My Book List

Between my scholarly work and my own creative writing, it's a wonder I find the time to indulge my love of reading at all - let alone being able to read (often) several books a week. This blog is going to be all about what I'm reading, why I'm reading it, and why you should (or should not) be reading it too.

Since September 2010, I have been keeping track of every book that I am reading and I've come to the realization that it may be beneficial to share my reading lists with you. So often I read a novel that I desperately wish I could discuss with someone else who has read it but, lo and behold, no such person exists in my circle. So I'm hoping that, through this blog, I will be able to connect with other readers who feel so inclined to discuss these novels, and even suggest novels that I should read.

A little bit about my personal reading style: I love mysteries/thrillers and I also enjoy a sappy romance novel here and there. I also have an interest in contemporary literature. When I become a literature professor, I hope to teach a course on contemporary literature so I am always searching the book shelves for novels I believe have the potential to be tomorrow's great works of literature.

Here is the list of books that I have read (since I have been keeping track starting in September 2010):
Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
Thereby Hangs A Tail by Spencer Quinn
To Fetch A Thief by Spencer Quinn
The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn
True Colors by Kristin Hannah
Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah
Home Again by Kristin Hannah
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Series (see a later blog for the full list of all 12 title's plus the Christmas book)
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Her Last Letter by Nancy C. Johnson
Room by Emma Donoghue
Manhunt by Janet Evanovich
Smitten by Janet Evanovich
Family Affair by Debbie Macomber
The Sooner the Better by Debbie Macomber
On A Snowy Night by Debbie Macomber
A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
The Year that Follows by Scott Lasser
The 7th Victim by Alan Jacobson
Crush by Alan Jacobson
Velocity by Alan Jacobson
This Matter of Marriage by Debbie Macomber
Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Napa Valley Daze by Robert Smith
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Lisa Gardner's Detective D.D. Warren Series (see a later blog for a full list of all 5 titles)
Debbie Macomber's Buffalo Valley Series (see a later blog for a full list of all 4 titles)
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Trojan Horse by David Lender
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Ready for Romance by Debbie Macomber
Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir by Margaux Fragoso
The Righteous by Michael Wallace
Mighty and Stong (Sequel to The Righteous) by Michael Wallace
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
Harry Potter (Books 1-7) by J.K Rowling
Made In the U.S.A by Billie Letts
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
Letter to Posterity by Petrarch
Ascent of Mt. Ventoux by Petrarch
Canzoniere by Petrarch
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Courtier by Baldessare Castiglione
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Mermaid's Pendant by LeAnn Neal Reilly

Short Stories:
How To Dump Your Boyfriend in the Men's Room (and other short stories) by Sibel Hodge
Days by Deborah Eisenberg
Snow Falls and Then Disappears by Van Booys
Where They Hide is a Mystery by Van Booys
A Bad Day by Vladimir Nobokov
Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa by David Sedaris
Middle American Gothic by Jonathan Ames
An Unwritten Novel by Virginia Woolf
The Enormous Radio by John Cheever
A Clean, Well-lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
The Ice Palace by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plays:
The Prince by Niccolo Macchiavelli
Eurydice by Sarah Ruel
Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman

Poetry by:
John Donne
Billy Collins
Charles Simic



Check back for a blog on each of these! I will be rating them all according to the scale on the right.