My goal for last year was to read 52 books. I fell short at 48, but that’s still double my 2010 totals. I’m setting my goal at 52 again this year.

I’ve done a review post about the books I read in 2010 (and I’d thought I’d done one for other years, but no. I did not) and wanted to do another this year.

This year I gave up on the Sookie Stackhouse series and the Stephanie Plum series. I know plenty of people like them, but I’m over them.

I read Anna Karenina this year. I hated her and actually wasn’t sorry about the end she met.

I re-read the entire Harry Potter series this year and finished the Fablehaven series by Branden Mull. While the later books in Mull’s series weren’t as good as the earlier ones, they’re still a good read and I’d recommend them to people searching for a series to read after Harry Potter.

My top books this year were pretty varied. Here are my favorites, in a kind of particular order.

5) The Passage by Justin Cronin. Part of a series and I cannot wait for book two.

4) Bossypants by Tina Fey. She is seriously funny. And, I’m also a bossypants, so I could relate.

3) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I stayed up until all hours geeking out over this wonderful, hopeful, dystopian book.

2) Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim I grew up on Little House on the Prairie and I LOVED this book from the actress who played Nellie Olsen. As an aside, I HATED Melissa Sue Anderson’s similar memoir. Yuck.

1) The Hunger Games Triology by Suzanne Collins. Yes, I know it’s a cop out to list all three books as my
Favorite, but I think a top five dominated by all
Three books would have been boring. I LOVED this series and cannot wait for the movie to come out this spring.

What were your favorite reads of the year? Share. I love finding new books.

I couldn’t remember any books I’d read this month and I was actually afraid that I wouldn’t have any books to post about.  Then, I checked out my Good Reads account and was pleasantly surprised.  I had read books in May AND have a book to add to my favorites of the year list.

I think I’m probably the last person on the planet to have read Room by Emma Donoghue.  If I’m not and YOU haven’t read it yet, I recommend it.  HIGHLY.

Honestly, it was just different from any book I’ve read.  Maybe ever.  It’s the story of  Jack, a five year old boy, who has lived his entire life inside of Room with his Mother.  His Mother was kidnapped and imprisoned in the room when she was a college student.  And after years of sexual abuse, Jack is born.  And he and his mother live captive.

When Jack’s mother realizes that the perilous nature of their condition is beginning to change, she plots an escape for she and Jack.

The story isn’t just riveting from the perspective of its plot, but also because Jack is telling the story.  Jack has little experience with life besides interacting with the things that live with them in Room and what he sees on the television.  I think I read this book in one evening.  It was that good and that engrossing.

My memior streak continued in May.  I read  Jesusland by Julia Scheeres and Moose by Stephanie Klein.  Moose, frankly, was just okay and after reading a few better done memoirs it fell flat, though I did like it and finished it.  Jesusland was a haunting, heart wrenching, gut racking book.  It is the story of Julia and her adopted, black, brother David.    David (and another black child) are adopted into Julia’s family.  I won’t go so far as to say that Julia’s family is racist, but if they’re not…they’re masochists.  There’s nothing else there.

After years of mistreatment of David and their elder adopted brother, Julia and David break.  David is sent to a fundamentalist religious camp in the Dominician Republic. Julia rebels, runs away from home and insists she be sent to camp along with David.  You won’t be surprised to hear that the camp is full of masochists as well.  It was the kind of book that raises more questions than it answers and that, to me, is something worth reading.

To go along with the “books everyone has read, pretty much” theme, I also read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this month as well as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse) by Charlene Harris.  Harry Potter was, of course, amazing and I’m really pushing to finish my series re-read by the time the last installment of the movie series is released in July.

I think I’m just about done with Sookie Stackhouse.  Sorry.

The Hunger Games is anoter book vying for favorite of the year.    This year, I’ve realized I really love dystopian fiction and this fits the bill.  Strong female lead (Katniss), a little bit of mystery, unforgettable characters, a fast paced story line and…more books in the series.  It’s also being released as a movie this summer, so I was glad to have been able to read it first.

