Another year over

It is that time of year again. Of course, I am referring to the end-of-year-list time. Have you been losing sleep wondering what your favourite things from 2010 are? No longer. Putting things in lists ranked from best to worst is everyone's favourite Christmas gift to themselves. I can't get too snarky, because reading these lists is always fun, and they are great for drawing your attention to books you didn't know existed. With that, I admit shamefully that I had not heard of any of the books on this list from NPR. They sound great, though, and I am particularly interested in The Things a Brother Knows. Fodder for my next trip to the bookstore? Not that I needed it.

Thinking over the year, I actually read very little. Reading for a living (I am a proofreader) is wonderful, but one negative side effect is that it can be difficult to come home and delve into a book when you've been reading all day. And sometimes when I do read, I find myself mentally adjusting the style of the book to our house style, correcting sentence structure I disagree with, etc. This doesn't happen all the time, and the more books I read outside of work, the better I am with it. But it's deciding to pick up a new book that can be a challenge.

Solution: the book club I mentioned in an earlier post. It starts this January, with the topic Wars of the 20th Century. I am so excited, you guys. Though I have neglected it in recent years, I used to have a bit of a love of history (history award, twelfth grade, *ahem*), and this might turn out to be the best category. As for what book to read, I haven't decided for sure, but I am thinking about Pierre Berton. Some might say I should move my focus from the most famous wars of the 20th century, but to those people I say make your own book club. Canadian history is really impressive, and I miss it. I am not sure which book by Berton I'll choose yet, but I am leaning toward Marching as to War.

The actual details of this book club have been vague so far, except for the picking-categories part, so I am not sure how the discussion is going to go. But I will definitely post my thoughts here, and you all would certainly be welcome to participate in any conversations about them. Starting in January 2011!