My reading in 2010

At the end here, I am posting the books I've read this year, so far. It's nine more books than last year and usually a magazine in between each book. I have been pondering why it is more. Is the availability? I think that definitely plays into it. I can run to the library or to the store and grab another book that interests me or something that someone recommended. Also people hand me books that they are done with so the books have been flowing. Quite frankly, it's been delightful. I don't feel as much like I have to save a particular book I'm looking forward for a specific moment or time.

The range of books is also very different for me this year. I think that is partly from people handing me books that they enjoyed. I might not pick them up of my own accord, but when recommended I do give them a try. In the past, I've tried to alternate one fiction book and then a nonfiction. I seem to stall out in nonfiction because it isn't as compelling and it doesn't take me out of my circumstances somehow. This year I didn't stick to that schedule at all. Maybe that's why I read more.

I wonder if I simply read more because my time frame in life is very different than it was in Spain. I don't really feel I had more time to read, but perhaps I gave it more time since I had more books? The fund raising process we are living in is more stressful than going to the office in Spain, and I do tend to seek out comfort and escape in fiction. So maybe it's just the mental health factor that has led me to read more this year. I am getting an electronic reader to take back to Spain with me, so we will see next year how that effects my reading habits. I will let you know.

Anyways....here's the list. Why do you read? What do you read?

The last camel died at noon, Elizabeth Peters, mystery
I'll be off then, Hape Kerkling, travelogue, spiritual
Wish You Well, David Baldacci, drama
The Places In Between, Rory Stewart, travelogue Afghanistan
State of Fear, Michael Crichton, suspense
The Literary and Potato Peel Pie Literary Society, Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, drama
Clubbed to Death, Elaine Viets, mystery
A Painted House, John Grisham, drama
Fatal Fixer Upper, Jennie Bentley, mystery
27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask, Dick Hardy, nonfiction
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingslover, drama
In the Moon of the Red Ponies, James Lee Burke (cd, abridged)mystery
The Associate, John Grisham, mystery
Bitter Harvest, Ann Rule, nonfiction True Crime
Rapture in Death, JD Robb, mystery scifi
Nothing to Lose, Lee Child, suspense
Nothing to Fear but Ferrets, Linda O Johnston, mystery
From the Cross to Eternity, Randal Ross (devotional booklet)
Just Take My Heart, Mary HIggins Clark, mystery
The Border Legion, Zane Gray, western book on CD not abridged
Little Bee, Chris Cleave, drama
Dial H for Hitchcock, Susan Kandel, mystery
Unveiling Islam,  an insider's look at mulim life and beliefs, by Ergun Mehmet Caner, Emir Fethi Caner, nonfiction
The Spy wore Red, Aline Countess of Romanenes, nonfiction
City of Silver, Annamaria Alfieri, mystery
Spanish Reflections, Mary Lee Settle, travelogue
The Spy went Dancing, Aline Countess of Romanenes, nonfiction
Soul Survivor, how my faith survived the church, Phllip Yancey, nonfiction
Magdalene, by Angela Hunt, historical fiction
Shakedown, Joel Goldman (kc mystery)
Vineyard Enigma, Philip Craig, mystery
Rough Weather, Robert B Parker, mystery
Dipped, stripped, and dead, Elise Hyatt, mystery
Hide, Lisa Gardner (Boston suspense)
Santa Cruise, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, mystery
Resilience, Nathan and Beth Davis, nonfiction
The First One is Free, JB Purdy (guy we met in AZ), fiction
A Holiday Yarn, Sally Goldenbaum, mystery
Telling Yourself the Truth, (started not finished yet) Backus & Chapian, nonfiction