10. Bird by Bird– Anne Lamott
A re-read. I love this book. I wish there were four more just like it, but then that’s why this book is so perfect. There’s nothing else quite like it.

It’s a good thing I keep a list of these somewhere else. I’m writing these four entries in reverse, as I remember what I read.

11. Handle with Care– Jodi Picoult
So I liked this book, but not as much as I had the other book of hers I’ve read. The other book of hers that EVERYONE has read, My Sister’s Keeper, was really a page-turner. It’s also a movie now, one I have not seen.

12. Shutter Island– Dennis Lehane
Lehane might be my new writer boyfriend. OK, no. We all know that’s Dan Chaon. It would be Michael Chabon or T.C. Boyle, my two favorite male writers, but Boyle is weird and Chabon? Well, his wife was on Oprah once, and I made the mistake of catching that. I know enough. Although I really hope to get a chance to slobber over him at AWP Denver in a couple of weeks. Slobber over his writing. Anyway, right now I’m crushing on Lehane. His style is fast and tight and happening. Nothing pretentious, lots of surprises. I just got a copy of his historical novel The Given Day, and am looking forward to a moment in the future when I might get to read it. Shutter Island went with me on the cruise ship, and it paid for its packing space in enjoyment. It also received the husband seal of approval.

13. Starvation Lake– Bryan Gruley
There is a lotta hockey in this one, but that’s the price you pay for a pretty good story, some twists, some turns, a good, solid protagonist that I could stand to read about again. Which is good, since I heard there’s a series. Sigh. Do all books have to go to series? Maybe when I get a book deal for a series, I will return to this entry and kick my own ass.