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Favorite book of 2011??

Heather in Neverland
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MSNative

MSNative

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It's that time of year again! Time to name your FAVORITE book that you read this year. You have to pick just ONE... Your absolute favorite this year (it didn't have to be published this year, just read this year.

 

It was really hard to choose but mine is Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

 

Your turn!

 

Hard question. I foresee wanting to add a lot of :iagree: emoticons to other posts. My favorite book of this year - and I'm waffling even as I type this - Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. Though I'd read it before, this was the first time I read and discussed it with my kids.

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Just Robyn

Just Robyn

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I think mine would have to be a graphic novel. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood was amazing. I think it and the second Persepolis book should be required reading in any class that can justify them. They give you a huge experience without taking a huge amount of time.

 

Other books I read this year to which I gave a 5 star rating on Shelfari:

 

The Writer's Jungle

The Tombs of Atuan

Ronia the Robber's Daughter

Cat's Cradle

Edited by crstarlette
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CAMom

CAMom

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Can I have two?:D

 

Non Fiction-One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I know this is either a love it or hate it book. And, Heather, if I remember right, you did not like it.;) But, it came at a time for me when I really needed it. It gave me such perspective and really changed me. I'm actually reading through it again now.

 

Fiction-The Book Thief. I loved this book! It was so amazingly written and the story was so touching. I recommend it to everyone who asks my opinion on books.:)

 

I've read a lot of good books this year (I just finished my 50th book of the year last night) but those two would have to be my favorites.

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jenL

jenL

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Just ONE???? Gosh, you really know how to stick it to us! ;)

 

I really loved Sarah's Key. I used to teach the Holocaust to my 8th graders through The Diary of Anne Frank and Night, so I have a special place in my heart for Holocaust stories. Sarah's Key showed me another viewpoint of the tragedy, and the story has stayed with me.

 

Other very close seconds:

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (author of The Book Thief which was on my top 5 of 2010)

Columbine by Dave Cullen (nonfiction). Take most of what the general public knows about the Columbine tragedy and throw it out the window. This was an incredibly eye-opening, disturbing, and painful read. I was student teaching at this time, and our school had many bomb threats after April 20, 1999. I feel it shaped some of who I was as a classroom teacher.

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ThisIsTheDay

ThisIsTheDay

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It was really hard to choose but mine is Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

 

Your turn!

 

My vote will be for the non-fiction The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life, detailing the author's discovery of her mother's "previous" life in Iran.

 

However, if I could also vote in the fiction category (:D), I'd choose Lisa See's Dreams of Joy. I read Snowflower several years ago. I love her books, with the exception of Peony in Love (which would be on my top ten worst books of the year).

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melissel

melissel

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The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. It was a project and a half, but it was so worth it. I plan to get a copy of my own so I can re-read and really absorb the historical elements.

 

(OK, I'm cheating, but The Red Tent also took my breath away. I know it's controversial AND that I'm probably the last person on earth to read it, but I truly loved it.)

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Rose in BC

Rose in BC

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It's that time of year again! Time to name your FAVORITE book that you read this year. You have to pick just ONE... Your absolute favorite this year (it didn't have to be published this year, just read this year.

 

It was really hard to choose but mine is Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

 

Your turn!

 

Snowflower ranked high on my list too.

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luvnlattes

luvnlattes

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It's so hard to choose one! I keep going back and forth between a fiction and a non-fiction one.

 

If I have to choose just one, my favorite book of 2011 was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I chose this book because it introduced me to the series and was my favorite of the three. I was sad when I knew there wouldn't be any more adventures with Lisbeth Salander.

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ThisIsTheDay

ThisIsTheDay

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Confessions of a Prairie B*tch - love her style, love the TV series, love her now (hated her before), but, most importantly, read this during a very, very happy time. :)

 

alison-book.jpg

 

This was a good book! Melissa Gilbert's tell all was embarrassing. And just to sidetrack again, I recently very much enjoyed Rob Lowe's book. It was interesting to note that he mentioned Melissa perhaps two times in passing. (In contrast, much of Gilbert's book seemed focused on their off again/on again relationship.)

