Books finished in 2009

Happy New Year!

Here are the books I finished in 2009.  One of my quirks is that I like to record page numbers. (I don't include filler pages and contents at beginnings.)  It's fun to keep a running tally, and compare with previous years.  Font sizes vary, and some poetry books have plenty of blank space while others represent a dense read, so all that specificity adds up to only a rough indication -- but it's an indication nevertheless. I don't include articles or single poems from volumes, reviews or the internet.

These numbers tell me this was my least reading year -- at least in terms of print books -- since 2002: 5783 p., 26 complete books, 4 unfinished (but substantially read). I'm not sure why -- the internet? More time listening to podcasts? My own book promotion? My biggest reading year since 1990 was 2007 -- 7,506 p., 33 finished books, 9 unfinished. 

I'm sure quite a number of you can top these numbers.  I'm not the fastest reader.  And yes, there are all those other claims on my time, like work, writing, etc. (ETC.). 

FICTION
Anne-Marie MacDonald: Fall On Your Knees Jan. (560)
Christianne Frenette: After the Red Night (trans. S. Fischman) May: 159 p.
Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha (June): 434 p.
Jack Kerouac: The Subterraneans (July): 112 p.
Orhan Pamuk: Snow (July): 463 p.
Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha (Oct.) 125 p.
Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita (Oct.) 315 p.
Elise Moser: Because I Have Loved and Hidden It (Dec.) 248 p.
Total: 2191 p.

NON-FICTION
Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point 277 p.
Malcolm Gladwell: Blink 288 p.
Edith Hamilton: Mythology May-July: 465 p.
Sherwin B. Nuland: The Art of Aging July: 290 p.
Yves Engler: The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy. Sept. 245 p.
Ari L. Goldman: Being Jewish Dec. 31: 257 p.
Total: 1722 p.

POETRY (Whole books)
Shannon Stewart: Penny Dreadful: 70 p.
Barbara Pelman, Borrowed Rooms, 122 p.
Carolyn Marie Souaid, Paper Oranges, 106 p.
Charles Simic, The World Doesn’t End, 74 p.
Laura Sims, Practice, Restraint 99 p.
Robert Creeley: On Earth: Last Poems and an Essay. June: 89 p
Fiona Tinwei Lam: Enter the Chrysanthemum. June/July: 73 p.
Terry Ann Carter: Transplanted. August 8: 74 p.
Lori Cayer: Stealing Mercury. 102 p.
Sina Queyras: Expressway: 95 p.
Jack Gilbert: Transgressions (Selected Poems) 163 p.
Gendun Chopel: In the Forest of Faded Wisdom, ed.. & trans.: Donald S. Lopez Jr. Dec. 95 p.
Total: 1191 p

Poetry in Manuscript
Allen Sutterfield: California (from City of Words, Septile 2) Dec.: 65 p.

POETRY (Partially Read)
Jorie Graham, The Dream of the Unified Field (Selected) 82 p.
Anne Carson: Glass, Irony and God 72 p.

Total: 154 p.

CHAPBOOKS
R.W. Watkins & Robin Tilley: In the Grip of Sirens 20 p.
Raphael Bendahan: By All Accounts (ms.) 25 p
Total: 20 p.

SHORT STORIES
IN MANUSCRIPT:
Jocelyne Dubois: Delinquents 7 p. Spy in Love 5 p. Under Covers 8 p. = 20 p.
PARTIALLY READ:
Ken Wilber: The Spectrum of Consciousness June: 86 p.
Daisaku Ikeda et al: The Wisdom of The Lotus Sutra, Vol. 1 94 p. (unfinished)

Total: 180 p.

Total: p. 5783 p.
Reading per day: 15.84 p. 26 Finished books 2 Chapbooks Unfinished books: 3