What did you read this month?  Anything you’d recommend?

My books list is a little bit unimpressive this month.  I only managed to finish three books.  Thankfully, I’m still ahead of the pace needed to read 52 books this year.

I seem to be in a bit of a memoir streak.  I’m currently reading a memoir and I finished two this month.

Hasn’t everyone read Bossypants by Tina Fey?  Yes.  Probably.  If you haven’t read it you probably should because my reading friends seem to all like it regardless of their taste in books and *I* liked it too.  She managed to intertwine the funny and the serious along with some fun Hollywood gossip.

The second memoir I read in April was Matt Logelin’s Two Kisses for Maddy. It was exactly the book I had expected and hoped for.  Sad.  Heartbreakingly sad, but peppered with Logelin’s customary colorful language and humor.    My only complaint is that it was too short.  I would have loved several hundred more pages.

Lastly, I read The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.  Admittedly, at 500+ pages, it probably should count as two books.  The verdict, for me, is out on this book.  I just don’t know what to think of it, overall.  I liked parts of it a LOT and disliked parts of it A LOT.  It had a lot of elements that I LOVE, but it just never made it there for me.    It might be right up your ally, though.

What have you read in April, or recently, that you couldn’t put down?  I’m always looking for new book recommendations.

I’ve read 18 books so far this year.  Last year, I only read read 23 books,  so I’m thinking it’s pretty likely I’m going to read more this year than I did last year AND that I might meet my goal of reading 52 books this year.  Yay for me!

I finished the Fablehaven Series by Brandon Mull this month.  I read the first two books eons ago, but got sidetracked for the last three.  I was having trouble deciding on the next book to read on my kindle and remembered that I had this book already downloaded.  It took me a while to remember everything that went on, but once I did I found the rest of the series enjoying. I didn’t think the last two books were as good as the first three, but that’s how it goes with series some times and I’d still recommend them.

Other very good YA (young Adult books) I’ve read this month also include Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass and Falling In by Frances  O’Roark Dowell.  I’m also in the midst of a Harry Potter re-read, but if you haven’t heard of Harry Potter and formed an opinion on the series, I’m not sure there’s much we can talk about.

I managed to read a non-fiction book this month too.  That’s two months in a row!  This month, I read Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig about the author’s struggle with OCD during the 70s and 80s.  I finished it but I wasn’t stoked about it and I’m on the cusp of being actually able to recommend it.

Lastly, I read Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum that was a fantastic book and The Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, which was NOT a fantastic book and that I only read because I like books written in letter form.  Can’t really recommend that either

What did you read last month?  Any fantastic books I need to add to my to-read list??

My goal for this year is to read 52 books.  One a week.  I’m already behind.  I blame Anna Karenina. No, really.  I do.  Not only is it a 900 page book, it’s a slow reading 900 page book.  Don’t be put off by the story, though.  It’s good.  And worth reading and the time commitment, but don’t expect it to be a quick or easy read.

However, as of publish date I’m not finished with Anna Karenina. I have about a hundred pages to go.

This month, I’ve managed to read two whole books.  I’ll try not to get depressed about that total.  Before I had kids I could pretty much read two books a day.  Thanks, Kids!

I finally finished Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  It was a favorite of Big Daddy’s when he was a kid and it felt very Handmaid’s Tale to me, so if you liked that book (by Margaret Atwood) Ender’s Game may be worth trying out.

The Princess has Ender’s Game on her to-read list, but I’m not sure if she’ll like it.  It was very violent and I don’t know if she’ll be able to relate to someone her age being charged with saving the world or the fact that he’s abandoned by his loved ones.

The girls and I also finished The Best Christmas Pageant Ever this month.  We started it at Christmas and ran out of read aloud time.  I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  I’d never read it as a child, but it was a lot better than I expected it to be. Which made me happy.

Did you read any good books last month?  If so, tell me about them.  I’m always looking for new titles.

If you want to see a list of all my books read to-date, please check out my Books 2011 page.