Featuring a Top 5 in Writing, Fiction and Nonfiction and a list of everything I’ve read in the past 365 days. I’ll use a star ratings system until I can figure out something more creative.
Top 5 Writing Books
1. Chapter by Chapter by Heather Sellers *****
2. How to Be a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead by Ariel Gore ****
3. Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher ****
4. 78 Reasons Why Your Novel Won’t Get Published and 14 Reasons Why It Might by Pat Walsh Reviewed on this Site here
5. Doing Creative Writing by Steve May
Top 5 in Fiction
1. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak***1/2
2. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick *****
3. Suite Francaise by Irene Nevirovsky *****
4. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart****
5. The Miraculous Journey 0f Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamilo ****
Top 5 in Non-Fiction
1. The Golden Legacy: How Goldenbooks Won Children’s Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever and Became an American Icon Along the Way by Leonard S. Marcus*****Review coming soon!
2. Through the Children’s Gate: A Home in New York by Adam Gopnik*****
3. My Father’s Summers: A Daughter’s Memoir by Kathi Appelt****
4. Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself by Alan Alda****
5. The Crafter’s Companion: Tips, Tales and Patterns from a Community of Creative Minds ed. by Anna Torborg **** Review Coming Soon!
A few years back, worried that I wasn’t reading enough, I began keeping a list of what I’d read starting in January, to reassure myself that I was keeping up. It’s had a few interesting side effects, chiefly that each year the number has gone up–I like to compete with myself. So, here you go, all 43 books I read last year. A pretty revealing list, for better or for worse.
1. Through the Children’s Gate: A Home in New York by Adam Gopnik *****
2. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate di Camilo ****
3. Meeting the Professor: Growing Up in the William Blackburn Family by Alexander Blackburn **
4. Author 101: Bestselling Book Publicity by Rick Frishman and Robyn Freedman Spizman ***
5.Publicize Your Book: An Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book the Attention It Deserves by Jaqueline Deval ***
[Can you tell my first book, Can It Really Be Taught: Resisting Lore in Creative Writing Pedagogy, with Dr. Kelly Ritter, came out last year. I should have followed through with the suggestions better. The publisher’s tell me it’s selling well enough for an academic book, though.]
6. Chapter by Chapter by Heather Sellers *****
7. New York’s 1939-41 World’s Fair by Andrew Wood ***
8. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy***1/2
9. A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman-**1/2 (first half, ***)
10. Ella of All of a Kind Family, by Sidney Taylor **1/2
11. How to Be a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead by Ariel Gore ****
11. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron ****
12. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry ***
13. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak ***
14. Writing Brave and Free: Encouraging Words for People Who Want to Start Writing by Ted Kooser and Steve Cox **1/2
15. Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine ***
(this is a children’s book on writing)
16. Dream When You’re Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg **
17. Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher ***
18. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick *****
19. Educators as Writers: Publishing for Personal and Professional Development ed. by Caroline Smallwood **
20. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert **3/4
21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling ****
22. Writer’s Workshop in a Book by Alan Cheuse***23. Writing a Woman’s Life by Carolyn Heilbrun***
24. Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft by Jane Yolen****
25. The Fiction Editor, The Novel and the Novelist by Thomas McCormick **
26. The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination by Robert Coles***
27. Grace, Eventually by Anne Lamott ***
28. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ***
29. Love, Magic, Mudpies by Bernie Siegel
30. Flea: The Ulitmate Flea Market Guide ****
31. My Father’s Summers by Kathi Appelt***
32. 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just might by Pat Walsh ****
33. Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine **
34. Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky **1/2
35. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky *****
36. Kissing Tennessee and Other Stories at the Stardust Dance by Kathi Appelt***
37. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart ***1/2
38. Things I overheard While Talking to Myself by Alan Alda
39. The Golden Legacy by Leonard S. Marcus *****
40. No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason
41. The Crafter’s Companion: Trips, Tales, and Patterns from a Community of Creative Minds ed. by Anna Torbord
42. Doing Creative Writing by Steve May
43. Handbook of Creative Writing ed. by Steve Earnshaw
