Karen - Literacy & Longing in LA - 8.5/10
Lisner, Caren - Carrie Pilby 10/10
Leavitt, Caroline - Girls in Trouble 9.5/10
Moss, Barbara Robinette - Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter 8/10
Moran, Thomas - The Man in the Box - 8/10
Nichols, Linda - Handyman 6/10
Notaro, Laurie - The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club 7/10
Olson, Shannon - Children of God Go Bowling 9/10
Palmer, Liza - Conversations With the Fat Girl 8/10
Quarles, Heather - A Door Near Here 8/10
Ribon, Pamela - Why Girls Are Weird 9.5/10
Stewart, Leah - The Myth of You & Me 8/10
Shapiro, Dani - Family History 7/10
Shelton, Sandi Kahn - A Piece of Normal 9/10
Tucker, Lisa - Once Upon a Day 8.5/10
Tishy, Cecelia - All in One Piece 9/10
Thompson, Vicki Lewis - Talk Nerdy to Me 5/10
Unger, Lisa - Beautiful Lies 8.5/10
Voigt, Cynthia - Homecoming 9.5/10
Waldman, Ayelet - Love and Other Impossible Pursuits 9/10
Wiesel, Elie - Night 10/10
Wolitzer, Meg - The Wife 7/10
Xingjian, Gao - Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather 4/10
Young, Elizabeth - Asking for Trouble 8/10
Zusak, Markus - The Book Thief 10/10

2005 Reading List

January 2005
Talking To Heaven by James Van Pragh

February 2005
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
The Known World by Edward P. Jones

March 2005
The Houseguest by Agnes Rossi
The Ha-Ha by Dave King
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg

April 2005
Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Marriage Fitness by Mort Fertel
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

May 2005
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey
Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian

June 2005
The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
The Purse-Driven Life by Anita Renfroe
Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg (very disappointing, I usually love her stuff)

July 2005
Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller

August 2005
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell
Not Tonight Honey, Wait ‘til I’m a Size 6 by Susan Reinhardt

September 2005
Pretend I’m Not Here by Chris Gavaler
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
The Good Wife by Stewart O’Nan
Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie

October 2005
How to Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward
Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
What God Can Do by Deborah Mathis

November 2005
The Single Wife by Nina Solomon
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

December 2005
My Friend Leonard by James Frey
Marley & Me by John Grogan
A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

Top 3 Reads of 2005

Marley &  Me

I sped through the first 3/4 of the book then had to read a chapter at a time as Marley aged. I knew the inevitable ending and I cried like I'd lost a dear friend. Anyone who has ever had or known a rambunctious dog will appreciate this book.






My Friend Leonard

Another of my favorites, I have developed an appreciation for the struggles an addict faces daily and this book proves that James Frey is beating his addictions one day at a time, in his own way. I especially loved the ending. I can't wait to read more from Mr. Frey and hear how his life is these days.





A Million Little Pieces


This was a very frank and sometimes disturbing view of the life of an addict. The book details the authors six week stint in rehab at the age of 23. I saw a side of life I knew existed but of which I truly had no concept.

2006 Reading List

January 2006
1. I Love You Like a Tomato - Marie Giordano
2. Magical Thinking - Augusten Burroughs
3. The Myth of You & Me - Leah Stewart

February 2006
4. Little Earthquakes - Jennifer Weiner
5. Why Girls Are Weird - Pamela Ribon
6. Passing for Thin - Frances Kuffel
7. The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett

March 2006
8. The Shining - Stephen King
9. Clutter's Last Stand - Don Aslet
10. Love and Other Impossible Pursuits - Ayelet Waldman
11. Unstoppable - Cynthia Kersey
12. Handyman - Linda Nichols
13. No Second Chance - Harlan Coben

April 2006
14. A Girl Named Zippy - Haven Kimmel
15. Carrie Pilby - Caren Lisner
16. Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter - Barbara Robinette Moss
17. Night - Elie Wiesel

May 2006
18. Conversations With the Fat Girl - Liza Palmer
19. Holidays On Ice - David Sedaris
20. Family History - Dani Shapiro
21. Hungry for the World - Kim Barnes
22. 100 Things I’m Not Going to Do Now That
I’m Over 50 - Wendy Reid Crisp
23. Vanish - Tess Gerritsen
24. Beautiful Lies - Lisa Unger
25. Once Upon a Day - Lisa Tucker
26. Homecoming - Cynthia Voigt

