Read in 2011

Rating system
1 star – If I finished it, shame on me.
2 stars – I wanted to see how it ended, but it was just okay.
3 stars – I liked it.
4 stars – I loved it.
5 stars – It was brilliant and you should read it immediately – in fact, everyone should.

January:

1. Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande (audiobook) – 3 stars

2. Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

3. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld – 4 stars – my review

4. Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

5. A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban (audiobook) – 4 stars

6. An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor – 5 stars – my review

7. What My Best Friend Did by Lucy Dawson – 4 stars – my review

8. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

9. Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk – 5 stars – my review

10. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

11. So Much For That by Lionel Shriver (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

12. Certain Women by Madeleine L’Engle – 5 stars

13. Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce (read-aloud) – 4 stars – my review

14. Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith – 3 stars – my review

15. Life Mask by Emma Donoghue – 4 stars

16. Starter for Ten by David Nicholls – 5 stars – my review

February:

17. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

18. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake – 5 stars – my review

19. Holes by Louis Sachar – 5 stars – my review

20. The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found by Frederick Buechner – 4 stars – my review

21. Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann – 4 stars

22. The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

23. Outside In by Maria V. Snyder – 3 stars – my review

24. Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden – 4 stars

25. Angelology by Danielle Trussoni (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

26. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees – 4 stars – my review

27. Twelve Times Blessed by Jacquelyn Mitchard (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

28. Delirium by Lauren Oliver – 4 stars

March:

29. The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

30. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

31. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke – 3 stars

32. An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor – 4 stars – my review

33. Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton – 4 stars – my review

34. The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry – 4 stars – my review

35. Faithful Place by Tana French – 5 stars – my review

36. Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

37. Where She Went by Gayle Forman – 5 stars – my review

38. Poet’s Choice: Poems for Everyday Life Selected and Introduced by Robert Hass – 3 stars – my review

39. Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan – 4 stars – my review

40. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

41. Bumped by Megan McCafferty – 2 stars – my review

42. This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia – 4 stars – my review

43. The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy – 4 stars – my review

44. Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

45. Villette by Charlotte Bronte – 4 stars

46. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

47. Wither by Lauren DeStefano – 5 stars – my review

48. How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill – 3 stars

49. The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

50. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness – 5 stars – my review

51. The Doctor and the Diva by Adrienne McDonnell – 3 stars – my review

52. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian – 4 stars

53. Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz – 3 stars

54. What Good is God? In Search of a Faith That Matters by Philip Yancey – 4 stars – my review

55. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – 5 stars

April:

56. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

57. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – 5 stars

58. Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender – 4 stars

59. Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

60. A Hidden Affair by Pam Jenoff – 4 stars – my review

61. The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen – 4 stars – my review

62. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter – 4 stars – my review

63. Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

64. Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson – 5 stars – my review

65. The Violets of March by Sarah Jio – 4 stars – my review

66. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis – 5 stars

67. Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

68. Evenfall by Liz Michalski – 4 stars – my review

69. The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton – 4 stars

70. Falling Home by Karen White – 4 stars – my review

71. The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney – 4 stars – my review

72. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – 4 stars

73. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor – 5 stars – my review

May:

74. Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser – 4 stars

75. Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith – 3 stars

76. Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Anthology edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz – 3 stars

77. So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

78. Savannah Grey by Cliff McNish – 3 stars – my review

79. Best Intentions by Emily Listfield – 4 stars

80. Bone, Vol 2: The Great Cow Race by Jeff Smith – 3 stars

81. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells – 4 stars

82. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. – 3 stars – my review

83. Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

84. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

85. Embrace Me by Lisa Samson – 5 stars – my review

86. Under the Mercy Trees by Heather Newton – 3 stars – my review

87. The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead by Paul Elwork – 3 stars – my review

88. The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens – 5 stars – my review

89. Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems by Billy Collins – 4 stars

90. Red Glove by Holly Black (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

91. The Poison Eaters: And Other Stories by Holly Black – 4 stars – my review

92. Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister – 5 stars – my review

93. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin – 4 stars – my review

94. Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

95. An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor – 4 stars – my review

96. The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve – 4 stars – my review

97. Coventry by Helen Humphreys – 4 stars – my review

98. Ashes of the Earth: A Mystery of Post-Apocalyptic America by Eliot Pattison – 4 stars – my review

99. Across the Universe by Beth Revis – 5 stars – my review

100. The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

101. Bone, Vol. 3: Eyes of the Storm by Jeff Smith – 3 stars

June:

102. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

103. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (read-aloud) – 5 stars – my review

104. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

105. Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry – 5 stars – my review

106. Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington – 5 stars – my review

107. An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor – 4 stars – my review

108. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis – 5 stars – my review

109. The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma – 4 stars – my review

110. Brava, Valentine Adriana Trigiani (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

111. Tassy Morgan’s Bluff by Jim Stinson – 4 stars – my review

112. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – 5 stars

113. The Boy in the Gap by Paul Soye – 3 stars – my review

114. Holly’s Inbox: Scandal in the City by “Holly Denham” – 4 stars – my review

115. Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

116. 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson – 3 stars – my review

117. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

118. Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry – 4 stars – my review

July:

119. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown – 5 stars – my review

