t’s unlikely I’ll pick up another book this year seeing as I haven’t read anything since the 11th of November (let’s not talk about it all right?), so I guess it’s time to post my 2011 Year in Reading! This little survey was created by the Perpetual Page Turner Like Gillian of the Portrait of a Would Be Artist as a Young Woman (whose end of year survey you should also check out), I’ve modified it slightly to suit my needs. So without further ado, blah blah, here we go:
1. Best Book You Read In 2011?
The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard. I can’t believe the best book I read was in January… The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is a close second though there were other books I rated more highly (some nonfiction, though nonfiction rarely touches me as much as fiction unless it’s a memoir). South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami also gets an honorable mention.
2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
The Raising by Laura Kasischke. This book just had so much potential and was going so well until it completely fell apart and stopped making any sense. I take that back. The most disappointing book I read this year, by FAR, was Everything Happens Today. I forgot about it because I was so angry I didn’t even write a review. Rarely do I find “hating the main character” to be a just reason for disliking a book, but I’ve made an exception here. The guy suffers from “nice guy” syndrome. He does a complete 180 on the girl he likes in the course of a day — creepily idealizing her at first, then even more creepily tearing her down. And it feels like we, the readers, are supposed to take this at face value somehow. Furthermore, the narrative rings false and sounds more like the author trying to shove his own voice and ideas down our throats. Almost every paragraph is long and winding which gets tiring after awhile. And a minor but important point. There’s a scene in the book in which the main character remarks on the changing ethnic makeup of this butcher shop. I wasn’t particularly bothered by this because it’s true, NYC has changed a lot over the years. Remarking on this was fine… less fine was the way he continued to then refer to the butchers as “the Mexicans” when it was no longer necessary, as if they were some kind of sub-species of people. Many will probably think I’m being overly sensitive, but I’m sorry (no I’m not), when a group of people are constantly ‘othered,’ things like this are not even remotely okay.
2b. Worst book? Kind of a tossup between The Luxe by Anna Godbersen or In Praise of the Stepmother by Mario Vargas Llosa. The former is just poor character development, cliche writing, weak female characters all interested in the same thing, etc. The latter is technically good writing but somehow awful.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
It’s actually True Grit but I’m saving that for #7 so instead I’ll say The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky, which I wasn’t expecting to like but I was immediately won over by the main character’s compelling voice.
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
I don’t recommend books that often…and when I do I try to personalize as much as possible instead of shoving some book I loved down someone else’s throat. But when asked about it (and I have been a few times now) I have highly recommended The Art of Fielding. And I truly believe everyone needs to read Sex at Dawn though I usually don’t go out of my way to recommend it unless I’m already talking to someone about sex and relationships.
5. Best series you discovered in 2011?
The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I’ve only read the first two but I’m looking forward to the conclusion and can’t believe I resisted this series for so long just because it had paranormal elements. I’M SORRY LIBBA, PLEASE FORGIVE ME.
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?
Libba Bray, though she’s not a new author, just new to me.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
True Grit by Charles Portis. I never read westerns but True Grit was amazing! While I don’t think I’ll be seeking out more westerns, I’m still really glad I gave this one a shot.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
(for the record, I hate the word unputdownable) Don’t Say A Word by Jennifer McMahon and The Truth Teller’s Lie by Sophie Hannah were really good mysteries though. Sophie Hannah is great at the psychological stuff and Jennifer McMahon always inserts a nice little mindfuck at the end of her books it seems.
9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern I suppose… (I would say 1Q84 since I’d been checking for the US release date for that book for at least a year, but I still haven’t read 1Q84 yet…so you know…awkward.)
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Both the US and UK editions are gorgeous, I (not surprisingly) own the American edition.
11. Most memorable character in 2011?
Gemma Doyle from A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter was almost too much at first! And The Night Circus had these incredible and imaginative descriptions of the different circus exhibitions. Definitely made me wish le cirque des reves actually existed…
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. This was a real eye opener for me and helped me better understand transgendered issues as well as cissexism.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Not only do I not know how I managed to skip this (and Jane Eyre) in school but it took me two years to finish the damn thing!
