What did I read in 2011? (and will 2012 be any different?)

Last year I took to reading books on a whim: considering whatever looked entertaining that came my way. I also kept in mind books that my co-workers, friends, and Nancy Pearl liked, and that Kirkus or Publishers Weekly gave starred reviews to ... because it is fun to have company once you've read a good book, right?!

So for 2011, I got a fair bit of reading done considering my own pacing and standards. [Please note: I am not a fast reader, and often will sound out words in my head so that the beauty of them doesn't escape me.]  I read around 36 books. How many books did you read?

36 is not a number with bragging rights around here: in fact I have a co-worker that can easily read a book a day (... plus she has super-duper-high retention, and it seems that she can easily refer to the specific details of books read in days gone by) and other co-workers who plumb loads of the non-fiction variety. Me, I mostly read fiction with a dash of the non.

Further, I was talking to my new friend Misha the other day and we were discussing top reading picks for the year (persuasion enough for me to actually come up with a list.) So, without further ado, here are some books that stood out for various reasons with a few guilty pleasures:

Sunshine, re-released with a silly gold-sparkly cover in trade book size, by Robin McKinley ... not sure which year I re-read it tho' ... could've been in '10. Love it, love it, love it. My fav vampire book to date.

Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin, her first book. Expansive fantasy freshly done. I will be reading the other two books in her Inheritance Trilogy.

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell.
I fell in love with Temple .... And my only complaint was that it was waaay too short. :(

Soft Apocalypse, by Will McIntosh. Dystopian served up with a side of plausibility. Will look forward to other books by Will.

 

The Strain, first of a trilogy which I may not be completing, by del Toro and Hogan. Why not? Well, read it and we'll talk.

 

I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson ... easily a classic and nothin' like the movie starring Will Smith (although I liked that, too.)

Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. I am going to hold off on reading book number two until book number three in the trilogy comes out. Mr. Rothfuss was at the book store and he is a scholar and a gentleman.

The River, by Mary Jane Beaufrand ... the beginning got me hooked ... I wanted to visit with these folk for real.  Mary Jane works at the book store sometimes, when we are lucky. She is an amazing bookseller and co-hort.

 And finally Icefall, by Mathew Kirby. Great main female adolescent character ... heroic. This is my seasonal book pick. Brrrrr! Definite thumbs up.

So, that's only nine ... yah, I know. I liked a lot of other books ... and would love to read your list(s.) With the final question that I pose to myself being: will 2012 be any different? Well, I may be hashing that out with you through my posts that follow ...

Jan