THE LIST, 2006

I read a lot. I mean, I read A LOT. More than anyone I know. Reading is not just entertainment to me. It's part of my job and part of my identity. I read anything and everything, from street signs and cereal boxes to novels of considerable length. Though I tend to prefer science fiction and fantasy, I do not limit my reading to that genre. Children's books, YA lit, straight literature, non-fiction, romance....they all have a time and a place. So I feel a certain...authority on the matter of books and words. And I think making my choices public is not just stroking my ego, but perhaps could convey information. And THE LIST was born.

THE LIST is just that: a list of the books I have read in the last year. It may not be a complete list--I'm limited by what I can remember and what comes back to me as I walk around the house staring at our bookshelves. This year's list has over 50 authors on it. That means I remember reading at least one book that I can name by that author. By a few authors I've read many more books, whole series' worth.

THE LIST is NOT a list of reviews or a statement of worth. It's just a statement that I read these. However, although I VERY seldom abandon a book, there are some. So you can be fairly assured that if a book appears on this list, it has SOMETHING to grab the attention, even if that something is being so bad it's funny (I don't think any of the books on this year's list fit that bill, but I couldn't swear to it).

So, without further ado:

THE LIST, 2006
Albert, Susan Wittig: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Hilltop Farm, The Tale of Holly Howe, The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood
Bleeding Hearts, a China Bayles Mystery

Alexander, Lloyd: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, The High King

Aronson, Marc: Witch Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials

Brashares, Anne: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants

Brust, Stephen
Vlad Taltos: Jhereg, Yendi, Taltos, Teckla, Phoenix, Athyra, Orca, Dragon, Issola, Dzur The Khaavren Romances: The Phoenix Guards, Five Hundred Years After The Viscount of Adrilankha: The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, Sethra Lavode Brokedown Palace

Card, Orson Scott
Women of Genesis: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel

Carey, Jacqueline: Kushiel’s Scion

Carr, Caleb: The Italian Secretary

Chase, Truddi: When Rabbit Howls

Cherryh, C. J. The Faded Sun: Kesrith, Shon’jir, Kutath

Clavell, James: Shogun

Cooper, Susan
The Dark is Rising: Over Sea and Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, The Silver on the Tree

David, Peter
Legions of Fire: The Long Night of Centauri Prime, Armies of Light and Dark, Out of the Darkness

Diamant, Anita: The Red Tent

Drennan, Kathryn: To Dream in the City of Sorrows

Dumas, Alexander: The Count of Monte Cristo

Eugenides, Jeffery: The Virgin Suicides

Farmer, Nancy: The House of the Scorpion

Fisher, Jude
Fool’s Gold: Sorcery Rising, Wild Magic, The Rose of the World

Godden, Rumer: In this House of Brede

Goodkind, Terry
The Sword of Truth: Wizard’s First Rule, Blood of the Fold, Stone of Tears, Temple of Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire, Chainfire, Phantom

Green, Hannah: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Greeno, Gayle
The Ghatti’s Tale: Finder’s Seekers, Mindspeaker’s Call, Exile’s Return
Ghatten’s Gambit: Sunderlies Seeking, The Farthest Seeking

Grisham, John I’m going to cop out here and just say I read everything he’s written because I don’t feel like remembering all the names!

Hanauer, Cathy: My Sister’s Bones

Hobb, Robin: Shaman’s Crossing, Forest Mage

Jakober, Marie: The Black Chalice

Keyes, J. Gregory: Dark Genesis, Deadly Relations, Final Reckoning

Kadohata, Cynthia: Kira-Kira

King, Stephen The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizards and Glass, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, The Dark Tower Insomnia
Carrie

Lackey, Mercedes: The Fairy Godmother, Children of the Night

LeGuin, Ursula K.: The Beginning Place

L’engle, Madeline: The Other Side of the Sun, A Wrinkle in Time, The Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Lindholm, Megan: Alien Earth

MacGregor, Kinley: Knight of Darkness

Mahy, Margaret: The Other Side of Silence

Meyers, L. A.
Bloody Jack: Bloody Jack, Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Under the Jolly Roger, In the Belly of the Bloodhound

Miller, Rand & Robin (With David Wingrove): The Myst Reader

Mondimore, Francis Mark: Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families

Moning, Karen Marie: Spell of the Highlander

Myracle, Lauren: TTYL

Nix, Garth: Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday, Sir Thursday

Paige, Robin: Death on the Lizard

Paxson, Diana: Ancestors of Avalon

Pike, Christopher: Master of Murder

Plath, Sylvia: The Bell Jar

Plum-Ucci, Carol: What Happened to Lani Garver

Rice, Anne: Interview with a Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Memnoch the Devil, the Vampire Armand, Tale of the Body Thief, Blackwood Farm, The Witching Hour, Taltos, Lasher, The Feast of All Saints, Merrick, Servant of the Bones, Ramses the Damned

Rowling, J. K.
The Harry Potter Series (again): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince

Schreiber, Flora: Sybil, the True Story of a Woman Possessed by 16 Personalities

Snicket, Lemony: The End

Stevenson, Robert Louis: Treasure Island

Stone, Irving: The Agony and the Ecstasy, Passions of the Mind

Wolff, Virginia Euwer: The Mozart Season, True Believer

Woolfe, Virginia: Mrs. Dalloway

Wynne Jones, Diana: Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Air