My 2010 Reading List

I do not remember why I started keeping track of my reading list at the beginning of 2010. I think it must have been because I was trying to revive my blog, and it was something trifling, but possibly mildly interesting, that I could add to the sidebar to take up space. At the time, I was also reading voraciously, so I assumed there would be plenty of occasions to update the list. I was right ... for a while. But then spring came, and I found that reading time had to be curtailed to make room for gardening time. The gardening-related lull lasted pretty much all through spring, summer, and fall. At year’s end, I have only read 24 books, a little less than one every two weeks.

So, here is the list:

1. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
5. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
6. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
7. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
8. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
9. Wish You Well by David Baldacci
10. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
11. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
12. The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson with John and Elizabeth Sherrill
13. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
14. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
15. To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield
16. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
17. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
18. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen
19. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
20. The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
21. A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
22. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
23. North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
24. Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

The Stats

Books Read	24
Rate	1 book every 15.21 days
Type	96% fiction / 4% memoir
Nationality	71% American / 25% British / 4% French
Re-reads	10 (42%); mostly due to the Little House series
Most Read Author	Laura Ingalls Wilder
Also Saw the Movie	4

The Superlatives

Longest
The Count of Monte Cristo
Also my first iBook! And as an iBook, it was a little difficult to grasp its length; you cannot pick up the book and see its thickness or feel its weight. The “number of pages” varies depending on the font face and size, and also the page orientation (portrait or landscape). As I read it, it was 3278 pages.

Most Surprising
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Of course I had seen the movie before I read the book, so I already knew the basic story. Somehow, though, the book was just not what I was expecting. It was ... really good. To top things off, I found out that Lew Wallace was a Union general during the Civil War. Surprising, indeed. Who would have expected a Civil War general would write such an intriguing book set in the time of Christ? Apparently literary critics find fault with the book, but who cares what they say? I would definitely recommend it, and other readers seem to agree; since its first publication, Ben-Hur has never been out of print.

Funniest
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
This book was laugh-out-loud funny. I know that does not mean much coming from me, considering I laugh out loud at seemingly nothing. Nonetheless, I am quite sure that others could also appreciate the humor. In particular, other Mennonites are likely to identify with the little tidbits of Mennonite culture throughout the book. And we Mennonites are very good at laughing at ourselves, are we not? We must be, or else the storyline (woman’s husband leaves her for a man; woman returns home to Mennonite family) would not make for a very good comedy.

Most Random
The Sherwood Ring
Yes, I am guilty of judging a book by its cover. How else are you supposed to pick something to buy out of the loads of cheap books at the Green Valley Book Fair? So, this book was chosen at random, where random equals “I like the way it looks.” (Interestingly enough, that is the same way I select bottles of wine.) It was not the best book I have ever read, but it was enjoyable. (Funny ... that’s usually how I feel about random bottles of wine too.)

Most Similar Plots
The Count of Monte Cristo and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Here’s the plot summary for both books:

Man is happy and prosperous.
Man is falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned.
Man escapes.
Man acquires great wealth.
Man exacts revenge on those who wronged him.
Man is reunited with loved ones.

I noticed the similarity of these two books before I read on Wikipedia that Lew Wallace had been inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo. (Aren’t I clever?) Anyway, what’s not to love about a good-versus-evil plot with a happy ending?

Best-represented in Movie
North and South
Actually, in this case, it was a miniseries from the BBC, released in 2004, and starring Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage. I’m not saying that it was the best movie, but that the movie was the most like the book. The other movies/miniseries that I watched all had substantial points of variation. Ben-Hur (1959 version starring Charlton Heston) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002 version starring James Caviezel) both left out major characters and significant parts of the story. To Serve Them All My Days, another miniseries from the BBC (1980, starring John Duttine), was pretty faithful to the book, with very few major deviations. North and South wins this category simply because it had few variations, and they were all minor.

Side Note: I feel somewhat guilty because I watched the North and South miniseries before I read the book. Why? I blame Richard Armitage. If he was not so devilishly handsome, I might have found something else to watch on Netflix. In any case, you should do as I say, and not as I do. Read the book before watching the movie.

Most Tear-jerking
Wish You Well
This was a tough category because there were so many contenders. Either I happen to read lots of happy/sad (yes, I will cry either way) books, or I’m just a waterworks. I decided on Wish You Well because it has such a touching story. Yes, the plot is a teensy bit predictable, but ... Oh, cheeseball! I’m just a sucker for a happy ending.

Most Favoritest
Are you kidding? Picking a favorite book is like picking a favorite flavor of ice cream. It just cannot be done. Even from a list with so few choices!