What I Read in 2011

My sister-in-law Kate recently posted a list of all the books she read in 2011 on her blog, and I was blown away: I think I counted 57. None of which I'd read, although there is a copy of Blindness on my shelf and I have been intending to read it for...oh, the last five years or so, in case that counts.

My list is much shorter. Here, in roughly chronological order, are the books I read in 2011:

Fanny Hill

Just Kids

The Glass House

Vox

The Bride Stripped Bare

Foolsgold

Jealousy: The Other Life of Catherine M.

Lit

Bliss:Writing to Find Your True Self

The Other Side of Desire

Writing From the Heart

Sex at Dawn

The War of Art

Creative Is a Verb

Ordinary Genius

The Chronology of Water

A Billion Wicked Thoughts

Bonk

High Fidelity

Nineteen books. A third of the number Kate read. Not that I'm competitive or anything.

Oh, have I mentioned that in 2011, she also found a literary agent, had a play produced, wrote the first draft of a YA novel for the NaNoWriMo competition, and made (and sold) a bunch of her new whimsical bird/people sculptures?

So I was surprised when Kate recently wrote me an email asking if I wanted to be her “writing buddy.” Her idea was that we'd send each other pages every week – not for feedback, exactly, just as a way of checking in. It seems to me that Kate is doing just fine on her own, and that I'm the one who could really benefit from some hand-holding – but hey, I'm not going to argue with her about who is likely to get more out of this deal. Sign me up, I told her.