A Year In Reading - 2011 Mega-Post

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Total Books Read: 24 25
Published in 2011: 11 12
Published Before 2011: 13
Translations: 4
Part Of A Series:  5
Prize Winners: 2
Total Pages: 8,759 9,084


The Top 6 7
Because five isn't enough and ten is too much

• Skippy Dies by Paul Murray - A boarding school novel that brought back memories of Infinite Jest and my very own personal boarding-school memories.  This is a beautiful novel that reminded me what it was like to be young, confused, angry and in love. 
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer   - I shed real man-tears.  Do I need to say anything more? 
• The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides  - This year's Freedom wasn't quite what people expected from the author of Middlesex, but The Marriage Plot was satisfying in its own way.
• Tinkers by Paul Harding - The prose!  Oh the prose!  The most beautifully written thing I read this year.
• The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak  - This is a perfect little novel about cultural identity, war and family.  This is the new book that I recommend to everyone.
• The Slide by Kyle Beachy - Oh you've never heard of this?  One of my favorite post-college-reality-smacks-you-in-the-face books of all time.  Highly recommended and not just because it takes place in St. Louis.
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt - A Deadwood-esque western that's beautifully written with an excellent story. 

The Complete 2011 List:
Ordered by date completed

• Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Speaker For The Dead by Orson Scott Card
• The Slide by Kyle Beachy
• Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
• Remainder by Tom McCarthy (review)
• Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
• Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Children Of The Mind by Orson Scott Card
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer  (review)
• A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin  (review)
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman
• Mile 81 by Stephen King  (review)
• Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño  (review)
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern  (review)
• 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill  (review)
• The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides  (review)
• 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami  (review)
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (review)
• 420 Characters by Lou Beach  (review)
• The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak  (review)
• The Train by Georges Simenon  (review)
• Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto by Gianni Rodari  (review)
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt  (review)

updated 01.06.2012