UP FRONT OPINIONS: What We Read in 2009

[Gary Anderson]

For what it's worth, here are the books I read in 2009:

Bill Bryson: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
Gene Deweese: Star Trek #55: Renegade
Kelly Gallagher: Readicide
Cristina Henriquez: The World in Half
Hugh Howard: The Painter's Chair
Fred Kaplan: Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer
Katharine Kuh: My Love Affair with Modern Art
Greg Kot: Ripped
Penny Kittle: Write Beside Them
Ted Kooser: Lights on a Ground of Darkness
Richard A. Lanham: Style: An Anti-Textbook
Wally Lamb: The Hour I First Believed
Billy Lombardo: How to Hold a Woman
Jon Meacham: American Lion
Stephenie Meyer: Twilight
Roland Merullo: Breakfast with Buddha
Donalyn Miller: The Book Whisperer
Thomas Newkirk: Holding On to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones
Per Petterson: Out Stealing Horses
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food
Tony Romano: If You Eat, You Never Die
Ron Rash: Serena
Richard Russo: Straight Man
Elizabeth Strout: Olive Kitteridge
Paul Shaffer: We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives
John Updike: Endpoint and Other Poems
Miller Williams: Time and the Tilting Earth
Maja Wilson: Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment

This doesn't include the books I've read with my daughters at bedtime: Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Kate DiCamillo, Stargirl, etc. It also doesn't include books I re-read for school: Huck Finn, My Antonia, and The Joy Luck Club, for example.

Looks like in 2009 I read a lot about literacy education and American history. I don't apologize to myself for also reading some non-literary stuff. A little mind candy is good sometimes. For 2010, I'd like to have a higher percentage of novels: Richard Russo and Lorrie Moore are on my get-to-soon list.

Nobody has time to read. You have to make time. If I didn't read at least a little bit of a book every day, I think my soul would die.

Does anyone else see any trends in your reading over the past year? How does your 2010 reading list look? If you read a lot, you might consider joining Goodreads.com. Let me know if you do.

[haena y.]

In the past year, I have not read many books, but I have read a couple. The books I have read are about various topics; I read memoirs and fiction books the past year. For 2011, I hope to make time to read. I really enjoy reading good books. As long as I try and fit some reading time into my schedule, I think I will be able to read many good books. I have already created a book list after researching online at borders.com and another awesome site that had good book recommendations. I really hope to read it all.

[Jared Niec]

During the summer i read a lot more just because having to juggle between reading school books and reading a book that i want to read for fun takes the fun out of reading. When i have to read for school, i've got to pay attention to every little detail. when reading for fun i just read and it takes my mind of other things. Currently im reading Columbine and i think its a great book that provides a lot of detail and understanding about the tragic shooting

[Nicole Lee]

I cant really remember what books i read this past year. But here a few of them
-New Moon
-Looking for Alaska
-Something, Maybe

I tend to read lots of teen book and not so much classic novels and stuff like that unless its for school because its a requirement. Also, I definitely agree with you Mr. Anderson that you have to make time to read. Like, i usually read a book that i picked out from Barnes & Noble or something every night before i go to bed. But, i read lots of magazines as well.

[Liz Dickerson]

I dont really remeber all the books I read but the one that stuck out in my mind was Identical by Ellen Hopkins. I had never read a book by her, but this one BLEW MY MIND. The story is so complex. Its about two twins and there secrets. Its also written really cool. All the pages are written to make shapes. I know it sounds weird but it adds so much to the book. PLUS THERE IS SUCH A HUGE TWIST AT THE END THAT YOU WILL NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER SEE COMING. I dont think that it is a book we would read in class because it is pretty inappropriate but I recommend it to you all.

[Rachel Pierini]

I read a lot of fiction historic novels by Sharon Kay Penman and other well written authors. I hope to keep reading more historic novels this year because they do have true history in it and I want to figure out the worlds past but enjoy lives of families as I go along.

[Paige Daigle]

i read all of the ones we had to read in school such as
catcher in the rye
life of pi
caeser
huck finn
short stories
But i have read scripts and stuff like that i am trying to read more. i have more time on my hands now so i can.

[Kayla Rae]

Hm..these are the ones I remember;
- Suicide Notes
- Thirteen Reasons Why
- Drowning Anna [I reread that one.]
- The Realm Of Possibility
- Can't Get There From Here
- The Perks of Being A Wallflower [well, I'm still reading it]

These are ones that I started to read, but never finished; [I have issues with actually finishing books sometimes.]
- The Lovely Bones
- RX
- Bottled Up
- Go Ask Alice
- A Million Little Pieces
- White Is For Magic

And these are ones I remember reading for school;
- Catcher In The Rye
- Life As We Knew It
- Looking for Alaska
- Julius Caesar

Holy bananas...that's a lot of books..

[Jaimie Groot]

The books that I remember reading this year are
-The Private Series (11 of them)
-Vampire Academy Series (4 of them)
also books I had to read for school, but I don't really remember all of them haha

I would really like to read the next ones to come out in both of the series above.

[Matt Benson]

The ones that I remember are
-harry potter series all over again
-Park ranger when I was in Alaska
-Left for Dead a story of the U.S.S Indianapolis
-We were soldiers once, and young

I would like to read Into the wild because of my recent trip to Alaska

[Joey Marasco]

I don't usually read a lot of books, but of the ones that i can remember i read
-Hary Potter and the Deathly Hollows
-The entire Twilight series
-The Cirque Du Freak series