Lists: Books I Read in 2004

I try and set reading goals for myself every year: I watch too much tv and play too many video games otherwise. I like reading, but sometimes my lazy nature takes over and the hours just slip by. I set myself a goal that from Jan 21, 2004 to Jan 21, 2005 I would 35 books that I've never read before, five more than the previous year. I failed.

I only made it through 23 books last year - not counting Graphic Novels, as I feel that they take a different kind of reading. Because of this low number, I've decided that next year, I'd like to bring it up to 25, just over two books a month. If I can't get through two books a month, something's wrong with me. When I was young, I'd read three books a week easily; sure I had more free time, but I'm sure that I could hit 25 books next year with minimal effort.

The books I read last year - in approximate chronological order, even - were:

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Woad to Wuin - Peter David
Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
The Meaning of Everything - Simon Winchester
Feel This Book - Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo
Howling Mad - Peter David
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
The Hippopotamus - Stephen Fry
Sometimes a Great Notion - Ken Kesey (which is currently my nomination for Greatest American Novel)
The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K. Dick
Tenacity of the Cockroach - The Onion
Vernon God Little - D.B.C. Pierre
Good In Bed - Jennifer Weiner
Vanilla - Tim Ecott
The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves - Lynne Truss
The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
Sock - Penn Jillette
The Human Story - James Davis
Men of Tomorrow - Gerard Jones
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon

The frightening thing about the last two books is that they both, in some way, deal with the creation of the comic book in the 1930s. I didn't make the connection until I put down "Tomorrow" one day and picked up "Kavalier and Clay" and read what was essentially a fictionalized account of something I read in the previous book. I think I may need to expand my reading horizions.