My Movies and Books in 2008

This is the third year I have kept track of movies and books on my wall calendar (2007, 2006).  I only recorded books that I had read for personal enjoyment (no textbooks!) and movies that I had seen in the theater.  So, today I took down the calendar and had a look at my year in book and film.

JANUARY
A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts
Juno
I Am Legend
Charlie Wilson’s War
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
I’m Not There
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Michael Clayton

FEBRUARY
Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell
27 Dresses
The Savages
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Row Hard
Murch
The Collaborator of Bethlehem: An Omar Yussef Mystery by Matt Beynon Rhys

MARCH
A Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary
I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

APRIL
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz
Best American Non-Required Reading 2007 ed. Dave Eggers
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

MAY
Iron Man
What Happens in Vegas
Prince Caspian
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel

JUNE
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Get Smart

JULY
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

AUGUST
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Wall-E
The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon
Brideshead Revisited
Basin and Range by John McPhee
Tropic Thunder

SEPTEMBER
Superpowers by David Schwartz
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
Elegy
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

OCTOBER
Body of Lies

NOVEMBER
Quantum of Solace
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

DECEMBER
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
A Changed Man by Francine Prose
Slumdog Millionaire

In Progress: America’s Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins

I moved from Spokane to Tacoma in May and I haven't been reading as much or watching as many movies since then.  I'm still working on getting back into a routine.

By far, the worst movie I saw in 2008 was What Stays in Vegas (which wasn't particularly surprising).  27 dresses and Body of Lies weren't that great either.  I Am Legend probably had the worst ending.  Robert Downey Jr had a fantastic year.  Both Iron Man and Tropic Thunder were great.  I also really loved Juno, No Country, I'm Not There, There Will Be Blood, Wall-E, and Slumdog Millionaire. 

You can read my book reviews at goodreads.com.  Superpowers and Benedict Society were incredibly disappointing.  But, I read a whole stack of FANTASTIC books in 2008.  A Changed Man, Theodore Roosevelt, Then We Came to the End, and A Sense of the World were probably my favorites of the year.