In 2007, I didn’t have enough time to do all that I wanted, and that includes reading, but I read the following books (links will take you to my reviews):
- A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
- The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
- A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
- Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
- A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
That’s a little more than a book a month, which I suppose isn’t too bad. My favorite book was obviously Harry Potter, but aside from that one, the ones I am still thinking about are A Thousand Acres, Ahab’s Wife, and, surprisingly, The Myth of You and Me, which I wasn’t sure would stay with me at the time I finished it.
I also made two great musical discoveries this year: Kelly Richey and Tony Steidler-Dennison’s weekly Roadhouse Podcast. I am finding as I get older that I don’t keep up with musical trends, and I barely ever listened to music on the radio this year. I bought few CD’s. My favorite new CD is by an old band — the Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden (only available from third party sellers at Amazon because the album is a Wal-Mart exclusive — and incidentally, I thought that was odd given Don Henley’s politics).
My favorite movie this year was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but I also enjoyed viewing Possession. I do like movies, but despite instituting a weekly movie night here at the Huff household, I have not found that too many I’ve seen this year really stuck with me.
I did a small amount of traveling in January, when I had the opportunity to accompany the juniors on a class trip through Birmingham, Tupelo, MS., and Memphis. I absolutely loved Memphis, and I can hardly wait to go back. During the trip, a colleague and I accompanied one of the students to ER when he broke his nose. Some of the most interesting places I saw were Elvis’s birthplace and Graceland, the Rum Boogie Café, the Rock and Soul Museum, and Sun Studio. Actually, the Rock and Soul museum didn’t so much have interesting exhibits to look at, but their musical exhibits were amazing.
Happy New Year, everyone.
My guy and I recently traveled to Memphis via Tupelo. I fell in love with Memphis, and crave to visit both Memphis and Tupelo again. The Rock and Soul museum was so cool. We didn't make it to Sun Studio, unfortunately. The people were so nice there. I was shocked, actually. It was a pleasant surprise and I can't wait to go back, hopefully in the near future!
Can I recommend the book and the film "Atonement" plus the two novels by Khaled Hosseini "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns".
Roger, Steve said I should read Atonement, too, and I have had The Kite Runner on my list for ages, but I will indeed check out A Thousand Splendid Suns on your recommendation.