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Mothersweets

Mothersweets

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It's hard to pick one. I have 3 or 4, but I love this thread and will respect the rule of picking one. In fact, I like this idea. :)

 

Confessions of a Prairie B*tch - love her style, love the TV series, love her now (hated her before), but, most importantly, read this during a very, very happy time. :)

 

alison-book.jpg

 

I really enjoyed this one, too! Great read - and yes, if you hated "Nellie" before, you will love her after reading this book.

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Angel

Angel

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Impossible to pick just one! Not counting some of my all-time favorites that I read this year, I would probably have a tie.

 

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm and

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

 

Non-fiction would be It's a Jungle Out There! by Ron Snell. Dd11 and I did this as a read aloud and it was hilarious and touching.

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prairiegirl

prairiegirl

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Then make a list, Julia! Inquiring minds want to know :001_smile:!

 

A list I can do. :D

 

Fiction:

Room by Emma Donaghue

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy

 

Non-Fiction:

Young Romantics by Daisy Hay (about Percy and Mary Shelley)

Decision Point by George Bush

All That is Bitter and Sweet by Ashley Judd

The Immortal of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

One Thousand Gifts by Anne Voskamp

 

There were more but they were just good books, they didn't make me think after I read them.

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Crissy

Crissy

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Columbine by Dave Cullen (nonfiction). Take most of what the general public knows about the Columbine tragedy and throw it out the window. This was an incredibly eye-opening, disturbing, and painful read.

 

Though it was difficult to read much of this, it certainly makes the short list of the best books I've ever read.

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Negin

Negin

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If I have to choose just one, my favorite book of 2011 was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I chose this book because it introduced me to the series and was my favorite of the three. I was sad when I knew there wouldn't be any more adventures with Lisbeth Salander.

Me too. Love, love, love Lisbeth and I was also very sad that he died before he could finish the entire series.

 

I recently very much enjoyed Rob Lowe's book. It was interesting to note that he mentioned Melissa perhaps two times in passing. (In contrast, much of Gilbert's book seemed focused on their off again/on again relationship.)

Interesting. Good reminder of how men and women see/recollect relationships differently.

 

I can't pick just one.

The Help

Room

A thousand splendid suns

Loved all of these, although, I think Room was the only one I read in 2011.

 

Sarah Addison Allen's were my favourite fiction books. Such tasty cuteness!

I'm looking so forward to reading these. I refuse to get them on my Kindle. Prefer to wait to get a hard copy. The covers are too pretty to be wasted on a Kindle. :)

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Sparkle

Sparkle

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Best books for me

Non-fiction: Swimming in the Daylight: An American Student, A Soviet-Jewish Dissident, and the Gift of Hope.

Runner up: All the Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House

Honorable mention: Radical Homemakers

 

Fiction: The Provincial Lady series

Runner up: Agnes Grey

Honorable mention: The Double Comfort Safari Club

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Violet Crown

Violet Crown

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This is too hard. I'm going to have to have a 5-way tie:

 

St. Augustine, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany

These were beautiful and inspiring, and just right for the season. There's a surprising and heartening passage on why a foster/adopted father is more truly a father than a merely biological one.

 

John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor

Historical fiction for grown-ups, about colonial Maryland, with a cameo from someone who may or may not be Lord Baltimore. Who knows what really happened? Caveat: lots of, um, content.

 

Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs de Mal/The Flowers of Evil

A re-read, but even better post-college. "My love, do you recall the object which we saw/ That fair, sweet, summer morn!/ At a turn in the path a foul carcass/ On a gravel-strewn bed...." They just don't write love poems like that anymore.

 

Fernando de Rojas, The Spanish Bawd

Medieval hilarity. If you like Chaucer, try de Rojas.

 

Henry James, What Maisie Knew

I regret having read The Turn of the Screw in high school, because I didn't understand it and it put me off James for over twenty years. Now, with plenty of life experience to draw on, the understated psychological drama that all depends on understanding the motivations and reactions of the characters is much easier to grasp. I read this and The Spoils of Poynton this year, and while the plot of Maisie hit a little too close to home to be a thoroughly pleasant read, I plan to read much more James in 2012, working my way up to The Wings of The Dove.

