Thursday, December 22, 2011

My Favorites of 2011

  With a little more than a week left of the year, I've read 123 books in 2011.  Yes, it's a lot, but it's a bit short of my goal of 140 books.  I read an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction, books published this year and books that have been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while.  I've enjoyed most of them, loved a lot of them, and surprisingly disliked very few.

  Rather than making a list, I thought I'd highlight some of my favorites of the year:

  Favorite fiction published in 2011:  The Submission by Amy Waldman
  Favorite fiction published before 2011:  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
  Favorite non-fiction published in 2011:  Man Seeks God by Eric Weiner (I just finished this and have yet to write about it, but it is a great book.)
  Favorite non-fiction published before 2011:  The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson
 
  I'd also like to mention the most pleasant surprises of the year:
  These are all books that I discovered thanks to the Books on the Nightstand Readers' Retreat I attended in April (best weekend ever).  I am pretty sure I would not have selected any of these on my own and I definitely would have missed out, because these are all original novels that were a pleasure to read.   I'll be attending their retreat again in 2012(in Oxford, Mississippi) and I cannot wait to see what gems they have for me this time around.

6 comments:

  1. 123 books, I'm impressed! I might have approached that number in years prior to the arrival of my 6 year old...but wait, if I can count books I read to him I might have you beat!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You did a great job with the number of books that you read this year! I don't think I did as well though :( I have read a few of the books on your list, but most of them are on my TBR pile, and hearing how good they were makes me want to reorganize the pile for the new year! Great post today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, that's an impressive number, Sue! Congrats and have a great holiday :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great amount of reading Suzanne! I see some familiar books on your list. Cutting for Stone I'll probably read next, so I hope it's as good as you say!

    ReplyDelete
  5. yeay! sounds like a good year for you. You read more than I did :). And I'm really looking forward to Cutting for Stone. I remember your thoughts on it and have it on the list (for sometime....)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cutting for Stone is one of the most interesting books i have read in awhile.Beautiful, descriptive passages that brought me right into the world of the characters.

    ReplyDelete

What do you think? Good or bad, I'd love to hear from you (but be nice - I'm sensitive!)