Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Books of 2011

Last year, I decided to start tracking every book I read as a page on this here blog. I really enjoyed it. It allowed me to give my gut reactions to the books, if I felt the need. Then I would go on to goodreads.com to write up my full review. (If you're on Goodreads, look me up! I love sharing book reviews. It's the best.)

I will start tracking the books of 2012 as soon as I finish my current read. I wonder if my new Kindle will make a difference in my total this year. Yeah, probably not.

One thing I feel the need to point out: only 5 of these 35 books were rereads. That is kind of amazing for me. I generally fall back on books that I already know and love when I need something new to read, but this year I was pretty good at finding new books, some of which were simply amazing and will someday fall into that reread category.

So, without further ado, here is the complete list of every book I read during 2011. Is it sad that I wish I had read more than 35 books?
  1. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) by Brandon Sanderson
  2. The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson (Such a good series! So many good twists and turns. I highly recommend it.)
  3. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness
  4. The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness
  5. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3) by Patrick Ness (I will gush and gush and gush about this series if you let me. Creatively written with beautiful imagery and ridiculous emotion. I absolutely loved these books.)
  6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (This took me ages to read, but it was a lovely book. I really enjoyed watching Francie Nolan grow up.)
  7. Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak (This shows Zusak's personality so well. It's a simple, quick read, but it's got a lot of meaning behind it.) 
  8. Truth Will Prevail (The Work and the Glory #3) by Gerald N. Lund (This is a reread because I ran out of new things to read and everything I want to read is currently on hold at the library. Plus, I haven't read this series since I splurged and bought, like, all of them, so I'm working on that in between the new books I read. *End lengthy, unnecessary explanation.) 
  9. The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1) by Michael Scott
  10. These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner (This book broke my heart, in a very good way.)
  11. I Am Not a Serial Killer (John Cleaver #1) by Dan Wells (Pretty creepy book. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but incredibly interesting.) 
  12. Mr. Monster (John Cleaver #2) by Dan Wells (Creepier than the first, but also better.)
  13. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia de Luce #2) by Alan Bradley 
  14. The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicle Day One) by Patrick Rothfuss (Super long, but really good, after I finally got into it.) 
  15. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (This book was so-so. Nothing spectacular.) 
  16. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson (Another so-so book. I'm ready for something un-put-downable now.) 
  17. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (What a beautiful, heart-wrenching, and moving book.) 
  18. Chains (Seeds of America #1) by Laurie Halse Anderson (Anderson certainly knows how to create a voice for her characters.) 
  19. Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark (This was okay, though Clark really isn't a great novelist. Storyteller, yes. Novelist, no. There is absolutely no imagery whatsoever.) 
  20. The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan (Awesome continuation of Percy Jackson. Seriously can't wait for the next book, which I will end up buying.) 
  21. Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson (This was probably the most subtly terrifying book I've ever read.)
  22. The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicle Day Two) by Patrick Rothfuss (Holy freaking long book, Batman! 994 pages. Whew.)
  23. Forge (Seeds of America #2) by Laurie Halse Anderson
  24. I Don't Want to Kill You (John Cleaver #3) by Dan Wells (The ending of this book tore at my heart.)
  25. Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater
  26. Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites (Tennis Shoes #1) by Chris Heimerdinger
  27. Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Books of Faerie #1) by Maggie Stiefvater (Yes, this book is about faeries. But it's about the scary, medieval kind, not the Disney, Tinkerbell kind.)
  28. Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie (Books of Faerie #2) by Maggie Stiefvater
  29. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  30. Tennis Shoes: Gadiantons and the Silver Sword (Tennis Shoes #2) by Chris Heimerdinger
  31. Tennis Shoes: Feathered Serpent, Part 1 (Tennis Shoes #3) by Chris Heimerdinger
  32. The Underdog by Markus Zusak (Zusak is amazing. I just love his writing style.)
  33. Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak (I still love his writing style a whole bunch.)
  34. The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan (Yay for the return of Percy! Definitely one of my most favorite characters ever.)
  35. The New World (Chaos Walking #0.5) by Patrick Ness (This is actually a short story, but I'll include it anyway. Because I can.)

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