Best of 2011 Reading List

Here it is (on January 4): my favorite reads from 2011. Last year I did a much better job of posting precisely on January 1. But despite my tardiness, you'll be pleased. There are TONS of books you need to read.

Although 2011 was not my most prolific reading year, it was a good reading year. Last year I calculated that I read approximately 100 books (factoring in books that I read but didn't complete -- 95 books read, plus fifteen abandoned). This year I read 92 books and only gave up on three. So this year yielded overall fewer titles, but more enjoyable reads.

I've broken my favorites up into categories. It's true that some could fit into multiple categories, but I've placed them where I felt they were best. If you aren't big on a particular genre, but want to read a book from that category, give it a go! Not all mysteries are created equal, and the same is true with every genre. You may love one book in a particular category and hate all others. (Case in point, I READ A SCIENCE FICTION BOOK THIS YEAR! Multiple ones, actually, if you count the Hunger Games series.)

Without further ado, here they are. In order by most-read category to least-read, then in the order they were read, the best books I read this (last) year:

Mystery

• Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry (review copy)
• Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark (review copy)
• Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward (hardback)
• The Ridge by Michael Koryta (review copy)
• Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner (Audible)
• Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich (ebook)
• The Drop by Michael Connelly (review copy)
• Fragile by Lisa Unger (Audible)

Non-fiction

• Bossypants by Tina Fey (library) 
• The House on First Street by Julia Reed (used) 
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (borrowed)
• Love Wins by Rob Bell (borrowed) 
• Falling for Me by Anna David (review copy)
• Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl (used)
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling (Audible)

Literary Fiction

• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (ebook)
• Solomon's Oak by Jo-Ann Mapson (library)
• Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (review copy)
• So Much For That by Lionel Shriver (library)
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (hardback)
• I Thought You Were Dead by Pete Nelson (used)

Southern Lit

• Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch (used)
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Audible)
• Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews (Audible)
• Coming Up for Air by Patti Callahan Henry (review copy) 
• Gone With a Handsomer Man by Michael Lee West (used)

Women's Fiction

• The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers (used)
• The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls by Wendy Delsol (review copy)

Young Adult

• The Hunger Games -- Hunger Games trilogy book #1 -- by Suzanne Collins (library)
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Audible)

Science Fiction

• Ready Player One by Ernest Clive (review copy)

I am surely but steadily making a turn away from women's fiction. Although some books from earlier categories could also fit in that genre, typical "chick lit" simply isn't my thing anymore. Southern literature, usually my mainstay, also moved down on the list this year, as I read many less titles set in the south than ever before. Nonfiction rocketed to the top, second only to mysteries, which I've always loved. Also? Audiobooks became a staple. If you haven't looked into an Audible account yet, you should really give it a try.


I hope your reading life was full in 2011 and continues to be so in 2012. Until next time, happy reading! (I know you have plenty of books to choose from now!)