Reading 2008 Recap

I knit pretty voraciously. All the time. But I am still a reader first and foremost. 2008 was not a particularly strong year for my reading habit- in the end I only finished 56 books. And a fair number of them (as usual) were comics and graphic novels. But I also tried to explore new genres this year. I was introduced to some new sci fi authors (Richard K. Morgan and Cory Doctorow). I finally read The Moonstone, which has been on my shelf since middle school at the latest. I finally plogged through Middlesex, which gets so very much better in the second half.I discovered a love for China, a thing for bad addictive vampire fiction, and generally this was a great year for entertaining and thoughtful reads. I also vowed to get a bit more nonfiction on the list... which was successful only in comparison to last year. Maybe 2009 will bring me more nonfiction joys.

I'm not sure which were my favorite books of the year. Good Omens was probably the funniest. The Stephanie Meyer books were the most addictive. World War Z and my first Anita Blake novels kept me up the latest on work nights. Promethea was the most mind-numbingly brilliant comic I read, but I have a special place in my heart for Scott Pilgrim and the Fables. There's only one book I actually detested - Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People. So there you go.

Full list appears below!

2008 Full Reading List

1. Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 2: Scott Pilgrim Versus the World (1/2/2008)
2. Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness (1/3/2008)
3. Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together (January 2008)
4. Jim Collins - Good to Great (1/30/2008)
5. L. M. Montgomery - Rilla of Ingleside (1/31/2008)
6. Linda Medley - Castle Waiting (2/4/2008)
7. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 1: Unmanned (2/2008)
8. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens (3/2008)
9. John Berendt - The City of Falling Angels (3/2008)
10. Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex (4/2008)
11. Sara Gruen - Water for Elephants (4/2008)
12. Patrick M. Lencioni - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (4/2008)
13. Isa Chandra Moskowitz - Veganomicon (5/2008)
14. Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (5/2008)
15. Ronald M. Shapiro and Mark A. Jankowski - Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People (5/2008)
16. Lisa See - Peony in Love (6/2008)
17. Richard K. Morgan - Altered Carbon (6/2008)
18. Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis - The Story of a Childhood (6/15/2008)
19. Cynthia Ozick - The Shawl (6/15/2008)
20. Charles Stross - Singularity Sky (6/15/2008)
21. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 2: Cycles (6/2008)
22. David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day (6/22/2008)
23. Lisa See - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (6/23/2008)
24. Pearl Buck - The Good Earth (6/27/2008)
25. Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (6/29/2008)
26. Mark Dunn - Ella Minnow Pea (6/29/2008)
27. Bill Willingham - Fables Vol 10 - The Good Prince (7/2/2008)
28. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step (7/7/2008)
29. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 4: Safeword (7/13/2008)
30. Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union (7/13/2008)
31. Gilbert Hernandez - Heartbreak Soup (7/14/2008)
32. Deborah Madison - Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmer's Markets (7/19/2008)
33. Max Brooks - World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (7/19/2008)
34. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 5: Ring of Truth (7/21/2008)
35. Brian K. Vaughan - Runaways, Vol. 1 (7/26/2008)
36. Laurell K. Hamilton - Guilty Pleasures (8/6/2008)
37. Stephanie Meyer - Twilight (8/9/2008)
38. Stephanie Meyer - New Moon (8/10/2008)
39. Scott Westerfield - Uglies (8/12/2008)
40. Cory Doctorow - Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (8/15/2008)
41. Laurell K. Hamilton - The Laughing Corpse (8/2008)
42. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief (8/26/2008)
43. Scott Westerfield - Pretties (9/1/2008)
44. Laurie Perry - Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split (9/1/2008)
45. Rebecca Alpert - Whose Torah?: A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism (9/2008)
46. Angie Sage - Magyk - Septimus Heap, Book 1 (9/23/2008)
47. Scott Westerfield - Specials (10/2008)
48. Eion Colfer - Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (10/8/2008)
49. Zadie Smith - On Beauty (11/2/2008)
50. Alan Moore - Promethea: Book One (11/7/2008)
51. Alan Moore - Promethea: Book Two (11/17/2008)
52. Alan Moore - Promethea: Book Three (11/19/2008)
53. Mike Mignola - Hellboy Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction (11/29/2008)
54. Brian K. Vaughan - Y: The Last Man Vol 6. Girl on Girl (11/29/2008)
55. Stephanie Meyer - Eclipse (12/4/2008)
56. Christopher Buckley - Boomsday (12/7/2008)