Well, dear reader, we’re a bit overdue for my list of books I read in 2011, but, really, who cares (other than me)? I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read since May 1999. The lists have been lost and restarted, but somewhere I have recorded every book I’ve read for the past 12 years. If I really cared to, and I don’t, I could compile them all into one massive list. That would make for an even more boring post than this one (if you can imagine).
This year (“this year” being 2011, actually) my reading was largely comprised of books by Michael Connelly, books I stumbled upon at the Durham Public Library, and Amazon’s various Books of the Month lists (many of the latter selections are on my kindle).
My (completely arbitrary) goal for the year was to read 45 books. That was one of the few resolutions I actually kept–and then some. My final tally of books read in 2011 is 123, which has to be the most I’ve ever read in one calendar year (I could verify this by checking those lists back to May 1999, but, like I said, I don’t really care).
(I probably owe this blog a post about how I did on my other 2011 resolutions. I also intend a few posts dedicated to the few resolutions I’ve come up with for 2012. I’m hoping to get to one of those soon.)
Here are the 123 books I managed to read in 2011:
1. The Best American Nonrequired Reading, 2010 ed.
2. Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann)
3. A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green (Thomas Cahill)
4. This Side of Brightness (Colum McCann)
5. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (Sherman Alexie)
6. The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga)
7. How Much is Enough? (Arthur Simon)
8. Dancer (Colum McCann)
9. Compassion (Nouwen, McNeill, and Morrison)
10. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Franz Kafka)
11. Racial Justice and the Catholic Church (Bryan N. Massingale)
12. Solidarity will Transform the World (Jeffry Odell Korgan)
13. Spooner (Pete Dexter)
14. Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace (David Lipsky)
15. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (Michael Chabon)
16. The Broom of the System (David Foster Wallace)
17. This Our Exile (James Martin, SJ)
18. A supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (David Foster Wallace)
19. Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way (Walter Wink)
20. The Autobiography of St. Ignatius
21. A Piece of Cake (Cupcake Brown)
22. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
23. Remember Me? (Sophie Kinsella)
24. Twenties Girl (Sophie Kinsella)
25. Mini Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
26. Exodus from Hunger (David Beckmann)
27. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right (Atul Gawande)
28. Great Room (Nicole Krauss)
29. A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan)
30. Let Your Life Speak (Parker J. Palmer)
31. The Lonely Polygamist (Brady Udall)
32. When You Are Engulfed in Flames (David Sedaris)
33. mennonite in a little black dress (Rhoda Janzen)
34. Bright Lights, Big Ass (Jen Lancaster)
35. Bitter is the New Black (Jen Lancaster)
36. Why We Suck (Denis Leary)
37. How to Be Alone (Jonathan Franzen)
38. In the Woods (Tana French)
39. Pretty in Plaid (Jen Lancaster)
40. Born Standing Up (Steve Martin)
41. Bedside Manners (David Watts)
42. Faithful Place (Tana French)
43. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
44. Packing for Mars (Mary Roach)
45. The Tennis Partner (Abraham Verghese)
46. Sons and Lovers (D.H. Lawrence)
47. Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends (William Guarnere and Edward Heffron)
48. The Keep (Jennifer Egan)
49. Shopaholic Ties the Knot (Sophie Kinsella)
50. The Greatest Generation (Tom Brokaw)
51. Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific (Robert Leckie)
52. Lady Chatterly’s Lover (D.H. Lawrence)
53. Lost in Shangri-La (Mitch Zuckoff)
54. I’m a Stranger Here Myself (Bill Bryson)
55. The Likeness (Tana French)
56. Death Comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather)
57. The Other Wes Moore (Wes Moore)
58. A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson)
59. The Sealed Letter (Emma Donoghue)
