Wrapping Up 2010

Goodbye 2010 – you were rather non-descript and un-exciting and I do not think I shall miss you. Hello 2011 – new and shiny, I hope you live up to the expectations.

Here is a wrap-up meme I found over at Book Memes and Quizzes on LiveJournal.

The first book you read in 2010: In its entirety: Past Secrets by Cathy Kelly

The last book you finished in 2010: Julemysteriet (The Christmas Mystery) by Jostein Gaarder

The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2011: Slottet i Pyreneene (The Castle in the Pyrenees) by Jostein Gaarder

Your favorite "classic" you read in 2010: Actually, I don't think I read any books that would classify as "classic" last year. Shame on me.

The book series you read the most volumes of in 2010: Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene (2)

The genre you read the most in 2010: Mystery/thrillers

The book that disappointed you: Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

The book you liked better than you expected to: Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

The hardest book you read in 2010 (topic or writing style): Bad Debts by Peter Temple. Aussie slang is not always the easiest to understand.

The funniest book you read in 2010: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

The saddest book you read in 2010: The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

The shortest book you read in 2010: Christmas in Harmony by Philip Gulley (84 pages)

The longest book you read in 2010: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (766 pages)

A book that you discovered in 2010 that you will definitely read again: The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

A book that you never want to read again: The Burglar and the Blizzard by Alice Duer Miller

And finally, make a New Year's Resolution: I always make a general resolution to read more books in the new year than previous year, which means 38 or more for 2011. I will try to read 40 books this year.

Now on to the statistics (sorry, no fancy diagrams this time)!

I read a total of 37 books in 2010. I was hoping to reach 40, which would be a new record in recent years, but a busy December and a cold took care of that. Of these were 35 fiction and 2 non-fiction (I'm not sure everything in Constable Across the Moors by Nicholas Rhea is entirely true, but let us call it a semi-memoir). Yes, I read for entertainment.

I read 33 books in English (1 translated from German) and 4 in Norwegian. This explains why I did not have time to read more books, because after all I do read slower in a foreign language. The genre I read the most was mystery/thrillers with 15 books, followed by fantasy with 7 books.

For my top ten books of 2010, see my list for the Top Ten Tuesday meme.

Since the list of books read is not all that long, here it is complete with links to reviews:

1) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
2) Past Secrets by Cathy Kelly
3) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
4) The 5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly
5) Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
6) Heartbeat: Constable Across the Moors and Other Tales of a Yorkshire Village Bobby by Nicholas Rhea
7) Irish Girls About Town by Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes, Cathy Kelly et al
8) The Spider Sapphire Mystery by Carolyn Keene
9) Det niende prinsipp by Gert Nygårdshaug
10) De dødes båt by Knut Nærum
11) Atlantis Found by Clive Cussler
12) Siste akt by Nils Nordberg & Klaus Hagerup
13) Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
14) Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss
15) Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
16) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
17) Under Gemini by Rosamunde Pilcher
18) Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
19) Ice Station by Matthew Reilly 
20) The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
21) 16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber
22) Eleven On Top by Janet Evanovich
23) The Secret River by Kate Grenville
24) The Heretic's Treasure by Scott Mariani
25) The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
26) The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
27) The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake
28) The Mystery of the 99 Steps by Carolyn Keene 
29) Bad Debts by Peter Temple
30) The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt 
31) 'Twas the Night by Sandra Hill, Kate Holmes, Trish Jensen
32) The Burglar and the Blizzard by Alice Duer Miller
33) Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
34) Christmas in Harmony by Philip Gulley
35) The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
36) Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzled (ed.)
37) Julemysteriet (The Christmas Mystery) by Jostein Gaarder