The 2009 Book Summary, plus some random

Time once again to talk about reading. Yay, books! It's perhaps a little late in the new year to be summarizing last year's reading, but I quote the Yarn Harlot: "Breaking a self imposed ... rule is still not a federal offense, so I'm letting go."

The total number of books I read in 2009 was 126, amazingly close to 2008's total of 122. I'll be interested to see what happens this year: have I found my natural range? Or is it just a big coincidence?

Of the books I read, 65 were new to me and 61 were re-reads, very balanced, and I got 62 of them out of the library, which makes me feel very civic-minded for some reason. And glad that even on a bad day, I make it a point to be nice to, and patient with, librarians. I love the library.


Interestingly, just as in 2008, the month I read the least in was December (though I managed 6 versus 3 the previous year), and the month in which I read the most was September (14 in '09, and 17 in '08). Now there's a surprising trend/coincidence.

Some books that I greatly enjoyed reading in 2009 (in no particular order):

• The Making of a Marchioness (Mrs. Hodgson Burnett)
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith)
• The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square (Rosina Lippi)
• Emily of Deep Valley (Maud Hart Lovelace)
• If I Stay (Gayle Forman)
• The Thirteenth Child (Patricia Wrede)
  

What about you? Have you read any of these? Loved something else? Any book talk?

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If you're not a hockey fan, you may have missed all the hoopla about the upcoming Capitals/Penguins game, which will be Sunday afternoon if the Pens don't get snowed out of DC. What bugged me was reading a quote from an NHL bigwig about the "hearty fans and hearty players" of the game of hockey.

Hardy, dude*! Surely you meant hardy, not hearty! I mean, yes, vigorous and all, but in context, "capable of withstanding adverse conditions" has to be it, right?

*Could be the bigwig, could be the journalist writing down a spoken statement, but seriously.

As for the Bruins, on Thursday night I turned the TV on and listened to the game while I did other things. The Bruins scored first, yay! They scored again, yay! Some time in the second period, I wrapped up what I was doing and went in to watch.

As I was sitting down, and I mean the very instant, Montreal scored. Then 39 seconds later--39! seconds!--they scored again. Tie game, boom. I could not believe it.

The Bruins lost in the shootout. I'm supposed to be at least a little glad they got one point. Yuh. Woo. Hoo.

They played again this afternoon, against Vancouver, and you know what happened? You won't believe it.

The Bruins scored the first two goals.
Vancouver scored the next two.
And the Bruins lost in the shootout.
Deja vu much?

The best part of today's game was while I was listening to it in the car. The radio color guy mentioned that a Vancouver player was "trying to start something. He's getting in Chara's face ... or at least in his chest." Ha! (Chara's six foot nine, so other players often look very short next to him.)

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In the winter, do you ever feel so dry that you start to think the air is draining your life force?

How about pondering the mystery of oily skin that is somehow dry enough to itch?

Just me?