Life Behind the Curve

In my humble opinion, New Year’s Resolutions suck. Why set a bunch of goals you know you’re not going to achieve? I know there are stats about how long it takes for people to fail at their New Year’s Resolutions but I’m not a negative enough person to dwell on those. So I’ll only say this: There was one year when I set a resolution and kept it. And here I am, five years later, quite proud of my resolve that year.

On January 1, 2005, I resolved to read 52 books within a year. I got the idea from a Time Magazine columnist who sought to accomplish the same task. I took books with me to the grocery store, to work, and on the Metro. I had one child at the time but on December 31, 2005, I accomplished my task. Though not every book was a Pulitzer winner, I did try to vary my reading between fiction and non-fiction. As I read, I wrote a list of the books I read, in order, including book type and date completed. I used the lined sheet of notebook paper as my bookmark. I kept it to remind myself that “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” (Thank you, Marty McFly!)

In honor of the one year that I accomplished my New Year’s Resolution, I’ve decided to publish the list of books I read in 2005. So, here goes. And to those of you who are setting resolutions this year, may you find as much pride in accomplishing them as I did in reading the books on this list.

1. Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis – NF – 1/1
2. London Bridges by James Patterson – F – 1/2
3. Sam’s Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson – F – 1/3
4. Suspect by Michael Robotham – F – 1/5
5. Presidential Leadership by Jame Taranto & Leonard Leo – NF – 1/15
6. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki – NF – 1/16
7. Hour Game by David Baldacci – F- 1/20
8. The Conspiracy Club by Jonathan Kellerman – F – 1/20
9. How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter – NF – 1/29
10. The Five Peopl You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom – F – 1/30
11. One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch – NF – 2/8
12. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks – F – 2/12
13. A Cold Heart by Jonathan Kellerman – F – 2/16
14. Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell – F – 3/3
15. The Broker by John Grisham – F – 3/10
16. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult – F – 3/26
17. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell – NF – 3/27
18. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri – F – 4/8
19. How to Make Money in Stocks by William O’Neill – NF – 4/24
20. The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren – NF – 4/26
21. Twenty-Four Lessons for Investment Success by William O’Neill – NF - 4/30
22. The First Counsel by Brad Meltzer – F – 5/6
23. Fourth of July by James Patterson – F – 5/10
24. The Prince of Beverly Hills by Stuart Woods – F – 5/11
25. Blind Descent by Nevada Barr – F – 5/15
26. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks – F – 6/3
27. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden – F – 6/11
28. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - F – 6/12
29. Fatal Flaw by William Lashner – F – 6/18
30. Capital Crimes by Stuart Woods – F – 6/21
31. Cracking Cases by Henry Lee – NF – 7/7
32. Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War by William Broad, Judith Miller and Stephen Engelberg – NF – 8/7
33. Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel – NF – 8/17
34. Stop Digging Your Grave with a Knife and a Form by Mike Huckabee – NF – 8/17
35. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown – F – 8/20
36. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown – F – 8/30
37. The 10 Women You’ll Be by Age 35 by Alison James – NF – 9/3
38. Self Defense by Jonathan Kellerman – F – 9/10
39. Dark Justice by Jack Higgins – F – ??
40. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey – NF (??? Heh.) – ??
41. My Friend Leonard by James Frey – NF (??? Heh.) – 10/5
42. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis – NF – ??
43. Narrantive of the Life of Fredereick Douglass by Frederick Douglass – NF – 10/23
44. Twisted by Jonathan Kellerman – F – 11/1
45. Hard America, Soft America by Michael Barone – NF – ??
46. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb – F – ??
47. Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther – F – ??
48. Mary, Mary by James Patterson – F – ??
49. Crimes Against Logic by Jamie Whyte – NF – ??
50. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner – NF – ??
51. The Camel Club by David Baldacci – F – 12/30
52. Driven from Within by Michael Jordan – NF – 12/31