Books Read in 2008

While I didn't keep up with my monthly summaries here, I did manage to update my list with the books I finished.

1. I Am America (and So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert 1/4/08
2. The Chick and the Dead (A Pepper Martin Mystery) by Casey Daniels 1/08/08
3. Lean Mean Thirteen (A Stephanie Plum novel) by Janet Evanovich 1/14/08
4. Body Movers by Stephanie Bond 1/22/08
5. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter 1/26/08
6. Bad Heir Day by Wendy Holden 2/02/08
7. Sorcery and the Single Girl by Mindy Klasky 02/08/08
8. Girl Walking Backwards by Bett Williams 02/13/08
9. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro 2/17/08
10. Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie 2/22/08
11. Grecian Holiday by Kate Cann 2/25/08
12. Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain 2/27/08
13. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer 3/02/08
14. Tombs of Endearment by Casey Daniels 3/09/08
15. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 3/15/08
16. Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? by Jen Lancaster 03/27/08
17. Getting the Boot (S.A.S.S) by Peggy Guthart Strauss 04/03/08
18. The Places In Between by Rory Stewart 04/18/08
19. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld 4/23/08
20. Cashed In by Jackie Chance 5/9/08
21. Death by Chick Lit by Lynn Harris 05/15/08
22. The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf 05/22/08
23. Specials by Scott Westerfeld 06/01/08
24. The Sound of Munich (SASS) by Suzanne Nelson 06/04/08
25. Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep 06/09/08
26. Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat hair by Laurie Perry 06/15/08
27. What's a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie 06/21/08
28. A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton 06/27/08
29. Demons Are a Ghoul's Best Friend by Victoria Laurie 07/01/08
30. How to Be a Villain: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More! by Neil Zawacki 07/07/08
31. The Trouble With Magic by Madelyn Alt 07/26/08
32. A Charmed Death by Madelyn Alt 08/09/08
33. If I Am Missing Or Dead by Janine Latus 08/13/08
34. Baggage by Emily Barr 08/23/08
35. Testing Kate by Whitney Gaskell 09/01/08
36. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 09/06/08
37. Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig 09/11/08
38. 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover by Linda Wisdom 09/27/08
39. Angel at Troublesome Creek by Mignon F. Ballard 10/01/08
40. An Angel to Die For by Mignon F. Ballard 10/07/08
41. Magic and the Modern Girl by Mindy Klasky 10/16/08
42. Shadow of an Angel by Mignon F. Ballard 10/23/08
43. Witch Way to Murder by Shirley Damsgaard 10/30/08
44. Flamingo Fatale by Jimmie Ruth Evans 11/06/08
45. Too Late for Angels by Mignon F. Ballard 11/13/08
46. Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster 11/19/08
47. Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves 12/14/08
48. With or Without You by Carole Matthews 12/21/08
49. Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt 12/27/08

Altogether, I finished 49 books in 2008. I was a little disappointed with the final tally, but I had a hard time focusing on books. I think I just had a lot on my mind and found it difficult to concentrate on reading. Luckily, I think I'm getting back into reading a bit so I'm looking forward to finishing more books this year.

The best part about the books I did finish though is that I loved almost all of them. So while I may not have had the quantity I was looking for, I did have the quality I wanted. :)

End of Year Stats

I have a slight obsession with keeping track of how many times I go to the post office and how much money I spend there on my books and DVDs. For the record, swapadvd.com wasn't a factor in 2007, so that alone can partially explain why I spent more money in 2008. Anyway, without further ado, here are my end of year stats:

2008
January: 20.42
February: 14.69
March: 23.30
April: 15.48
May: 20.33
June: 21.97
July: 9.80
August: 12.53
September: 9.84
October: 30.29
November: 12.92
*December: 1.85
Total: $193.42
Total trips to the post office: 35

* My shelf was on hold for most of the month because I went out of town. Otherwise, that number would have been higher. It also had a big impact on January 2009's numbers. Trust me.

2007
January: 6.84
February: 8.67
March: 37.65
April: 9.06
May: 18.30
June: 29.79
July: 5.90
August: 14.44
September: 19.89
October: 6.41
November: 11.69
December: 18.06
Total: $186.70
Total trips to the post office: 41

So, there you go. It's actually rather fascinating if you ask me. It's neat to see that July is consistently a cheap month for me while March stayed on the high side. The difference between October 2007 and October 2008 is crazy too! I don't know why this fascinates me so much, but it does. To be honest, I haven't been posting books as much as I used to either. I have quite the pile of books just waiting to be posted, but with the current state of the economy, I'm hesitant to post too many at once. Spending money is one of my least favorite activities really. So, I am letting them pile up a bit more than I'd like in the meantime. The good news is that I still have plenty of credits and stacks of new (to me) books and DVDs. :)