Reading Habits Meme

While I was visiting Shelf Life, I saw this meme, which I tracked back to Bookish NYC, via Letters from a Hill Farm, before tracking no further. Here are my answers:

Do you snack while you read?

Um, yes.

If so, what is your favorite reading snack?

Chocolate

What is your favorite drink while reading?

Coffee

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Utterly horrified

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?

Tiny little piece-of-paper bookmark

Fiction, nonfiction, or both?

Both!

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?

I can stop anywhere, but I’m not above using the “Just let me finish this chapter,” excuse for continuing to read a little while longer.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

No, but I’ll put the book down and never open it again.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

Only if I’m feeling really virtuous.

What are you currently reading?

8 books, but the one I just put down is The Widow by Carla Neggers

What is the last book you bought?

Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys by Michael Collins

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?

I love to read at my kitchen table, at any time of the day or night.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

Either

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)?

By genre, then by author’s surname in fiction, and by subject in nonfiction. 

Best darn romance series I've ever known

Virgin River by Robyn Carr

Confession: Am completely hooked on romance audiobooks. No apologies. No Apologies!

After hearing a couple of people rave about the Virgin River series, I decided to give it a whirl. And since I’m more adventurous with audiobooks than with (printed) books, I checked out the audiobook of the first book in the series.

And then I fell completely in love with this book while commuting and did not want to leave my car. (For all you know, I may still be there now. I'm not telling.) Here's why I've taken up habitation in my Honda...

First: There's a Marine as the romantic lead. Simply cannot resist.

Second: The female main character, Melinda, is a strong woman, so that’s all good.

Mel, a terribly young widow, takes a nurse practitioner job in the tiny town of Virgin River in an attempt to hit the re-set button on her life, and upon arrival, realizes she’s made a terrible mistake.

Or has she…?

In this small town, there is a bar/restaurant owned by a former Marine named Jack, who is nothing but hot. And kind. And good. And… why doesn’t Mel see this?!

Instead, Mel falls in love with the town and its people before she falls in love with the hot guy, and that seems OK, really.

Here’s the fascinating thing about this book: The pacing here feels pleasant, keeping pace with life in this small town and with the slowly developing relationship between Mel and Jack—yet there’s a lot going on in that town (some of it dramatic), which keeps the story moving right along.

The characters, including the secondary characters, are well-drawn and fairly realistic (though perhaps a little bit too-good-to-be-true except for those who are villainous; but I’m not complaining about that).

The result is a story that is pure comfort.

Therese Plummer's narration of the audiobook is superb, to the point that when I read book 4 of the series (dear heaven, a Christmas-themed title) in actual book form, I was sort of let down. Of course, maybe that was just my reaction to the Christmas-y-ness of the thing. I am generally allergic to all such. Chalk one up for Robyn Carr for enticing me into reading such a thing.

The good news for me is that Virgin River is the first book in a growing series, and--having continued now with books 2 through 4, with more yet to read (listen to) --I think this series is romance novel perfection.

Booking Through Thursday: Bedside

This week at Booking Through Thursday, we book bloggers are talking about these questions:

What books do you have next to your bed right now? How about other places in the house? What are you reading?

Oh, I love a good household inventory of the books-being-read.

Bedside:

Rolling Thunder by Chris Grabenstein (mystery)

Kitchen table:

George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall (biography)

The Last Refuge by Chris Knopf (mystery)

The Witness by Sandra Brown (romantic suspense)

Kitchen bookshelf:

The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney (nonfiction)

Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne (science fiction)

Reading room (truly: glorified hallway):

Records of Our National Life: American History at the National Archives (nonfiction; look book)

Living room table:

The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar (nonfiction)

Book bag:

Better off Wed by Laura Durham (mystery)

Out in the car:

Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr (audiobook; romance)

His voice = perfection

A Drink before the War by Dennis Lehane

I’d follow Dennis Lehane anywhere. And I must say, he goes some unpleasant places. But he’s darn good company.

