Thursday, December 26, 2013

Books You Must Read - Books of 2011

When I got started reading and reviewing books I really didn't know I was going to be here two, almost three years later, pursuing what has become a part of who I am.

I'm more than thankful for the courage I had to begin something so new and foreign, go with it just through mere passion, and then dedicate myself to it on such an extreme level that it all has been paying off even to this day.

I had a great first year.  2011 was really beginning of it all and from my own standards of quality it was probably the time of some of my best reviews.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink was really the book that started it all.  I owe it all to this book.  I was inspired and eager to begin to understand my life and this book came along through a bookclub I joined.  It has paved the path for this whole blog.

And then there were some of the classics you may have heard about.  This year was probably my most prominent year in reading the classics, as you'll see.  I am so proud to have seized this year to read as many classics as I did.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, 
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, 
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, 
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, 
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 
Candide by Voltaire, 
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Graduate by Charles Webb
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
1984: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Contact by Carl Sagan

I was actually also able to get my hands on J.R. Tolkien, an author I had wanted to read for such a long time and finally managed to complete two of his novels.  The Hobbit is probably one of my favorite novels of all time.  J.R.Tolkien stands in a league of his own, he should have his own genre.  He was a genius of his own kind.

The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by J.R. Tolkien

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

One or two children's books, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

And of course I had my fair share of nonfiction during 2011.

 I'm All Over That by Shirley MacLaine, 
Plato not Prozac by Lou Marinoff, 
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, 
Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin, 
The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Some nonfiction you may not know about, A Subtle Thing by Alicia Hendley

Some fiction you may not have heard about, In Leah's Wake by Terri Guilliano

And oh, yes, one more novel, young adult novel that has quite a bit of history.  I posted this review of Twilight by Stephanie Meyers as a guest post, and after getting so much attention for it, I knew I was going to be blogging for a long time.

All in all, a really great start of my blogging career.  It's really incredible to look back and see how much has happened on this site.  I'm sure all my fellow book bloggers can relate.

Do you have your own link to a recap for 2011?  Leave the link.

Bookserk by Author

Milan Kundera (4) Jane Austen (3) Stephenie Meyer (3) Suzanne Collins (3) Bernhard Schlink (2) F. Scott Fitzgerald (2) H.G. Wells (2) Herman Hesse (2) JRR Tolkien (2) Jules Verne (2) Khaled Hosseini (2) Paulo Coelho (2) Sam Kean (2) Stieg Larsson (2) Sylvia Day (2) A.G. Howard (1) Adam Johnson (1) Alafair Burke (1) Albert Einstein (1) Alexander Soderberg (1) Alicia Hendley (1) Amanda Hocking (1) Andre Dubus III (1) Ann Patchett (1) Aravind Adiga (1) Azar Nafisi (1) Barbara Kingsolver (1) Becky Aikman (1) Camilla Lackberg (1) Carl Sagan (1) Cat Hellisen (1) Charles Webb (1) Charlotte Bronte (1) Chinua Achebe (1) Chris Prentiss (1) Chrisanna Northrup (1) Christopher S. Stewart (1) Clare Clark (1) Clive Barker (1) Coltaire Rapaille (1) Dai Sijie (1) Daniel J. Levitin (1) Daniel Kahneman (1) Daniel Pink (1) David Foster Wallace (1) David Levithan (1) David Sedaris (1) Debra Driza (1) Domenica Ruta (1) Don Miguel Ruiz (1) Douglas Adams (1) Elie Weisel (1) Emily Bronte (1) Emlyn Chand (1) Enid Shomer (1) Epictetus (1) George Orwell (1) George R.R. Martin (1) Greg Graffin (1) Gretchen Rubin (1) Harper Lee (1) Haruki Murakami (1) Herman Koch (1) JR Moehringer (1) Jane Eyre (1) Jennifer Egan (1) Jodi Meadows (1) John Eldredge (1) John Englander (1) John Kenney (1) John Steinbeck (1) John T Cacioppo (1) Joyce Carol Oates (1) Judy Blume (1) Julia Glass (1) Karen Thompson Walker (1) Karol Jackowski (1) Kate Chopin (1) Kate Walbert (1) Katherine Boo (1) Lauren DeStefano (1) Lisa See (1) Lois Lowry (1) Lou Marinoff PhD (1) Madhulika Sikka (1) Maggie Stiefvater (1) Margot Livesey (1) Marissa Meyer (1) Martha Stout (1) Mary Roach (1) Mary Shelley (1) Meg Howrey (1) Megan Abbott (1) Natalie Babbitt (1) Nujood Ali (1) Oliver Harris (1) Paulo Giordano (1) Poet Charles Swain (1) Poet Margaret E. Sangster (1) Priscille Sibley (1) Ray Bradbury (1) Rebecca Dean (1) Richard Francis (1) Robert Louis Stevenson (1) Robert M. Pirsig (1) Rudyard Kipling (1) Sarah Gruen (1) Sharon Lebell (1) Shirley MacLaine (1) Stasi Eldredge (1) Stephen Chbosky (1) Sue Kidd Monk (1) Susan Cain (1) Susanna Calahan (1) Tara Conklin (1) Tea Obreht (1) Terri Giuliano Long (1) Thrity Umrigar (1) Victoria Hislop (1) Virginia Morell (1) Voltaire (1) Zora Neale Hurston (1)

Bookserk Globally

Bookserk by Publishing House

Harper Perennial Publishing (8) Random House Publishing (7) Crown Publishing (6) Little Brown and Company Publishing (6) Harper Publishing (4) Knopf Publishing (4) Scholastic Press Publishing (4) Vintage Publishing (4) W.W. Norton Company Publishing (4) Anchor Publishing (3) Atria Books Publishing (3) Free Press Publishing (3) HarperCollins Publishing (3) Penguin Books Publishing (3) Riverhead Books Publishing (3) Ballantine Books Publishing (2) Bantam Books Publishing (2) BarnesNoble Classics Publishing (2) Broadway Publishing (2) Harmony Publishing (2) Harper Paperback Publishing (2) Hyperion Publishing (2) Katherine Tegen Books Publishing (2) Simon and Schuster Publishing (2) William Morrow Publishing (2) Algonquin Books Publishing (1) Amber Allen Publishing (1) Amulet Books Publishing (1) Berkley Trade Publishing (1) Blue Crown Press Publishing (1) Createspace Publishing (1) Crown Business Publishing (1) Del Rey Publishing (1) Dover Publishing (1) Ember Publishing (1) Faber and Faber Publishing (1) Farrar Straus Giroux Publications (1) Feiwel Friends Publishing (1) Five Rivers Chapmanry Publishing (1) Gallery Books Publishing (1) Grand Central Publishing (1) HarperOne (1) Hill and Wang Publishing (1) Hogarth Publishing (1) It Books Publication (1) MJF Books Publishing (1) MTV books and Pocket Books Publishing (1) McGraw Hill Higher Education Publishing (1) Nelson Publishing (1) Pamela Dorman Books Publishing (1) Pantheon Publishing (1) Plaza Y Janes Publishing (1) Plume Publishing (1) Pocket Publishing (1) Puffin Publishing (1) Quill Publishing (1) Reagan Arthur Books Publishing (1) Science Bookshelf Publishing (1) Signet Classics Publishing (1) St. Martin's Press Publishing (1) Touchstone Publishing (1) Virago Publishing (1) Washington Square Press Publishing (1)

 
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