Reading Stats and Top Reads of the Year

I'm not sure I stuck to any of my reading goals this year, but that's not particularly unusual.  I'd intended on reading more nonfiction, more Atlantic Canadian poetry and fiction, and I'd planned to be more selective in general.  I'm still too often responding to that 'compelled to finish every book I start' weakness, which is a big time waster.  That habit must be broken!  There are great reads out there and the time wasters are just in the way.

Number of Books read: 112

Books by men: 55

Books by women: 56  

Books written or edited by both: 1

Books in translation: 6

Books that were re-reads: 17

Fiction read: 92


Goodness, I guess my goal of reading more nonfiction really did fall by the wayside.  Must do better!

Of the Fiction . . .

Novels (literary and otherwise): 63 

Poetry: 9

Plays: 3

Short Story collections: 4

Children's/YA fiction: 13

Nonfiction read: 20

Of the Nonfiction . . .

Essays/lectures/letters: 4

History/Biography/Memoir: 8

On Literature and/or Poetry: 2


Gardening/Outdoors/Food: 6


Books By Year of Publication


21st century: 52


Second half of 20th century, 1950-1999: 18


First half of 20th century, 1900- 1950: 28


19th century: 11  


I'd intended on reading more 19th century.  And I thought I had. But, like the nonfiction, somehow that goal got away from me.  


Pre-19th century: 3

TOP FIVES: 


The top 5 prose fiction reads from this past year (regardless of year of publication and excluding canonical and/or quasi-canonical). Listed in no particular order (oh, and not including re-reads):

• That Forgetful Shore by Trudy Morgan-Cole (pub: 2011)
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (pub: 2005) 
• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (pub: 1987)
• The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch (pub: 1993)
• When I Was Young & In My Prime by Alayna Munce (pub: 2005)   

Top 5 poetry reads of the year. These are in no particular order (excluding re-reads/classics/canonical):

• Guesswork by Jeffery Donaldson (pub: 2011)  Donaldson is simply one of the best poets writing in Canada right now.
• Maps of Invariance by John Smith (pub: 2005)  Just mind-blowingly wonderful.  What he does with the prose poem (and I'm not even much of a prose poem fan)! Brilliant collection.    Dense in the best sense of the word.
• A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth by Stephanie Bolster (pub: 2011) 
• Games of Chance by Gerard Beirne (pub: 2011)
• Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins (pub: 2011) Yes, I have a weakness for Collins.  

Top 5 nonfiction books read this year (not including re-reads):

• The Price of Honesty: Life, Laughter and Liquid Lunches by Ralph Costello (pub: 2011)
• Bound To Last: 30 Writers On Their Most Cherished Book ed. by Sean Manning (pub: 2010)
• The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time by Judith Shulevitz (pub: 2010)
• Serve It Forth by M.F.K. Fisher (pub: 1937)
• Glenn Gould by Mark Kingwell (pub: 2009)

Reading goals for the coming year: Let's see if I can stick to last year's goals in the coming year.  Especially the being more selective part.  Read a little less, read a lot better, and live much more.  Yes, that'll be the goal. And I want to get in more classics.

I wish you all a fun, safe evening of celebrations, and a brilliant, book-filled new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Wrap Up The Year Meme

Since I came across this meme a couple of years ago, it's become something of an annual fixture.  So, as usual, here is my wrap-up-the-year meme --

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?


Track (via the fascinating realm of the medical ultrasound) the growth of the Little Inkslinger and anticipate his/her arrival in this great big wild world.  

2. What countries did you visit?


This question is beginning to mock me.  This year was yet another wash-out for travelling.  We'd intended on a trip down the east coast of the U.S., but events conspired against us.

3. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

What we lacked in 2011 was a Little Inkslinger.  Hopefully, if all goes well, we'll get to meet the Little Inkslinger in 2012.

4. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Surviving a weird health episode and expecting the Little Inkslinger. 

5. What was your biggest failure?


Not recognizing what was wrong with my leg before it became much more complicated, contributing to an invalid-like existence for much of 2011 (a little too Victorian, if you know what I mean).

