I read forty books last year, which may seem like a lot, but if you want to write, you’ve got to read, so you can know what to steal. The breakdown looks like this, twenty-five non-fiction books, thirteen novels, and two collections of short stories. I read six travel books in 2011, my new obsession, and six about soccer, my other new obsession. I got on a Hemingway kick earlier in April and read three of his novels, I also read the first two books in the Game of Thrones series. I read three books that I had already read, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, and The Great Gatsby, which I read every December. Below are my ten favorites from the year. But enough about me, I’d love to hear from you, what was the best book you read in 2011? Let’s make it a contest, just comment with your favorite book and we’ll draw a name and random, winner gets a copy of one of the books off my top-1o.
Of all Bryson’s travel books, this may be my favorite. Also, Australia sounds like the scariest place on Earth!
For those of you who hate words, this book has some pictures. It’s now a movie too, so you can skip words altogether if you want.
How had I never read A Farewell to Arms? I always thought it was about a guy who lost his arms.
Writer wins a fellowship and gets to spend a year writing in Rome. I’ve applied for dozens of fellowships since reading this book.
I’m not sure I even enjoyed Steig Larson’s Millinnium Trilogy, but I sure couldn’t put them down.
I’d been meaning to read this book for years, in part because the cover is really cool. One of the craziest and most disturbing true stories you’ll ever read.
Read a lot of great soccer books this year, though this one may have been my favorite, even if it is a little dated now.
A book that explores the limits of tolerance when a radical Islamist murders a Dutch filmmaker.
The story of a man in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it was shocking to learn these things actually happened in the United State.
I didn’t want to get hooked on this series of 1,000 page books, but too late, they are excellent.
