Goal Accomplished

By finishing Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke last night, I accomplished one of my goals for this year, sort of a New Year's resolution I made. My goal was to read atleast 52 books in 2003, averaging out to a book a week. And I finished with seven weeks to spare! Here's the list of what I read, in alphabetical order by author. I didn't link to or comment on all of them. And one day I should write an entry about all of the series I read - you'll see some info about them here.

2003 Reading List
1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott*
2. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson*
3. Grizzly by Christine Andreae
4. Smoke Eaters by Christine Andreae
5. The Miss America Family by Julianna Baggott
6. Flashback by Nevada Barr - Part of the Anna Pigeon series that I absolutely love. Fuels my unfulfilled dream of becoming a park ranger.
7. Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke - First in a new series by the daughter of James Lee Burke.
8. Four Blondes by Candace Bushnell - I've previously written how much I hated this book.
9. Tell No One by Harlan Coben
10. Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
11. Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
12. Amanda Bright @ Home by Danielle Crittenden
13. Speaking in Tongues by Jeffrey Deaver - A non-Lincoln Rhyme novel that was pretty good.
14. The Bone Vault by Linda Fairstein - Another series I read, this one from the original "Law & Order: SVU." Linda Fairstein was the real head of this dept. for NYC. I often see her on NBC as a legal consultant for such topics as the Laci Peterson case.
15. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding - I've previously written how much I loved this book! Anxiously awaiting the movie.
16. The Zygote Chronicles by Suzanne Finnamore
17. Swimming Sweet Arrow by Maureen Gibbon - Not in my usual genre and a little too offbeat for me.
18. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman*
19. Cold Hunter's Moon by K.C. Greenlief - First in a series. A little quirky, but interesting.
20. The King of Torts by John Grisham
21. Motherhood and Hollywood by Patricia Heaton - cute collection of stories from the star of "Everybody Loves Raymond."
22. Beneath the Ashes by Sue Henry - Another series I read, and one of the few I've read out of order. Availability at the library is to blame for that.
23. Daisy Miller by Henry James*
24. Why I'm Like This by Cynthia Kaplan - a fabulous collection of short stories, ranging from summer camp to motherhood. I can't remember how I heard about this one, but I would definitely recommend it to others.
25. A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava
26. Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
27. Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman - see previous entry
28. Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb
29. The Nannie Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
30. Apocalipstick by Sue Margolis - Brit Chick lit with a great title!
31. Slow Dollar by Margaret Maron - most recent in the Deborah Knott series, a terrific series set in North Carolina. A family tree is provided at the front of each book to help keep track of Deborah's huge family.
32. Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron - a stand-alone by Margaret Maron
33. Sphere of Influence by Kyle Mills
34. Angel Fire by Lisa Miscione
35. The Darkness Gathers by Lisa Miscione - the mistake-laden book (see previous entry)
36. Unfit to Practice by Perri O'Shaughnessy
37. Presumption of Death by Perri O'Shaughnessy - Another one of my favorite series. We almost went to Lake Tahoe on our honeymoon because of these books (but we chose Sedona, Arizona instead).
38. Suspicion of Madness by Barbara Parker - Yet another favorite series. Very sexy mysteries set in Miami.
39. Four Blind Mice by James Patterson - part of the Alex Cross series
40. The Beach House by James Patterson - wasn't as crazy about this stand-alone Patterson book. I think I could tell that he didn't really write it.
41. I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson - Quite frankly, I found this and The Nannie Diaries to have a depressing side. No more "Mommie Chick Lit" for me - I have enough to feel guilty about.
42. The Whole Truth by Nancy Pickard
43. Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
44. Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs - Still another favorite series. Grave Secrets I didn't like as much, but Bare Bones was back on track.
45. Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
46. Birdbrained by Jessica Speart
47. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe*
48. Dead Clever by Scarlett Thomas - Thoroughly enjoyed this mystery originally published in 1998 in the UK. Chick lit with a mystery twist. First in a series and I'm looking forward to the others.
49. The Appearance of Impropriety by Walter Walker*
50. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
51. In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner - I can't say enough how much I love Jennifer Weiner's books and her blog.
52. The Devil Riding by Valerie Wilson Wesley.

The books marked with a (*) are from my "Required Reading" list. I should probably write a whole entry about this, too, but the short version is that I have a book called What to Read that I use as a personal guide to read books I normally wouldn't read or should have read somewhere along the way. I'm embarrassed to admit that I cannot remember reading Little Women in its entirety as a girl. And I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as I do as an adult and a mother. I loved the following quote from Marmee:
"I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good. To be admired, loved, and respected. To have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send."

So I'm off to read book #53 (as soon as I leave work, of course). Keep checking the sidebar for my current title.