June 2006
27. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club - Laurie Notaro
28. Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
29. The Wife - Meg Wolitzer
30. Girls in Trouble - Caroline Leavitt
31. Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich
32. Asking for Trouble - Elizabeth Young
33. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

July 2006
34. Domestic Pleasures - Beth Gutcheon 9.5/10
35. The Apprentice - Tess Gerritsen 8/10
36. Starting From Square Two - Caren Lissner 7.5/10
37. All New People - Anne Lamott - 8/10
38. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - 10/10
39. Gods in Alabama - Joshilyn Jackson - 10/10

August 2006
40. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion - 7/10
41. The Man in the Box - Thomas Moran - 8/10
42. Smitten - Janet Evanovich - 7.5/10
43. Any Place I Hang My Hat - Susan Isaacs - 8/10
44. Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay - 9/10
45. Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather - 4/10

September 2006

46. Man Camp Adrienne Brodeur - 7/10
47. Manhunt Janet Evanovich - 7/10
48. Literacy & Longing in LA Jennifer Kaufman & Karen Mack 8.5/10
49. A Day With a Perfect Stranger David Gregory - 5/10
50. A Piece of Normal Sandi Kahn Shelton - 9/10
51. Me & Emma Elizabeth Flock - 8.5/10
52. All in One Piece Cecelia Tishy - 9/10
53. Talk Nerdy to Me Vicki Lewis Thompson - 5/10
54. You Remind Me of Me Dan Chaon - 7.5/10

October 2006


55. Abide With Me - Elizabeth Strout - 8/10
56. Happiness Sold Separately - Lolly Winston 9/10
57. My Life Among the Serial Killers - Helen Morrison 5/10
58. Back to the Bedroom - Janet Evanovich 6.5/10
59. The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver 10/10
60. The Rocky Road to Romance - Janet Evanovich - 5/10
61. We Are All Welcome Here - Elizabeth Berg - 9.5/10
62. Love Overboard - Janet Evanovich - 7.5/10
63. Full Tilt - Janet Evanovich & Charlotte Hughes - 6/10
64. Halfway House - Katharine Noel - 7.5/10


November 2006

65. A Door Near Here Heather Quarles - 8/10
66. Children of God Go Bowling Shannon Olson - 9/10
67. Welcome to My Planet Shannon Olson - 8/10
68. The Guy Not Taken Jennifer Weiner - 9/10
69. Back in the Game Holly Chamberlin - 5/10


December

70. The Monk Downstairs Tim Farrington - 9.5/10
71. As Hot as it Was You Ought to Thank Me Nanci Kincaid - 10/10
72. Anyone But You Jennifer Crusie - 9/10
73. Love Walked In Marisa de los Santos - 8/10
74. Lost and Found Carolyn Parkhurst - 8/10

Books 2010

The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Waiting for Normal - Leslie Connor
How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed - Theo Pauline Nestor
Shutter Island - Dennis LeHane
Home Is Always the Place You Just Left - Betty Smartt Carter
The Wife’s Tale - Lori Lansens
T is for Trespass - Sue Grafton
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munro
Too Much Happiness - Alice Munro
If I Stay - Gayle Forman
Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog - Lisa Scottoline
Dogwalker - Arthur Bradford
Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
One for the Money - Janet Evanovich
Two for the Dough - Janet Evanovich
Sh*t My Dad Says - Justin Halpern
Hotel of the Saints - Ursula Hegi
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint - Brady Udall
Salvage - Jane F. Kotapish
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt - Aimee Bender
A Visit From the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
The Things They Carried - Tim O’Brien
My Horizontal Life - Chelsea Handler
Away - Amy Bloom
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney
Pope Joan - Donna Woolfolk Cross
Three to Get Deadly - Janet Evanovich
Pray for Silence - Linda Castillo
Four to Score - Janet Evanovich
High Five - Janet Evanovich
Hot Six - Janet Evanovich
Prairie Cooks - Carrie Young
Maybe This Time - Jennifer Crusie
Seven Up - Janet Evanovich
Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich
To the Nines - Janet Evanovich
Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich
Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich
Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King
How Did You Get This Number - Sloane Crosley
Room - Emma Donoghue
The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
Love and Other Natural Disasters - Holly Shumas
A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
Helping Me Help Myself - Beth Lisick

