I am a recent lurker on your site and discovered that we have very similar tastes in books. It also appears that we live in the same neck of the woods. That just makes me smile!! When I was doing my breakdown of reading for the year and thinking about my own goals for next year I was also encouraged by my non-fiction readings. It's fun to think that I am learning somethings along the way and stretching in this area. I tried pushing my in-person book group to help me meet this new year goal by selecting a few non-fiction readings too.

I did read one book for the year end that was great. You might try The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It is a young adult title and was really well done. The character voice was fun and I both laughed and cried. It won the 2007 National Book Award too. It reads fast and I find myself recommending it to most anyone who will listen.

Thanks for keeping such an active and awesome blog.

Stardust and the Lord of the Rings books are all just wonderful, aren't they? I can see why they'd be favorites. :-) I'm hoping to do a little catching up on series reading as well this year. I doubt I will make much of a dent considering how many series I have going, but I'll sure try my best.

I hope you have a great reading year in 2008!

Inside - Welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. It's been a really fun project for me. I checked out yours, too, and will be going back to read more. It does look like we have similar tastes in books. Fun, fun. It's nice to meet another Mesa girl, too.

I'm definitely going to check out Alexie's book this year. I've heard a lot about it. In fact, I think I've got it on my list for the Triple 8 challenge.

Fiction is my true love, so I always have to force myself to read non-fiction. I don't know why, because there is some really great non-fiction out there. Good luck on this one to both of us!

Feline - I'm hoping to finish a FEW series. There's no way I can finish all the ones I'm reading. I love series fiction, but I don't think I'll ever catch up on all the great series' out there!

I enjoyed your year-end wrap-up. I always feel like I need to read more non-fiction. I'm not sure why. One of my top 5 for 2007 was a memoir, Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling). She details her time living in rural Florida. It is very entertaining and very well-written. You may want to check it out.

Congrats on your year! I like all of your three favourites...you seem to enjoy a little bit of magic mixed in with your fiction. :)

one question - how do you know what you have read in the last year? I don't record what I read and would be very very hard-pushed to remember them all!! (and do you count those books that you reread!!?)

Eva - You know, I really am enjoying all these series' about magic, which is funny because I have never been much of a sci fi/fantasy fan (except for Harry Potter, of course).

Sam - Like I said, I wasn't going to do a year-end wrap-up post because I hadn't kept very good records of what I read this year. So, when I decided to record my stats, I just went through the posts I made this year and added things up. Not a very scientific method! Other people are probably more organized than I am...

I'm trying to keep better track this year by listing all of the books I read whether or not I review them. This should give me a more accurate picture for 2009.

BTW, Sam - I enjoyed your blog. I'm going to add it to my sidebar. Hopefully, that's okay with you. And, yes, I do think librarians should get hazard pay - paper cuts just suck :)

Um, I meant 2008, Sam. LOL.