When I heard that this was a mystery series about two detectives whose office was in a church belfry, I knew I had to read these books. A Drink before the War is the first in the series, and it is an amazing thing.

It’s a classic first-person private investigator novel, but in this case the narrator is Patrick Kenzie of south Boston. He’s got a bit of an attitude, and he’s wonderfully imperfect. I liked him right away.

His business partner, Angie Gennaro is tough and not to be tangled with—except that her husband beats her. This is not your father’s private eye novel.

The thing that stands out for me in this book is Patrick’s voice. He describes some gritty, horrible scenes, but then on the next page, he’ll be commenting wryly about something else in such a way that I can’t help but smile. No wonder I have a big old author-crush on Mr. Lehane.

Booking Through Thursday: Useful

From Booking Through Thursday, here's this week's question:

What's the most useful book you've ever read? And, why?

This is one of those semi-embarrassing answers, and I'm just going to say it. We're all friends here, right?

For me, probably the most useful book I've ever read is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

I always cringe at that title, because it makes the book sound like a way to manipulate people and trick them into liking you. And the book is so not that.

And for a painfully shy 17-year-old (lo, those many years ago), this book was a godsend.

It contains amazing truths, including (my favorite):

To be considered a great conversationalist, ask the other person about him/herself and then listen.

Egads! Who knew it could be that easy?!

Library craziness

When I saw Ghostbusters as a kid, I had no idea I'd someday be working at a library. (Though my sister swears she knew even then.)

Here's a parody of that famous library scene, filmed at NYPL (good for them, going a little wild!)...

Peep culture. We are in it.

The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors by Hal Niedzviecki

OK, so it turns out that this here introvert is part of peep culture. I’m a blogger, and so I’m implicated. Blast it.

This book covers the gamut: social networking, reality TV*, surveillance, you name it. It’s enough to make any semi-private person freak out a little bit. (At least I did. A little bit.)

But hey! Look at me! I’m blogging!

The good news is that Niedzviecki keeps it readable and entertaining. He takes this stuff seriously, but he doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously, and I think that’s a good thing in an author.

He makes some gorgeously cogent points. For example: “…we yearn for community but lack the willingness to be hampered by the structures of community.” (p. 149)

Amen, brother.

The author suggests that we’re all scattered to the winds in today’s society (I’m a transplant; how about you?) —yet we still long for a sense of community. So we fly our freak flags online, looking for people like us. (Hi, guys. Glad you’re here.)

He also writes about our home being our castle, and man, I’m into that. And about how wealth allows a person greater privacy (gated communities, more space between houses, etc.) Acknowledged. There are days when the neighbors are indeed rather too close. So guess what? I escape into a book… or onto the web, heaven help me. Introverting… yet not.

We live in a strange world. We really do.

* which I claim to shun unless I’m in the presence of cable TV, when I immediately develop an urgent capacity to watch hours upon hours of Sarah’s House (Looking for a décor challenge, Sarah? Look no further…) and What Not to Wear (British or American fashion people, you can upgrade my wardrobe any old time; just don’t make me appear on TV or say mean things that would make me cry)

The ladies love their quilting...

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas

Back before there were book clubs, the ladies had quilting groups. Heck, the ladies still have quilting groups.

In this book, set in Great Depression era Colorado—up in the mountains—the quilting groups were the big thing. This is a sisterhood book.

I like sisterhood books. I truly do.

This one starts out with 80-something Hennie noticing a sad-looking young woman outside her gate, looking at her “Prayers for Sale” sign (a remnant from happy days early in Hennie’s marriage). Hennie takes young Nit under her wing, telling her stories of their small mining town, and sharing the stories from Hennie’s younger years, which bear a resemblance to Nit’s early married years.

Hennie and Nit are both relocated from Appalachia, and their wording is full of reminders of their origins. (To the question, “How’s yourself?” Hennie replies, “I am deteriorating at a normal rate.” [p. 99] As my people are apt to say, that tickled me.)

