The Books of 2011

photo credit: guzzphoto

So I reached my goal of 31 books in 2011. Most were audiobooks, the rest were courtesy of my Kindle. They are as follows:

1. Sarah Blake – The Postmistress
2. Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
3. Pat Frank – Alas, Babylon
4. Suzanne Collins – Catching Fire
5. Suzanne Collins – Mockingjay
6. Laura Hillenbrand – Unbroken
7. Beth Hoffman – Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
8. Ken Follett – Fall of Giants
9. Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness
10. Frank Brady – Endgame
11. Michael Baron – The Journey Home
12. Christopher Priest – The Prestige
13. Amanda Grange – Mr. Darcy’s Diary
14. Ron Chernow – Washington: A Life
15. Michael Connolly – The Lincoln Lawyer
16. Maureen Johnson – 13 Little Blue Envelopes
17. Alison Larkin – The English American
18. Phillippa Gregory – The White Queen
19. George R.R. Martin – A Game Of Thrones: A Song of Fire & Ice
20. Tina Fey – Bossypants
21. Philippa Ashley – Dating Mr. December
22. Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Played With Fire
23. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
24. Tatiana de Rosnay – Sarah’s Key
25. Elliot Tiber – Palm Trees on the Hudson
26. Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
27. Andrew Klavan – The Last Thing I Remember
28. Andrew Klavan – The Long Way Home
29. Andrew Klavan – The Truth of the Matter
30. Charles Todd – A Bitter Truth
31. Andrew Klavan – The Final Hour

Some of those books were gargantuan (Atlas Shrugged, Game of Thrones, Fall of Giants, Washington’s biography), and if I hadn’t read those I could probably have read another 4-5 books in 2011.

It was the year of Hunger Games, since I poured through all three at the beginning of the year. And I ended the year with another series, this one called the Homelander series, another young adult series but this time for boys.

Of the 31 books, only four were non-fiction. Endgame was a fascinating book about chess player Bobby Fisher. Washington: A Life was about our first President, George Washington. Unbroken was the gutwrenching but ultimately heartwarming story of a WWII pilot. And Bossypants was Tina Fey’s first (and hopefully not last) memoir.

A lot of the books I read in 2011 were outstanding. The Book Thief might be my favorite of the whole year, but there were other standouts including Unbroken, Atlas Shrugged, and Bossypants (which absolutely wins the award for “funniest book I read all year”).

I didn’t really read any bad books this year, which was a nice surprise.

Right now I’m finishing out the year by reading the Bible (I was originally going to do the Bible in 90 Days reading plan, but have switched to Bible in a Year because the 90 days was just not going to happen). That will get finished in 2012. Just today I started the audiobook of “The Adventures of Huck Finn” by Mark Twain.

For 2012 I don’t know what my number goal will be. I know one will be to pick up at least 2-3 PAPER books and read them – I have quite a few on my shelves that are still unread. As much as I love my Kindle and my audiobooks, I need to read the paper ones too, lest they get dusty and lonely. Maybe I’ll try for 34 books in 2012.

Books I may try to read in 2012 include The Invisible Man, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (since the updated movie is coming out), and Beloved. All three of those are considered one of the Top 100 books that everyone should read, so I’ll try to tackle those in addition to Huck Finn. This year I only read two that are normally on such lists, Atlas Shrugged and Heart of Darkness.

What was your favorite book of 2011? Any books you plan on reading in 2012?