120. My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse – 4 stars

121. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

122. Next to Love by Ellen Feldman – 5 stars – my review

123. The Secret Lives of People in Love: Stories by Simon Van Booy – 4 stars – my review

124. Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala – 4 stars

125. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

126. World War One British Poets: Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg and Others – 4 stars

127. Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker – 3 stars – my review

128. Pariah by Aron Warner – 3 stars – my review

129. Blackout by Connie Willis – 4 stars – my review

130. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness – 5 stars

131. The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy – 3 stars – my review

132. The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld – 3 stars – my review

133. Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

134. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

135. The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson – 3 stars – my review

August:

136. Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

137. The Liar’s Diary by Patry Francis – 3 stars – my review

138. The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff – 4 stars – my review

139. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness – 5 stars

140. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl – 5 stars – my review

141. All Clear by Connie Willis – 5 stars

142. The Beach Trees by Karen White – 5 stars – my review

September:

143. The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann – 3 stars – my review

144. Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee – 4 stars – my review

145. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

146. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – 4 stars – my review

147. While I Live by John Marsden – 4 stars – my review

148. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

149. The Sherlockian by Graham Moore – 5 stars – my review

150. The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta – 4 stars – my review

151. My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira – 5 stars – my review

152. A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown by Julia Scheeres – 4 stars – my review

153. The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe – 4 stars

154. The Dowry: A Novel of Ireland by Walter Keady – 4 stars – my review

155. Bossypants by Tina Fey (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

156. Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

157. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin – 2 stars

158. The First Husband by Laura Dave – 4 stars – my review

159. Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry – 3 stars – my review

October:

160. You Are My Only by Beth Kephart – 5 stars – my review

161. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (audio) – 5 stars

162. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – 5 stars – my review

163. The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

164. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley – 5 stars – my review

165. Plague by Michael Grant (read-aloud) – 4 stars – my review

166. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (read-aloud) – 5 stars

167. Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy (audio) – 4 stars – my review

168. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (audio) – 3 stars – my review

169. Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant – 4 stars

170. Andy Catlett: Early Travels by Wendell Berry – 5 stars – my review

171. A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger – 5 stars – my review

172. Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

173. Beautiful Chaos Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – 5 stars – my review

November:

174. Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham – 4 stars – my review

175. Second Nature: A Love Story by Jacquelyn Mitchard (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

176. The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore – 4 stars – my review

177. Cross Currents by John Shors – 5 stars – my review

178. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (read-aloud) – 5 stars

179. Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log by Karen A. Chase – 4 stars – my review

180. Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition by Wendell Berry – 5 stars

181. Enclave by Ann Aguirre – 4 stars – my review

182. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

183. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead – 3 stars – my review

December:

184. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

185. The Neighbors Are Watching by Debra Ginsberg – 3 stars – my review

186. The Bungalow by Sarah Jio – 4 stars – my review

187. The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne duMaurier – 3 stars – my review

188. The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler – 4 stars – my review

189. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

190. A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry – 5 stars – my review

191. V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton (audio) – 4 stars

192. Naked by David Sedaris (audio) – 3 stars

Books I started in 2011 but chose not to finish:

Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996 by Seamus Heaney – Made it to page 40, but only one or two poems grabbed me.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (audiobook) – I listened to two discs, but the shifting point of view and time periods were confusing.

Possession by A.S. Byatt – This one has a wonderful premise and I like the two main characters, but it dragged and dragged whenever it left their points of view.

The Beach House by Jane Green – Several married characters committing adultery and not one of them a likable character. No thanks.

Memory by Donald Westlake – Boring. I’m told this isn’t his typical style, though, so will probably try something else by him at some point.

Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian – I loved this author’s Midwives, but after a disc and a half of this one, I was bored. I thought maybe it was the narrator, but looked her name up and discovered that she also narrated Angelology, which I loved on audio. Must be the book.

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan – Listened to the first disc on audio, couldn’t get into it. May try this one in print eventually.

Remember Me by Cheryl Robinson – I found the dialogue very poorly written and the flip-flopping in time wasn’t done well, and so was disorienting.

The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter – I got a few discs into this audiobook and just couldn’t go any farther. The narrators were excellent – probably what kept me listening past disc 2, but I just couldn’t get into the multiple-POV plot.

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan – I listened to one disc of this on audiobook. I love the narrator – Robin Sachs – but the sex was a bit too…. much for me.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson – This book is the history of the war between robots and humans, told in snippets of stories by various participants. At first, I thought this was a unique way to tell the story, but after awhile, the lack of any strong main characters made me lose interest.

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster – This is the DNF that makes me feel the most guilty. I was supposed to read this for a Faith and Fiction Round Table discussion. I made it halfway through, but couldn’t make myself finish it. The characters seemed more like caricatures than real-life people, and I simply didn’t care what happened to them.

Zone One by Colson Whitehead – I like writing that is unselfconsciously intelligent and witty. I do not, however, like writing that stands up, waves its hands in the air, and shouts, “Look how intelligent and witty I am!”

Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin – Every time I got attached to a character and (finally) invested in their story, it switched to another character. The writing is beautiful, but it moves very slowly and the switching points of view had me losing interest.

The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason – This started out well, with a great premise, but I only made it through disc two. At that point, all I’d seen of the main character is him cheat on his fiance back home with all the English girls and American nurses he could get his hands on.