Well if you didn't already know it - I am a super keen reader (i am not really a fan of the word 'avid' and therefore have not used it here!), knocking over around 60 to 70 books per year. This averages out at around 1 to 2 books per week, increasing over my summer holidays when I pretty much spend the entire time sitting under a tree in a comfy chair with my ipod, cold drink and a great book - ah heaven for me!
Being the covert geek/control freak that I am, I keep a log of a the books as I read them and give them a rating out of 5. I thought other readers out there might like to know what I rated most highly this year - so below is my list of anything rated 4 or 5, in order of my favorites!, with a short description. Let me know if you loved any of these books as well - it would be nice to hear from other readers!
Let me know if you think I should publish my list of top reads ever - everything I have rated a 5....
Twilight saga - Stephanie Meyer - rating: 5/5
If you haven't heard of these you have probably been under a rock for the last year. I appreciated the twist on the classic vampire novel, plus what woman wouldn't love a ridiculously good looking vampire and/or an equally good looking boy/warewolf. Really.
Things without a name - Joanne Fedler - 5/5
A beautifully written, big-hearted love story that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and will not let you go. A story of 32yr Faith - jaded, single, overworked, underappreciated - who finds love and learns that before you can save others you have to save yourself.
Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis - 5/5
Biography of a classic bad boy rockstar, making it big with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, drug addiction, love, friends and life as a superstar in the 90's
Dewey - Vicki Myron - 5/5
How many lives can one abandoned kitten touch? When he was just a few weeks old, Dewey Readmore Books was shoved through the book returns slot of his local library in a sleepy town. Starving, terrified and bruised, Dewey curled up into the arms of the library director Vicky. Vicky was a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, escaped a violent alcoholic husband and was struggling to bring up her little girl Jodi alone. Vicky fell in love with the little bundle of fur in her arms and campaigned to allow Dewey to stay and become the library cat. This is a book for everyone who has ever wanted, owned, or known a cat. Especially a ginger cat.I LOVED THIS BOOK!
The last lecture - Randy Pausch - 4.5/5
On 18 September 2007 computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver his last lecture. At 46, Randy had been told the month before that he had pancreatic cancer and had only a few months to live. Randy's lecture that day was called 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams'. It was modelled on a series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical 'final talk', i.e., 'what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?'. His talk lovingly, humorously and defiantly revealed the most important things Randy had learnt throughout his life, the wisdom that he had gathered and the message he wanted to leave his children, aged 1, 2, and 5.
The secret life of bees - Sue Monk Kid - 4.5/5
Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father's account of the event. Now fourteen, she yearns for her mother, and for forgiveness. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart. South Carolina in the sixties is a place where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for. When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act. Fugitives from justice and from Lily's harsh and unyielding father, they follow a trail left by the woman who died ten years before. Finding sanctuary in the home of three beekeeping sisters, Lily starts a journey as much about her understanding of the world, as about the mystery surrounding her mother.
How to be single - Liz Tuccillo - 4/5
Following a disastrous night out that began with steaks and martinis and ended in a trip to A&E, Julie Jenson decides that she and her four single friends are doing something wrong. Between them, there's more dysfunction and disappointment than she can handle. So Julie quits her job and sets off to discover how women around the world deal with the dreaded phenomenon of the Single Life. From proud Parisiennes to intense Italians, from ice-cool Icelanders to brazen Brazilians, Julie attempts to learn the secrets of these women's success.
Any Titles by Kathy Reichs - 4/5
I decided to try Kathy Reichs this year, and was greatly rewarded! Finally watched a episode of 'Bones' and for the first time that I can remember picked up a book because of the TV spin-off and not the other way around! Really find these books interesting, funny, sometimes suspenseful but always a great read!
Divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood - Rebecca Wells - 4/5
Finally read this book after watching the movie years ago - and I think it is a million times better than the movie! A great story about strong life-long friendships, love, life, family and the things we do to hurt eachother.
My friend Leonard - James Frey - 4/5
The follow-up to one of my favourite books of all time 'A million little pieces'. "While in rehab, James Frey finds a father figure in a shady mafia boss called Leonard. When Leonard returns to his dubious, prosperous life in the criminal underworld of Las Vegas, he promises James his support on the outside. Tragedy strikes the day James is released and his world seems set to implode. Unsure where to turn, he calls Leonard. Paradoxically, it is in Leonard's lawless underworld that James discovers the courage and humanity needed to rebuild his life"
Sushi for beginners - Marian Keyes - 4/5
Normally Keyes titles are traditional 'chck-lit' books but I found this one had a bit more substance (or I must have just liked the story - I can't remember!). "Hot - shot magazine editor Lisa Edwards' career is destined for high - rise New York when suddenly she's diverted to low - rise Dublin. But what can she do about it? Ashling Kennedy, Lisa's super - organized assistant, worries about everything from her lack of waist to the lack of men in her life. She's even anxious about a little bit of raw fish . . . Clodagh Kelly is Ashling's best friend and has her prince, her beautiful kids and a lovely house - everything in fact that Ashling ever wanted. And yet she's still not satisfied. Three women on the verge of happiness and even closer to complete breakdown. Which way will they fall?"
The girl who played with fire - Stieg Larsson - 4/5
Book 2 in the compelling 'Millennium' Trilogy. Really loved the first book (The girl with the dragon tattoo) and this one delivered as well. Set in Sweden, it is a great intreguing read.
We need to talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver - 4/5
This was a confronting book about motherhood. In the wake of so many school shootings this is a book about a mother behind a child with murderous intent. "Eva never really wanted to be a mother and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails."
