The Year in Review: Books

I'm reading E. M. Forster's Maurice, which most likely will conclude the year of 2006 in reading. Since I started this blog back on Janurary 18 this year, a sense of responsibility, which inevitably takes up more of my time and effort, has imbued in me. The immediate effect is that I have read less. But when I looked back on the readings I have done this year, I realize reading less does not necessarily make me less bookish of a reader, who has evolved to become more serious, and cultivate a more eclectic taste. I still read more non-living than living authors, more Penguin classics than airport novels. Here is the year of 2006 in review:

1. Jan 01-Jan 08 The Civilization of Angkor by Charles Higham (NF)
2. Jan 10-Jan 19 Literary Theory by Terry Eagleton (NF) (not finished)
3. Jan 22-Jan 28 Mr Muo's Travelling Couch by Dai Sijin (F)
4. Jan 30-Feb 07 What The Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak (NF)
5. Feb 08-Feb 15 The Atonement by Ian McEwan (F)
6. Feb 17-Feb 24 The Spell by Alan Hollinghurst (F)
7. Feb 25-Mar 05 The Egyptologist by Arthur Philips (F)
8. Mar 07-Mar 09 Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (F)
9. Mar 14-Mar 22 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (F) (re-read)
10. Mar 23-Apr 04 Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone by James Baldwin (F)
11. Apr 05-Apr 18 Covering: The Hidden Assault of Cicil Rights by Kenji Yoshino (NF)
12. Apr 19-May 03 The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics and Ethics of Queer Life by Michael Warner (NF)
13. May 04-May 16 Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality by Andrew Sullivan (NF)
14. May 17-May 30 The Wings of the Dove by Henry James (F)
15. Jun 01-Jun 07 The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco (F)
16. Jun 07-Jun 12 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (F)
17. Jun 13-Jun 21 The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follett (F)
18. Jun 30-Jul 25 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (F) (re-read)
19. Jul 26-Aug 01 Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me by Michael Thomas Ford (NF, Essays)
20. Aug 02-Aug 10 The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (F)
21. Aug 14-Aug 22 The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl (F)
22. Aug 24-Aug 30 White Teeth by Zadie Smith (F)
23. Aug 31-Sep 05 The Double by Jose Saramago (F)
24. Sep 05-Sep 15 In September, The Light Changes by Andrew Holleran (F, SS)
25. Sep 18-Sep 24 Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran (F)
26. Sep 25-Oct 09 Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (NF, writing)
27. Oct 10-Nov 03 The Marquise of O- and Other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist (F, SS)
28. Nov 05-Nov 20 Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (F)
29. Nov 24-Nov 29 Runaway (Short Stories) by Alice Munro (F, SS)
30. Nov 30-Dec 05 Little Children by Tom Perrotta (F)
31. Dec 07-Dec 30 Stories by Anton Chekov (F, SS)
32. Dec 13-Dec 18 The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (F)
33. Dec 19-Dec 25 The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (F)
34. Dec 25-Dec 31 Maurice by E. M. Forster (F)

The titles in boldface are my top 10 picks for the year. In-depth reviews of all the above can be found in this blog. Click over to the sidebar on the left should you're interested. Out of 34 books read this year, 6 are nonfiction and 28 fiction. The breakdown:

Non-fiction: 6
Fiction: 28
Re-read: 2
Gay-related titles: 11
Number of journal pages: 147

Happy New Year!