Some of My Favorite Books In 2011


The end of year book survey didn't feel like it did my reading list justice.

Some of my favorite reads in 2011-

Gripping - Hard to put down - 
The Room by Emily Donague
Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares (Yeah, not what I expected at all!)
Night Road by Kristen Hannah
These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauff
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

GOOD Mysteries
Now You See Her by James Patterson
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
Learning To Swim by Sarah Henry (follow her on twitter too)
If Books Could Kill by Kate Carlise
Love You More by Lisa Gardner

Just Plain Fun Reads - 
The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean
My Life In France by Julia Child
Moonwalking With Einstien by Joshua Foer

Books That Inspire Me to Be Better
The Whole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns (about World Vision)
Little Princes by Connor Grennan
Choosing To See by Mary Beth Chapman
Reshaping It All by Candace Bure
Run Like A Mother by Dimnity McDowell
The Final Summit by Andy Andrews
Out Live Your Life By Max Lucado

Series - 
Cedar Cove by Debbie Macomer.  Light, sappy, reads.
Michael Bennet Series by James Patterson - one of my favorites
Private London Series by Patterson- another favorite
Womens Detective Series Book 10 - good
Sara Partetsky's VI series, Body Work - good
Flower Shop Mysteries By Kate Collins - Light reading, a bit like Stephanie plum
Stephanie Plum 17 & 18 by Evanovich.  Good. Not great like the early ones, but good.

Books I wish I hadn't bothered with - 
The Postmistress
A Stolen Life
A Year of Fog (possibly the most tedious book I've ever read)
Turn Of Mind
Clan Of the Cave Bear by Auel


2011 End Of Year Book Survey


1. Best Book You Read In 2011? 


To try to decide, I logged into goodreads and sorted by rating. I gave 14 books 5 stars this year.  Looking them over, I'm not sure I still feel 5 stars strong about some of them..  but my favorites definitely include- 


Learning to Swim Reshaping It All Room Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal  The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?  The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World

  • Learning To Swim By Sara J. Henry
  • Reshaping It All by Candace Bure
  • Room by Emma Donaghue
  • Little Princes by Connor Grenanan
  • Choosing To See by Mary Beth Chapman
  • The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
A Stolen Life
reversing the ratings sort  - I hated A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard.  As I said in my review, it's her story, and how do you say it's a horrible book when she is simply telling her story..  but it's a horrible book and I wish those things had never entered my head.  It is horrible that she had to live through all of that.
Lowcountry Summer (Lowcountry Tales #7) The Postmistress The Year of Fog
The Year of Fog, The Postmistress, and Lowcountry Summer are all ones I felt wasted by time.  Sometimes I should just stop reading a book and not feel so obligated to read something that I obviously do not enjoy.


3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

Learning to Swim
Learning To Swim By Sara J. Henry 
I don't even remember why I read this one - it was free, or someone lent it to me, and I didn't expect too much..  but it was one of the best books I read this year.
 

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
 
Room The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?  The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World
The Room by Emma Donaghue & The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?Evil in Carnations (Flower Shop Mystery, #8) 
The Flower Shop Mysteries by Kate Collins.  "Cozy Mysteries" - but a little, little, like the Stephanie Plum series.  Funny, light, implausible.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

Night Road If Books Could Kill (A Bibliophile Mystery, #2)
Kristen Hannah & Kate Carlisle.  

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I read all over the place..  mystery, romance, drama, history, cozy mysteries.. but I don't read science fiction.  I didn't read any this year.. but I think I will try at least one in 2012.
 

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
Room 
The Room by Emma Donaghue 

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?

 Explosive Eighteen by Stephanie Plum.  Yes, I was a bit disappointed.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal



11. Most memorable character in 2011? 

Connor Grennan in Little Princes & Richard Stern in The Hole In Our Gospel

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
Winter Garden
beautiful...  hmmmm..  maybe Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011? 

Starting with The Hole In Our Gospel, Out Live Your Life came next, and then Little Princes this fall..  all three along the same theme.

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read? 
?? I think everything I read was pretty current  - a lot of new releases.
 

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011? 
I don't  have that kind of memory - sorry.


16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012? 
The bible.  Pretty much the only book I reread.
 

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a  moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers! 
Nothing like that..  but The Hole In Our Gospel made me want to talk to my family right away, about what we could do better.


See what others answered here - 

Preparing Goodreads for 2012

First I logged into GoodReads, and chose to view my books, All.


Then I chose to sort by date, so I could see which books I forgot to fill a date in for.  I need the dates filled in, so they register for the 2011 challenge.



2011 Reading Challenge
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 100 books for the 2011 Reading Challenge!







Then beside bookshelves, I chose "edit" and deleted some shelves I had added this year.


I wanted to remove all of the 2011 books to their own shelf, so that my "read" count only shows 2012's books, but I cannot find a way to do that.  Batch edit says it removed them, but it did not actually remove them.  Oh well.  I cleaned out everything in my to read shelf. If I haven't read it by now, I probably will not - some of those books have been in there for awhile!


ADDING NEW BOOKS TO MY TO READ SHELF-
First I looked here for what I might like to read next - 
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/hardcover-fiction/list.html
Then I looked at new releases coming in Jan 2012 (there has to be a better site for this?)
http://bestsellers.about.com/od/newupcomingreleases/tp/New-Book-Releases-january-2012.htm
I want to read some Agatha Christie this year, I haven't read anything by her in many years..  I thought I'd start with her first, and see if I want to work my way through, or not.  I also have never read Dorthy Sayers, so I added one of hers to my to read list - a free one found in Aldikos free books.


I did not read David McCulloughs new book in 2011 - and I love his books. 


And this is where I am stuck. Do I want to make a high goal for 2012?  Is it silly to make a reading goal, when reading is something I naturally love to do?  Will I have time to read 100 books this year?  I did in 2011..  but I cut it right to the wire.  Some months I read a lot, others I barely read a single book.  I don't know what 2012 holds.  


I tried exporting all of my books from goodreads into a list..  but frankly, it's a pain, and not really fun to look at.  You can see everything I read on my goodreads shelves - 
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4380127-heather-truckenmiller  I wish there was an easy way to sort by genre on goodreads.

My most read authors in 2011:
I just discovered the flower shop mysteries this year, and read them all, so that explains Kate Collins topping the list.  They were nice light, implausible but amusing, mysteries.


James Patterson is a favorite of mine.  I don't like his Alex Cross series,but I do like his Michael Bennet series a lot, and have enjoyed the new Private series.


Some of the reason I read so much in 2011 is that I read so many light books like Debbie Macomber & Kate Collins. Fluff.


authorbooks read
153958Kate Collins12
23780James Patterson7
311349Debbie Macomber5
41268493Betty Hechtman4
589575Kathryn Lilley3
62384Janet Evanovich2
654493Kristin Hannah2
67383Melody Carlson2
62737Max Lucado2
62875124Heather Gudenkauf2