Books read in 2011

I read 11 books this year. That's a big increase from last years 2 books! Sill 11 is much less than 24 read in 2010, and 18 read in 2009. Here's hoping that 2012 gives me more reading time.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall
Sarah's Kay by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Blue Notebook by James A Levine
Secret Daughter by Shilip Somaya Gowda
One Day by David Nicholls
Leaving by Karen Kingsbury
Sarah by Marek Halter
Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

My favourite book of the year was Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall. This was a true story of her life and one that I will never forget. It was hard to read in places only because no child should have to grow up like she did.

2008 list here
2009 list here
2010 list here

Books read in 2010

So I've learnt that having a new boyfriend takes up alot of my former free reading time! But I'm not complaining. I love him! So here are the 2 (!?!) books I read this past year:

Ever After by Karen Kingsbury
Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

I am determined to read more this year.

2008 list here.
2009 list here.

I've got the fever!

The Olympic fever that is. I arrived at work on Friday just in time to see this:

Skytrain Randomness

I have to take the skytrain to and from work for the duration of the Olympics and look what I saw in the City Centre skytrain station today after work. The whole reason I took transit today instead of driving like I usually do is because the torch relay is going over the bridge I normally drive. He was just getting ready to leave so I only got the one shot but he sure looked happy and proud to be a torch carrier.

Just three more days!

Olympics count-down clock in downtown Vancouver, BC.

(Or the Olympics start exactly 3 days, 5 hours, 44 minutes, and 8 seconds from the second I took the picture at lunch today.)

Books read in 2009

I meant to post this earlier in the year but since its just for my own records I guess it doesnt matter. So here is my list of the books I read in 2009, starting with the most recently finished:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Away Laughing on a Fast Camel by Louise Rennison
Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants by Louise Rennison
Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas by Louise Rennison
On the Bright Side, I`m now the Girlfriend of a Sex God by Louise Rennison
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
Ever After by Karen Kingsbury
Answered Prayers by Danielle Steele
The Help by Kathyrn Stockett
The Time Traveler`s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Anne Brashares
Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares
The Last Summer (of you and me) by Ann Brashares
The Reader by Berhard Schlink
Cranberry Queen by Kathleen DeMarco

Summary: I read 24 books this year (compared to 18 books in 10 months last year). This year I read alot of young adult books - probably the most in one year ever. My 2 favourite books read this year are The Help by Kathyrn Stockett and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Books read in 2008 are listed here.

Book Review: The Kite Runer by Khaled Hosseini

"Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him."

From Khaled Hosseini's website.

I really enjoyed this book. The story spans around 30 years as the 2 friends grow up. A futher story summary can be found on the website above.

The part I found really interesting was the history included in the book. It was just part of the story included seemlessly, but being here in the west the first I heard of Afganistan was during the last 10 years or so. The book let me know a little bit of what the country was like before all of the current unrest, which I found really interesting.