52 Books 2009

Somewhere out there on the World Wide Web a challenge was created: read 52 books in 52 weeks. I decided 2009 would be the year I tracked my reading in weeks and pages. Below is a list of the books I read. Although I don’t have a review for each, I do have a few words to share on my year of reading.

# Title Author Pages
1 The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Laurence Sterne 720
2 Watchmen Alan Moore 416
3 Epileptic David B 368
4 The Monk Matthew Lewis 496
5 Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Cormac McCarthy 352
6 What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Politics Noam Chomsky 240
7 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker Tobias Smollett 375
8 Kindred Octavia Butler 287
9 The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon 192
10 Fun Home: A Family Tagicomic Alison Bechdel 232
11 The Fate of the Artist Eddie Campbell 96
12 Black Hole Charles Burns 368
13 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 352
14 Aporias Jacques Derrida 87
15 A Grief Observed C.S. Lewis 60
16 Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 380
17 Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, the Watsons and Sandition Jane Austen 432
18 Time: A Traveler’s Guide Clifford A. Pickover 304
19 The End of Faith Sam Harris 256
20 Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 336
21 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte 256
22 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne 180
23 Girlosophy: The Breakup Survival Kit Anthea Paul 224
24 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 485
25 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 514
26 Scott Pilgrim Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Bryan Lee O’Malley 168
27 Get Known Before the Book Deal Christina Katz 272
28 Scott Pilgrim Volume 2: Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World Bryan Lee O’Malley 200
29 Scott Pilgrim Volume 3: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness Bryan Lee O’Malley 192
30 Scott Pilgrim Volume 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together Bryan Lee O’Malley 216
31 Penguin Great Loves Cures For Love Stendhal 128
32 The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists Andrew McAleer 240
33 Valmiki’s Daughter Shani Mootoo 398
34 Dear Diary Lesley Arfin 231
35 Lives of Girls and Women Alice Munro 256
36 The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger 536
37 The History of Forgetting Lawrence Raab 112
38 Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communication Paul attallah; Leslie Shade 406
39 Bodily Harm Margaret Atwood 304
40 Wilderness Tips Margaret Atwood 242
41 Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality Donald Miller 256
42 Lucid Dreaming and the Art of Dreaming Creatively Pamela Ball 390
43 Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit Mercedes Lackey 400
44 The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle’s-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions Scott Adams 336
45 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom 198
46 Oryx and Crake: A Novel Margaret Atwood 464
47 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 512
48 Persuasion Jane Austen 224
49 Hobby Games: The 100 Best James Lowder 400
50 The Spirit Sets Us Free: Catechist’s Guide Linda L. Gaupin 64
51 The Spirit Sets Us Free: Confirmation Preparation for Youth Linda Gaupin et al 96
52 The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church   200
53 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 272
54 Manuscript: 1st Draft Friend 180
55 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 384
56 A Novel in a Year Louise Doughty 320
      16,605

While typing out the above list, I began recalling specific moments throughout the year. I remember reading C.S. Lewis after a friend passed away. I remember working as an extra on the Scott Pilgrim set and, shortly after, purchasing the series to read during my month-long traveling journey. I remember reading the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists while waiting for my plane back to Toronto with Shani Mootoo after my first ever writer’s retreat, and then reading Shani’s book shortly after coming home. I remember reading Bodily Harm on the way to my cousin’s wedding in New Jersey, and Oryx and Crake during my first week of full-time work with Ganz. And so on and so forth.

After this challenge, I had a stronger understanding that it never really was about the numbers of books you read, but about what those books meant to you after you read them. It’s easy to forget a book (I can’t, for the life of me, remember what happened in Tess of the d’Urbervilles), but when you keep track of the books you’ve read, you more easily remember, not just the titles and stories consumed within the span of a year, but those stories within the context of your life.

The 52 book challenge transcribed, in excel format, the importance of reading in my life and the adventures reading offers. Just for fun, I included some tidbits about 2009’s reading below:

Hardest book: Tristram Shandy, for its sheer size and the knowledge/backstory required to understand it OR Pamela Ball’s Lucid Dreaming, because it was just so boring.
Most read author of 2009: Jane Austen. The older I get, the more tragic her stories seem to become.
<strongMost fun book: The Scott Pilgrim series offers a fun, light, and exciting read, especially if you live in the GTA! Check out my review for it here.
Perception-altering reads: Anything by Derrida. He’s difficult to understand at first, but wickedly fun once you start.
Notable reading: Blue Like Jazz was the first “religious” book I read in 2009. It offered a contemporary approach to Christianity and religious passion that I thought would appeal to me. Instead, I was seriously disappointed by its lack of substance (for lack of a better word). It pushed me to find the real meat of my faith, and led me to read various versions of the Catechism, which was highly rewarding and which I recommend to anyone interested in Catholicism.

Now, onto 52 more books in 2010. I’m looking forward to it and invite you to join me, too!

Posted in Life, Reading and tagged .