Books of 2011
Here’s what I read this year!
- The China Study
- Hotel Pastis
- Ender’s Game
- Nurture Shock
- A Farmhouse in Provence
- Gargoyle
- A Good Year
- The Help
- Girl with a Dragon Tattoo 1
- Girl with a Dragon Tattoo 2
- Girl with a Dragon Tattoo 3
- Dry
- My Antonia
- Dune
- The Beach
- Outlander
- Rasputin’s Daughter
- Lightening Thief
- Sea of Monsters
- History of the Home – Bill Bryson
- Mountain of Crumbs
- Game of Thrones (The Song of Ice & Fire #1)
- Clash of Kings (The Song of Ice & Fire #2)
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Toulouse Provence (re-read) – Peter Mayle
- Storm of Swords (The Song of Ice & Fire #3)
- On Rue Tatin – Susan Hermann Loomis
- We’ve always had Paris…and Provence – Patricia & Walter Wells
- Vanity Fair – Thackeray
- Prey – Michael Crichton
Looking back on this list, the ones where I can say I remember the story most vividly (which is a good thing in my book) are: Ender’s Game, Gargoyle, Dune, and The Beach. Oh and the Song of Ice & Fire series…but maybe because I read 3 books from the series for a total of about a zillion pages read on the subjects of knights, medieval lords and ladies, and the occasional monster-y creature. This year looks to have been a nerdy & science-fiction heavy year for me.
I only read one classic – Vanity Fair – this year. The other subject I seem to have majored in is “life in Southern France”. I’m a sucker for anything about Provence. Two of this year’s books (Mountain of Crumbs and Rasputin’s Daughter) took place in Russia, which I also always enjoy for some reason.
I really enjoyed The China Study, which is a nonfiction book about the health benefits of being vegan. Inspirational & fascinating.
Least favorites were Lightening Thief & Sea of Monsters. I got these from the young adult fiction setting and they turned out to be written for…maybe 11 year olds? I was kind of having fun brushing up on greek gods & mythology for awhile but then I snapped out of it and couldn’t get past the terribly weak storylines. I have almost no memory of reading A Good Year, so that must have been bad too.
I had planned to finish Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, as you may remember from my Books of 2010 post. I made it a little more than 1/2 way through and then just decided that I didn’t like it at all and didn’t want to finish it. I disliked the characters – they were either perfect, good, sickly sweet and annoying…or ultra evil and horrible. It was also a bleak and depressing scene of poverty, starvation, and badness in general with no moments of humor or interest to save it.
Brothers Karamazov was lost in the move and so I haven’t seen it in quite some time. So I didn’t read it. Maybe in 2012?
PS Next year I’ll start keeping track of the authors, but there is no way I’m going back through to look them all up right now. One of my resolutions will have to be to be more like my book-idol, Erin. Check out her list!
Western intellectual history always begins with the ancient Greeks, therefore Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey is a natural. I read them in seventh grade (Thank you Mrs. Flannigan) and I still remember them. And for a vivid story you can always remember (sexual passages or cohesion between the mind and the body?) try D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Happy New Year!
Peace & Love
30 books is really great, especially with all the George RR Martin – OMG, the first one took me so long to read that I decided not to read any more for a while.
I also like books with STORY, so I think that I will have to read some of those, too! Always on the lookout for books!
I loooove this idea Sarah! Though, I would likely be less proud to confess: Bossy Pants, and The Hunger Games Series as part of my year;)
hehe, I read hunger games last year. loved it. Ender’s Game really reminded me of Hunger Games, btw…but it’s more of a “classic”. but still – really good story along the lines of Hunger Games!