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
What a list! It’s a good idea, writing them all down. I’d be hard pressed to remember beyond the three or four I really liked reading.
You ought to try one of those widgets that lists the books you’re reading and stick it on the blog. There’s one that reflects favorties or wish lists from Amazon.
I’m inspired to start a list now. And to borrow most of your books.
Hey!
Sorry I haven’t been around; I haven’t been back to a computer for very long lately.
I read an Alan Alda interview at the Onion A.V. Club ( http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/alan_alda ) and I couldn’t read a word he said without hearing it in his voice in my mind. I’ve heard that it’s a really good book, though.
I got Watchmen! I finally have my own copy to read whenever I want and, you know, let people read through or borrow or something.
How are you?