Your favourite Books you read this year 2011

The_Kew_Tour

What was yours?

Mine was "A Short History of Nearly everything" by Bill Bryson

and " Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers" by Filip Muller

Six of One

Mine were probably The Glass Room, Simon Mawer and Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel.

And if I'm allowed add the worst- The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas and The Famished Road, Ben Okri.

eclectichoney

Suzanne Rivecca - Death is not an option: Superb short fiction collection by an emerging American author

YiYun Li - Gold Boy, Emerald Girl: First story is simply stunning, teh rest are excellent also

Jeffrey Eugenides - The Marriage Plot: His best novel yet imo!

A.L. Kennedy - The Blue Book: I prefer her short fiction, but even her novels are well worth reading. Nice hardback edition with blue-edge pages

Six of One: Totally agree re The Slap, I thought it was terrible!

Toby Take a Bow

Lean on Pete, Isherwood's Berlin novels, Jonathan Strange and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater.

Most disappointed by Sportswriter by Richard Ford. Was expecting to be going on the to second book immediately but wasn't really that pushed.

Six of One

The Sportswriter nearly made it onto my own list, I really enjoyed it. Also read the Lay of the Land (before the Sportswriter, got it all wrong) last year and am looking forward to Independence Day this year.

x_Ellie_x

The best books I read in 2011 were:
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Burning by Jane Casey
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

The worst ones were:
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (odd novel, maybe something is lost in translation here with this one)
The Child In Time by Ian McEwen (I absolutely hated his writing style)
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (Ending of the book is a bit of a non-ending... the plot is just left hanging)
Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup (disappointing... was expecting better after reading Q&A but this was just crap)
One Day by David Nicholls (so not worthy of all the praise its gotten)
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (boring boring plot)
The Shack by William Paul Young (I'm not even going to say whats wrong with this one... I'll write a whole essay here if I do)

Byron85

Favourite fiction: Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

Favourite non-fiction: Discipline and Punish - Michel Foucault

Least Favourite Book: Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science - Lawrence Krauss


I was horribly disappointed by the above book. It was such a let down. I'll probably get around to reading one of the other biographies about Feynman at some later stage.

