Last year, I read 102 books. About 45 percent of these books fall into the Young Adult/Intermediate fiction categories, which might explain how I could read that many. I've found that I really enjoy YA books, as they tend to be leaner without losing any substance.

Here are some of the books I enjoyed the most during 2002:

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban & Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling - I think Professor Snape is one of the most interesting characters in series fiction right now.
• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser - I don't think Greg and I have stepped into a McDonalds since reading this book.
• Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson - one of the best and most ambitious alternate history novels ever. And being a native Northern Californian, I loved piecing together the locales.
• Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson - Haunting story of a young girl dealing with a horrible situation with realistic pain and humor.
• Tamora Pierce's work, especially the Immortals series - I read every novel currently in print by Tamora Pierce. I love her depiction of strong women without demeaning or minimizing the roles of men. Highly recommended for your young female relatives.
• Passage - Connie Willis - Could have used some trimming, but I couldn't put it down. Mildly disturbing subject matter, for someone who wants to be immortal, like me.
• Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang - I hadn't read any of Ted Chiang's work until reading this collection, and now I eagerly await more. I actually cried at the end of "Story of Your Life", and I'm really not prone to doing that.
• Voodoo Science - Robert Park - The American Physical Society's resident debunker incorporates the best of his weekly column into a solid, well-written, and frightening view of the pervasiveness of junk science in our society.

I've only read 7 books so far in 2003. I think it's a good start.