81 in 2008 and a Reading Plan for 09

In 2008, I began to keep track of all the books I read. I've always wanted to do this, and I've never done it before. As you can see, I read a lot...and I always felt like I had to "go backwards" and catch up the list...and I knew that was just impossible. So I finally decided to just plunge in. And here it is, the completed list of books I read in 2008:
*YA = Young Adult

1. Deadline by Chris Crutcher YA
2. Hatred for Tulips by Richard Lourie
3. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld YA
4. Specials by Scott Westerfeld YA
5. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale YA
6. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin YA
7. Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
8. Extras by Scott Westerfeld YA
9. The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
   
10. Away by Amy Bloom
11. Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy YA
12. The Game by Diana Wynne Jones YA
13. Unwind by Neal Schusterman YA
14. Sao Tome by Paul D. Cohn
15. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
16. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
17. Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling
18. Airman by Eoin Colfer YA
    
19. My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Young
20. Mademoiselle Boleyn by Robin Maxwell
21. Dragon Harper by Anne & Todd McCaffrey
22. The Protector's War by S.M. Stirling
23. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
24. Meeting at Corvallis by S.M. Stirling
25. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer YA
26. The Sisters Grimm (Book #1) by Michael Buckley (kids)
27. The Seems: A Glitch in Sleep by Hulme and Wexler (kids)
28. The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
29. The Sunrise Lands by S.M. Stirling
30. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
31. The Rabbi of 84th Street by Warren Kozak
32. Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
33. The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling
34. The Secret Scroll by Ronald Cutler
35. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
36. Not Me by Michael Lavigne
37. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
38. Chairman-X by Rami Loya
39. The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center
40. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
41. The Diplomat's Wife by Pam Jenoff
42. Anytime Playdate by Dade Hayes
43. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
44. Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by J. Hertzberg and Z. Francois
45. Posh by Lucy Jackson
46. Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult
47. Day of Small Beginnings by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum
48. Something to Blog About by Shana Norris(YA)
49. The Spinster Sisters
50. By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille
51. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
52. Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
53. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
54. We Plan, God Laughs by Sherre Hirsch
55. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
56. I Will Not Be Broken by Jerry White
57. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
58. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
59. Address Unknown by Katherine Kressman Taylor
60. Abide With Me by Elizabeth Strout
61. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
62. The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
63. The President's Daughter by Ellen Emerson White YA
    
64. White House Autumn by Ellen Emerson White YA
    
65. Long Live the Queen by Ellen Emerson White YA
    
66. Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White YA
    
67. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow YA
    
68. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
69. The Scourge of God by S.M. Stirling
70. The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
71. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
72. Quilter's Kitchen by Jennifer Chiaverini
73. Pale of Settlement by Margot Singer
74. The Search Committee by Marc Angel
75. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
76. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
77. Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
78. Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
79. The German Bride by Joanna Hershon
80. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
81. Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey

Let's break it down....okay, let's not. Eighty-one is a pretty long list. I'm not even sure I could choose a favorite book this year! Some of my favorites were...The People of the Book, definitely, and Airman, and The Search Committee...and, okay I can't choose! I really enjoyed Stirling's Change series. I read the whole set this year. I also read the Uglies/Pretties Series, the Twilight Series, the President's Daughter series (although technically the first 2 or 3 were a re-read), and a couple of Dragon books from the McCaffreys. There was a new Daniel Silva, a new Artemis Fowl, 2 Chiaverini Quilt books (!) and a new Ender book. I only read one book that I thought was so bad I almost didn't put it on the list (it was for a book group that I ended up bailing on, partly because I didn't like the book!) and the rest were all pretty enjoyable. Looking back over hte list is like revisiting a year's worth of friends. And that's a good feeling.

So....What am I going to read in 2009?

After reading Beedle the Bard's stories, I'm definitely going to re-read Harry Potter, Book 7. Plus the 6th movie is coming out, so I'm bound to re-read Book 6 too. On my bedside table right now: Girl from Foreign, The American Wife (hey you lurking....I promise to read it!), The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey, Growing up Digital, Breakfast with Buddha, Shadow Divers, My Holocaust, and Fieldwork: A Novel. (That was mostly from memory, so I might have missed one or two that have been living there a while.)

My book group is doing Hungry Tide, so I'll read that, and I'm leading discussions on As A Driven Leaf and Day of Small Beginnings, so I'll probably re-read both of those as well.

I'm going to take part in two challenges:
2009 Young Adult Book Challenge - Read 12 Young Adult Books
Support Your Local Library Challenge - Read 25 books from the library

and I'm still trying to get organized enough to try reading the Printz Award Challenge. (The Printz Award is for Young Adult literature)

I think it's the organization that trips me up in the reading challenge department. I just like to read and I'm not always very organized about when and what and how. There does seem to be a lot of talk lately about what we're all reading, so I thought I'd put in my 2 shekels too.


What are YOU planning to read in 2009? Any good suggestions for me to add to the list?