Grievous

American Pastoral- Philip Roth
Rights of Man-Thomas Paine
Easter 1916 and Other Poems-W.B. Yeats
The Goshawk-T.H. White
Breakfast of Champions-Kurt Vonnegut
Chew: Taster's Choice -John Layman
Irredeemable (Volume 1)-Mark Waid
How to Read and Why-Harold Bloom
The Castle of Crossed Destinies-Italo Calvino
The Prince-Niccolo Machiavelli
Usagi Yojimbo, Book 1: The Ronin-Stan Sakai
Oh What a Paradise It Seems-John Cheever
Foucault's Pendulum-Umberto Eco
Curtain - Agatha Christie
In Captivity (Sweet Tooth, Vol. 2)-Jeff Lemire
Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman Must Die-Grant Morrison
Batman Incorporated Vol. 1- Grant Morrison
Planetary, Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories-Warren Ellis
Planetary, Vol. 2: The Fourth Man-Warren Ellis
The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist: Volume 1-Michael Chabon
Matilda-Roald Dahl
The Raven-Edgar Allan Poe
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories-Tim Burton
A Confederacy of Dunces-John Kennedy Toole
Lord of Light-Roger Zelazny
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne-Grant Morrison
American Vampire: v. 1-Scott Snyder
Modern Man in Search of a Soul-C.G. Jung
The Sorrows of Young Werther-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Blood Meridian-Cormac McCarthy
And Then There Were None- Agatha Christie
The Devil's Dictionary-Ambrose Bierce
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn-Grant Morrison
The Flash by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 1-Geoff Johns
I Kill Giants-Joe Kelly
Tropic of Cancer-Henry Miller
The Gallic Wars -Julius Caesar
Unknown Soldier Vol. 1: Haunted House-Joshua Dysart
Daytripper-Gabriel BÃ
My Left Foot-Christy Brown
The Big Sleep -Raymond Chandler
Scalped: High Lonesome-Jason Aaron
Air, Vol. 1: Letters from Lost Countries-G. Willow Wilson
Animal Armies-Jeff Lemire
Red Harvest-Dashiell Hammett
Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing Alan Moore
A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess-
Pax Romana-Jonathan Hickman
The Virgin Suicides-Jeffrey Eugenides
The End League Volume 1: Ballad Of Big Nothing-Rick Remender
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic-Tom Holland
The Elephant's Journey-Jose Saramago
Haroun and the Sea of Stories-Salman Rushdie
The English Patient -Michael Ondaatje
Asterios Polyp-David Mazzucchelli
The Bad Beginning -Lemony Snicket
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life -Bryan Lee O'Malley
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead-Tom stoppard
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
George's Marvellous Medicine -Roald Dahl
The Little Prince-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Unbearable Lightness of Being-Milan Kundera
The Twits-Roald Dahl
Everyman-Philip Roth
Factotum -Charles Bukowski
The Complete Persepolis-Marjane Satrapi
A History of Violence-John Wagner
Shade, the Changing Man Vol. 1: The American Scream-Peter Milligan
The Complete Essex County-Jeff Lemire
The Penultimate Truth-Philip K. Dick
James and the Giant Peach-Roald Dahl
The End of the Affair-Graham Greene
The Immoralist-Andre Gide
The Flash Time Flies-John Rozum
Flaubert's Parrot-Julian Barnes
Swamp Thing, Vol. 3: The Curse-Alan Moore
The Stuff of Legend Book 1: The Dark-Mike Raicht
Sebastian O-Grant Morrison
Mouse Guard, Volume 1: Fall 1152-David Petersen
A Single Man-Christopher Isherwood
Transmetropolitan, Vol. 2: Lust for Life-Warren Ellis
Blueberry Girl-Neil Gaiman
Planetary, Vol. 3: Leaving the 20th Century-Warren Ellis
Transhuman-Jonathan Hickman
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man-Mike Carey
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Roald Dahl
The Invisibles, Vol. 2: Apocalipstick-Grant Morrison
The Ides of March-Thornton Wilder
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao -Junot DiSpamaz
Coming Through Slaughter-Michael Ondaatje
Joe the Barbarian-Grant Morrison
No Country for Old Men-Cormac McCarthy
The White Castle-Orhan Pamuk
The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch-Neil Gaiman
The God Delusion-Richard Dawkins

My Top Ten:

1) The White Castle.
2) The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Woa.
3) American Pastoral.
4) The Ides Of March.
5) No Country For Old Men.
6) The God Delusion.
7) A Single Man.
8) The Little Prince.
9) Tropic Of Cancer.
10) Rosencrantz And Gildenstern Are Dead.

Irish Aris

A dear friend introduced me to the world of Haruki Murakami.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicles was the book I enjoyed most this year!

Byron85

I'd love to know how someone like Grievous can read that many books in a year! Bloody hell!

Six of One

I know, if I'd have even tried to finish Blood Meridian I'd have never gotten anything else read last year!

brno

My best book of this or any year "the Road"
I 've a son the same age as the boy in the book.I wasn't right for about a week after it! but I'm still glad I read it.

"Bad Science" would be my favourite non fiction of this year

thechanger

The Rider by Tim Krabbé

Grievous

Byron85 wrote: »

I'd love to know how someone like Grievous can read that many books in a year! Bloody hell!

I'm a student of Literature, though not in any official capacity.

Paddy Samurai

Hard to pick,but a few of my favourites were............

Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon
Great read,something new and refreshing.McCammon shows he has more strings to his bow than horror. Murder ,mystery and witchcraft in colonial america,but not like its ever been done before.A sumptuous read.

Wildwood Boys By James Carlos Blake
Not Blakes best book ,but still a damn fine read.Based around the life of "Bloody Bill"Anderson,still a figure of controversy to this day .Blake brings him to life and suceeds in humanising him,despite the horrific acts carried out.

