Wednesday, January 18, 2012

In Which I Read Books

Well, I finished my goal of reading 55 books in 2011. For awhile there I thought for sure I wouldn’t make it, but I read like 10 books in November which helped a lot. Natch.

I actually finished out the year with 58 books read. Which is pretty awesome. And I thought I’d share my top picks from the year.

In no particular order, here are my top 5 books of the year (I could’ve easily spread this to 10, but I wanted to keep this list succinct)


Divergent



Have you read this book yet? No? Why not? Because it’s excellent. I’m pretty particular about the dystopian I like, but throw in a lot of action and badassery and I was hooked from page one. I was lucky enough to snag an arc of this and have passed it on to other members of the fam to read.



Soulless



Steampunk, Victorian paranormal?  Yeah, sign me up. LOVE these books! It’s such a refreshing take on the same old Vampires and Werewolves paranormal we’re all used to. I mean, I love Sookie as much as the next person (though I’ve officially give up on Anita Blake) but these books made me fall in love with the idea all over again.



The Liar Society



I used to read mystery when I was in middle school. Then I moved onto horror, then SFF and the rest is history. If not for “knowing” L and L through the blogosphere, I don’t know that I would’ve picked this book up if I’d seen it in a bookstore. Just because it’s not my usual cup of tea. And that would’ve been a travesty. I LOVED this book. Could not put it down. Who knew YA mystery could entertain me so much? I cannot wait for the sequel(s)



A Companion to Wolves



Sometimes I read YA to the detriment of everything else. I forget that I love adult SFF. This book reminded me, hard, how much I love it. And I don’t know why. Lot’s of guy on guy action, giant wolves, Vikings, etc. Loved this book. I made Twin read it right away and she also loved it. Can’t wait to read the sequel (it’s in the mail, shipping from B and N as I write this)



Blood Red Road



I picked up this book at a Border’s closing sale. It was the last weekend and I though I’d pop in to see what they had for extra cheap. They had a whole stack of these books and though it sounded kinda meh, it was only a few dollars so I thought I’d give it a shot. Great decision. Completely different that the back cover made it seem and I loved it. Love the voice of the MC, loved the plot, loved everything about it. Will definitely be buying the sequel.


So, that’s the top 5. Many were close to making the list. What about you? Have you read any of these books? What did you think? What was your favorite book you read last year?
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21 comments:

Sarah Tokeley said...

I've definitely got my eye on Soulless.

Anne Ahiers said...

i approve of these books

Slamdunk said...

Giant wolves and vikings? Kewl.

I'll take a peek at A Companion of Wolves.

Anne Gallagher said...

I hate to say but I read Soulless and hated it. Don't know why, just did. I don't think it was the steampunk or the vamp element, I think it had more to do with the writing. It was hyped up so much I thought it would be WOW, you know. And I just didn't feel it.

Talli Roland said...

I haven't read any of these, although I've had LiLa's on my list for ages!

Southpaw said...

I haven't read any of these yet, but most are on my TBR. I'm so behind on my TBR list. - or maybe is just keeps growing.

mshatch said...

Daughter of Smoke and Bone was one my faves. I'm adding Divergent to my tbr list - thanks :)

Kimberlee Turley said...

Definitely some good books on that list. I joined a book club this year as part of my goal to broaden the genres I read.

I'm aiming for 52 books this year, one every week.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You beat your goal - awesome! Not read any of those. Lies of Locke Lamora was my favorite read last year.

Jen said...

Soulless and Divergent sounds wonderful!

Oh, and I LOVE the hat you're wearing in your picture. I've got a slight (ha!!) crush on gears and bowler hats :D

Cheers!
Jen

No One said...

I've only read Divergent of those, and I thought it was very well done. I almost never read adult books, but the wolves one sounds cool.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

I've not read any of these because I'm not a YA reader. But I support reading, yay! I like setting reading goals for myself because it seems to be the only way I will read lots of books. Which I love to do, but generally don't unless I set a goal.

LD Masterson said...

I see a couple here that look worth hunting for. Especially YA's for my YA's.

Congrats on breaking your reading goal.

Ninja Girl said...

Hey Falen,
SO glad you liked Soulless!!! That was one of my favorite book finds. Isn't Carriger awesome? Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings, still one of my favorite character names to date :) Also, I picked up Liar Society last week, so I'm glad to see you enjoyed that one as well.
Hope you're having a great week,
Ninja Girl

Kristin Rae said...

LOVED Divergent! Can't wait for book two! And I've had Soulless on my list FOREVER but haven't read it yet! Gail Carriger is coming to town in March for the release of book 5, so I need to get ON TOP OF IT!!

I'm a sucker for contemporaries, so Anna and the French Kiss/Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins and Past Perfect by Leila Sales were my favorites that I read this year.

DL Hammons said...

I've seen most of these around the blogosphere, but none of them really tickle my fancy....although the SFF one piqued my interest.

alexia said...

Thanks for commenting on my query over at Matt's blog! Nice to meet you :)

I really want to read Divergent!!

Austin Gorton said...

My favorite book I read last year was probably Under the Dome, though there's a fine line between "favorite" and "frustrating".

I also ended up enjoying Jeff Shaara's WWII trilogy more than I thought I would (to the point where I read all three consecutively, when I was only planning on reading the first one and moving on to something else before finishing the series).

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Wow. That's a lot of books. I only read half that number.

Jamie Gibbs said...

I keep meaning to take a look at the Gail Carriger books, but they always seem to pass me by. I should rectify that.

Unknown said...

So many of these books I almost read or have waiting for me at home. I don't know if I could only pick 5 books from last year O_O I read some good ones. Ah, I love books.

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