I put my book on the table, quite satisfied, and tell Dan I've finished my ninety-ninth book of the year! I feel elated. He, of course, takes the opportunity to tease me for not making it to one hundred. After reading 17 books in the month of December alone, oddly, I couldn't care less about that one hundredth book. In my mind, I made it. I read one hundred books in a year.
As I talked to friends about my goal, especially nearing its completion, a few suggested I should come up with an Adelle's Top Five Books of 2017. The consensus being that if I've read a hundred books, surely I've come across a few good ones to recommend. That's where the writing of this blog comes in. Dan suggested I title my post, "I got 99 problems, but a book ain't one," The title stuck. Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Jay-Z.
In challenging myself to read one hundred books, I had some loose criteria as to what 'counted'. The books that made the list had to be for adults, not picture books. If I counted children's books, my number would likely be somewhere between five hundred and a thousand, with a few favourites, like a number of Sandra Boynton's board books, appearing up to one hundred times on the list. Nearing the end of the year however, when I got desperate, and buckled under the pressure, I did include a few children's chapter books - a well-timed stretch.
In selecting books, I aimed to read mostly memoir - the genre that most interests me, but I read a few works of fiction, and several other non-fiction type books. The first book of the year I read was about writing; the last a play from the 1920s.
I generally expected my book choices to have words, but I opted to include a few travel books - one mostly pictures - to also help bolster my numbers.
I admittedly did not read front page to back cover in about ten percent of the books I included on my list - and I'm okay with that. In fact, I'd encourage you to do the same. A few books I abandoned half way through because they weren't holding my interest or attention; one or two books were simply terribly written, or awfully boring. Those books are undeserving of my time; I'm cold to books like that.
The most books I read at a time was four, maybe five. The book that took me the longest to read was Leonard Cohen's biography, I'm Your Man, and it took me a month (I read other books simultaneously). I read a few books in several hours, one completely standing in the book store (I believe it's called 'loitering'), others in several days, some took me a week. If a book took me more than a week to read, it's because it was weighty in its content, and/or it was long, and I must be really enjoying it. I tried to move on from books quick quick, pick up the pace, to reach my goal.
People have asked me if I'm a fast reader. Two years ago, before I read fifty books, and then read one hundred books, I would have said no. Now I would say, I'm a fast-er reader. I'm faster at reading than I was before, though I never considered myself a fast reader, per se. You learn to skim through the fat when you've got books to get through, that's for sure.
Before I share my list, here's one disclaimer: the books I like may not be the books you like. We could have completely different interests! Also, just because the book is on my one hundred list, doesn't mean it was good. I'll guide you by putting * beside the books I liked, in case you're interested.
Here are five highlights from my 2017 list, I can't even say they're my top 5 because I enjoyed so many of the books I read:
1) All of the Lonely Planet travel books, the ones edited by Don George. Each book is a compilation of short travel stories that will either haunt, amaze, delight or make you howl in recognition - sometimes all in one! I highly recommend the series. They got me through the monotony of breastfeeding, and I often continued reading long after Penelope was asleep.
2) Kathryn Harrison's, The Kiss. This is probably the most controversial book I read, and also one of the juiciest, most delectable reads. In her memoir, Harrison explores her incestuous relationship with her estranged father.
3) A Wolf at the Table, by Augusten Burroughs, is worth mentioning. Imagine your dad was homicidal, and the person he wanted to kill was...you. In his brave account, Burroughs relives his childhood with his menacing father. This memoir is chilling.
4) Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. I can't believe it took me this long to read this book, and I'm so glad I did! So many writers look up to Frank McCourt, and I can see why. He is a master storyteller. Here he looks back on a childhood lived in poverty, with a spotlight on his alcoholic father.
5) What I Talk about When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami. I love Murakami's take on life, and getting older; on being a writer and a runner, and his belief in how the two go so beautifully in hand. This is a book I'll come back to...I already have.
