I read a total of 88 books this year – that’s more than a book a week! I knew I read an enormous amount, but I didn’t think it was close to 100 books. There was a period of about a month or two when I couldn’t read anything due to a professional setback.
Some of the stand out titles that I really enjoyed include: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Graham Greene, The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, Why the Tree Loves the Ax by Jim Lewis, The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch, The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard, Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson, In America by Susan Sontag, The Bride Who Ran Away by Diana O’Hehir, and All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot.
Of course there were a few books that I found disappointing, boring, pretentious, long-winded, didn’t live up to their hype, couldn’t get into, and couldn’t wait to finish. I won’t mention those because I respect the authors too much.
I don’t know if I will read the same amount in 2012, but because I love to read more than anything else in the world, it’s a distinct possibility.
So without further ado, here’s the list of books I read in 2011:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt
Indian Summer by John Knowles
The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb
September by Rosemunde Pilcher
And the Ladies of the Club by Helen Hoover Santmeyer
Ohio Town by Helen Hoover Santmeyer
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
The Writing Class by Jincy Willett
First Encounters. A Book of Memorable Meetings by Nancy Caldwell Sorel and Edward Sorel
The Matisse Stories by A. S. Byatt
The 1890′s Album
Grandma Trolley’s Old Fashioned
Girl in the Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
Irrawaddy Tango by Wendy Law-Yone
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
The Spanglers by Henry Castor
A Smattering of Ignorance by Oscar Levant
Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story by Jack and Joan Benny
Much Ado About Me by Fred Allen
Go to the Window-Maker by James Jones
The Lost First Edition of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
The Captain and the Enemy by Graham Greene
Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Graham Greene
Fighting Angel: Portrait of a Soul by Pearl S. Buck
Dewey. The Small Town Cat That Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
The Nag by Mendele Mocher Sforim. Translated from the Yiddish by Moshe Spiegel.
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
For Us the Living by Bruce Livingston
Love by Toni Morrison
All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot
An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel
The Land Breakers by John Ehle
They Shall Inherit the Earth by Morley Callaghan
The Captive and the Free by Joyce Cary
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
Falling Through Space: The Journals of Ellen Gilchrist by Ellen Gilchrist
Alone by David Small
Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller
Every Living Thing by James Herriot
The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot
Papa. An Intimate Biography of Mark Twain by his thirteen-year old daughter Susy – Charles Neider, editor.
The Atheist’s Mass by Honore de Balzac
Boule De Suif by Guy de Maupassant
The Pleasures and Pains of Opium by Thomas De Quincey
The Gentle Spirit by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A Simple Heart by- Gustave Flaubert
The Judgement and In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
Casanova in Love by Andrew Miller
How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto
As Far as Yesterday. Memories and Reflections by Edward Wagenknecht
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
The Red Hat by John Bayley
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Why the Tree Loves the Ax by Jim Lewis
Dancing at the Harvest Moon by K. C. McKinnon
The Book of Stillmeadow by Gladys Taber
Cast Upon the Breakers by Horatio Alger, Jr.
The House of Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories by Yasunari Kawabata
Off Keck Road by Mona Simpson
The Gates of Paradise by Gwyneth Cravens
How Stella Got Her Groove Backby Terry McMillan
Zorro by Isabel Allende
A Day Late and a Dollar Short by Terry McMillan
Olivia (Or, the Weight of the Past) by Judith Rossner
To Sargasso Sea by William McPherson
Straight Into Darkness by Faye Kellerman
East of the Mountains by David Guterson
Old Songs in a New Cafe. Selected Essays by Robert James Waller
A Thousand Country Roads by Robert James Waller
The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch
The Scapegoat by Mary Lee Settle
The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
Eagle’s Cry by David Nevin
Savannah or A Gift for Mr. Lincoln by John Jakes
Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson
Pictures in My Head by Gabriel Byrne
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
In America by Susan Sontag
Blue Dog, Green River by Brock Brower
The Bride Who Ran Away by Diana O’Hehir
The House on Jefferson Street. A Cycle of Memories by Horace Gregory
How many books did you read this year? Any of your favorite reads on my list?
