Just as in the past couple of years, I will keep adding to this list of books that I have read. Last year, I finished 92 books, so I have quite a job ahead of me if I plan to keep up the pace. However, at the moment I have 299 books on my "to read" list (click on my Shelfari shelf at the side of the blog to see the books I have read and that I plan to read), so I'm not likely to run out of ideas for reading material.
Later note: For my favorite books from 2010, see the comments, below.
*****
Alexie: Ten little Indians
Amador: Southwest flavor; Adela Amador's Tales from the kitchen
Andrews: The fixer upper
Barr: Borderline
Alexie: Ten little Indians
Amador: Southwest flavor; Adela Amador's Tales from the kitchen
Andrews: The fixer upper
Barr: Borderline
Beaton: Death of a gentle lady
Beaton: Death of a macho man
Beaton: Death of a maid
Beaton: Death of a macho man
Beaton: Death of a maid
Beaton: Death of a prankster
Beaton: Death of a traveling man
Benjamin: Alice I have been
Binchy: Heart and soul
Binchy: Return journey
Beaton: Death of a traveling man
Benjamin: Alice I have been
Binchy: Heart and soul
Binchy: Return journey
Binchy: Whitethorn Woods
Bradley: A red herring without mustard
Bradley: The sweetness at the bottom of the pie
Bradley: The weed that strings the hangman's bag
Byrne: The new adobe home
Bradley: A red herring without mustard
Bradley: The sweetness at the bottom of the pie
Bradley: The weed that strings the hangman's bag
Byrne: The new adobe home
Cannell: The trouble with Harriet
Carr: Mexican country style
Carr: Mexican details
Chan: Mill River recluse
Carr: Mexican country style
Carr: Mexican details
Chan: Mill River recluse
Childs: Finders keepers; a tale of archaeological plunder and obsession
Childs: House of Rain
Conroy: Prince of tides
Conroy: South of Broad
Crombie: All shall be well
Crombie: And justice there is none
Crombie: Dreaming of the bones
Crombie: A finer end
Crombie: In a dark house
Crombie: Kissed a sad goodbye
Crombie: Leave the grave green
Crombie: Mourn not your dead
Crombie: Now may you weep
Crombie: A share in death
Crombie: Water like a stone
Crombie: Where memories lie
Drabanski: Artists at home; inspired ideas from the homes of New Mexico artists
Ebershoff: The 19th wife
Conroy: Prince of tides
Conroy: South of Broad
Crombie: All shall be well
Crombie: And justice there is none
Crombie: Dreaming of the bones
Crombie: A finer end
Crombie: In a dark house
Crombie: Kissed a sad goodbye
Crombie: Leave the grave green
Crombie: Mourn not your dead
Crombie: Now may you weep
Crombie: A share in death
Crombie: Water like a stone
Crombie: Where memories lie
Drabanski: Artists at home; inspired ideas from the homes of New Mexico artists
Ebershoff: The 19th wife
Edgerton: Lunch at the Piccadilly
Evanovich: Plum lovin'
Fairstein: Final jeopardy
Fairstein: Lethal legacy
Fuller: Cocktail hour under the tree of forgetfulness
Fuller: Don't let's go to the dogs tonight
George: This body of death
Goldhammer: Still life with chickens; starting over in a house by the sea
Grimes: Fadeaway girl
Fairstein: Final jeopardy
Fairstein: Lethal legacy
Fuller: Cocktail hour under the tree of forgetfulness
Fuller: Don't let's go to the dogs tonight
George: This body of death
Goldhammer: Still life with chickens; starting over in a house by the sea
Grimes: Fadeaway girl
Grissom: The kitchen house
Harrison: My lady judge
Harrison: A secret and unlawful killing
Harrison: Sting of justice
Hawkinson: The desert home
Hensperger: Breads of the Southwest
Hawkinson: The desert home
Hensperger: Breads of the Southwest
Hertzberg: Artisan bread in five minutes a day; the discovery that revolutionizes home baking
Holland: Valley of the Kings
Hyams: Mexicasa
Jance: Injustice for all
Jance: Until proven guilty
Holland: Valley of the Kings
Hyams: Mexicasa
Jance: Injustice for all
Jance: Until proven guilty
Karon: Home to Holly Springs
Karon: In the company of others
Kerr: Burning desires; salsa, smoke, & sizzle from down by the Rio Grande
Kincaid: Eat, drink, and be from Mississippi
King: Mile 81
Larsson: The girl with the dragon tattoo
Levick: Mexicasa; the enchanting inns and haciendas of Mexico
McCall Smith: The Double Comfort Safari Club
McGonigal: Reality is broken; why games make us better and how they can change the world
Miller: The Lake Shore Limited
Picoult: House rules
Karon: In the company of others
Kerr: Burning desires; salsa, smoke, & sizzle from down by the Rio Grande
Kincaid: Eat, drink, and be from Mississippi
King: Mile 81
Larsson: The girl with the dragon tattoo
Levick: Mexicasa; the enchanting inns and haciendas of Mexico
McCall Smith: The Double Comfort Safari Club
McGonigal: Reality is broken; why games make us better and how they can change the world
Miller: The Lake Shore Limited
Picoult: House rules
Picoult: Songs of the humpback whale
Read: Summer at Fairacre
Read: Summer at Fairacre
