Books (A real "blog-like" post)

There's something wonderful about the promise of new books to read...

I love to see them in stacks.

I love to feel their covers and pages.

I love to dive into them and forget my own world for a few minutes or hours or days.

Like I said earlier, I stocked up on books at Powell's - at least enough to help me make it through 2007 I hope. Because deep down I am still a little compulsive (although with a healthy dose of mixed-up Type B taking over), I keep a spreadsheet of all the books I read during the year and make sure that I get to my goal which, in recent years, has been 20 books a year. I thought I would have no problems making that number this year but then I ran into a little snag. This is the first year that I started to read books of poetry and I am not sure how to count them. Even if you read the whole book - it doesn't even add up to a chapter of two of a prose book. So, does that count? In the end I decided that, while it's a good thing to do, reading books of poetry doesn't really "count" towards the book total. So, now I have a lot of catch up to do in the last few weeks of December!

If you're at all interested in any of the books I've read this year, here they are:
1) The History of Love by Krauss, Nicole
2) Through a Glass Darkly by Koen, Karleen
3) Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg - recommended by my wonderful friend in Scotland and a must read for any woman any time in their lives
4) Walking on Eggshells by Jane Isay - a book about relationships between parents and their adult children - from my mom
5) Whatever you do, don't run by Peter Allison - a story of an African Safari guide, from my Dad
6) Bold Spirit by Linda Lawrence Hunt - the story of a woman who walked across the country from Washington to NY in the late 1800s
7) My Life in France by Julia Child - a wonderful autobiography that's great for anyone who loves France or cooking, I couldn't put it down
8) The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup by Susan Orlean - lent to me by Ms. Dragonfire - short portraits of interesting people by the author of The Orchid Thief
9) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
10) Findings by Kathleen Jamie - sent to me by my friend in Scotland, short stories about how man and nature relate to each other in strange ways
11) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - last year I loved Pride and Prejudice but I found this to be just awful. I only struggled through it on nights I couldn't sleep!
12) Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama - lent to me by Ms. Cyclone - not something I would normally read, but a very interesting book about race relations and his time spent working on the south side of Chicago
13) The Dead Beat by Marilyn Johnson
EDIT: (books I've finished since I posted this list)
14) The Family Tree - a forgettable novel
15) _______ in _________ - a book that I am not posting the name of! Ms. Cyclone lent me this book from her personal collection. It was really good and I couldn't put it down - I read all night and stayed up reading to finish it! But, it uses the F word in several varrying contexts and has some graphic scenes so I have to rate this NC 20-40. If you are one of my blog readers and you are between the ages of 20 and 40 and you are just dying to know what book I mean, then email me and I will consider telling you what it is so you can stay up all night reading it too!
16) The Birth House - reminded me of a grown up version of "The Witch of Blackbird Pond"
17) The Cloudspotter's Guide - moved up from the list below, I forced myself to finish it.

Books I read this year but couldn't finish:
House Thinking by Winifred Gallagher - a good idea for a book - focused on transforming our homes to the way that we actually live in them rather than having a bunch of big empty rooms from formal convention that we never use. But, I struggled with it and passed it on to Mr. Dragonfire - a design student.
The Cloudspotters Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney - I am still working my way through this. At first, the clouds were super interesting but now I am all the way up in Cirrus and I am a bit bored...

Books I think I read this year but I can't remember for sure if they were this year or last year so they don't count towards the total:
A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary by Anonymous
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemerovsky

Books of Poetry I read this year:
The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins - if you haven't read poetry by Billy Collins, you haven't lived!
Without by Donald Hall - an emotional book of poetry that he wrote while and after his wife was dying with cancer
Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins
How Now by Raphael Cushnir
Normal is just a setting on the Dryer by Adair Lara - a book I picked up at a funky little store in Astoria, OR and read while at this cafe.
Nine Horses by Billy Collins
Thirst by Mary Oliver
New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2 by Mary Oliver
Good Poems Edited by Garrison Keilor
New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1 by Mary Oliver