Good Reads Version 2.0
In 2010 I read 12 books, which was embarrassingly enough, quite an accomplishment. I posted the list last year and ended up finding my favorite book of 2011 from your recommendations. For 2011 I kept the same goal and managed to finish 14 books. This is progress, people.
I enjoyed and would recommend all of these books, each for various reasons.
1. Moloka'i-Intense and my second favorite book of the year.
2. Juliet, Naked: a novel-a book I picked up in the library of a hotel in Guatemala. I can't even remember which book I traded for this. Entertaining.
3.The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are-Insightful, inspiring and one that I am holding onto. I highly recommend this.
4. Bright Shiny Morning-JC read this a couple years ago and wanted to start a book club since the stories are all about people living in LA. It's over 500 pages and I made it through. I liked it.
5. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother-As an Asian woman, I empathized with many parts but most of all I felt grateful for parents who wanted me to be Americanized as much as possible. Interesting read.
6. In the Time of Bobby Cox: The Atlanta Braves, Their Manager, My Couch, Two Decades, and Me-I got this book for JC, but read it because the author is the husband of a dear friend of mine. Though some parts were a bit too baseball-y for me, I really enjoyed this book. And laughed out loud quite a bit.
7. Bossypants-This was by far the funniest book I read all year. I was embarrassed on more than one occasion when I laughed out loud on the plane and nearly spit the ginger ale out through my nose. Read this book.
8. The Help-My favorite book of the year. And I think the movie was really enjoyable. The last movie I liked as much as the book was The Devil Wears Prada.
9. Room: A Novel-This was a slow start for me, but after page 75 it began moving a bit faster. And by the last 75 pages, I could not put it down.
10. This Is Where I Leave You-Humorous, a bit sad, and quite touching. I liked it.
11. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-I enjoyed it and would like to read Everything Is Illuminated this year.
12. Just Kids-Read this in 2 days while at the beach this summer. What a love story.
13. Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons In Life, Love, And Language-I checked this book out at the library and ended up leaving in a seat pocket of a plane ride, but have no idea which flight. Pretty entertaining. And yes, I replaced the book and paid the fine to the Venice branch.
14.An Object of Beauty: A Novel-The second book I have read by Steve Martin. While entertaining, I liked Shopgirl better.
So there you have it, my 14 reads of last year. I do have a confession to make. I tried to read Hunger Games, per everyone's ravings, and I could not get passed page 72. The concept of the book drove me nuts, the kids having to fight to the death. With that being said, if enough people convince me that it's worth another shot, then I will give it another go. I just need another book that is impossible to put down, just like The Help. That isn't too much to ask, is it?
