Before I started using Goodreads, I started keeping a text file of the books I read. This only lasted one year, but I thought I’d share some of the books I found on my list! I cut out a few, mostly ones I read for school, but I have 38 books to share with you that I read in the year 2008! It’s funny to see how my tastes have changed.
38 Books I Read in 2008
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
- The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
- Harry Potter series
- Eragon by Christopher Paolini
- Eldest by Christopher Paolini
- Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
- The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
- The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan by Henry H. Neff
- Evernight by Claudia Gray
- Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
- The Companion’s Quartet, Book One: Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding
- The Companion’s Quartet, Book Two: The Gorgon’s Gaze by Julia Golding
- The Companion’s Quartet, Book Three: Mines of the Minotaur by Julia Golding
- The Tapestry: The Second Siege by Henry H. Neff
- The Lost World by Michael Crichton
- Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
- The Companion’s Quartet, Book Four: The Chimera’s Curse by Julia Golding
- 3 books from A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Percy Jackson & The Olympians series
- A Bend In The Road by Nicholas Sparks
- A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks
- Message In A Bottle by Nicholas Sparks
- The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
- Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
- Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
- Luthiel’s Song: Dreams of the Ringed Vale by Robert Marston Fannéy
- Luthiel’s Song: War of the Mists by Robert Marston Fannéy
- Graceling by Kristin Cashore
- Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
How my reading tastes have changed
I remember this year so well. I hid out in the school library desperately looking for new books. At this point in my life I was a VERY picky reader. I only wanted to read romance and fantasy, but I had a hard time finding books that fit my interests exactly. I reread a lot of books I’d already read before, just because I couldn’t find new ones I wanted to read.
I realized that I like the Narnia movies more than the books
I really, really struggled with reading C.S. Lewis’s books. I had read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe years earlier (before the movie) and didn’t remember it much, so I thought I’d reread the series. Well, I bailed after a while. Turns out I don’t like Lewis’s writing style AT ALL.
I found a few middle grade series I like
I particularly enjoyed The Companion’s Quartet (animal companions for the win!!), The Tapestry (totally Harry Potter-esque), and Luthiel’s Song (still waiting for book 3 to be released…).
Nicholas Sparks phase, much?
Look at all those Nicholas Sparks books piled in there. Talk about a phase! I think I turned to those when I couldn’t find anything else to read, hah!
Tons of rereads
As I said, I struggled finding new books to read, so I reread a lot, including: His Dark Materials series, Harry Potter, Eragon, Angels & Demons, Percy Jackson, and a few others.
There’s loads more of “Chaos Theory” in the Jurassic Park book than in the movie!
I love the Jurassic Park movie, but it turns out the book is pretty epic too! It goes into a lot more depth about Chaos Theory, which was pretty cool. The movie talked about it like two times, with an epic water drop demonstration (hah). But in the movie, it’s a really common theme throughout the entire book, and it’s actually pretty fascinating!
I try to re-read Harry Potter at least once a year. Should be a law for that. I have read Angels & Demons too and I loved it. (The Da Vinci Code too!) I have Jurassic Park, but haven’t read it yet. Same with The Golden Compass and Percy Jackson.
I actually started the Tapestry series, but I didn’t like it that much. I also had a Nicholas Sparks phase, although I never read The Notebook lolz. And I still have the movie edition of Eragon. =)
I totally agree about that Harry Potter reread law! 😀 I reread it in late 2013 but I’m already itching for another reread!
Same here lolz 😛
Wow, your tastes have changed. I read ONLY adult paranormal and urban fantasy books when I first started reading. Now I love YA, NA, erotica, contemporary romance, dystopian, fantasy, and sci-fi.
It seems like blogging causes a lot of people to branch out!
I also used to re-read a lot, since I could only find out about new books by searching in bookstores and what I used to find wouldn’t always be what I was hoping! Great post!
I think that’s also exactly why I used to re-read a lot! Getting involved in book blogging makes it so much easier to find new books!
I love Narnia! Books AND movies. 🙂 My sister and I listened to them rather obsessively on audio when we were little…but the movies?! Aw, gosh, they were perfect. My reading tastes are WAY different than they used to be! I used to read only classic style things (like Elizabeth George Spear, Eloise McGraw, and stuff. The Phantom Tollbooth? The Hundred Dresses? That was me). Now I read just about anything YA…and I’m expanding to MG too. I thought, when I turned 20 I’d start reading adult books or something…ha. Turns out I really like MG. XD
I agree that the Narnia movies are great! They did a fabulous job with them. They’re one of the better book to movie adaptations. 🙂
My reading taste changed a lot. I used to read adult books and most of them were fantasy or thrillers. Now I read many several genres of YA books and rarely an adult. I also read a lot of books in Dutch, but I think I read about 5 of them in a year now. I prefer English.
I put on hold the first book of The Companion’s Quartet at the library after I read this list. I got curious about it. I really enjoyed Harry Potter and The Northern Lights saga, which are also in your list, so I thought I might like The Companion’s Quartet.
By the way, I would be quite interested in an article about your usage of GoodRead. Why is it good in your opinion and what you’re using it for.
