THE BOOKS OF 2011

The Books of 2011

I'm quite disappointed in myself for the leanest reading year I've had in a long time. Confound that stupid Pioneer Trail, anyway! I read 146 books, totalling 40,885 pages, with an average page count of 280 pages per book. This is my worst finish since I began keeping track, and probably ever. I did get myself tangled up with 33oo+ pages of Louisa May Alcott's Works, which took nearly forever to read and neatly underlined why I have a tendency to avoid really long books--the more pages there are, the slower I read, despite any other mitigating factors such as how interested I am in the material, how big the print is, or how easy it is to read.

I could read a lot more if I stuck to shorter books, but I hate getting engrossed in a story only to have it end. That's probably why I'm so attached to series. My ideal book is about 300 pages. I try to keep my page average at 300, but it's hard when I read so many shorter books or listen to books on tape (where I count the book but not the page total for a number of reasons, such as how do you keep track of page total in an abridged edition? and because I listen to books almost exclusively when I'm driving--so I'm getting the benefit of listening to a book and keeping myself amused while doing something I don't especially enjoy). I also read a TON of storybooks in 2011, after spending the first half of the year in a second grade classroom and the last half of the year in an autism classroom. So there's a lot of reading that goes unaccounted for, except on my shelfari. I don't count magazines, either, and I do read a lot of those, but I'm not as OCD as I used to be about reading every article in every magazine I pick up.

Anyway, here's the list of what I read in 2011, with title, author, and page count. Feel free to comment!

JANUARY

New Chronicles of Rebecca--Kate Douglas Wiggin (277)
The Birds' Christmas Carol--Kate Douglas Wiggin (56)
Midnight Crystal--Jayne Ann Krentz (320)
The Maze Runner--James Dashner (393)
There and Now--Linda Lael Miller (248)
Weep Not, Child--Ngugi (136)
1st to Die--James Patterson (471)
Prayers for Sale--Sandra Dallas (305)
Promises to Keep--Karen Harper (376)
Kingdom Come--Gwen Davis (160)
The Witchcraft of Salem Village--Shirley Jackson (156)
The Darkest Edge of Dawn--Kelly Gay (374)
Lawn Boy--Gary Paulsen (89)
Gathering Blue--Lois Lowry (229)

FEBRUARY

Heart Change--Robin D. Owens (368)
Straight from the Hip--Susan Mallery (313)
Hot on Her Heels--Susan Mallery (376)
Blessed Is the Busybody--Emilie Richards (265)
The Undomestic Goddess--Sophie Kinsella, read by Katherine Kellgren (AUD)
Ecstasy in Darkness--Gena Showalter (502)
Cries from the Earth--Terry C. Johnston, read by Robert Foxworth (AUD)
The Young Oxford Book of Aliens--Dennis Pepper, editor (212)
Thunder Ice--Alison Acheson (145)
The Clockwork Three--Matthew J. Kirby (391)
Heart Journey--Robin D. Owens (354)

MARCH

A Time to Kill--John Grisham, read by Michael Beck (AUD)
Gods in Alabama--Joshilyn Jackson, read by Catherine Taber (AUD)
Matilda--Roald Dahl (240)
Fancy--Norah Hess (307)
Fancy Pants--Susan Elizabeth Phillips (497)
Billy Creekmore--Tracey Porter (311)
Singer in the Snow--Louise Marley (304)
Blue Dahlia--Nora Roberts, read by Susie Breck (AUD)
Danger Guys Hit the Beach--Tony Abbott (81)
Tornado--Betsy Byars (49)
Godzilla Ate My Homework--Marcia Thornton Jones (64)
Danger Guys Blast Off--Tony Abbott (78)
Dracula Is a Pain in the Neck--Elizabeth Levy (74)
Greetings from Nowhere--Barbara o'Connor (200)
The Diamond of Darkhold--Jeanne duPrau (285)

APRIL

Evermore--Alyson Noel, read by Katie Schorr (AUD)
Death Sentence--Jerry Bledsoe (419)
The Random House Book of Easy-to-Read Stories (251)
Ruthie's Gift--Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (164)
Stories to Tell a 5-Year-Old--Alice Low (147)
Wolves--Carolyn Otto (48)
The Worst Day of My Life--Bill Cosby (40)
The King of Torts--John Grisham, read by Dennis Boutsikaris (AUD)
Tomb with a View--Casey Daniels (292)
Speak--Laurie Halse Anderson (198)
Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball--Donita K. Paul (227)
Quest for a Maid--Frances Mary Hendry (273)
The Hundred Dresses--Eleanor Estes (79)
Presidential Pets--Laura Driscoll (64)

