This Year's Reading

So, the statics for the average amount of books consumed by men and women in the US are easily described as pitiful. I have read more books then the average man and woman combined. Don't get me wrong, I don't always read long, intemidatingly sized books. In fact, my taste in books is sporadic at best. I indulge in the "young adult" section. I dabble in "classics". I adore "horror". I find "mystery" intoxicating. I have been known to occasionally dip below my reading level, into something simple. I find that to truly appreciate literature, you can not contain your self to one genre, one reading level, or one store. You must sample every flavor to be offered, and every cafe that serves. You will find some you love, and others you find deplorable. But how can you recognize one, with out knowing the other?

One thing has been annoying me lately though. Every time I go to buy myself a new book it seems the authors must throw in romance. I will get excited reading the back of a book, thinking "fuck ya! this seems epic!" in till reach the spot in the summary where they have some corny line about some romance. I don't mind romance, but it is not necessary in every book. 

Anyways, here are the books I have read this year, (so far) in chronological order:

1.   The Other Boylen Girl by Philippa Gregory
2. Lush by Natasha Friend
3. In the Forests of the Night by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
4. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice
5. Blue Lipstick concrete poems by John Grandits
6. The Kinfe of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
7. This Full House by Virginia Euwer Wolff
8. Paranoid Park by Blake Nelson
9. Beauty by Robin Mckinley
10. The Road from Home David Kherdian
11. Bounce by Natasha Friend
12. Loser by Matthue Roth
13. Vibes by Amy Kathhleen Ryan
14. The forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
15. Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
16. Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Gilrs
17. What I saw and How I lied by Judy Bluden
18. Vandal by Michael Simmons
19. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
20. I wanna by your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
21. Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
22. Beastly by Alex Flinn
23. Daughter of Venice by Danna Jo Napoli
24. I.D. by Viki Grant
25. Quaking by Kathyrn Erskine
26. If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser
27. Night by Elie Wiesel
28. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
29. Phantom by Susan Kay
30. Grimm's Grimmest by The Grimm Brothers
31. Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman
32. Med Head by James Patterson and Hal Friedman
33. Push by Sapphire
34. How to be a Real Person (in just one day) by Sally Warner
35. Name me Nobody Lois-Ann Yamanaka
36. Montmorency by Eleanor Updale
37. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gebrielle Zevin
38. Notes from the Midnight Driver by Jordan Sonnenblick
39. The Trap by John Smelecer
40. To Search of Mockingbird by Loretta Ellsworth
41. The Secret of the Rose by Sarah L. Thomson
42. Token of Darkness by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
43. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
44. Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford
45. Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block
46. "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller
47. How the Hangman Lost His Heart by K. M. Grant
48. Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer
49. The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black
50. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
51. The life of a Star by Kelly Easton
52. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
53. The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger 
54. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
55. Though the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
56. Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn

Next book I'm going to read is The Death Chamber by Sarah Rayne