6. What was the best thing you bought?

An honest-to-goodness, made-out-of-real-wood splendidly healthy crib for the Little Inkslinger.  (Those cribs made from pressed boards and chemicals worry me).

7. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Mr. Inkslinger, again.  Supportive doesn't even begin to cover it. 

8. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

Least said, soonest forgotten.  

9. Where did most of your money go?

a).Same answer as last year (I'll sing this tune til the song changes):
Student loans (and the subsequent trials related thereto) soak up a lot of time and cash (and had I known it was going to be like this I would have expected/demanded a great deal more from my university experience).


b).Oh, and preparing/buying for the Little Inkslinger.

10. What song will always remind you of 2011?

There are so many to choose from.  But I guess I'll go with Fleet Foxes' White Winter Hymnal. A friend introduced me to this song earlier in the year.







11. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

a). I believe I'm happier, if a little tired and cranky off and on from lack of sleep and general discomfort. b). Pregnant. 'Nuff said. c). Richer in every way except monetary. :)

12. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Writing. Hiking. 

13. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying. Fretting. Borrowing trouble . . . The usual.

14. What was your favourite TV program?

I don't think I had a favourite TV program this year. Oh, perhaps the BBC's Sherlock. 

15. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Still intending to keep hate out of the emotional diet. 

16. What was the best book you read?

See upcoming top five post.

17. What did you want and get?

We'll see . . . 

18. What did you want and not get?

If #17 comes through, there is very little to say to this question. 

19. Best Musical Discovery?


Mumford & Sons.  Or The Decemberists.

20. What was your favourite film of this year?


As usual, the films I watched this year ranged all over the place in terms of genre and year of release.  I'm not sure which was my favourite.  I did enjoy the following immensely:


Broken Flowers (2005)
The Girl in the Cafe (2005)
Drive (2011)
Barton Fink (1991)
TiMER (2009)

21. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

What did I do on my birthday?  I believe I had a low-key celebration with Mr. Inkslinger and my sister.  It involved eclair cake and a new piano.

22. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Less anxiety and better health.  

23. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

'Will it fit over the baby bump?'  That's pretty much it.

24. What kept you sane?

Sanity is definitely overrated.

25. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?


This year? Hmm . . . Benedict Cumberbatch, perhaps. :)


26. What political issue stirred you the most?


I remain unstirred. But the American Republican race is nothing if not entertaining seen via Jon Stewart.

27. Who did you miss?

Still my mum. Even more as I get closer to becoming a mother myself.

28. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.


Any control you think you have over your life is usually an illusion.  

Holiday Happy

Relaxing with family, playing board games, eating peanut brittle.  There was even a light dusting of snow that arrived just in time for Christmas. Our low-key Christmas was certainly enjoyable despite some of the (temporary) restrictions that go along with my current health.  I even somehow found time in between the trimming, eating, and wrapping paper-ripping to finish reading John Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which I quite enjoyed.  (I'm looking forward to watching the new film with Gary Oldman sometime in the nebulous future when I am able to sit through approximately two hours at a time. So I thought it'd be a good idea to prepare by reading the novel first.) 


And, of course, to cap off the joy, many of the presents under the tree were books!

From the mystery-loving aunt: the new P.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley and even though I've not previously read any James this is a welcome addition given the subject matter and setting.  I've started in on it already and I have to say James seems to know how to recreate a Jane Austen mood. 

And there was a Guy Gavriel Kay (Sailing To Sarantium) from the sister.

Mr. Inkslinger, always seeking to expand my horizons, included a variety of delicious-looking books.  Among them:   The Man From Beijing by Henning Menkel, A Study In Sherlock edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, and a book I've definitely been wanting to read titled Mnemonic: A Book of Trees by Theresa Kishkan.

Anticipating more games and reading in the days ahead!  Holidays are nice.

Image(s) courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Wishing each of you a holiday filled with good food, good reads, and great people.