And as in many of Dallas’s books, at least one of the characters is carrying a big secret that is revealed at the end.

This book almost could be a little sweet, but the promise of the revelation of a lifelong secret—and some of the earthiness of the town—save it.

Instead, there’s a strong tang of bittersweet. Hennie’s well-meaning daughter intends to move her to Iowa (perish the thought!) plus Hennie isn’t getting any younger, so there is a sense of loss as she experiences “the last time I’ll ever…” moments. As Nit is coming to the end of her days, Nit’s life is just getting going; the juxtaposition really works.

(I made that quilt up there while attending a week-long quilt class with a friend. She pieced the excellent block with the pink in it and helped me pick the border fabric. She is someone great.)

Booking Through Thursday: Half

Here's this week's question from Booking Through Thursday:

So … you’re halfway through a book and you’re hating it. It’s boring. It’s trite. It’s badly written. But … you’ve invested all this time to reading the first half.

What do you do? Read the second half? Just to finish out the story? Find out what happens?

Or, cut your losses and dump the second half?

Unless it's assigned reading (for a book club or genre study), I'm outta there.

Usually, though, if a book is not grabbing me, I'm already outta there well before the halfway point.

However, a couple of months ago, I actually had one of these halfway-through-the-book situations, and I did indeed bail.

The book was The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch--a thriller. The premise sounded interesting: a man's wife is murdered, and he is given the power to jump back 13 hours, one hour at a time, that day, to try to prevent her murder.

I stuck with it until about the halfway point, and I just couldn't read any more. I knew it would end well, and I didn't care anymore how the story unfolded. Besides, the characters were a weird combination of flat and annoying. I had to escape. And I did.

(What a mean little reader I am.)

2010 Mixology Reading Challenge

My earlier post (from December 17, 2009) is not updating nicely, so I've re-created the post, with updates, here.

Babbette over at Babbette's Book Blog is hosting the 2010 Mixology Challenge, and I’m in!

Here are the guidelines:

1. List how many books total you want to read in 2010.

2. List no less than 4 categories for these books and determine how many you'll read in each category. Examples of categories:
by class: fiction / non-fiction / contemporary / classic / newly published / award winning (Booker, Pulitzer)
by genre: historical fiction, religious fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian literature, memoir, biography, personal or professional growth
by class of author: female / male / Asian / Middle Eastern
other: TBR / review (ARC) books

3. These books can overlap with other challenges AND even fit more than one category within this challenge.

4. Audio books do count; re-reads do not.

Here are my 2010 Mixology goals:

75 books total

10 newly published

10 biographies

5 audiobooks

5 romance

the rest = anything at all

This page will be my home base for this challenge.

10 Newly Published

1. Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy

2. Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson by William Langewiesche

3. Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House by Stacy Parker Aab

4. The New Frugality: How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better by Chris Farrell

5. Slow Fire by Ken Mercer

6. A Night Too Dark by Dana Stabenow

7. Model Home by Eric Puchner

8. Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman

9. This Is Just Exactly Like You by Drew Perry

10. FDR's Funeral Train: A Betrayed Widow, a Soviet Spy, and a Presidency in the Balance by Robert Klara

11. The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller

12. The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

13. State Fair by Earlene Fowler

14. The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar

15. Rolling Thunder by Chris Grabenstein

16. War by Sebastian Junger

17. Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson

18. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

19. The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

20. Based upon Availability by Alix Strauss

21. A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff

22. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

23. The Viognier Vendetta: A Wine Country Mystery by Ellen Crosby

24. Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz

25. Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster by Jonathan Eig

26. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam

27. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

28. The White House Doctor: A Memoir by Connie Mariano

29. The Report by Jessica Francis Kane

30. How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Paul Bloom

31. Morning Miracle: Inside The Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life by Dave Kindred

32. Bliss, Remembered by Frank Deford

33. The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass

34. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

35. News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist by Laurie Hertzel

36. The Fiddler in the Subway: The True Story of What Happened When a World-Class Violinist Played for Handouts… and Other Virtuosic Performances by America’s Foremost Feature Writer by Gene Weingarten

