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Ex libris

My goal every year is to read 100 books. This year, oddly, I hit the exact same number as last year: 109. I briefly attempted to keep a separate blog to keep track of them. It didn’t really work. But here are all the books I read this year, with favorites starred/italicized. They are a weird mix of fiction and nonfiction, trash and quality, as per usual for me. Unquestionably, I would not have hit 100 if I read all “good literature” — my goal for next year is to up the percentage of quality work, but the chick lit serves an important relaxation function for me as well.

Let me know if you want further elaboration or reviews on anything!

Books of 2008

  1.   Killer Instinct — Joseph Finder
  2.   Point Clear — Jennifer Paddock
  3.   Paranoia — Joseph Finder
  4.   Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die — Chip Heath and Dan Heath
  5.   Songs Without Words — Ann Packer
  6.   High Crimes — Joseph Finder
  7.   The Cold Moon — Jeffrey Deaver
  8.   The God of Animals — Aryn Kyle
  9.   Fraud — David Rakoff
  10.   Crossing California — Adam Langer
  11.   Rise and Shine — Anna Quindlen
  12.   Shopaholic and Baby — Sophie Kinsella
  13.   A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius — Dave Eggers
  14.   The World According to Mimi Smartypants — Mimi Smartypants
  15.   A Spot of Bother — Mark Haddon
  16.   One True Thing — Anna Quindlen
  17.   The Zero Hour — Joseph Finder
  18.   Posh — Lucy Jackson
  19.   The Appeal — John Grisham
  20.   The Bean Trees — Barbara Kingsolver
  21.   Change of Heart — Jodi Picoult
  22.   Mergers and Acquisitions — Dana Vachon
  23.   Suite Francaise — Irene Nemirovsky
  24.   Remember Me? — Sophie Kinsella
  25.   Blessings — Anna Quindlen
  26.   Going Down — Jennifer Belle
  27.   The Last Life — Claire Messud
  28.   Boy’s Life — Robert McCammon**
  29.   London is the Best City in America — Laura Dave
  30.   Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World — Gary Hirshberg**
  31.   Running in Heels — Anna Maxted
  32.   The Right Address — Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman
  33.   Power Play — Joseph Finder
  34.   Good to Great — Jim Collins
  35.   Prodigal Summer — Barbara Kingsolver
  36.   Unaccustomed Earth — Jhumpa Lahiri**
  37.   Confessions of an Economic Hit Man — John Perkins
  38.   It Must’ve Been Something I Ate — Jeffrey Steingarten
  39.   Cooking for Mr. Right — Susan Volland
  40.   Piece of Work — Laura Zigman
  41.   Love the One You’re With — Emily Giffin
  42.   The Devil Who Tamed Her — Johanna Lindsey
  43.   Room for Love — Andrea Meyer
  44.   Happiness Sold Separately — Libby Street
  45.   The Abstinence Teacher — Tom Perrotta**
  46.   Can You Keep a Secret? — Sophie Kinsella
  47.   The Gatecrasher — Madeleine Wickham
  48.   Water Witches — Chris Bohjalian
  49.   Chasing Harry Winston — Lauren Weisberger
  50.   Morning Light — Catherine Anderson
  51.   Peony in Love — Lisa See
  52.   Goodbye, Jimmy Choo — Annie Sanders
  53.   Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life — Barbara Kingsolver**
  54.   Oryx and Crake — Margaret Atwood
  55.   Material Girl — Julia London
  56.   Sleeping Arrangements — Madeleine Wickham
  57.   The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine — Rudolph Chelminski
  58.   The Accidental — Ali Smith
  59.   In the Woods — Tana French
  60.   The Beach House — Jane Green
  61.   Twilight — Stephenie Meyer**
  62.   New Moon — Stephenie Meyer
  63.   Garden Spells — Sarah Addison Allen
  64.   Eclipse — Stephenie Meyer
  65.   Breaking Dawn — Stephenie Meyer
  66.   Happy Family — Wendy Lee
  67.   Sea Glass — Anita Shreve
  68.   Iodine — Haven Kimmel**
  69.   The Host — Stephenie Meyer
  70.   Run — Ann Patchett
  71.   Lost Hearts in Italy — Andrea Lee
  72.   Colony — Anne Rivers Siddons
  73.   Black and Blue — Anna Quindlen
  74.   The Fundamentals of Play — Caitlin Macy
  75.   Parable of the Talents — Octavia Butler
  76.   Fox’s Earth — Anne Rivers Siddons
  77.   The Solomon Sisters Wise Up — Melissa Senate
  78.   Case Histories — Kate Atkinson
  79.   Name and Address Withheld — Jane Sigaloff
  80.   A Tale of Two Sisters — Anna Maxted
  81.   Eyewitness to Power — David Gergen
  82.   The Other Queen — Philippa Gregory
  83.   Bill and Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company — Michael S. Malone
  84.   What is the What — Dave Eggers
  85.   The Smart One and the Pretty One — Claire LaZebnik
  86.   Long Walk to Freedom — Nelson Mandela
  87.   Three Cups of Tea — Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin**
  88.   My American Journey — Colin Powell with Joseph E. Persico
  89.   Thirty Nothing — Lisa Jewell
  90.   The Bright Side of Disaster — Katherine Center
  91.   Asking for Trouble — Elizabeth Young
  92.   Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart — Donald McRae
  93.   Aftermath — Brian Shawver
  94.   A Thousand Splendid Suns — Khaled Hosseini
  95.   Company Man — Joseph Finder
  96.   The Art of War — Sun Tzu
  97.   The Botany of Desire — Michael Pollan**
  98.   Peace Like a River — Leif Enger**
  99.   Alphabet Weekends — Elizabeth Noble
  100.   World Famous Love Acts — Brian Leung
  101.   A Promising Man (and About Time, Too!) — Elizabeth Young
  102.   Vince and Joy — Lisa Jewell
  103.   The Gold Coast — Nelson DeMille
  104.   The Lace Reader — Brunonia Barry
  105.   Off Season — Anne Rivers Siddons**
  106.   The Sunday Philosophy Club — Alexander McCall Smith
  107.   Northern Lights — Nora Roberts
  108.   One Fifth Avenue — Candace Bushnell
  109.   Peachtree Road — Anne Rivers Siddons