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Jane Elliot

Jane Elliot

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This is too hard. I'm going to have to have a 5-way tie:

 

St. Augustine, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany

These were beautiful and inspiring, and just right for the season. There's a surprising and heartening passage on why a foster/adopted father is more truly a father than a merely biological one.

 

John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor

Historical fiction for grown-ups, about colonial Maryland, with a cameo from someone who may or may not be Lord Baltimore. Who knows what really happened? Caveat: lots of, um, content.

 

Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs de Mal/The Flowers of Evil

A re-read, but even better post-college. "My love, do you recall the object which we saw/ That fair, sweet, summer morn!/ At a turn in the path a foul carcass/ On a gravel-strewn bed...." They just don't write love poems like that anymore.

 

Fernando de Rojas, The Spanish Bawd

Medieval hilarity. If you like Chaucer, try de Rojas.

 

Henry James, What Maisie Knew

I regret having read The Turn of the Screw in high school, because I didn't understand it and it put me off James for over twenty years. Now, with plenty of life experience to draw on, the understated psychological drama that all depends on understanding the motivations and reactions of the characters is much easier to grasp. I read this and The Spoils of Poynton this year, and while the plot of Maisie hit a little too close to home to be a thoroughly pleasant read, I plan to read much more James in 2012, working my way up to The Wings of The Dove.

 

Sharon, your booklists are the most interesting I've seen. They inspire me. I'd love to know how you choose your books.

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Violet Crown

Violet Crown

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Sharon, your booklists are the most interesting I've seen.

Why thank you.

They inspire me. I'd love to know how you choose your books.

Easy. Book choice factors:

 

(1) I figure life is too short to read books that aren't extremely likely to be good. The more decades/centuries something has been generally admitted to be worth reading, the more likely I'll read it.

 

(2) I pay attention to the Victorian notion that novels are a frivolity, and try to make sure that they only comprise half my reading list.

 

(3) I'm cheap as dirt, and so if something that's supposed to be good shows up in the bargain bin, I'll buy and read it. This is how I ended up with at least half of this year's book list: someone sold several hundred old Penguin Classics to our local Half Price Books, and rather than sort through, price them individually, and try to find room on the shelves, they put them all on a carrel for almost nothing. Dh was a little annoyed when I showed up at home with bags full of old Penguin lit.; annoyed that I hadn't phoned him so he could join in the feeding frenzy. :D

 

(4) Bringing me to factor #4, an enabling husband with a wide-ranging taste in literature. The Barth, Murakami, and Aeschylus on my list this year were all dh's suggestions when I couldn't decide what to read next.

Edited by Sharon in Austin
quoting incompetence
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Jane Elliot

Jane Elliot

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Why thank you.

 

Easy. Book choice factors:

 

(1) I figure life is too short to read books that aren't extremely likely to be good. The more decades/centuries something has been generally admitted to be worth reading, the more likely I'll read it.

 

(2) I pay attention to the Victorian notion that novels are a frivolity, and try to make sure that they only comprise half my reading list.

 

(3) I'm cheap as dirt, and so if something that's supposed to be good shows up in the bargain bin, I'll buy and read it. This is how I ended up with at least half of this year's book list: someone sold several hundred old Penguin Classics to our local Half Price Books, and rather than sort through, price them individually, and try to find room on the shelves, they put them all on a carrel for almost nothing. Dh was a little annoyed when I showed up at home with bags full of old Penguin lit.; annoyed that I hadn't phoned him so he could join in the feeding frenzy. :D

 

(4) Bringing me to factor #4, an enabling husband with a wide-ranging taste in literature. The Barth, Murakami, and Aeschylus on my list this year were all dh's suggestions when I couldn't decide what to read next.

 

Thank you for answering that question! It's all very interesting and gives me much to think about as I consider my goals for next year.

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