37. The Shimmering Blond Sister by David Handler

38. Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye

39. Making Toast: A Family Story by Roger Rosenblatt

40. William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls by Katie Nicholl

41. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood by Jane Leavy

42. Portrait of Camelot: A Thousand Days in the Kennedy White House by Richard Reeves

43. A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton

44. The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin

10 Biographies

1. Lincoln's Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidency by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein

2. The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Noah Adams

3. Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home by Matthew Pinsker

4. Franklin Pierce by Michael F. Holt

5. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall

6. Thomas Jefferson by R. B. Bernstein

7. Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster by Jonathan Eig

8. Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President by Donald R. McCoy

9. The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick

10. William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls by Katie Nicholl

11. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood by Jane Leavy

12. The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown (read by Rosalyn Landor)

5 Audiobooks

1. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig (read by Kate Reading)

2. Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir by Christopher Buckley (read by the author)

3. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig (read by Kate Reading)

4. The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig (read by Kate Reading)

5. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig (read by Kate Reading)

6. Virgin River by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

7. Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

8. Whispering Rock by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

9. Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

10. Temptation Ridge by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

11. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn (read by Rosalyn Landor)

12. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama (abridged; read by the author)

13. The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory by David Plouffe

14. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

15. Blind Side by Catherine Coulter

16. Ape House by Sara Gruen (read by Paul Boehmer)

17. Up in Honey's Room by Elmore Leonard (read by Arliss Howard)

18. Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

19. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell (read by Ann Marie Lee)

20. The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown (read by Rosalyn Landor)

5 Romance

1. Dreams of Stardust by Lynn Kurland

2. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig

3. The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig

4. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig

5. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig

6. Dark Lover by J. R. Ward

7. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

8. Virgin River by Robyn Carr

9. Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr

10. Whispering Rock by Robyn Carr

11. A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr

12. The Witness by Sandra Brown

13. The Widow by Carla Neggers

14. Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr

15. Temptation Ridge by Robyn Carr

15. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn

16. Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr

17. Once upon a Rose by Judith O'Brien

18. Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie

The full list of 75

1. A Great Day to Fight Fire: Mann Gulch, 1949 by Mark Matthews

2. The Kennedy Assassination--25 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President by Steven M. Gillon

3. East of Peculiar by Suzann Ledbetter

4. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig

5. Unclutter Your Life on One Week by Erin Rooney Doland

6. Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy

7. Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

8. Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson by William Langewiesche

9. Dreams of Stardust by Lynn Kurland

10. Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House by Stacy Parker Aab

11. The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig

12. The New Frugality: How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better by Chris Farrell

13. Apollo: Race to the Moon by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox

14. The Balance Thing by Margaret Dumas

15. Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir by Christopher Buckley

16. Lincoln's Other White House: The Untold Story of the Man and His Presidencyby Elizabeth Smith Brownstein

17. They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies behind the Lines in Nazi Germany by Patrick K. O'Donnell

