Friday, December 16, 2011

Books: 2011

I read 39 books this year.
I have a goodreads account, but I am not very good about using it.
So since I am always looking for new book recommendations, I thought I would do the same for others. So here is my year of books in review.
Fantastic:
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
3-9. The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
10. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
11. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
12. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
13-15. The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien
16. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Great:
17. Emma by Jane Austen
18. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
19. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
20. The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
21. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
22. The Firm by John Grisham
23. The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
24. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
25. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
26. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Good:
27. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
28. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
29. The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
30. You Belong to Me by Mary Higgins Clark
31. Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark
32. All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark
33. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Fine:
34. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
35. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
36. Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
Meh:
37. Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
38. Big Fish by Daniel Wallace


I didn't include Husband-Coached Childbirth by Robert A. Bradley since I figured that's a book almost no one will want to read unless you are A. Female B. Pregnant C. Wanting to deliver naturally. If you are interested though, I highly recommend it. It got me through my first 24 hours of labor.
There were also a bunch of books that I started but didn't bother to finish. I didn't write those down this year and don't remember any of them (except Moby Dick) so no "Stay Away From" column. Maybe next year.

Any book recommendations for me?

6 comments:

  1. More Georgette Heyer, I've read pretty much all of them and even own some if you want to borrow them. The black moth is one of the best.

    I dislike Emma but maybe I should reread it since its been awhile.

    I just tried to read Frankenstein I would put that in the stay away from column. Look for the NPR best science fiction/ fantasy flow chart if you haven't seen it.

    The happiness project by gretchen rubin, I have some favorite parenting books too but you don't need those yet.

    The scarlet pimpernel was good. I've been meaning to read a tale of two cities for a jillion years.

    Ok I will stop my stream of consciousness commenting now.

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  2. The poisoners handbook it's mon fiction but really really interesting about the birth of forensic science and the discover that different poisons were in fact poisonous.

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  3. Oh my gosh Janette you read lots of long books, I'm impressed. My goal was to read 45 this year. I'm at 42, have 2 that I'm in the middle of, but still need 1 more in the next 2 weeks- yikes! You should read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It's amazing.

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  4. This is such a great idea! I think I'm going to copy you. ;] My goal was a 100, but i didn't quite reach that, ha.

    I tried reading the hunchback of notre dame, but i couldn;t finish it. i did buy the lord of the rings awhile ago, but have't gotten around to it... maybe i'll make it my next read. do you have a hard time being motivated to read a book after having seen the movie? I do especially if they follow the exact storyline. I've quit reading so many books that i'd seen the movie to first.

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  5. I've not read a lot. At all, which is why I set no reading goals. But I'm quite getting into dystopian fiction, which is what "the hunger games" and "the uglies" are. I particularly like a book called "divergent" by victoria roth and its a trilogy. two others I have read are "matched" by ally condie and "the maze runner" by james dashner--again, all dystopian trilogies with a lot of the same elements as the two above. I'm not sure about condies trilogy--its less action, but good symbolism and ideas, so you might like it actually--and james dashners trilogy falls in between. its the only one all three are out for and i like its quick rhythm of story plots, but it wasn't the best or comparable to at least the first book in roths trilogy.
    -this is michelle

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