So you will recall I had a goal to read 52 books in 2011 . I surpassed that in June and decided I would try for the rather lofty goal of 100 books in 2011....
I didn't quite make it, but pretty close!
Grand total: 96.
I'm pretty stoked with my efforts, it's been many years since I have been able to truly indulge and read to my heart's content and I have loved reading so many books this year.
The best in 2011?
Best new (to me) author: Geraldine Brooks. I read People of the Book and Year of Wonders. Both were excellent. I love her style of writing and the historical research she does to make her books come alive. I have March (a tale of the civil war) to read in 2012.
Best series: The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carringer. Fun, light hearted, steampunk at it's funniest. Extremely enjoyable reads.
Best fantasy/epic saga/omg the size of these books! : Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin. I read 3 books in this series and loved them. They are epic, long and complicated, and sometimes frustrating, but great story telling.
Best unexpectedly good read: World War Z by Max Brooks. Superb. Scary. Engrossing. Excellent.
Best Audio: Feed by M T Anderson.
Best YA: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey. A NZcentric supernatural thriller set in Christchurch. I can't wait to read more of Healey's work.
Other excellent and highly recommended books:
Room by Emma Donaghue
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones
13 reasons why by Jay Asher
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer (also gets the tearjerker award!)
The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell
Water for Elephants and Ape House both by Sara Gruen
City of Glass, City of Bones, and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (YA)
The Guildhunter series by Nalini Singh.
What was your favourite read/s in 2011?
It's really funny seeing Karen's name pop up all over the place. I knew her through English Lit circles in NZ and Aus, and through LiveJournal, many, many moons ago. I must keep a lookout for her books. It's great that's she's published now, she is an excellent writer.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite reads for 2011 were A Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger), and Kingdom of Fear (Hunter S. Thompson) - neither are authors or genres I'd usually read, but I thought they were fantastic.
Happy New Year! Hope it's settled and happy for you and your whanau. :)
What an awesome effort Gabs!
ReplyDeleteI'm rekindling my love of reading again (finding that I can read at night once more now Toby is a bit older).
My favourite reads for 2011 were Christopher Womersley's 'Bereft' (one of the best books I've read in a long long time, cannot rave about this book enough), 'On Chesil Beach' by Ian McEwan, 'The River' by Kate Grenville and 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.