The Best of My 2008

I had so much fun doing this last year, that I had to repeat myself. 🙂

By the Numbers:
Middle Grade Fiction: 72 (being on the MG panel really shot the numbers through the roof!)
Young Adult Fiction: 53
Graphic Novels: 16
Non-Fiction: 14
Fiction: 42
Grand Total: 197

Challenges Completed: 9

And it wouldn’t be the same without the awards…

Best Adult Fiction: Dracula

Best YA book: The Patron Saint of Butterflies

Best Middle-grade book: Every Soul a Star

Best Fantasy:
A Curse Dark as Gold

Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: 1984 (even if it is depressing)

Best Graphic Novel (new this year!!) : Plain Janes/Janes in Love

Best Non-Fiction: John Adams

Best Romance: Crown Duel

Best (um, only?) Mystery (I still ought to read more…): The Winter Queen

Best Jacket Flap: The Fall of the Kings

Best Worst Jacket Flap: Matilda

And in other categories…

Books I should have read AGES ago: 84 Charing Cross Road, Call of the Wild, Right Ho, Jeeves, The Christmas Carol (well, I did read it before, but it’s been AGES)

Writing Style I Discovered I liked: Novels in verse, especially Diamond Willow and Song of the Sparrow

Favorite Challenge: Jane Austen

Best main character: Marvin from Masterpiece

Book for in-person book group I liked best: Suite Francaise

Book for on-line book group I liked best: The Glass Castle

Books I didn’t feel the love for: The Book Thief, Audrey, Wait!

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 1 – Othello, but I saw two (Much Ado About Nothing and Pericles)

Number of books read that had something to do with Shakespeare: 4

Favorite use of Shakespeare’s plays: The Juliet Club

Books that Made me Laugh the most: The Year of Living Biblically, Leave it to Psmith, Island of Mad Scientists

Authors everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: John Green (but I think I like his vlog better than his books. Don’t shoot me.) and Maureen Johnson

Best Book from an author I previously didn’t care for: Airman

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Susan Selfors (Saving Juliet), Daphne Grab (Alive and Well in Prague, New York), J. Scott Savage (Farworld: Water Keep)

Book I read the fastest: anything for the MG Cybils panel…

Favorite book from a series:
Forever Rose (with The Battle of the Labyrinth a close runner-up)

Best Arthurian book: Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy

Newbery Books I read: Good Masters, Sweet Ladies, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

Books that made me want to go out and do something:The Omnivore’s Dilemma (change food buying habits), Every Soul a Star (look at stars and see a solar eclipse), Forever Rose (read the rest of the series), Dairy Queen (cheer!), Ten Cents a Dance (watch Swing Kids).

Books I abandoned: The Painted Drum, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Acts of King Arthur, Blue Bloods, Audrey Wait!, and a whole host of MG Cybils books.

Here’s to another great year!

13 thoughts on “The Best of My 2008

  1. Feel free, Nymeth. 🙂Sherry — I have, though it’s been a while. I did like it, though. (Granted, I like most anything Christian Bale’s in…) And I’m always happy to know that I’m not the only one who’s on the anti-Book Thief side. 🙂

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  2. What a great post, I love the categories that you list. May have to borrow some of those for next year for myself!Of course it thrills my heart to no end to see my favorite novel of all time, Dracula, up there on your list. Yay!!!Have an absolutely wonderful new year!!!

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Sounds like you would be a good candidate for an Amazon.com Kindle! We were thinking about buying one for Christmas, but they’re temporarily sold out. – an Andover, KS reader

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