Books read in 2011

Last year I wrote about 3 new year's goals. They were to read more books, run a half marathon, and learn more french. Unfortunately, all three of those things take up a significant amount of free time, and so only two of them were accomplished. Half marathon? Check! French? Umm... not so much. But books! Nailed it.

In 2011, I read 52 books, for an average of 1 a week. Go me! And the winners were:

1. Bella Tuscany (Frances Mayes) finished 1.2.11
2. Nocturnes (Kazuo Ishigure) finished 1.4.11
3. Bangkock 8 (John Burdette) finished 1.12.11
4. A Death in Vienna (Frank Tallis) finished 1.17.11
5. Maus (Art Spiegelman) finished 1.18.11
6. Dimanche (Irene Nemirovsky) finished 2.1.11
7. Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 (All 8 of the graphic novels included here) Year Long
8. As Always, Julia (The letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto) (Ed. Joan Reardon) finished 2.26.11
9. Julia Child, A Life (Laura Shapiro) finished 3.13.11
10. Rescue (Anita Shreve) finished 3.15.11
11. House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski) finished 4.10.11
12. Stern Men (Elizabeth Gilbert) finished 4.18.11
13. Garlic & Sapphires (Ruth Reichl) finished 4.27.11
14. Mathilda Savitch (Victor Lodato) finished 4.30.11
15. Glovers Mistake (Nick Laird) finished 5.1.11
16. Doghead (Morten Ramsland) finished 5.13.11
17. Packing for Mars (Mary Roach) finished 5.26.11
18. Peril at End House (Agatha Christie) finished 5.30.11
19. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Aimee Bender) finished 6.9.11
20. Twenties Girl (Sophie Kinsella) finished 6.14.11
21. Spook (Mary Roach) finished 6.23.11
22. Death in the Clouds (Agatha Christie) finished 6.26.11
23. The Paris Wife (Paula McClain) finished 7.6.11
24. Blood, Bones & Butter (Gabriella Hamilton) finished 7.11.11
25. Turn of Mind (Alice LaPlante) finished 7.16.11
26. Before I go to Sleep (SJ Watson) finished 7.21.11
27. The Unnamed (Joshua Ferris) finished 7.21.11
28. The Edible Woman (Margaret Atwood) finished 7.25.11
29. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) finished 8.3.11
30. The Shining (Stephen King) finished 8.24.11
31. In the Garden of Beasts (Eric Larsen) finished 9.11.11
32. Blankets (Craig Thompson) finished 9.11.11
33. Bossypants (Tina Fey) finished 9.14.11
34. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Douglas Adams) finished 9.17.11
35. The Robber Bride (Margaret Atwood) finished 9.28.11
36. Goodbye Chunky Rice (Craig Thompson) finished 9.29.11
37. The Family Fang (Kevin Wilson) finished 10.3.1
38. Oryx & Crake (Margaret Atwood) finished 10.26.11
39. The Marriage Plot (Jeffrey Eugenides) finished 11.5.11
40. The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood) finished 11.6.11
41. Les Liasions Dangereuses (Pierre Choderlos de Laclos) finished 11.20.11
42. Miss Perigrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs) finished 11.25.11
43. A Drink Before the War (Dennis Lehane) finished 12.2.11
44. One Day (David Nicholls) finished 12.5.11
45. Darkness Take my Hand (Dennis Lehane) finished 12.8.11
46. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) finished 12.10.11
47. Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins) finished 12.12.11
48. MockingJay (Suzanne Collins) finished 12.16.11
49. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (Patton Oswalt) finished 12.17.11
50. Jesus' Son (Dennis Johnson) finished 12.18.11
51. Sacred (Dennis Lehane) finished 12.24.11
52. Gone Baby Gone (Dennis Lehane) finished 12.29.11

Least Favorite Book of 2011: I enjoyed nearly every book I read. There were two, however, that let me down a bit. The first was A Death in Vienna - This was one I actually managed to write a review about, which can be found here. The second one that sort of disappointed me was Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride. I've loved every Margaret Atwood book I've read, but this one was a real snooze fest, in my opinion. I should have carried on with Alias Grace which unfortunately fell by the wayside sometime in Spring.


Favorite Book of 2011: How to narrow this one down? I know I read some pretty lame stuff (there is one chic lit book in that list, and several easy-peasy Agatha Christie books) but I had some winners in there as well. Maus is a heartbreaking graphic novel that I just loved, but in that uncomfortable way of loving not the content, but the honesty and love found in the story... As Always, Julia was wonderful to me. I became a bit obsessed with Julia Child this year, and this book was incredible. It was a compilation of letters between her and a friend that opened up a little portal to how she thought. I think she was an amazing woman, and this book confirmed that for me. I also really enjoyed the Hunger Games Trilogy - quick reads, but really fascinating books to me. Oryx & Crake, and The Family Fang might rank up there, too. Man, so hard to choose.


Weirdest Book of 2011: Hands down, House of Leaves. If you have never heard of this book, do a Google images search on it, and you'll see why it was so nutty, and why it took me so long to read.


Total Pages Read in 2011 (Not counting the 8 Buffy graphic novels): 16,764


Overall, a very good reading year. Not much to be disappointed in, and several authors who have me wanting to read more of their stuff. Happy reading in 2012, friends.