5 stars - loved them:
- Hunger Games (re-read)
- Packing for Mars (PLEASE someone read this book so we can discuss!!)
- The Passage
- Divergent
- Immediate Family (photography)
- Agile Data Warehousing (for work)
4 stars - really liked them:
- Catching Fire, Mockingjay
- How She Really Does It - AWESOME working mom book
- Zeitoun
- Wench
- Accidental Billionaires
- Catcher in the Rye (re-read)
- What the Dog Saw
- Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Your Five Year Old
- This Is Where I Leave You
- By The Time You'll Read This I'll Be Dead
- Theory of Light and Matter (best short story collection I've read in years)
- My Year with Eleanor
- Time Traveler's Wife (re-read)
- Cinderella Ate My Daughter
- The Digital Asset Management Book (photography)
- Thirteen Reasons Why
- The Borrower (NOT The BorrowerS)
- Ape House
- Mudbound
- Your Six Year Old
- Language of Flowers
- Midwife's Confession
3 stars - liked them but wouldn't rave about them:
- Living Dead in Dallas
- Full Dark No Stars (Stephen King's darkest EVER)
- Unbearable Lightness
- Room (giving it 3 is a stretch)
- Unhealthy Truth
- Beauty of Different
- Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Lunchbox
- Hothouse Flower
- Managing Software Debt
- Sing You Home
- Just Let Me Lie Down
- Bossypants
- Forest of Hands and Teeth
- Wild Child (sad that TC Boyle is a 3 star this year, but true)
- Bedwetter
- Sex on the Moon
- The Neighbors are Watching
- Moonlight Mile
- House on Fortune Street (would have gotten a better rating if first section was better)
- My Lobotomy
- Matched (yet I will read the sequels)
- Eclipse
Only 7 books fell in the 1 and 2 star categories, meaning I put down a LOT of books this year. I started at least 60 more and did not finish them (Night Circus comes immediately to mind).
And do you like how I threw the VERY LAST BOOK in there? ECLIPSE. I listened to the first three Twilight books on audio this year, after hating hating hating the books so much. The writing is still terrible, Bella is still horribly weak and meek and everything I hate in anti-feminist women, but I want to know how it ends after the Breaking Dawn onslaught this year. And I had a lot of driving time to and from photography sessions to fill this year!
What books are not on my list that I need to read?
16 comments:
THANKS! Added your 4+ star ones that I haven't read to my wish list.
how are you tracking them?
TJ is in the middle of reading Packing for Mars.
Ok to be honest we are probably book opposites BUT I too hated the "Twilight" books. I am glad to have someone on my side. Seriously, could. not. get. past. the swoony teenage love crap. I do admit thought that Jared and I have watched the movies to see what happens AND even though we laugh at all the cheeseball moments they must draw us in a bit because I know we will see the last one.
Happy New Year. I continue to love your blog. Thanks for continuing to share.
This year I loved "The Department of Lost & Found" by Allison Winn Scotch - it's chick lit, but with a heavy theme and excellent writing and "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination" by Elizabeth McCracken - SO sad, but so beautiful and riveting.
I also recommend "The Water is Wide" by Pat Conroy. I actually only liked this book, but it's so well written and interesting and I *think* you would love it. Plus it's about an island in South Carolina.
Love this post every year! I will do a shorter one on FB of my own. I am going to add a bunch of your 4 and 5 stars to my own list. I really liked The Glass Castle this year. Did you already try that one?
My two favorite books of the year were A Discovery of Witches and Ready Player One. Both of them are the author's first novel (although Deborah Harkness is a writer - just wine reviewer and historian - which made the book even more interesting).
A Discovery of Witches has vampires, witches and daemons and centers on the discovery of a long-lost alchemical text that is of great interest of all three groups.
Ready Player One is geeky, honestly. Lots of 80s references to video games and movies and music. Essentially some guy created a virtual reality that almost everyone lives in. When he dies, he leaves a puzzle of three keys and three gates. If you figure out the game you inherit his fortune. There's more to it than just the game, but it's a neat commentary on society. And sometimes it's just plain fun.
Also, if you're into urban fantasy, you might want to check out the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire - it starts with Rosemary and Rue.
This year, I'm tackling The Passage per your suggestion. :)
Okay, lets be honest here; 1) I don't know how you find the time to read 60 books even if the boys play well independently (because mine do too)
2) I don't think we quite have the same book tastes. I enjoyed the Twilight series for what it was but am so OVER it. I loved Hunger Games and Divergent like you but couldn't finish The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks or The Passage (may try to come back to it at some point but got very restless at the 300 mark, first act was great). With that all said.... 3) I always look at what you've read for recommendations(currently reading Ape House and LOVE IT!) so therefore 4) it would be hard for me to find a book I read and thought you would like that was not a recommendation from you. However, I scoured my Goodreads list and will suggest Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.
Happy reading!
My favorite book this year was Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. Highly recommend.
Thanks for posting this! One of my goals is to read more this year.
I didn't read a single book in 2011. Not.one.single.book.
I'll be checking out some of these asap for our trip this month.
Also, I hated Time Traveler's Wife. Hated.
It was a lot of words with little reward. Made me feel schizo.
I read Time Traveler's Wife every single year. I think I've read it a zillion times. I refuse, however, to see the movie.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter left me wanting, but I'm glad I read it.
I read a lot of non-fiction this year, for some reason, which is new for me. I think one of the best was "Not in My Neighborhood" about redlining in Baltimore, but that might have been because I live in Baltimore. I also liked "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson, but it was crazy long.
I loved Thirteen Reasons Why! I'm absolutely getting that book for my 14 year old niece.
Do you read Kristin Hannah? I like some of her books, but I loved Magic Hour. I could. not. put. that book down! I read it over Labor Day weekend and I felt bad for my family because I ignored them for the book!
Gah I HATE Twilight. Yet I read all 4 books. I guess the story is somewhat interesting and you want to know how it ends but the WRITING. omg.
Swamplandia - jury's out. Kinda interesting,kinda nutty.
Henrietta Lacks - made me think, alot.
Hunger Games trilogy - so mad at the tone of the last book. It's like Katniss turned into Bella - so weak. I was mad about that.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - another weirdo one. Worth a read but not sure if I'd read it again.
The Help - guilty pleasure. Couldn't put it down.
And finally...Game of Thrones series. Wow. I am officially addicted.
I also recommend 'Unbroken' by Laura Hillenbrand - best book I read last year!!
Dude, where are the 1- and 2-star books? I want to be forwarned before I waste time and/or resources getting a book I won't probably like! You and I have a similar taste in books so I really want to know which books to avoid.
King's "darkest EVER" only got three stars? Is his writing off? I bet now that he's all clean and sober and thinking clearly, his writing has suffered. Drat.
I second Chrissey's recommendations of A Discovery of Witches and Ready Player One, and I'll add The Silent Land. I read it right before we left for Chicago and it was a quick, interesting read. Would have been perfect for our flight, except that it was due back at the library so I had to hurry up and read it. I'm also getting ready to re-read the entire Game of Thrones series. Gulp.
I second what windycityvegan said! I loved By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead--couldn't put it down. But... then the ending... it left me wanting!
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