2010 Reading Statistics

In 2010, I read...

Total number of books: 50

31 Fiction
19 Non-Fiction

10 Books related to my reading goals

17 Canadian books
(it helps that my goal-books also fell into this category)

6 Classics
3 Books on Penguin's Top 50 List
10 Total books read from Penguin's Top 50 so far (20%)
10 Unread books on my shelf from Penguin's Top 50

Favorites, looking back:
- Candide by Voltaire
- Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery
- How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
- Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan

Review of 2010 Goals

Goals for 2010:
- read Anne of Green Gables - done! check! hurrah! I even went on to read Emily of New Moon and a biography of L.M. Montgomery.
- read The Lord of the Rings - nope. These books are gigantic, and I never got into the mood for them. I guess I set my reading goals too high.
- change the pictures in the frames in the hall-square - done!
- write Christmas thank you cards - mostly done, I think. That was a long time ago, and now it's time to do it again.
- write five letters - I wrote lots and lots of letters! Five were completed by late summer, and then when I moved I began a habit of writing more.
- publish the first year of my blog - done! It was a frustrating situation due to shipping errors, but I think I'll go ahead and publish more... I'm not in a hurry though. (It doesn't help that I wrote so much in the next year - that's a lot to edit and pay for!)
- clean out the fridge and cupboards - I did this. And then I super duper did this when I moved out.
- cook 12 recipes out of one cookbook - I don't think I achieved this one. I tried, and it inspired me to cook more, but twelve recipes out of one book took too much perseverance. Over the year, I definitely made twelve recipes out of several books, though! That's almost success!

Books Read - Fall 2010

1. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
2. Timeline by Michael Crichton
3. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (updated by David Wright)
4. The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
5. Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery (#8)*
6. Yoga for the Desk Jockey by Susi Hately Aldous
7. Eating Well by Heidi Murkoff
8. Pilgrim in the Palace of Words by Glenn Dixon
9. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery*
10. Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery by Harry Bruce*

This probably doesn't count

I'm sorry for the silence.
Now I'm going to bed.

Christmas Cards

All the Christmas cards that I'm using this year have sparkles on them. Sparkles everywhere. Sparkles kinda scare me - I'm always sure that/afraid that I will get sparkles in my eyes. They're tricky things, those sparkles. They fall off your Christmas cards and stick to your fingers, then you rub your face, and then five hours later you glance at yourself in the mirror and see the sparkles creeping towards your eye lashes. I'm afraid that if they do get in my eyes, they'll scratch my eyeballs. Sparkles be gone!
Yeah, I know, this is a bizarre quirky phobia.

I find that my writing has gotten a lot worse over the years. It's messier, less controlled. I think I blame work, the word "utility" comes to mind, I often write quickly, and having the paper at awkward angles doesn't help. I don't like this trend... but it's hard to turn around. Maybe I need to spend some time slowing down.

I'm having a bit of a Christmas Card List dilemma. Where do I draw the line, especially with people at work? Do I just give cards to the people I really like, or do I give one to everyone I regularly interact with? There are people that I'm really not a fan of, but maybe giving them a Christmas card would be a vote for a better future between us. And I guess it's not really that hard to write a quick Christmas greeting - and being remembered could be so valuable to them. Hmm...

I'm leaving sparkles all over the Starbucks table. Beware your eyes, next coffeehouse guests!