Happy New Year Wishes to All

As we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome in the New Year, I wanted you to know that I am wishing you a year filled with peace, love, happiness and the best of health.

 

May you never lose you ability to think outside of the box and to see lifes bigger plan for you.

May you always have the perfect friends to see you through the rough times in life.

May you never forget to show your appreciation to those who mean the most to you.

May you be happy with yourself just the way you are.

Don't forget to tell her she looks beautiful, even if she looks ridiculous.

May you always remember those less fortunate, and give a little something to those in need.

Happy New Year to My Friends!

2011 Reading Challenges

I told myself,  "2011 = Challenge-Free", but of course that all changed when I decided to host one challenge again, and to join just a few, that seemed to easily fall into my plans for 2011.

Details Here

Details Here

(Goal - 50)

  

Details Here

(Goal - 20 Obsessed)

Details Here
(Goal - 12 - Addicted)

I am also planning on tracking, but not officially joining several other challenges .....like:

New Authors; Immigrant Stories; South Asian Challenge; Library Reads; ARC/Review Books;  2011 Pub Books; Classics and Childrens Books.

Can you resist a good challenge?

Best Books Read in 2010 ~ My Picks

For the last (10) years I've been coming up with my favorites list -- of books read for each year. Usually, it is a top (10) fiction list and top (10) non fiction list, but for 2010 I decided to add a top (10) audio book list and a top (10) childrens list as well.

Here are my picks --EXCEPT FOR # 1 on each list, the remaining (9) are in no particular order.

FICTION - Top 10

1. The Bells; Richard Harvell
2. The Wayward Bus; John Steinbeck
3. The Solitude of Prime Numbers; Paolo Giaordano
4. The Handmaid's Tale; Margaret Atwood
5. How High the Moon; Sandra Kring
6. Strangers at the Feast; Jennifer Vanderbes
7. The Good Daughters; Joyce Maynard
8. Blue Nude; Elisabeth Rosner
9. Noah's Compass; Anne Tyler
10. The Wife's Tale; Lori Lansens

Top 10 Non Fiction

1. Unbroken; Laura Hillenbrand
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Rebecca Skloot
3. Frida Kahlo: The Still Lifes; Salomon Grimberg
4. Making the Rounds with Oscar; Dr David Dosa
5. Slow Death By Rubber Duck; Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie
6. The Genius in All of Us; David Shenk
7. Gilded: How Newport Became America's Richest Resort; Deborah Davis
8. Making Toast; Roger Rosenblatt
9. You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know; Heather Sellers
10. Stitches: A Memoir; David Small  (graphic novel - memoir)

Top 10 Audio Books

1. I Thought You Were Dead; Pete Nelson
2. The Poisonwood Bible; Barbara Kingsolver
3. Shantaram; Gregory David Roberts
4. Pillars of the Earth; Ken Follett
5. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Haruki Murakami
6. Girl in Translation; Jean Kwok
7. The Lonely Polygamist; Brady Udall 
8. Freedom; Jonathan Franzen
9. The Murderer's Daughters; Randy Sue Meyer
10. The Forty Rules of Love; Elif Shafak

Top 10 Childrens Books

1. The Last Train; Gordon Titcomb
2. Llama, Llama Misses Mama; Anna Dewdney
3. Night Tree; Eve Bunting
4. Interrupting Chicken; David Ezra Stein
5. Fred Stays with Me; Nancy Coffelt
6. Owen and Mzee; Hatkoff
7. Biblioburro; Jeanette Winter
8. Molly's Pilgrim; Barbara Cohen
9. Christian the Hugging Lion; Richardson and Parnell
10. Fancy Nancy: Heart to Heart; O'Connor and Glasser

Looking forward to adding some of your 2010 favorites to my 2011 reading list.