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
All quotes from “The Lady of the House of Love” from Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber
“She inhabits only the present tense, a fugue of the continuous, a world of sensual immediacy as without hope as it is without despair.”
“She is so beautiful she is unnatural; her beauty is an abnormality, a deformity, for none of her features exhibit any of those touching imperfections that reconcile us to the imperfection of the human condition. Her beauty is a symptom of her disorder, of her soullessness.”
“But the mistress of all this disintegration notices nothing.”
16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I went to a Jennifer Egan (and Jeffrey Eugenides) reading in November and she read the first chapter/story. While she was reading, I noticed an interesting connective detail that I hadn’t noticed when I read it because it took me so long to get through the book (and because now I have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight). Anyway, part of me really wants to give this book another shot… part of me knows I probably won’t. But if there’s a book I’ll reread, it’ll probably be that one.
17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Popular by Alissa Grosso. Still frustrating that I can’t talk about this with anyone!
18. One book you didn’t get to in 2011 but will make a priority in 2012?
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides and 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
19. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?
Dare I say, Marisha Pessl’s Night Film which is supposedly due out in April 2012? I was slightly disappointed in Special Topics in Calamity Physics but I love Blue Van Meer and how smart she was and how Pessl didn’t shy away from being a smarty pants in her narrative. Also, though there is no word, I think it’s been 10 years since Donna Tartt put out The Little Friend, so she’s due. DAMMIT SHE’S DUE.
20. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2012?
I do want to participate in more community challenges (instead of just my own personal ones). I want to do away with my rating system and just review the books I read. I want to read 75 books… but more on goals later ;)
1. Aha! I have been blanking on Hannah Pittard’s name and title for MONTHS. Thank you!
9. That huge Audrey Niffenegger blurb at the top of the UK edition is just awful. The artwork is gorgeous, and I love that both editions actually look like they go together, but my gosh, the placement and size of that blurb (to say nothing of the content – it kind of beats you over the head with its marvelous-ness).
12/15. Officially need this book in my life.
16. Now that you mention The Vested One, I’ve been meaning to re-read The Virgin Suicides and re-attempt Middlesex before diving into The Marriage Plot. I’ve been saying this about the first two books for several years. /embarrassing Apparently The Marriage Plot is set, at least partly, in Rhode Island, so I feel extra-obligated to read it.
9. Oh I know right? When I was posting it, I was thinking WTF were they thinking ruining the cover with that?
I want to read 50 books in 2012. 75 is an impressive goal!! I removed ratings from my blog a while back. It feels a lot more freeing. Like I’m focused on discussing the different elements of a work, rather than judging it wither good or bad…
Yes! Also, I feel my ratings change over the passing months but the way I felt about the book generally doesn’t. Not sure why… I guess it’s just hard for me to put a number on my opinion. And I know for a lot of people stopping by it’s quick and easy way (and maybe even a good way to determine whether or not they want to read the review) but I no longer feel comfortable with it.
Nicole, What a great list. I look forward to reading a few of them.
Always, Bumby
Maybe you could do a simplified rating system, a la Siskel and Ebert: thumbs up, down, sideways. That way readers can get a gist of whether you liked it or not. On the other hand, it could also be too simplified.
Great year in reading! I can always count on you to talk about books I’ve never heard of- almost as good as browsing in a bookstore/library.
Yeah, maybe… or something like “Mostly positive,” “Mostly negative,” “Mostly who gives a fuck?” lol (the first two I think I saw on Publisher’s Marketplace or something … like they’d link to reviews from major publications and label them as mostly positive or negative.
It’s interesting you added the Gemma Doyle series as your best discovered series – I just finished my year end review (in books) yesterday and that series was listed as my most disappointing books hah. I liked the first books or so just fine but struggled with the third – I’m interested to see what you think when you finish
perhaps I will feel differently once I read the last book. As it is though, I’m not much of a series reader to begin with. I’m trying to change that a bit, but I’m not quite there yet heh.