Russo: They're your parents, too! How siblings can survive their parents' aging without driving each other crazy
Seth: Adobe! Homes and interiors of Taos, Santa Fe, and the Southwest
Shaffer: The ladies of Garrison Gardens
Shaffer: The three Miss Margarets
Sibley: Antojitos; festive and flavorful Mexican appetizers
Siddons: Fox's Earth
Seth: Adobe! Homes and interiors of Taos, Santa Fe, and the Southwest
Shaffer: The ladies of Garrison Gardens
Shaffer: The three Miss Margarets
Sibley: Antojitos; festive and flavorful Mexican appetizers
Siddons: Fox's Earth
Siddons: Outer Banks
Slesin: Caribbean style
Stockett: The help
Street-Porter: Casa mexicana style
A taste of enchantment; treasured recipes from the Junior League of Albuquerque
Slesin: Caribbean style
Stockett: The help
Street-Porter: Casa mexicana style
A taste of enchantment; treasured recipes from the Junior League of Albuquerque
Taylor: An Irish country Christmas
Taylor: An Irish country girl
Thurlo: Changing woman
Thurlo: Plant them deep
Thurlo: Red Mesa
Thurlo: Shooting chant
Tolbert: A bowl of red
Walls: The glass castle
Walls: Half broke horses
Webb: Desert cut
Webb: Desert lost
Webb: Desert noir
Webb: Desert run
Webb: Desert shadows
Webb: Desert wives
Weinstein: Pizza; grill it, bake it, love it!
Wells: The crowning glory of Calla Lily Ponder
Wells: Ya-Yas in bloom
Wickenden: Nothing daunted; The unexpected education of two society girls in the west
Winspear: Among the mad
Wise: The well-filled tortilla cookbook
Witynski: Hacienda courtyards
Thurlo: Changing woman
Thurlo: Plant them deep
Thurlo: Red Mesa
Thurlo: Shooting chant
Tolbert: A bowl of red
Walls: The glass castle
Walls: Half broke horses
Webb: Desert cut
Webb: Desert lost
Webb: Desert noir
Webb: Desert run
Webb: Desert shadows
Webb: Desert wives
Weinstein: Pizza; grill it, bake it, love it!
Wells: The crowning glory of Calla Lily Ponder
Wells: Ya-Yas in bloom
Wickenden: Nothing daunted; The unexpected education of two society girls in the west
Winspear: Among the mad
Wise: The well-filled tortilla cookbook
Witynski: Hacienda courtyards
Zweig: Hot kitchen and home collectibles (2nd ed.)
*****
Holy Smokes, that's a lot of reading!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat were your top 3 favorites?
Such a good question, Becky. This was my year for nonfiction reading, since those were the books I enjoyed the most (unusual for me). I really liked The Secret Knowledge of Water, by Craig Childs, about water in the desert ("there are two easy ways to die in the desert: Thirst and drowning"). His writing had me on the edge of my chair.
ReplyDeleteSecond choice--another desert book--Barren, Wild, and Worthless; Living in the Chihuahuan Desert by Susan Tweit. The author lives in Las Cruces and was writing about places all around us, places I have grown to know. She was taken aback by the desert at first, just as I was.
Since the LC library got rid of the New Mexico room that I loved when we lived here years ago, I decided to start with the "A" authors in the fiction section and read all the books marked with the little New Mexico sticker. That brought me to Edward Abbey, and the first book of his that I ever read, Fire on the Mountain. It's based on an actual incident and is about a rancher in the Tularosa Basin whose land is being taken over for the White Sands Missile Range. I'm reading Abbey's classic Desert Solitaire now, and the writing is absolutely gorgeous.
One more book, a novel, that I really liked was The Sisters From Hardscrabble Bay, by Beverly Jensen, about two sisters brought up on a farm in New Brunswick. She really got it right. My mom is from a big farming family on the Maine/New Brunswick border, and I kept picturing them as I read the book. I love reading "people" history (as opposed to "dates and battles" history) and kept thinking that, although I wished they talked more like Little House on the Prairie-type folk, Jensen avoided that sort of pretending about the past and gave them authentic rough and earthy voices, just like the people I know from New Brunswick. Interesting note--the book was the first and only by this author and was published after her death from cancer.
Clair, thanks! When I have the time again, I shall check into these. I've heard Craig Childs was a good author, but I haven't read any of his work. Years ago, I had read some Ed Abbey for a rec class @ SDSU... but it has been soooo long ago, it would be new to me now. I am not much of a fiction person... I enjoy real life stories.
ReplyDeleteOh, a book, something warm to drink & a fire sounds good right now... but shoot- off to work!!
Soon, though :)
Thanks for reminding me of the "Secret Knowledge of Water"! I need another book to add to my Amazon order to push it over $25 so I get free shipping and I think this book will be required reading for me...who plans on becoming a "rookie" New Mexican this year.
ReplyDelete