Here are all the books I read in 2017:
*1 - Hungry Heart, Jennifer Weiner
*2 - Wild by nature, Sarah Marquis
*3 - I'm Your Man, The Life of Leonard Cohen, by Sylvie Simmons
*4 - Disaster Falls, Stephane Gerson
*5 - What the psychic told the pilgrim, Jane Christmas
*6 - Books for Living, Will Schwalbe
*7 - Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
*8 - Unbound, Steph Jagger
9 - The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf
*10 - The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma
*11 - Gizelle's Bucket List, my life with a very large dog, Lauren Fern Watt
*12 - The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman
13 - The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
*14 - Tracks, Robyn Davidson
*15 - What I Talk about When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami
*16 - Eat this poem, Nicole Gulotta
*17 - Lion, Saroo Brierley
18 - The Art of Stillness, Pico Iyer
*19 - Once We Were Sisters, Sheila Kohler
20 - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Mark Manson
21 - Wenjack, Joseph Boyden
22 - Congratulations, by the way, George Saunders
23 - Rethinking Normal, Katie Rain Hill
*24 - Nearly Normal, Cea Sunrise Person
*25 - Two Kisses for Maddy, Matthew Logelin
*26 - Rest, Alex Soojung - Kim Pang
*27 - The Elements of Style, Strunk, White, Kalman
*28 - Tales From Nowhere, Lonely Planet, Don George
*29 - Bossypants, Tina Fey
*30 - North of Normal, Cea Sunrise Person
31 - Take Joy, A writer's guide to loving the craft, Jane Yolen
32 - When Good People Write Bad Sentences, Robert W. Harris
33 - When in French, Lauren Collins
*34 - The Kindness of Strangers, long planet, Don George
*35 - Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
*36 - Traveling with Ghosts, Shannon Leone Fowler
*37 - Penguin the Magpie, Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive
38 - Memoir Writing for Dummies, Ryan G. Van Cleave
*39 - Lab Girl, Hope Jahren
*40 - The Joy of Less, Francine Jay
*41 - By the Seat of my Pants, Lonely Planet, Don George
42 - Your Writing Coach, Jurgen Wolff
*43 - My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward, Mark Lukach
44 - The Happiness Track, Emma Seppala
45 - (Complete) Creative Writing Course, Chris Sykes
46 - Lonely Planet, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & PEI
*47 - The Truth of Memoir, Kerry Cohen
48 - Writer's Market, 2017
49 - The Good Girls' Guide to Getting Lost, Rachel Friedman
50 - The Kite and the String, Alice Mattison
51 - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil De Grasse Tyson
*52 - The Kiss, Kathryn Harrison
*53 - Halton Hikes, Loops & Lattes, Nicola Ross
54 - The Goldfish went on vacation, Patty Dann
*55 - The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
*56 - Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua
*57 - Wasted, Marya Hornbacher
*58 - Fat Girl, Judith Moore
*59 - A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs
60 - Scratch, Manjula Martin
61 - 1001 Books, Peter Boxall
*62 - Lucky, Alice Sebold
*63 - Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen
64 - three little words, Ashley Rhodes - Courter
65 - Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2017
66 - Marathon, Hal Higdon
67 - Frankie's Place, Jim Sterba
68 - Black Boy, Richard Wright
69 - Away & Aware, Sara Clemence
70 - Epic Bike Rides Around the World, lonely planet
71 - Volunteer, A Traveller's Guide to making a difference around the world
*72 - Mayhem, Sigrid Rausing
73 - The Long Goodbye, Meghan O'Rourke
74 - Supporting Positive Behaviour in Children and Teens with Down Syndrome, David Stein
75 - Secret Marvels of the World, lonely planet
*76 - A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis
*77 - The Year of Living Biblically, A.J. Jacobs
78 - The World's Most Travelled Man, Mike Spencer Bown
*79 - Writing is my Drink, Theo Pauline Nestor
*80 - A Beautiful, Terrible Thing, Jen Waite
*81 - the sun and her flowers, Rupi Kaur
*82 - Still Writing, Dani Shapiro
*83 - Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
84 - Travel with Children, lonely planet
85 - On Writing, Eudora Welty
86 - Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling
*87 - The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead, David Shields
88 - Operating Instructions, Anne Lamott
89 - The Art of the Personal Essay, Phillip Lopate
90 - The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey
*91 - Oh She Glows Every Day, Angela Liddon
*92 - Drinking: A Love Story
*93 - Old Friend from Far Away, Natalie Goldberg
*94 - Harvey, Janice Nadeau
95 - Scotland, the best 100 places, Peter Irvine
96 - Ariel Makes Waves, Disney Princess Beginnings
*97 - A Million Little Pieces, James Frey
*98 - Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, Anna Quindlen
99 - The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
In culmination, the answer to your next question of "Would you do it again?" is Yes, Absolutely.
It's a new year, and I've already started counting. I'm onto my second hand.
Happy New Year Everyone, and Happy Reading!
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