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Lots of LOL moments for me with this one.As a big fantasy reader,it was great to come across something new.Prince Jorg is a unique and refreshing Anti-Hero. A dark fantasy ,not to be missed.Part two is out this year , can't wait.:D

mickoregan

The ones that stand out:

OUTER DARK and CHILD OF GOD both by Cormac McCarthy.

THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

GARBO by Barry Paris

Most disappointing:

HOUSE OF THE DEAD by Dostoyevsky

PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James

Toby Take a Bow

Six of One wrote: »

The Sportswriter nearly made it onto my own list, I really enjoyed it. Also read the Lay of the Land (before the Sportswriter, got it all wrong) last year and am looking forward to Independence Day this year.

I think maybe I had expected too much from it.

Giruilla

x_Ellie_x wrote: »

The Child In Time by Ian McEwen (I absolutely hated his writing style)

Ha, I vowed never to read another Ian McEwan book after reading that!

deem79

Portnoy's Complaint - a must-read for any male !

mickoregan

Six of One wrote: »

The Sportswriter nearly made it onto my own list, I really enjoyed it. Also read the Lay of the Land (before the Sportswriter, got it all wrong) last year and am looking forward to Independence Day this year.

Ford is my favourite writer of all time and I'm very much looking forward to CANADA, his new work which is due later this year.
Regarding the Bascombe series - while all three are, in my view, flawless, INDEPENDENCE DAY is probably the most accessible, for a newcomer to his work. However, though it's not absolutely necessary, I feel that one would get much more from it having read THE SPORTSWRITER first.

Besides the Bascombe books, please read WILDLIFE - a wonderful early book of his.

deem79

Thanks mickoregan. Always meant to get around to Ford, but you've given me the impetus go buy The Sportswriter now

mickoregan

You're welcome.

I would love to be reading it for the first time again.

Might I suggest though, you read something earlier of his first such as ROCKSTREAMS or WILDLIFE.

I've found Ford to have the smoothest and most relaxed writing style I've EVER come across. He describes the Frank Bascombe character in SPORTSWRITER as often feeling "dreamy" - well, Ford's prose has that exact relaxing effect on the reader. Wonderful. However, my feeling is that getting used to his style before reading one of his major works will pay dividends.
However, it's just my opinion.
I cannot praise Ford too highly.

deem79

Good info - will do as suggested - ta

mickoregan

Brilliant. Let us know what you think.

Monkeybonkers

From Here to Eternity Jack Jones.
Loved this book and would recommend it to anyone.

A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole.
Laugh out loud book. I had never even heard of it until I came across it in the library. Never underestimate the power of browsing. Probably my overall favourite of the year.

Wonders of the Universe Brian Cox.
Where did we come from? Where are we going to? All answers are here in this beautifully illustrated book which accompanies the TV series. I haven't seen the series but loved the book.


The above three are my favourite books from last year. I think 'Confederacy..........' gets my vote as No.1 simply because it made me laugh so much. Three excellent books which I would highly recommend to anyone.

mickoregan

@monkeybonkers - the last part of your signature there is so funny. Made me lol.

deem79

A Confederacy of Dunces is absolutely hilarious. Amazing characters.

Monkeybonkers

deem79 wrote: »

A Confederacy of Dunces is absolutely hilarious. Amazing characters.

Excellent book. Pity the author passed away as I think he had a gift for comedy writing which is hard to find.

highlydebased

Probably one of my better years for reading

1984- Orwell
High Rise- JG Ballard
The Road- Cormac McCarthy
One Day- David Nicholls
We- Yevgeny Zamyatin

Posy

Irish Aris wrote: »

A dear friend introduced me to the world of Haruki Murakami.

Same thing happened to me in 2011- can't believe I'd never heard of him before the summer!

grohlisagod

Haven't read too much this year. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was fantastic though.

