The Annual 2011 Booklist!
The Booklist
Introduction
Last year I made a goal to continue to record the books I read. Neither of the two people on my f-list who usually post a list of books this year have([info]satakieli and [info]meanie9494 HINT HINT). But I was going to do it anyway and [info]lapinguina requested it.
This year my special goal was to read books I bought and then never read. I also tried NOT to purchase new books, but that really didn't work out so well. I bought books at booksignings and on trips. In fact I bought 13 books in France, though most of them were children's books. I also bought TONS of cookbooks at Borders in June. I did read 11 books that I had owned since the previous year, and some for YEARS.
( Click for annotated list of the 44 books of 2011 )
Book of the Year: Random Family. It's about girls who get pregnant as teenagers multiple times with different fathers, are involved with drug dealers as kids, and then become old (20s), can't handle their kids and are pretty much every stereotype you are ever going to get about these types of people. However, the book makes you realize there are no easy answers for certain problems. After you finish, you should look up everything the author has written about the people as the author (she removes herself from the book, though at certain points she was living with the people in the book). It drags in the middle big time. Still a 5. War by Sebastian Junger would be my second place book. Collapse would be my third place book of the year. Tiger Mom and Henrietta Lacks get Honorable Mentions. SOIAF is good stuff, but I liked my non-fiction better.
[info]Lapinguina Per your facebook request, I suggest the Malcolm Gladwell books. They are light like Freakonomics (I read one per day) and deal with odd an interesting things in a similar fashion. I have "What the Dog Saw" as well on loan from my sister, but it's not as good (I skipped around).
Comment about any book if you'd like to discuss it.
Introduction
Last year I made a goal to continue to record the books I read. Neither of the two people on my f-list who usually post a list of books this year have([info]satakieli and [info]meanie9494 HINT HINT). But I was going to do it anyway and [info]lapinguina requested it.
This year my special goal was to read books I bought and then never read. I also tried NOT to purchase new books, but that really didn't work out so well. I bought books at booksignings and on trips. In fact I bought 13 books in France, though most of them were children's books. I also bought TONS of cookbooks at Borders in June. I did read 11 books that I had owned since the previous year, and some for YEARS.
( Click for annotated list of the 44 books of 2011 )
Book of the Year: Random Family. It's about girls who get pregnant as teenagers multiple times with different fathers, are involved with drug dealers as kids, and then become old (20s), can't handle their kids and are pretty much every stereotype you are ever going to get about these types of people. However, the book makes you realize there are no easy answers for certain problems. After you finish, you should look up everything the author has written about the people as the author (she removes herself from the book, though at certain points she was living with the people in the book). It drags in the middle big time. Still a 5. War by Sebastian Junger would be my second place book. Collapse would be my third place book of the year. Tiger Mom and Henrietta Lacks get Honorable Mentions. SOIAF is good stuff, but I liked my non-fiction better.
[info]Lapinguina Per your facebook request, I suggest the Malcolm Gladwell books. They are light like Freakonomics (I read one per day) and deal with odd an interesting things in a similar fashion. I have "What the Dog Saw" as well on loan from my sister, but it's not as good (I skipped around).
Comment about any book if you'd like to discuss it.