Movies 2010

Dirty Dancing      
Paranormal Activity                                   
Carriers

State of Play

Up in the Air                                
The Perfect Getaway
The Hurt Locker 
Couples Retreat
Shutter Island
The Stepfather 
Law Abiding Citizen
2012
Zombieland
Old Dogs
Did You Hear About the Morgans           
The Blind Side                                   
Junebug                                               
Crazy Heart                                               
It’s Complicated                                   
Ironman                                               
Ironman 2                                               
Edge of Darkness                                   
Food, Inc.                                               
The Messenger                                    

Daybreakers                                               
Leap Year                                               
Alice in Wonderland                                   
Valentine’s Day                                   
The Wolfman                                               
The Book of Eli                                   
Grown Ups                                               
The Men Who Stare at Goats           
Avatar                                                           
Deuce Bigalow American Gigilo           
The Girl w/the Dragon Tattoo           
Cop Out                                               
Date Night                                               
The Crazies                                               
Disgrace                                               
Death at  a Funeral                                   
The Killer Inside Me                                    

Office Space                                                

All the Pretty Horses                                   
Dead Pool                                               
Precious                                               
Winter’s Bone                                   
Whip It                                               
RED                                                           
Grown Ups                                               
The Kids Are All Right                       
Slingblade                                               
Eat Pray Love                                               
Shrek: Ever After                                   
Inception                                               
Easy A                                                           
Breakdown                                               
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest           
True Grit                                                

2010: A new decade, a new year

I was never so glad to see a year go as 2009. I hope and pray that 2010 is the beginning of a happier time for me and my family.

Books I Read in 2009

2009 was an off year for me in more ways than one. I read only twenty books, about one-third of what I usually do. The fact that I remember only a few of these titles in no way reflects the worth of a book. I was just very distracted. I do highly recommend Cold Tangerines. It was very uplifting and worth buying in quantity.

Fiction
Disquiet - Julia Leigh

Last Night at the Lobster - Stewart O'Nan

Heart in the Right Place - Carolyn Jourdan

Perfidia - Judith Rossner
The Story of Forgetting: A Novel - Stefan Merrill Block
The Slow Moon: A Novel - Elizabeth Cox
Girls in Trucks - Katie Crouch
Go With Me: A Novel - Castle Freeman
The Neighbor - Lisa Gardner
The Sweet By and By: A Novel - Todd Johnson
Catching Genius - Kristy Kiernan
Duma Key - Stephen King
Dating Dead Men - Harley Jane Kozak
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Safety of Objects - A.M. Homes

Non-Fiction
Are You There, VOdka? It's Me, Chelsea - Chelsea Handler
Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life - Gail Blanke
One Thing at a Time: 100 Simple Ways to Live Clutter-Free Every Day - Clindy Glovinsky
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping - Judith Levine
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir - Nick Flynn
Weekends at Bellevue - Julie Holland
Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life - Shauna Niequist