Monkeybonkers

Didn't get around to reading it last year. Must check it out this year

Denerick

I haven't had much time to read in the last couple of months (Slowly making my way through Middlemarch - also simultaneously started Cosmos by Carl Sagan over the weekend, just to try something completely different) but some of the better books I've read over the last year:

George R.R. Martin - The Song of Ice and Fire series. Got into this after watching the HBO tv show. Truly excellent. Not everyone's cup of tea but in my opinion its the apex of the fantasy novel. Absolutely wonderful, with lots of things to say about high politics, intrigue, jealousy, love, redemption, loss, destiny (or lack thereof) - the full gamut of the human experience really.

Bram Stoker - Dracula. The original horror novel. Wasn't particularly scary, but highly absorbing.

Conor Cruise O'Brien - States of Ireland. A timely critique of Irish republicanism (Written in the 70s) His observations on this militant cult are timeless and still as relevant today in post troubles Ireland. Should be mandatory reading for all leaving cert students.

Umberto Eco - Focoult's Pendelum. A confusing book that parodises Dan Brown and the Da Vinci code before it was even written. Every conspiracy theorist should read this and reflect on how silly they are.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (sic) - Crime and Punishment. The original novel about the human conscience. This book will stay with me until the day I die.

Robert Graves - I, Claudius & Claudius the God. In his own words, these two books are wonderful potboilers. Compulsive page turners. Breathes life, glory, honour and cowardice into Imperial Rome.

mickoregan

Denerick wrote: »

Bram Stoker - Dracula. The original horror novel.

Hmmmm, I think not. Just to name two, Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde preceded Dracula.

Grievous

Denerick wrote: »

Robert Graves - I, Claudius & Claudius the God. In his own words, these two books are wonderful potboilers. Compulsive page turners. Breathes life, glory, honour and cowardice into Imperial Rome.

Is Botboiler still a perjorative term in the arts?


I, Claudius and its sequel are great literature. I know Graves wasn't fond of how successful they became (He was a poet afterall), and wrote them for a paycheck back all those years ago.
Regardless, Robert Graves the poet still wrote them and wrote them really really well. He couldn't write bad if he tried to.

Grievous

Denerick wrote: »

Umberto Eco - Focoult's Pendelum. A confusing book that parodises Dan Brown and the Da Vinci code before it was even written. Every conspiracy theorist should read this and reflect on how silly they are.

I read this last year. It's a great history lesson and this should be no surprise as Eco is an historian himself, but I don't like how time moves in this novel.
Our narrator relates to us an awful lot of information in such a short period of time. I don't buy it.

It's wonderfully written, though.

Denerick

mickoregan wrote: »

Hmmmm, I think not. Just to name two, Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde preceded Dracula.

Don't take me too literally, I have a tendancy for the hyperbolic. Consider me the strange uncle who gets drunk at family occassions.

mickoregan

Denerick wrote: »

Don't take me too literally, I have a tendancy for the hyperbolic. Consider me the strange uncle who gets drunk at family occassions.

Love your comic, BTW.

Hoofball

Of the books I read in 2011 (that I can remember):

Best
Stephen King 11.22.63
Giorgio Faletti I Kill
Gregg Hurrwitz The Survivor
Joe Hill Horns

I think 11.22.63 is one of the better books that King has written in at least the last 10 years. The other books are just ones that I thought were somewhat original and interesting.


Worst
Tom Clancy Dead or Alive
John Grisham Theodore Boone: The Abduction
WM Paul Young The Shack

Tom Clancy - an official sellout IMO. I have two more of "his" books on my to-be-read shelf but I'll have to be very stuck to pick them up to read. I had heard a lot about the shack so decided to buy it on spec, a mildly interesting read but massively pretentious. Was just a bit of a damp squib.

Brian?

Irish Aris wrote: »

A dear friend introduced me to the world of Haruki Murakami.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicles was the book I enjoyed most this year!

I read 3 of his books this year, including The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, an absolutly brilliant book. Kafka on the Shore is great as well, Norweigan Wood ditto.

I have IQ84 lined up to read next.

Other highlights were:

The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, don't normally read crime thriller fiction but I really enjoyed this one.
American Pastoral by Phillip Roth
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. Can't argue with Hemingway.

I must have read 30 books this year, but I cannot for the life of me remember many more than that.

Oh, the latest George RR Martin was good.