Street fund and books

Some time ago, I wrote about my street fund, the money I find on the streets, under counters, and in other places. Here's the tally for 2008:

• 117 pennies
  
• 11 nickels
  
• 23 dimes
  
• 12 quarters
  
• 1 $1 bill
  
• 1 $5 bill
  

The total for 2008 is $13.02. (I also found two Canadian nickels and a Canadian dime. Marion, the ice cream's on me!)

For years now, Izzy and I have made it a goal to read 25 new books a year. The past several years I've averaged in the low forties. Customers at the store say, "Heh, heh, I suppose now you that you own a bookstore, you don't have time to read." I always reply, "I read a lot. Reading is my job." This year I read 89 books. Here's the breakdown. Click on a chart to enlarge it.

The best books I read in 2008 were

• The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  
• Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
  
• The Kingdom on the Waves, M. T. Anderson
  
• Fine Just the Way It Is, E. Annie Proulx
  
• A Mercy, Toni Morrison
  

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?--Henry Ward Beecher