18. Slow Fire by Ken Mercer

19. Live a Little! Breaking the Rules Won't Break Your Health by Susan M. Love and Alice D. Domar

20. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig

21. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

22. Dark Lover by J. R. Ward

23. On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

24. A Night Too Dark by Dana Stabenow

25. Model Home by Eric Puchner

26. Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman

27. The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors by Hal Niedzviecki

28. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

29. FDR's Funeral Train: A Betrayed Widow, a Soviet Spy, and a Presidency in the Balance by Robert Klara

30. This Is Just Exactly Like You by Drew Perry

31. The Camera Never Blinks: Adventures of a TV Journalist by Dan Rather

32. Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas

33. The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Noah Adams

34. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig

35. Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home by Matthew Pinsker

36. Franklin Pierce by Michael F. Holt

37. Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo

38. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

39. Virgin River by Robyn Carr

40. Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay

41. The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller

42. The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

43. The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America by Grant Wahl

44. Four Freedoms by John Crowley

45. Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr

46. State Fair by Earlene Fowler

47. Whispering Rock by Robyn Carr

48. A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr

49. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

50. The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar

51. Rolling Thunder by Chris Grabenstein

52. The Witness by Sandra Brown

53. The Widow by Carla Neggers

54. War by Sebastian Junger

55. Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr

56. Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Fraud—American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and Goodwin by Peter Charles Hoffer

57. Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson

58. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

59. Blue Angels: 50 Years of Precision Flight by Nicholas A. Veronico and Marga B. Fritze

60. The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

61. The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by Marti Olsen Laney

62. Better Off Wed by Laura Durham

63. Based upon Availability by Alix Strauss

64. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall

65. Temptation Ridge by Robyn Carr

66. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

67. A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff

68. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

69. Life Would Be Perfect if I Lived in That House by Meghan Daum

70. Coming up for Air: How to Build a Balanced Life in a Workaholic World by Beth Sawi

71. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

72. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

73. Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory by Brad Hooper

74. Summer Blowout by Claire Cook

75. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn (read by Rosalyn Landor)

76. From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front-Line Dispatches from the Advertising War by Jerry Della Femina

77. The Viognier Vendetta: A Wine Country Mystery by Ellen Crosby

78. The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

79. Thomas Jefferson by R. B. Bernstein

80. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

81. Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz

82. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

83. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

84. Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster by Jonathan Eig

85. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam

86. Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee

87. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

88. The White House Doctor: A Memoir by Connie Mariano

89. The Report by Jessica Francis Kane

90. The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory by David Plouffe

91. Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson

92. Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle

93. How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Paul Bloom

94. Morning Miracle: Inside The Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life by Dave Kindred

95. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

96. The Left-Hander Syndrome: The Causes and Consequences of Left-Handedness by Stanley Coren

97. Blind Side by Catherine Coulter

98. Bliss, Remembered by Frank Deford

99. The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass

100. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

101. News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist by Laurie Hertzel

102. Austenland by Shannon Hale

103. Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir by Doris Kearns Goodwin

104. Schooled by Gordon Korman

105. Deadlines Past: Forty Years of Presidential Campaigning: A Reporter’s Story by Walter R. Mears

106. The Fiddler in the Subway: The True Story of What Happened When a World-Class Violinist Played for Handouts… and Other Virtuosic Performances by America’s Foremost Feature Writer by Gene Weingarten

107. Ape House by Sara Gruen (read by Paul Boehmer)

108. Animal Farm by George Orwell

109. Up in Honey's Room by Elmore Leonard (read by Arliss Howard)

110. Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President by Donald R. McCoy

111. The Shimmering Blond Sister by David Handler

112. Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye

113. Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr (read by Therese Plummer)

114. Herblock: A Cartoonist’s Life: Self-Portrait and Views of Washington from Roosevelt to Clinton by Herbert Block

115. Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles and Scrawls from the Oval Office from the creators of Cabinet Magazine

116. Making Toast: A Family Story by Roger Rosenblatt

117. The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick

118. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

119. William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls by Katie Nicholl

120. Balance: In Search of the Lost Sense by Scott McCredie

121. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood by Jane Leavy

122. Once upon a Rose by Judith O'Brien

123. Portrait of Camelot: A Thousand Days in the Kennedy White House by Richard Reeves

124. The Future of Success by Robert B. Reich

125. A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton

126. 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It by David Niven

127. Living Oprah: My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk with the Queen of Talk by Robyn Okrant

128. Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie

129. The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence by Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin

130. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell (read by Ann Marie Lee)

131. The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown (read by Rosalyn Landor)

132. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

133. Life from Scratch by Melissa Ford