This time last year I decided to keep track of everything I read in 2010. I'm not 100% confident that this is comprehensive, but it's close enough for government work. And yes, it's been gratifying to maintain a record of what I've read over the last twelve months. 


1. When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
2. The Good Soldiers - David Finkel
3. The Case of the Missing Servant - Tarquin Hall
4. The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
5. Everything Matters! - Ron Currie, Jr.
6. Cooperstown Confidential - Zev Chafets
7. Good Without God - Greg Epstein
8. The Shipping News - Annie Proulx
9. What I Thought I Knew - Alice Eve Cohen
10. Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon
11. Moneyball - Michael Lewis
12. Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death and Life in New Orleans - Dan Baum
13. The House on First Street - Julia Reed
14. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?
15. Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table - Sara Roahen
16. Why New Orleans Matters - Tom Piazza
17. Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
18. Manhood for Amateurs - Michael Chabon
19. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon
20. House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus III
21. Magic Time - W.P. Kinsella
22. Ironweed - William Kennedy
23. Twilight - Stephanie Meyers
24. Tom Jones* - Henry Fielding
25. The Bedwetter - Sarah Silverman
26. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
27. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
28. Shadow Tag - Louise Erdrich
29. Secrets of Eden - Chris Bohjahlian
30. The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove - Cathy Erway
31. The Daily Coyote - Shreve Stockton
32. Food Matters - Mark Bittman
33. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball - Bill Madden
34. The Brethren - John Grisham
35. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
36. On With the Story - John Barth
37. How Did You Get This Number - Sloane Crosley
38. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
39. The Tidewater Tales: A Novel** - John Barth
40. Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson
41. Tales of a Female Nomad: Living At Large in the World - Rita Golden Gelman
42. Women, Food and God - Geneen Roth
43. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
44. Artichoke Tales - Megan Kelso
45. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
46. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
47. The Happiness Project
48. Pack of Two** - Caroline Knapp
49. Let's Take the Long Way Home - Gail Caldwell
50. Drinking: A Love Story** - Caroline Knapp
51. The Merry Recluse** - Caroline Knapp
52. Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
53. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
54. If I Stay - Gayle Forman
55. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean-Dominique Bauby
56. Cold Sassy Tree - Olive Ann Burns
57. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood - Jane Leavy
58. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning** - Jonathan Mahler
59. The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History - Jonathan Franzen
60. A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City - Anonymous
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Right around here I ran out of library books and ended up re-reading a bunch of books, including:
61. The Hours** - Michael Cunningham
62. Name All the Animals** - Alison Smith
63. Girls in Trucks** - Katie Crouch
64. The House on First Street** - Julia Reed
65. Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table** - Sara Roahen (these last two are particularly embarrassing because I just read them earlier this year. . . I was getting desperate)
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66. Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard - Liz Murray
67. Rat Girl: A Memoir - Kristen Hersh
68. Pride and Prejudice** - Jane Austen


* I didn't actually finish Tom Jones, but decided that it should stay on the list because I made it through 700+ pages. Dunno why it was such a struggle--I enjoyed aspects of the book quite a bit, but cried uncle when I realized that it had taken me several weeks to get through the last two hundred pages or so. 


** These are re-reads, sometimes for a specific purpose, sometimes out of desperation. 
   

Went to see Black Swan last night with M & S. Holy fucking shite.





I never know what to expect when I'm going to see something that's garnered this much buzz. And Black Swan is particularly crazy because it really seems to have polarized the critics. Most of the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, but I've seen some that are vehemently anti-glowy. None are neutral. (I think this is my favorite comment so far, even though it reflects the author's snark more than it provides any insight into the experience of seeing the movie:

Print out a picture of the back of Natalie Portman's head, tape it to the center of your computer screen, and take a Google Street View tour of Manhattan. Presto, you've just made your own Black Swan!)

Anywho, I think the only other movie that has fucked with me so thoroughly was Dancer in the Dark. So many critics have offered some variation on the "let yourself get swept away with this story" theme, and I see why. By the time the credits rolled, I was gasping and clutching my stomach and trembling head-to-toe.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Black Swan. I think that it's brilliant and that Natalie Portman probably gave us the performance of her career with this one. But it is not what you'd call a feel good movie. Caveat emptor.

How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? -- Author: Jeffrey Davis

Today's is by far my favorite prompt so far, and also the one about which I think I have the least to say. Oh the irony!  


I spend a lot of time thinking about wonder. Perhaps the prompt thrills me precisely because it reflects a quality I value deeply. As for the mechanics of wonderment? Reflection, gratitude, and connection.


Nurturing wonder has been a skill like any other -- for me, it began as a conscious exercise that I gradually internalized. Now this way of interfacing with the world is reflexive enough that its loss is one of my key early-storm-warning signs. As things have gotten darker and colder lately (both literally and emotionally), I've found myself needing to work a little more to catch those moments of delighted awe.


I think I mentioned in passing the other day that 2010 has brought me a deep sense of abundance, a feeling that I have enough. This translates into an unexpected well of contentment and tranquility -- oh-so-welcome, particularly given the turbulence of the past several months. I am sure that this is wonderment running deep.