On the Sixth Day of Christmas

....we hung out at the hotel, because it got up to 72 degrees, and it was good just to relax and not have any goals or purposes.

I exercised.  I sat by the pool.  I wrote a little.

I finished a book called Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. 

I didn't read as many books as I had hoped this year (though I knitted a lot, and that's something).  But one result of having a goal:  I did get some books in that I might not have read otherwise. 

I regret that I stopped recording books somewhere during the year.  I think in 2011 I won't try to have a goal, but I'll try to be better at recording the books I read, which is the most interesting part.  It turns out to be an eclectic list.

Besides Little Bee, I recently read an historical novel called Forge, by Laurie Anderson.  (really recently:  on the plane.)  It's the second of a planned trilogy (at least, I think it will be a trilogy) about young African Americans seeking freedom in the era of the Revoluationary War.  The first book was called Chains, and featured a young girl named Isabel who was promised freedom when her master died.  Her new master reneges on this promise though.  The second book features her friend, Curzon, who escapes and serves with the revolutionary forces in Valley Forge.  I will admit it took me awhile to get into Forge, but by the end I was eager to find out what happens next to Isabel and Curzon. 

And though it hardly qualifies as "reading", I really liked a present I got from my husband, a book called Beautiful Oops.  I grew up thinking it was a sin to make a mistake, so I think I need to keep this book by my bedside and read it every day for awhile.