Week in Review: A Year of Reading

You may have previously noticed the ever-growing list of books on my sidebar titled Books I’ve Read 2010. Some of you might even be thinking, “That’s more books than I’ve read in my life. Surely, she can’t have read all of those books in this single year.”

As impossible as it may seem, I did, and those are only the books that I’ve finished–all 120 of them! Even I am amazed.

It’s likely that you’ve already seen Top Ten lists from other bloggers of the Best Books they’ve read this past year, so I suppose mine will be just one more list in the collection, but with 120 books, there is no way I could pare that down to ten, so I’ve decided to list the best books in several categories instead.

I hope you’ll find something interesting here, or perhaps a book that will be useful. The books are simply grouped, not listed in my order of preference because if they made this final list, I loved them all.

Because I also edit, some of the books that made my lists are even out yet to the general population, so there will be some fun surprises for you to discover and the year progresses.

In the meantime, I’ve already started on my list of Books I’ve Read for 2011. You’ll find both lists on my blog, at least for a while. Enjoy!

Historical Fiction
    The Sheen on the Silk - Perry
    Daughters of Jared - Moore
    Alma the Younger - Moore
    Abish: Daughter of God - Grant
    Splendor - Godberson
    Bright Young Things - Godberson

Romance
    When Christmas Comes - Macomber
    The Legend of Shannonderry - Warburton
    Courting Miss Lancaster - Eden
    Santa Maybe - Mace

Contemporary Fiction
    Band of Sisters - Lyon
    The Walk - Evans
    The Heart Mender - Andrews
    Gravity vs. the Girl - Noehren
    Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Ford
    Sarah's Key - de Roseney

Mystery
    Actor - Hall
    A Clue for the Puzzle Lady - Hall
    The Overton Window - Beck
    Apple Turnover Murder - Fluke
    Lemon Tart - Kilpack

Speculative Fiction
    Promise Me - Evans
    The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus - Slover
    The Iron King - Kagawa

Middle Grade
    Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger - Boyer
    When You Reach Me - Stead
    Leviathan - Westerfeld
    The Fourth Nephite - Savage
    Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer - Grisham
    Princess of Glass - George
    A Season of Gifts - Peck
    Princess of the Midnight Ball - George

Young Adult
    Down the Rabbit Hole - Abrahams
    Out of My Mind - Draper
    Countdown - Wiles
    The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Pearson
    The Hunger Games - Collins
    The Healing Spell - Little
    The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Meyer
    Prada & Prejudice - Hubbard
    Just One Wish - Rallison
    13th Reality: The Hunt for Dark Infinity - Dashner

Non-Fiction
    I Remember Nothing - Nora Ephron
    Letters to Juliet - Friedman
    Confessions of a Prairie Bitch - Alison Arngrim
    Selling YOU - Boyd
    Lessons from Great Lives - Sill & McCormick
    The Power - Byrne
    Why You're Dumb, Sick & Broke - Gage
    Stages - Osmond
    Start Over, Finish Rich - Bach
    Permission to Think - Buckner
    Fear Not: The Revelation of John - Christensen
    Mother Had a Secret - Fletcher
    Women of the Book of Mormon - Moore
    The Mormon Way of Doing Business - Benedict
    The Element - Robinson
    The Traveler's Gift - Andrews
    The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me - Evans

Non-Fiction for Educators
    Yellow Brick Roads - Allen
    The Reading Zone - Atwell
    The Book Whisperer - Miller
    Readicide - Gallagher