2010 in Review: Holly

I joined the 144 Books in 2010 challenge on Goodreads last year. Like the name suggests, the idea was to read at least 144 books throughout the year. My reading has drastically declined the last few years, but I figured I could easily do 144 in a year. I was right. According to my 144 in 2010 Goodreads shelf, I read 166 in 2010. The true number is actually 179, because my 144 in 2010 shelf doesn’t reflect books I re-read more than once through the year (I listed them under my monthly shelves, but didn’t mark them twice in the challenge shelf).

I did a lot more re-reading this year than I did last year. I fell into some pretty bad reading slumps and reread as a way to get my mojo back. It did the trick, but that means my re-reads for the year were a lot higher than last year. I reread 35 books in 2009 and 51 in 2010. Those numbers are a little off because of the aforementioned shelving system I use on Goodreads. Still, I almost doubled the number of rereads.

Here’s a breakdown:

144-books-in-2010 ‎(166)
january-2010 ‎(16)
february-2010 ‎(14)
march-2010 ‎(13)
april-2010 ‎(15)
may-2010 ‎(16)
june-2010 ‎(11)
july-2009 ‎(10)
august-2010 ‎(19)
september-2010 ‎(14)
october-2010 ‎(19)
novemeber-2009 ‎(13)
december-2010 ‎(13)

I count my rereads only if I read from cover-to-cover. If I just skim the book or read my favorite parts, I don’t list them. Last year I reread Just the Sexist Man Alive by Julie James and Fall Into Me by Linda Winfree more often than I reread any other books, but this year I didn’t really have 1 book that I reread and reread. I did reread The Iron Duke and Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook, but mostly I skimmed or reread only my favorite parts. Cover-to-cover rereads were mostly done once..unless it was a book I had to review and I needed to refresh the details.

I was very spare with my 5 Star ratings, both here on the blog and at Goodreads. Last year (2009) I vowed to be more discerning in my grading and I’ve stuck to that. While I enjoyed many books, I was care to give 5 Stars only to the books that I really thought were exceptional.

Here’s a list of my favorite and least favorite reads each month:

January
I think my favorite reads of the month were Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah Maclean and Coming Undone by Lauren Dane, with honorable mentions to Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis and Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh. My worst reads of the month were the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare. I plan to review them at some point but meh…not good.

February
My favorite reads this month were Moon Craving by Lucy Monroe and First Comes Love by Christie Ridgway with honorable mentions to On the Steamy Side by Louisa Edwards and The Truth About Lord Stoneville by Sabrina Jeffries. My least favorite read was absolutely Shadow of the Moon by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Awful, awful story.

March
My favorite read of the month was actually a listen. The audiobook of Pride and Prejudice, read by Lindsay Duncan. I’ve read P&P hundreds of times, of course, but I really enjoyed it on audio. My second favorite was Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean. My worst read of the month was Seduced by Silver by Gwen Campbell. Ames read it and really liked it, but it was way too weird and nasty for me. I only read 30-some pages, but trust me – it was more than enough.

April
My favorites were Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory, Proof by Seduction by Courtney Milan and Like No Other Lover by Julie Ann Long. My least favorite was Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells. I just couldn’t connect with the characters.

May
My favorite read of the month was Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas. She writes beautiful contemporary romances. Honorable mentions go to Where There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook (this is her steampunk debut and it was FAB) and my re-read of Fall Into Me by Linda Winfree. I just can’t seem to get enough of that Winfree. I heart Troy Lee Farr. My least favorite read was Can’t Stand the Heat by Wynter Daniels. Unfortunately nothing about the story worked for me.

June
My favorite read of the month was Song of Seduction by Carrie Lofty, with honorable mentions to Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery, Insatiable by Lauren Dane and Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey. My least favorite read was Last Night’s Scandal by Loretta Chase. I’m so sad that it turned out the way it did. I expected so much more from that book.

July
I’d have to say my favorite was probably Water Bound with honorable mentions to Wicked Intentions, The Homecoming, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie and Love in the Afternoon. So, you know, basically everything I read. My least favorite read was Money, Honey, which isn’t saying much, since I enjoyed it. Just not as much as some of the others I read this month.

August
My favorite read of the month was Somewhere Along the Way by Jodi Thomas. I would have given it a 5/5 but it ended in a cliffhanger and the next book isn’t out for a year, so I deducted some points. Honorable mentions go to A Hellion in Her Bed by Sabrina Jeffries, The Heat is On by Jill Shalvis and Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie. My least favorite read was Do You Take This Cop by Beth Andrews. The hero and the heroine were both TSTL.

September
I’m kind of disappointed in the Drake Sisters series. I adored it the first time around, but it didn’t hold up as well as I’d hoped it would. My favorite re-reads were The Iron Duke and Where There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook and Water Bound by Christine Feehan. My favorite new read was Meet Me in Manhattan by Judith Arnold, with an honorable mention to The Icing on the Cake by Alison Kent.

October
I can’t choose a favorite read of the month. I re-read too many old favorites to pick one, but my favorite new reads of the month were Undertow by Moira Rogers and Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis. An honorable mention goes to Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas. My most disappointing read of the month was probably Kill and Tell by Linda Howard. I remember really enjoying it the first dozen times I read it, but I was disgusted by Marc’s actions this time around.

November
My favorite read of the month was probably Archangel’s Consort. I love the direction Singh is taking the series. My least favorite read was Moon Burning. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I’ve come to expect from Monroe with this series. It wasn’t a bad read, it just wasn’t an excellent one.

December
My favorite read of the month was the Winter Wishes anthology. I just can’t get the Vivi Andrews novella out of my head. I also really liked Delicious by Sherry Thomas. I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. Honorable mentions go to Ice and Veil of Night by Linda Howard, because I was so pleased to see her heading back in the right direction.

If you’re interested in seeing a full monthly list, you can click here.

There’s my reading year in review. I think I might try a 200+ reading challenge for 2011. If I push myself I think I can do it.

What did your reading year look like? Did you participate in any challenges? How did you do with them?

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