Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 Reading.

I have done very well reading this year, even if I haven't done very well blogging.  Fifty books.  Nearly one a week.  Most pretty good, a couple of great, a couple of miserable ones.  At least once classic.  I read some of these on paper, but this year really read a lot as e-books, many out of the library.

Of these, there are only a few I rated five stars -A Discovery of Witches  - which I just loved, Doc - which made me love Doc Holliday, and is the one "best list" book that I really liked  (having made an NPR list of best books of the year),  the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - a great middle school book about growing up across different cultures within the US. 

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy, #1)DocThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Another I thought well worth a read include In the Sea There are Crocodiles, about a young boy making his way through Afghanistan, Iran, and other points, on his own after being abandoned for his own safety.  Based on a true story, this one is well worth giving to your teen or preteen just like The Absolutely True Diary of  A Part-Time Indian.  The third preteen-teen book worth reading is The Hunger Games.

In the Sea There Are CrocodilesThe Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time this year.  And Up the Down Staircase for the umpteenth time.  And one true classic, A Tale of Two Cities.  

To Kill a MockingbirdUp the Down StaircaseA Tale of Two Cities

 Seven were non-fiction - have to increase that number for next year.   Several of these were memoirs - I must like memoirs.  The best of these was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's SoulBlood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant ChefThe Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New YorkLook Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger'sTalking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut

The Immortal Life of Henrietta LacksThe First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

I read several award winners, book list books, best of books, few of which I liked as much as the critics did.  These included the raved about The Sense of an Ending, ˆThe Tiger's Wife, State of Wonder, and Swamplandia, The Sisters Brothers - none of which really thrilled me.    

The Sense of an EndingThe Sisters BrothersState of WonderSwamplandia!The Tiger's Wife


Also:

A Visit from the Goon Squad






















Generally poor crime books - my guilty pleasure:

Mystery (Alex Delaware, #26)Guilt by AssociationPort Mortuary (Kay Scarpetta Series #18)Heat Rises (Nikki Heat, #3)Deception (Alex Delaware, #25)The Keeper of Lost Causes (Serie Q, #1)Bubba and the Dead Woman (Bubba Snoddy, #1)The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (A Flavia de Luce Mystery, #1)The Fifth Witness (Mickey Haller, #4)


And the rest:


The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, #1)Ape HouseThe Night CircusThe Buddha in the AtticSo Much for That
The Twelfth EnchantmentThe Four Ms. BradwellsDreams of JoyThe UncouplingHeads You Lose
Little BeeThe Weird SistersThe Book of Unholy MischiefAnthillMajor Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Windup GirlAnimal DreamsThe Indian ClerkVidaThe Map of Time