Monday, January 02, 2012

Reading List, 2011

Here it is, the list of books I read in 2011.  It wasn't a great year in terms of quantity, but there are some really good books on this list.  Looking it over, I realized that my favorite books this year were non-fiction -  A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz, The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure, and At Home by Bill Bryson. It was also a year of audiobooks; I'm not really an auditory person, but the 1/2 hour drive to work is a good opportunity to get more books read.  


Another addition to my reading formats was my nook., which I received  for Christmas last year.  It wasn't so much that I really wanted it, but knew that in my job it was going to be an important element and wanted to make sure I was on top of things.  I was surprised by how much I enjoy reading on it; I don't event really notice much of a difference.  The only issue is in books with several full color illustrations; in that case print (or a color nook) would be better.


Another thing is that for the first year, the number of adult books and juvenile/young adult books is about equal.  After 20 years as a children's librarian, I'm now moving on as a library director.  What this means for my job is that most of my reading will be for our adult book discussion group, which I will still be co-leading.  I'll still try to keep up with juvenile/young adult literature because I enjoy it, but it won't be the main focus of my reading. Unless I manage to establish that  Young Adult/Adult Book Discussion Group.


So, here's the list.  If you've read any of these, let me know your opinions; if you see something you think you might like to read, feel free to ask my opinion. 



Books Read 2011
Adult Books:
1.    Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
2.    Catherine of Aragon – Giles Tremlett
3.    I Remember Nothing – Nora Ephron (audiobook)
4.    In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks – Adam Carolla (nook)
5.    Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
6.    Girls in Trucks – Katie Crouch (nook)
7.    Uptight and in Your Face – Nina Brown
8.    A Red Herring without Mustard – Alan Bradley
9.    The Wilder Life – Wendy McClure (nook)
10.  Death of a Chimney Sweep  - M.C. Beaton
11.  Friendship Bread – Darien Gee
12.  The Street of a Thousand Blossoms – Gail Tsukiyama (audiobook)
13.  A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (audiobook)
14.  This Life Is in Your Hands – Melissa Coleman
15.  The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn’t –Robert Sutton
16.  Bossypants – Tina Fey (audiobook)
17.  A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
18.  Every Last One – Anna Quindlen (audiobook)
19.  A Tiny Bit Marvellous – Dawn French
20.  This Is Where I Leave You – Jonathan Troper
21.  Wheat Belly – William Davis (nook – advance reading copy)
22.  The Mistress of Nothing – Kate Pullinger
23.  The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace – Gary Chapman (nook – advance reading copy)
24.  A Jane Austen Education – William Deresiewicz
25.  The Greatest Generation – Tom Brokaw
26.  The Wives of Henry Oades – Johanna Moran
27.  The Paris Wife – Paula McLain (audiobook)
28.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safron Foer
29.  The Magicians – Lev Grossman
30.  Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian – Scott Douglass
31.  The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus – Sonya Sones
32.  The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party – Alexander McCall Smith
33.  The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
34.  Rules of Civility – Amor Towles
35.  At Home – Bill Bryson (nook)
36.  Life Itself –Roger Ebert (audiobook)
37.  Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson
38.  I Am Half Sick of Shadows – Alan Bradley
39.  Then Came You – Jennifer Weiner (audiobook)
40.  Sun Stand Still – Steven Furtick

Adults Books re-read for Adult Book Discussion Group:
1.    The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
2.    The Help – Katherine Stockett

Juvenile and Young Adult Books:
1.    Around the World in 100 Days Gary Blackwood
2.    Finn – Matthew Olshan (nook)
3.    The Cardturner – Louis Sachar (nook)
4.    My Fair Godmother – Janette Rallison (nook)
5.    Spaceheadz – Jon Scieszka
6.    The Talent Show – Dan Gutman
7.    Magic Below Stairs – Caroline Stevermear
8.    Finally – Wendy Mass
9.    The Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis – Barbara O’Connor
10.  Masters of Disaster  - Gary Paulsen
11.  Eggs over Evie – Allison Jackson
12.  Saving the Baghdad Zoo – Kelly Halls, Major William Summer
13.  Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters –p Natalie Standiford
14.  Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? Louise Rennison
15.  A Long Walk to Water – Linda Sue Park
16.  A Tale Dark and Grimm – Adam Gidwitz
17.  Moon over Manifest – Clare Vanderpool (nook)
18.  Hero – Mike Lupica (nook)
19.  The Brixton Brothers: The Ghostwriter Secret – Mac Barnett
20.  The Talented Clementine – Sara Pannypacker
21.  Penny Dreadful – Laurel Snyder
22.  Clementine and the Family Meeting – Sara Pennypacker (nook Advance Reader Copy)
23.  The Romeo and Juliet Code – Phoebe Stone
24.  Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Richard and Florence Atwater
25.  Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares – Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
26.  Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart – Candace Fleming
27.  Beauty Queens – Libba Bray
28.  Cloaked – Alex Flinn (nook)
29.  Then I Met My Sister – Christine Hurley Deriso
30.  Yours Truly, Lucy B. Parker: Sealed with a Kiss – Robin Palmer
31.  Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School: Fear Itself – Andrew Clements
32.  Hidden – Helen Frost
33.  The Strange Case of Origami Yoda – Tom Angleberger
34.  Matched  - Ally Condie
35.  The Girl who Was on Fire – Leah Wilson, ed.
36.  Troublemaker – Andrew Clements (audiobook
37.  Junonia – Kevin Henkes (audiobook)
38.  Touch Blue – Cynthia Lord  (audiobook)
39.  Wonderstruck – Brian Selznick
40.  Lexie –Audrey Couloumb is
41.  Trapped – Marc Aronson
42.  From Willa with Love – Coleen Murtaugh Paratore
43.  A Plague Year –Edward Bloor
44.  Nerd Camp – Elissa Brent Weissman
45.  Tangled – Carolyn Mackler

Juvenile Books re-read for Child-Adult Book Discussion Group:
1.    Shiloh – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
2.    Because of Winn-Dixie – Kate diCamillo
3.    No More Dead Dogs – Gordon Korman
4.    Love That Dog – Sharon Creech
5.    The Trolls – Polly Horvath 
6.The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (read for Adult Book Discussion Group)

4 comments:

LiteracyDocent said...

Great lists Cindy! I loved Nerd Camp but haven't seen much talk about it. Of course Wonderstruck left me...well...Wonderstruck! Selznick is amazingly talented! Thanks for sharing your reading life...and congratulations on the new position!

Cindy Schilling said...

Thanks, Susan. I really liked Nerd Camp, too. It would maybe be a good suggestion for MSBA. And I totally agree about Wonderstruck!

Shenach Cameron said...

Fascinating list--thanks, Cindy! And don't forget to update your profile ;)

Cindy Schilling said...

Thanks, Shenach. I'll have to do that.