Some of the books
I read in 2011: An Annotated List
(I don't remember
all the books I read, but these are all on my Kindle, except for Whipped, Not
Beaten.)
Non-Fiction (in no
particular order)
I don’t
read a lot of non-fiction. The first in this list was light and funny, and the
next two were instructive.
Bad Mother: A
Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
By Ayelet Waldman
Little Girls Can
Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-proof Girls in the Early Grades
By Michelle
Anthony, Ph.D. and Reyna Lindert, Ph.D.
Good Girls Don’t
Get Fat
By Robyn Sliverman
Fiction (in
alphabetical order by author)
The Vital
Principle By Amy Corwin
A
mystery, but I wouldn’t seek out others by this author. The writing was fine,
but mysteries set during this time period (1800’s) don’t tend to hold my
interest.
The Stuff That
Never Happened By Maddie Dawson
An okay
read, I reviewed it here.
Dead Before
Morning By Geraldine Evans (edited)
I Still Dream About You By Fannie Flagg (edited)
A mystery that was just okay.
I Still Dream About You By Fannie Flagg (edited)
This
book, about a woman who had decided to kill herself but has to keep postponing
the act, seemed to go on for a long time. I wouldn’t look for others by this
author, although she wrote the book that became one of my favorite movies:
Fried Green Tomatoes. However, I didn’t even know that movie was based on a
book, and I’ve never read it.
What Alice Forgot
Three Wishes
The Last
Anniversary
All by Liane
Moriarty
These
books are definitely fluff, but I really loved them. The character development
was really well done for fluffy books, and I found myself caring for and
laughing at the characters. Fast, fun reads and I will be waiting for more from
this author. I reviewed What Alice
Forgot.
The Forgotten
Garden
The Distant Hours
The House at
Riverton
All by Kate Morton
These
books are delightfully involved, with wonderfully intricate plot lines and
great character development. I will be waiting for more from this author.
The Charming
Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (7)
The Forgotten
Affairs of Youth: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (8)
Both by Alexander McCall Smith
I have
really enjoyed both this series and the Ladies No.1 Detective series from
McCall Smith. However, these last two were not my favorites of this series.
The Year We Left
Home By Jean Thompson
I
really enjoyed this book, and picked it up initially because of a review by Green Girl in Wisconsin.
Close Your Eyes: A
Novel
Sleep Toward
Heaven
How to be Lost
All by Amanda Eyre
Ward
Great
books, and I’ll be waiting for more from this author.
Fly Away Home
Best Friends
Forever
Both by Jennifer
Weiner
This author is so uneven. I’ve now read three of her books, and parts
are well written and other parts are boring, or just seem really poorly
developed. These fall in the fluff category, but the writing is not good enough
to recommend.
Whipped, Not
Beaten By Melissa Westemeier
A very
fun read –I’ll be looking for more from this author too :-)
Books I started
but didn’t finish (in no particular order)
Prep: A Novel
By Curtis Sittenfeld
I was
bored by the second chapter and didn’t see any reason to keep reading.
The Girl in the
Gatehouse By Julie Klassen
I think
the time-setting for this book is a problem for me. I got about half way
through it, but when something more interesting came along, I moved on. I
haven’t been interested enough to go back and pick it up again.
Book I’m currently
reading (and so will straddle the two years)
Death Comes to
Pemberly By P.D. James
I've never been able to read Jane Austen --the times I've tried, the
books seem to consist just of dialog. I love that dialog in the movies, but it
doesn't work for me as a book. I've read all of the Adam Dagliesh books, so I'm
hoping James's writing style will pull me into this time period.
This is great to have some suggestions for reading in the new year. I was going to make a similar list, and still might do it. But today is just for lazing about (and taking the Son on a driving lesson).
ReplyDeleteAdding a comment about Jane Austen: Twice I tried reading "Emma" (no offense to yr daughter) but did not like the main character at all, so I quit half-way through. But I loved "Pride and Prejudice" (that's the one with Mr. Darcy, right?).
ReplyDeleteThis year I suspect what I really will spend most of my time reading will be my child's homework. She's sort of on probation for writing illegibly.
I really hope that Kate Morton comes out with more books too!
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that Melissa Westemeier has more books forthcoming, so I hope we don't have to wait too long for those.
As for Julie Klassen, I zipped through all of her books last month and loved them.
@Household Mom --I think my daughter should actually be on probation for that same offense. And her handwriting gets worse when she's working on math.
ReplyDelete@Jen --I thought the Klassen was well written. I don't know why that time period doesn't hold my interest in books. After all, I love movies set in that period.
Good list! I am printing it out. (I thought Fannie Flagg wrote 'Fried Green Tomatoes')
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it must've been a different one (Fried Green Tomatoes at the blah, blah blah...)
ReplyDelete@michiganme --you're totally right! I mixed up two books. The one I mentioned (Dead Before Morning) is a mystery.
ReplyDeleteThe book I actually described, about a woman who has decided to kill herself, is by Fannie Flagg, and is called I Still Dream About You.
I'll edit the post :-)
What did you think of the Little Girls Can be Mean book? We had some bullying issues last year in our household. I'm hoping we're done with it. However, it's a small school and paths are likely to cross again.
ReplyDeleteI thought the book was quite helpful, although what would be best is if teachers were more educated about the relational aggression that is girl-on-girl bullying. The book gives you ways to help your child, but since the bullying is happening at school, it would be even better if the teachers learned to recognize it so that the bullies were called out on their behavior.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really wanted to do was make the teachers read it!