You know how when you come across a book that is a pleasant surprise, is so much better than you were expecting (not that you were necessarily expecting something terrible), you have a tendency to find yourself growing extra enthusiastic about it?  Recommending it to friends and family with a 'it's so much better than you might think!'  Well, this was one of those books.  A friend handed it to me with a 'check this out' approach.  I looked at the cover and description and thought, 'I'm not really sure this is my kind of book. A newspaper guy reminiscing about various things New Brunswick? Interesting isn't the first word that comes to mind.'  And yet it was just that, interesting. Engaging, warm, funny.  Sure, the author sometimes writes about public figures I've either never heard of or only have a passing knowledge of, but it's the way he writes about them that wins you over.  And the personal anecdotes, the memories of his childhood, his family, growing up in the Depression, are absolutely engrossing.  

It's the memoir of the late Ralph Costello, a big name in Atlantic Canadian journalism, called The Price of Honesty: Life, Laughter and Liquid Lunches.  And it's one of the best nonfiction books I've read all year.  He certainly had a way with words. It's like O'Henry meets Paul Harvey, or something along those lines. There are chuckle-out-loud moments when he points out the vanity and foibles of the small and great, but there's always a warm-heartedness about it all that is absolutely refreshing in these cynical times.  What comes across is the affection Costello had for most of these people, whether family member or friend and colleague or political leader.


I inhaled the book in two days and was rather sad when I reached the last page.  Of course, the lovely thing about books is you can just go back to the beginning and start all over again.

Now THAT'S a novel!  I've just finished what is just about the best Canadian novel I've read this year.  It's That Forgetful Shore, Trudy Morgan-Cole's story about two friends whose seemingly linked life paths diverge in the aftermath of educational opportunities and economic concerns, WWI, and the inevitable twists and turns of individual choices and secrets.  Kit and Triffie, from a small fishing village in early 20th century Newfoundland, are twin souls, best friends, and share a love of learning, books, and adventure.  Inevitably, life tests their ambitions and their loyalties.

The characterization is organic, the story is compellingly straightforward and (thank the literary muses all) gimmick free (I can't tell you how tedious I'm beginning to find the current climate of lit fict in Canada with its often overwrought 'experimentation' of prose forms and language, coupled with the obvious MFA influence on what is 'authentically Canadian' .  . . but I digress).  Secrets, lies, betrayals, scandal are woven seamlessly into the natural progression of a human life.  These people are believably real, with motivations that make sense.  


Kit and Triffie make their way in a world divided by gender, class, war, and money.  While Kit makes good on many of her childhood dreams only to find that those dreams aren't quite as satisfying as she'd hoped, Triffie finds herself locked in a world defined by fishing, the weather, and debt. Her only escape is the emotional release of a religious life that none of her friends or family understands. How will a childhood friendship endure the inevitable slings and arrows?  What is the importance of friendship, anyway?  Such a human tale is That Forgetful Shore. So enjoyable. A story I could really sink into and think about and live through with the characters.   

A Christmas Frame of Mind

Due to my last two reading choices (see below), I'm thinking of interesting books that are about/set during or feature Christmas and thought I'd work up a list.  It's proving harder than I anticipated:


A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens  (the most obvious choice!)
The Story of a Plush Bear by Laura Lee Hope (A number of the toy books by Hope either begin with or involve Santa Claus and his workshop full of elves.)
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer (I've just read my way through this one.  A mystery set over Christmas holidays at a rich man's house.  Fun stuff.)
I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley (Also just finished.  It's a fun, light addition to the Flavia books, and set during the Christmas holidays as well.)


Or maybe just books significantly set in winter or wherein winter plays an almost character-like role:


Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
A Certain Slant of Light by Cynthia Thayer
The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys


And I know I'm forgetting/unaware of a whole passel of them . . . any suggestions out there?


And a non-Christmas link to a great essay by Jeffery Donaldson.  For those who, like me, just love literature and words and talking/writing about same . . . click here.


Oh, and one more thing!  For those of you who (again, like me) like paperdolls, Inside A Black Apple is offering a free download.