60. Routine Miracles (Conrad Fischer)
61. Maisie Dobbs (Jacqueline Winspear)
62. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin (Erik Larson)
63. The Lincoln Lawyer (Michael Connelly)
64. The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman)
65. The Overlook (Michael Connelly)
66. The Reversal (Michael Connelly)
67. Room (Emma Donoghue)
68. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
68. The Brass Verdict (Michael Connelly)
69. Nine Dragons (Michael Connelly)
70. Echo Park (Michael Connelly)
71. The Concrete Blonde (Michael Connelly)
72. The President Is a Sick Man (Matthew Algeo)
73. The Poet (Michael Connelly)
74. The Scarecrow (Michael Connelly)
75. Black Echo (Michael Connelly)
76. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
77. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
78. The Last Coyote (Michael Connelly)
79. My Thoughts Be Bloody (Nora Titone)
80. Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain)
81. A First-Rate Madness (Nassir Ghaemi)
82. Trunk Music (Michael Connelly)
83. The Magicians (Lev Grossman)
84. Heaven is for Real (Todd Burpo & Lynn Vincent)
85. The Sisters Brothers (Patrick DeWitt)
86. The Fang Family (Kevin Wilson)
87. The Last Talk with Lola Faye (Thomas Cook)
88. The Leftovers (Tom Perrotta)
89. The Autobiography of an Execution (David R. Dow)
90. The Magician King (Lev Grossman)
91. State of Wonder (Ann Patchett)
92. Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)
93. The Undomestic Goddess (Sophie Kinsella)
94. Something Borrowed (Emily Giffin)
95. The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)
96. The Closers (Michael Connelly)
97. Snuff (Chuck Palahniuk)
98. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Malcolm Gladwell)
99. The Invisible Gorilla (Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons)
100. The Psychopath Test (Jon Ronson)
101. Pulphead (John Jeremiah Sullivan)
102. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2011
103. Letting Loose the Hounds (Brady Udall)
104. The Best American Essays 2011
105. Waiting (Ha Jin)
106. Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life (James Martin, SJ)
107. In the Land of Invisible Women (Qanta Ahmed)
108. The House of Mirth (Edith Wharton)
109. Bonk (Mary Roach)
110. The Last Werewolf (Glen Duncan)
111. Leche (R. Zamora Linmark)
112. The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)
113. Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)
114. 420 Characters (Lou Beach)
115. I, Lucifer: Finally, the Other Side of the Story (Glen Duncan)
116. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) (Mindy Kaling)
117. Bossypants (Tina Fey)
118. One Day I Will Write About This Place (Binyavanga Wainaina)
119. Cain (Jose Saramago)
120. Something Blue (Emily Giffin)
121. The Poisoner’s Handbook (Deborah Blum)
122. Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? (Toure)
123. Then Came You (Jennifer Weiner)
Wow, that is a lot of books. Good work, Victoria!
Are you on Goodreads?
Thank you, Nikki
I’m not on Goodreads…yet? I don’t know enough about it, and I was a bit scared when someone told me participants review the books they’ve read. I think I’d be disappointed in myself for producing what would, I’m sure, be un-clever reviews.
I’m so impressed, Vric. I am not letting myself start using my Nook until I finish the bomb that’s currently sitting on my nighttable (on page 290 of 745, and it took me two months to get that far, so it’ll be awhile) but if that blessed day ever comes, which of these would you recommend for me?
Dude, Much, I can totally understand the struggle of a slow read (“Brothers Karamazov,” I’m looking at you). I would highly recommend “The Imperfectionists,” by Tom Rachman, and “Let the Great World Spin,” by Colum McCann (I think the latter won the Pulitzer). I would also recommend either of the books I read last year by Brady Udall–”The Lonely Polygamist” (a novel) or “Letting Loose the Hounds” (short stories). I would recommend “The Likeness” to you, but it was you who recommended that to me.
Have you read anything by Jeffrey Eugenides? His newest book (“The Marriage Plot”) came out a couple months ago and I just finished it (in 2012, technically). I really enjoyed it, too.