I really hope you like The Companion’s Quartet! It’s been a few years now since I read it, but I remember loving it. Especially if you enjoy The Northern Lights (the animal companion aspect is similar).
And thanks for the article suggestion!
Yeah, I went through a big fantasy phase: Eragon, Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, Harry Potter and the Inkheart trilogy. I reread A LOT too because I was scared or reading new books (silly little girl). Great post! 🙂
Haha that’s exactly my reasoning too! I was afraid of branching out and was so trapped in my tiny corner of specific fantasy books.
haha i totally agree! my reading tases were so bad and I also had a huge Nicholas Sparks phase. it was so bad and I used to be into a ton of middle grade stuff as well. thanks for sharing, Ashley!! <33 (sorry for the horrible typing I'm on my phone haha)
Haha, I had a Nicholas Sparks phase too where I just read every book of his I could get my hands on. I think I must have read too much because now I have absolutely zero interest in reading them… But I am really interested in watching the movies! I haven’t watched The Notebook yet and I really want to! And I’m not sure how my reading tastes have changed… I’m in my teens so any further back is just when I was stuck reading my Magic Tree House and Geronimo Stilton series. Great post Ashley! It was so much fun to see what you read before you blogged! 🙂
I used to love The Companions Quartet. It’s been so long since I read that series, I think a re-read is definitely in order. My pre-blog discovery reading was pretty similar. A lot of re-reading my favourites. Then I discovered blogs and Goodreads and found all of these amazing books that I absolutely had to read. Even now, there are a few books on your list that I’m going to have to check out!
I’m working on finishing all my unread Nicholas Sparks book this year.
I reread fewer books, since I started blogging. I keep finding too many other books that I want to read.
I actually didn’t read nearly as much as I do now, I mostly played video games. I don’t remember much of what I did read aside from Tamora Pierce and Kelley Armstrong. I’m going to re-reading all of those soon too 🙂
I had a hard time finding good books to read too. And like you, I reread lots of books that I Ioved (Harry Potter was a frequent reread). Now, I hardly ever reread and often wish I had time to reread some of my favorites.
I was really into MG. I’d borrow series of books like 20 each week and it would be crazy. Now, I pretty much hate MG. So it’s really weird to compare taste changes. I definitely get it.
Hmm, before I started blogging, I read a lot of middle grade books and some young adult and a bit of classics because of school. I was into the Goosebumps series, Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, Charlotte’s Web, Twilight Saga, Jane Eyre. I guess a little bit of this and that. But the middle grade books were during my elementary days. The only thing I read from your list before I started blogging was The Giver which was so good! I even contacted the author telling her it was awesome and asking her about what really happened in the ending. She responded to me and I was so happy haha. She said we can interpret the ending in whatever suits us.
I loved the Philip Pullman books, I read them through obsessively. Unusual but enjoyed them.
I’m working on finishing all my unread Nicholas Sparks book this year.
I read a lot of YA before blogging, but I also read a lot of John Saul and James Patterson. I loved psychological thrillers and detective mysteries!
Hmmmm. I confess to reading a LOT of Nora Roberts before blogging. I focused mainly on paranormal romance from her and re-read my two favorite fantasy series a lot. Occasionally I would venture into some chick lit if something from the best sellers shelf at B&N caught my eye.
Now I’ll read anything, basically. Except historical romance. I hate that genre.
I read embarrassingly many Danielle Steele books a long time ago. I think I’ve read everything she published before 2008… Yeah, even if the stories were pretty much the same, just with a different setting and character names were changed, I loved those romances so much.
I hardly ever re-read back then either, though, because there were so many new books around that looked exciting, and I was a member in the book of the month club, both in the US and in Switzerland, so I got book recs that way before.
I still read a lot of romance now, but I continue to branch out a little more every year, and it’s a lot of fun to check out what other bloggers are reading.
Jurassic Park! I read it a few months ago, and wow I was impressed! I’ve always liked the movies, but the book was pretty amazing, too. It really did get more into the math/chaos theory side. And the plot was slightly different. And the characters were very different. But I love both the book and movie. Different, but both very good.
I don’t know if my preferences changed completely, or if I just added more. Once I got playing around on the internet and reading blogs and finding sites like goodreads, I became more aware of tons of books that sounded interesting to me. I guess I go through phases and currently my phase is YA and Adult/Romance/Erotica.
Actually there are quite a few books that I re-read and put them on a shelf in goodreads. I don’t know why I re-read when I have so many TBR, but sometimes you just need to revisit some favourite characters. The Twilight series was one of them until the movies scarred me for life. Now all I see when I try to re-read them is Kristen Stewart’s face and it completely turns me off. It’s a shame because before the damned movie it was a fantastic series (for me anyway).
I hope they never put a rule to re-reading great books Harry Potter, LOTR, Inkheart, Septimus Heap! 😉 I’m guilty of re-reading them too.
I know what you mean about rereading! I actually reread 2 old books last week. It was so nice!!
LOLOL Kristen Stewart’s face. My god. She has one expression in the whole world: dead eyes, mopey expression, mouth slightly ajar. That expression is basically the whole movie X_X
But yeah, I could reread Harry Potter a million times and never get bored!