2008 Reading List

January

1. The Ladies' Man - Elinor Lipman 7/10

2. Stupid and Contagious - Carprice Crain 7/10

3. Under the Duvet - Marian Keyes - gave up on it halfway through

4. Isabel's Bed - Elinor Lipman 7/10

5. The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield 9/10

6. The Most Notorious Crimes in American History 7/10

7. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn 8/10

8. Hick - Andrea Portes 7/10

February

9. The Dead Fathers Club - Matt Haig 8/10

10. A Three Dog Life - Abigail Thomas 10/10

11. Atonement - Ian McEwan 9/10

12. Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill 9/10

13. An Idiot Girl's Christmas - Laurie Notaro 7/10

14. Beneath a Marble Sky - John Shors 9/10

15. Illumination Night - Alice Hoffman 7/10

16. The Year of Fog - Michelle Richmond 8/10

17. Blue Water - A. Manette Ansay 8/10

March

18. Tallgrass - Sandra Dallas 7/10

19. The Senator's Wife - Sue Miller 7/10

20. Burning Marguerite - Elizabeth Inness-Brown 9/10

21. Ask Again Later - Jill A. Davis 7/10

April

22. Thanksgiving Night - Richard Bausch 10/10

23. Queen Bees and Wannabees - Rosalind Wiseman 10/10

24. Sufficient Grace - Darnell Arnoult 9/10

25. The Opposite of Love - Julie Buxbaum 10/10

26. The Birth House - Ami McKay 9/10

May

27. Bright Lights, Big Ass - Jn Lancaster 9/10

28. Tales from the Bed - Jenifer Estess 8/10

29. Flower Children - 8/10

30. The Third Angel - Alice Hoffman 10/10

31. Belong to Me - Marisa de los Santos 8/10

June

32. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer 10/10

33. Certain Girls - Jennifer Weiner 9/10

34. Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri 9/10

35. Mister Sandman - Barbara Gowdy 9/10

36. No One You Know - Michelle Richmond 7/10

37. The Cure for Modern Life - Lisa Tucker 9/10

July

38. Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri - 10/10

39. The Monk Upstairs - Tim Farrington - 8/10

40. 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill - 10/10

41. The Story of a Marriage - Andrew Sean Greer - 10/10

42. The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch - 10/10

43. Peace - Richard Bausch - 8/10

August

44. Oxygen - Carol Cassella - 10/10

45. Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson - 8.5/10

46. Visions of Sugar Plums - Janet Evanovich - 6/10

47. Tethered - Amy Mackinnon - 10/10

September

48. Hell House - Richard Matheson - 7/10

49. Garden of Last Days - Andre Dubus, III - 10/10

50. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - 9/10

October

51. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson - 8/10

52. We So Seldom Look on Love - Barbara Gowdy - 9/10

53. Prince of Lost Places - Kathy Hepinstall - 9/10

54. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout - 10/10

55. Into Love and Out Again - Elinor Lipman - 9/10

November

56. The Fiction Class - Susan Breen - 7/10

57. Driving With Dead People:a Memoir - Monica Holloway - 8/10

58. Just After Sunset - Stephen King - 8/10

59. Cold Rock River - J.L. Miles - 8/10

60. The Pig Did It - Joseph Caldwell - 6/10

2007 Books Read

January
Digging to America - Anne Tyler 7/10

February
The Center of Winter - Marya Hornbacher 8/10
I Am Not Myself These Days - Josh Kilmer-Purcell 7/10
Rachel’s Holiday Marian Keyes 8- .5/10




March
Why Do Men Have Nipples Mark Leyner - 8.5/10
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian - Marina Lewycka 7/10
Skylight Confessions - Alice Hoffman 9/10
Read This and Tell Me What It Says - A. Manette Ansay 9/10
Sweet Ruin - Kathi Hanauer 7/10


April
So Much For My Happy Ending - Kyra Davis - 7/10
I Love Everybody - Laurie Notaro - 8/10
The Bitch in the House - Various - 7/10


May
Fat Girl - Judith Moore - 7/10
The Road - Cormac McCarthy - 9/10
A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That - Lisa Glatt - 7/10


June
These Is My Words - Nancy Turner - 10/10
Anybody Out There - Marian Keyes - 9.5/10
Body Surfing Anita Shreve - 9/10


July
The Other Side of the Story Marian Keyes 9/10
I Am The Messenger Markus Zusak 9/10
Sleep Toward Heaven Amanda Eyre Ward 9/10
On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan 8.5/10
Self Storage Gayle Brandeis 7/10
Still Life With Chickens Catherine Goldhammer 6/10

August
Dream When You’re Feeling Blue Elizabeth Berg 7/10
Summer People Brian Groh 7/10
The Day I Turned Uncool Dan Zevin
Half-Price Living Ellie Kay


September
Shop, Save & Share Ellie Kay
The Mr. & Mrs. Happy Handbook Steve Doocy
Lost & Found Jacqueline Sheehan 6/10
Lottery Patricia Wood 8/10


October
The Feast of Love Charles Baxter 7/10
Coming Back to Me Caroline Leavitt 8/10


November
My Latest Grievance Elinor Lipman 7/10
Come to Me Amy Bloom 9/10
Picturing the Wreck Dani Shapiro 9/10
As If Love Were Enough Anne Taylor Fleming 8/10
Black & White Dani Shapiro 8/10


December
Push Sapphire 8/10
The Almost Moon Alice Sebold 7/10
Twilight Stephenie Meyer 10/10
Wife for Hire Janet Evanovich 7/10
Cell Stephen King 8.5/10
The Tenth Circle of Hell Rezak Hukanovic 6/10