I did not expect it to be New Year’s Eve already by the time I would get to blog again. But here we are, just six hours short of leaving the year 2009 and beginning a new and exciting year 2010.

The year 2010 will be a big year for me, what with my graduating from university with an MA and just in a couple of weeks I will be handing in my thesis, a 70+ page research paper which has been taking up most of my time in the past few weeks. It has been nearly two months since the last time that I read a book for fun. I have been doing so much reading for my thesis that I have not had the time or nerve to pick up yet another book when I am having some spare time.

And I really really miss reading. I have been doing so much reading but I still miss reading just for the fun of it, just because I love doing it. And the list of books that I am planning to read once I have handed in my thesis has just been getting longer and longer.

For Christmas, I received two books from my parents and one from my brother than I cannot wait to start reading.

My brother gave me the latest book by Cecilia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow. I used to look down on chick lit as ‘not proper literature’ and I remember a few years ago Cecilia Ahern was actually at a local bookstore signing books. I happened to be at the bookstore while she was signing books for a huge crowd of people and I had no clue who she was. She was popular already then, but as I said, chick lit was not my cup of tea. At some point I started reading chick lit and I have not stopped since. I would guess that roughly 50%, maybe more, of the books I have read in 2009 (and there have been many of them, my GoodReads account counts 75 books in the 2009 category) have been chick lit. It provides a relaxing contrast to the often demanding literature I have to read for school. I have read most of the books by Cecilia Ahern, Sophie Kinsella, and Marian Keyes, and I’ve loved most of them. I also read a book by a German chick lit author, Kerstin Gier, a few weeks ago, and I definitely want to read more by her.

My parents gave me two books by the Catalan author Maria Barbal, Emma and Inneres Land (Inner Land/Country). Both are novels about strong women* and as some of you may know, I spent a year living in Barcelona, so my mom thought I might like them. I expect them not to be the kind of novels you can read in one sitting but I am very much looking forward to reading them.

*My thesis topic is also related to the finding of an identity for women in a patriarchal society, so that is a topic I have been dealing with a lot lately.

There are several other books I am looking forward to reading this upcoming year. A friend of mine is going to lend me the Aunt Dimity mystery series by Nancy Atherton once I have handed in my thesis (she made this a condition and that was probably an excellent idea). In May, book #10 of the Sookie Stackhouse novels will be released (and I cannot wait for that one!) and I have a whole list of other books I want to read this upcoming year saved on my iPhone. I am almost more excited about all these books I will get to read when I am done with my thesis in a couple of weeks than about finishing this mammoth project that my thesis has been. Though that is definitely exciting as well!

I am about to leave for my friend’s house where we will be celebrating New Year’s Eve, and have yummy raclette, so I am going to end this here, and wish you all a

Happy New Year 2010!

Have a great time tonight and be safe!