2008: A Year of Passionate Reading

Readaholism. I am afflicted by it but it is a good kind of addiction. I thank God for all the books I have managed to read in the year 2008. I thank God for all my blogger friends and booklovers who have been responsible in the book recommendations they shower me with on their blogs. I do notice this in my year of reading: The busier I've gotten i.e. the more family, friends and work activities, the more I read--not less. There is simply no time to be bored when photography, reading and blogging are taking up whatever that's left of the free time I have.

I completed all the reading challenges I took on this year ('R.I.P. III', 'Spring Reading Thing', 'What's in a Name', and 'Unread Authors') EXCEPT for the '2008 TBR Challenge'. Three books remained unfinished for that challenge: The Mists of Avalon, Prodigal Summer, and The Forest of Hours. I have tried my best but unfortunately still fall behind.

It is wonderful to note that in all that reading, we learn more about ourselves, we read more because that one book that we read leads to another, we understand this life better. By connecting the dots, we discover more. Transport is the business of books. They carry us away; we travel with the book we carry in our hands.

I have read a total of 129 books this year, maybe more because some of them are compilations of a few books in one. Having said that, it is not the quantity that counts but the joy and fun that come out of it. The experience of reading those books are priceless. Some are full of doom and gloom; some are simply beautiful and full of hope. Many are cute and funny, and full of imagination. So here, my friends, are the list of books I have read:

JANUARY 2008

1. Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
2. He Loves Lucy by Susan Donovan
3. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
4. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
5. The School of Night by Alan Wall
6. Obsessed by Susan Andersen
7. Stuck On You by Patti Berg
8. Beware Of Doug by Elaine Fox
9. Sacred Cows by Karen E. Olson *

FEBRUARY 2008

1. Regatta by Libby Purves *
2. Journeys to the Ends of the Earth by Khoo Swee Chiow
3. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
4. The Spirit-Controlled Woman by Beverly LaHaye
5. Secondhand Smoke by Karen E. Olson *
6. My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
7. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
8. Devil May Care by Sheri McInnis
9. Step on it, Cupid by Lorelei Mathias
10. Eldest by Christopher Paolini *

MARCH 2008

1. The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz, PhD **
2. Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay
3. Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
4. Taming the Tiger by Tony Anthony with Angela Little
5. Abduction by Wanda L. Dyson *
6. Mothers Never Die by Beverly Rose
7. The Mind Map Book by Tony & Barry Buzan
8. Artermis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
9. Mounting Desire by Nina Killham
10. Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
11. The Second Assistant by Clare Naylor & Mimi Hare
12. Pathway to Purpose for Women by Katie Brazelton, Ph.D. **

APRIL 2008

1. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
3. Life Unlimited by John Bolin
4. The Flower Net by Lisa See
5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman *
6. Love Me by Garrison Keillor
7. So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson
8. The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman
9. Dingo by Charles de Lint
10. Healing Your Internal Clock by Michael Koh
11. What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith **
12. 199 Treasures of Wisdom on Talking with God compiled from the writings of Andrew Murray
13. Reunion in Death Nora Roberts writing as JDRobb

MAY 2008

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon *
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman *
4. Hot Stuff by Elaine Fox
5. Sea Swept by Nora Roberts *
6. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
7. Make Anger Your Ally by Neil Clark Warren, Ph.D.
8. Rising Tides by Nora Roberts *
9. Dead of the Day by Karen E. Olson

JUN 2008

1. Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart
2. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
3. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
4. My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson
5. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak *
7. First Drop by Zoe Sharp
8. Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda by Dr Les Parrott
9. The Quickie by James Patterson
10. Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs edited by SMITH Magazine

JULY 2008

1. Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett
2. Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi by Rob MacGregor
3. Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants by Rob MacGregor
4. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham*
5. Indiana Jones and the Unicorn's Legacy by Rob MacGregor
6. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by James Luceno
7. Indiana Jones and the Interior World by Rob MacGregor
8. Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates by Martin Caidin
9. InterWorld by Neil Gaiman
10. M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
11. Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge by Rob MacGregor
12. Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly **

AUGUST 2008

1. Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils by Rob MacGregor
2. Our Iceberg Is Melting by Dr John Kotter with Holger Rathgeber
3. The Hollow by Nora Roberts
4. Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs by Max McCoy
5. Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
6. There's an Elephant in the Room by Matt Rawlins, Ph.D.
7. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer *
8. Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone by Max McCoy
9. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson
10. Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth by Max McCoy

SEPTEMBER 2008

1. Blogging Heroes by Michael A. Banks **
2. Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx by Max McCoy
3. The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
4. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Books 1 to 5) by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
5. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley *
6. Book by Book by Michael Dirda **
7. The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
8. Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason
9. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark by Campbell Black
10. Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
11. Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer
12. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

OCTOBER 2008

1. How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill
2. Gossamer by Lois Lowry *
3. After Dark by Haruki Murakami
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry
5. Train Man by Nakano Hitori
6. The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason
7. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
8. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
9. When Twilight Burns by Colleen Gleason
10. Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguie
11. Monster by Frank Peretti
12. Shot Girl by Karen E. Olson

NOVEMBER 2008

1. Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
2. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
3. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
4. Stupid Ugly Unlucky and Rich by Richard St. John **
5. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
6. Hello, Doggy! by Elaine Fox
7. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman *
8. The McKinsey Mind by Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga

DECEMBER 2008

1. Tribute by Nora Roberts
2. Oregon Breeze by Birdie L. Etchison
3. Germ by Robert Liparulo
4. The Service of Clouds by Susan Hill
5. The Tale of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
6. The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar *
7. Summer Lightning by Tamara McKinley
8. Here Today by Ann M. Martin
9. In the Forest by Edna O'Brien
10. Christmas Getaway by Anne Stuart, Tina Leonard, Marion Lennox
11. Ip Man: Portrait of a Kung Fu Master by Ip Ching and Ron Heimberger (Translated by Eric Li)
12. The Rights of Desire by André Brink

NOTES: * Favourite Fiction; ** Favourite Non-Fiction

Here's to another blissful year of reading in 2009!