This year's goal was 30 books, and I almost made it. But like I tell my students, almost isn't enough. Bad me.
My favorites this year had to be Good Omens, the Harry Potter books, and Much Ado About Nothing. Gotta
love some Shakespeare. Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale moved me deeply, and haunts me still, as does The
Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. I find myself trying to emulate Tyler in my own writing all the time.
Possession by A. S. Byatt is one of my favorite books of all time. Someday I want to write a book like that, but
I am no where near that level of skill. Yet.
Disappointments this year were in the classic category. I found Catcher in the Rye and The Stranger to be
ultimately a frustrating waste of my time. I recently lost cool points with a favorite co-worker of mine when I
admitted that I do not care for Hemingway. Oh. Freakin. Well.
2003
1. This Year It Will Be Different, by Maeve Binchy
2. Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, by Multiple Authors
3. The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje
4. Myst: The Book of Atrus, by Rand & Robyn Miller
5. Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
6. Violin, by Anne Rice
7. Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkoban, by J. K. Rowling
8. Possession, by A. S. Byatt
9. The Stranger, by Albert Camus
10. Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare
11. Bluebeard’s Egg, by Margaret Atwood
12. Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix, by J. K. Rowling
13. Breakfast At Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote
14. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
15. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
16. The Little Prince, by Antoine de St. Exupery
17. The Writer on Her Work, by Ed. Janet Sternburg
18. Harry Potter, Goblet of Fire, by J. K. Rowling
19. Old Yeller, by Fred Gibson
20. At Death’s Door, by Jill Thompson
21. Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
22. Tubing Down the Nile, by Robin Blackburn
23. Just to be With You, by John Parm
24. Irish Poems, by Various Poets