MAY

The Search--Nora Roberts (472)
Freckle Juice--Judy Blume (47)
The Gollywhopper Games--Jody Feldman (315)
The Doll in the Garden--Mary Downing Hahn (128)
A Veiled Deception--Annette Blair (246)
Larceny and Lace--Annette Blair (288)
The Bargain--Francis Ray (348)
Sarah Bishop--Scott O'Dell (231)
Water for Elephants--Sara Gruen (350)
Secondhand Spirits--Juliet Blackwell (325)
Listening for Leroy--Betsy Hearne (211)
What Child Is This?--Caroline B. Cooney (150)
Here to Stay--Catherine Anderson (422)
The Adventures of Captain Underpants--Dav Pilkey (123)

JUNE

19 Steps Up the Mountain--Joseph P. Blank (234)
The Searching Hearts--Dorothy Garlock (376)
Ralph S. Mouse--Beverly Cleary (160)
A Taste of Magic--Tracy Madison (292)
Big Trouble--Marianna Jameson (418)
The Girl Most Likely To...--Susan Donovan (340)
Ghost Liners: Exploring the World's Greatest Lost Ships--Robert D. Ballard (64)
A Game of Thrones--George R. R. Martin (854)
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah--Richard Bach (192)
The Sugar Queen--Sarah Addison Allen (276)
The Persian Pickle Club--Sandra Dallas (196)
Bubbles Unbound--Sarah Strohmeyer (341)
I'm in No Mood for Love--Rachel Gibson (373)
Nowhere Near Respectable--Mary Jo Putney (390)
Horrible Harry in Room 2b--Suzy Kline (56)
Two Tickets to Freedom--Florence B. Freedman (96)
The Boy Trap--Nancy Matson (108)
Sweetheart, Indiana--Suzanne Simmons (324)
Phi Beta Bimbo--Trish Jensen (336)

JULY

Nothing But Trouble--Rachel Gibson (377)
The Bride's House--Sandra Dallas (374)
The Girl Who Chased the Moon--Sarah Addison Allen (292)
True Confessions--Rachel Gibson (376)
Promise Bridge--Eileen Clymer Schwab (418)
Full Dark, No Stars--Stephen King (368)
Becoming Georgia--Emily Carmichael (327)
Intertwined--Gena Showalter (442)
The Finishing Touches--Hester Browne (427)
Promises to the Dead--Mary Downing Hahn (202)
Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes--Sandra Lee (233)
The Divide--Nicholas Evans (499)
Roadside Prey--Alva Busch (306)

AUGUST

Sarah's Key--Tatiana de Rosnay (305)
The Host--Stephenie Meyer (619)
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War--Kay Moore (64)
If You Lived in Colonial Times--Ann McGovern (80)
If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620--Ann McGovern (80)
Thunder from the Clear Sky--Marcia Sewall (56)
If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln--Ann McGovern (79)
Willie, the Frog Prince--C. S. Adler (163)

SEPTEMBER

Black Blade Blues--J. A. Pitts (369)
Smokin' Seventeen--Janet Evanovich (308)
The Anything Box--Zenna Henderson (191)
Life As We Knew It--Susan Pfeffer (337)
The Dead & the Gone--Susan Beth Pfeffer (326)
Out of This World--Jill Shalvis (298)
Timepiece--Richard Paul Evans (236)
Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake--Laurie Brown (391)
Texas Rain--Jodi Thomas (374)
North American Racer Snakes--Adele D. Richardson (48)
Kindergarten Read-Aloud Anthology--Harcourt (144)
Surprise--Houghton Mifflin (220)
This World We Live In--Susan Beth Pfeffer (239)

OCTOBER

Ghost Cadet--Elaine Marie Alphin (182)
Heart Search--Robin D. Owens (351)
Christmas at Timberwoods--Fern Michaels (362)
Dark Moon, Lost Lady--Elsie Lee (173)
Works of Louisa May Alcott (3,355)
Life Sentences--Laura Lippman (457)

NOVEMBER

The Unquiet--J.D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas (408)
The Comforts of Home--Jodi Thomas (328)
Parasyte 1--Hitoshi Iwaaki (281)

DECEMBER

Freckles--Gene Stratton-Porter (238)
The Things a Brother Knows--Dana Reinhardt (245)
The Lost Children--Carolyn Cohagan (313)
Jokelopedia--Ilana Weitzman, Eva Blank, Alison Benjamin, and Rosanne Green (278)
Gabriel's Angel--Nora Roberts (288)
Finding Noel--Richard Paul Evans (305)
The Christmas Hope--Donna Van Liere (213)
Dead Reckoning--Charlaine Harris (325)
Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls--Lynne Jonell (377)
My Best Friend's Girl--Dorothy Koomson
Magyk--Angie Sage (431)
The Truth About Forever--Sarah Dessen (393)
Jingle Boy--Kieran Scott (230)

TOTAL: 146 books, 40,885 pages