A Year in Literature Wrap Up–2011.
Here are my stats and a quick recap
- 8 reading challenges entered
- 6 challenges completed
- 52 books read
- 22,645 pages total
Want to see all the bitchin’ details about what I read this year? Click the ‘read more’ in this post to see the answers to all your favorite questions……. 🙂
What was the best book you read this year?
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (the first book, hands down)
What was the least favorite book you read this year?
What was the longest book you read?
- An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (992 pages)
Best new or indie writer you read this year?
- Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia
- Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd
- Devoured by D.E. Meredith
Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
What book did you have high hopes for but it didn’t meet expectations?
Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
Best series you discovered in 2011?
- Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince)
Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
Book you most anticipated in 2011?
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
Most beautifully written book you read in 2011?
- Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia
Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
Too many to list….all of my books have highlights and sticky notes designating all my fav quotes of the year from all my books but here are a few that just stand out to me….
Structural dissatisfaction: Returning to circumstances that once pleased you, after having experienced a more thrilling or opulent way of life, and finding that you can no longer tolerate them.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
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Of course it isn’t these homely and accustomed ghosts that trouble sleep and curdle wakefulness. Look back, hold a torch to light the recesses of the dark. Listen to the footsteps that echo behind, when you walk alone. All the time the ghosts fit past and through us hiding in the future. We look in the mirror and see the shades of other faces looking back through the years; we see the shape of memory, standing solid in an empty doorway. By blood and by choice we make our ghosts; we haunt ourselves (137)
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
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Time is a lot of the things people say that God is. There’s the always preexisting, and having no end…and time is of course, all healing. give anything enough time, and everything is taken care of: all pain encompasses, all hardship erased, all loss subsumed…and if time is anything akin to God, I suppose that memory must be the devil (2).
A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
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I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul…Since I knew you, I have been troubled by a remorse that I thought would never reproach me again, and have heard whispers from old voices impelling me upward, that I thought were silent forever. I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight. A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.”
I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I love her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection.
Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
- Probably Wuthering Heights (one of my all time fav books!!) or the Outlander series.
Besides my own, what was my favorite reading challenged I entered this year?
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Challenge Recap
This year I entered 8 challenges including one that I hosted my self, The Outlander Reading Challenge.
Here is a quick list of the challenges that I entered and completed
The Victorian Literature Reading Challenge (hosted by Subtle Melodrama). Goal: 15 books, Read: 6 books
- Wuthering Heights/ Emily Bronte
- Great Expectations/ Charles Dickens
- The Woman in White/ Wilkie Collins
- The Picture of Dorian Gray/ Oscar Wilde
- Heart of Darkness/ Joseph Conrad
- A Christmas Carol/ Charles Dickens
The Gothic Literature Reading Challenge. Goal: 5 books, Read: 4 books.
- Wuthering Heights/Charlotte Bronte
- Great Expectations/ Charles Dickens
- The Woman in White/Wilkie Collins
- The Picture of Dorian Gray/Oscar Wilde
The Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge. Goal: 1 book, Read: 1 book
- Sputnik Sweetheart/ Haruki Murakami
The Steampunk Reading Challenge hosted by (Bookish Ardour) Goal: 5 books, Read: 5 books
- Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate Book 1)/ Gail Carriger
- Changeless(The Parasol Protectorate Book 2)/ Gail Carriger
- Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate Book 3)/ Gail Carriger
- Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate Book 4)/ Gail Carriger
- Clockwork Angel/Cassandra Clare
The Jewish Literature Challenge Goal: 1 book, Read: 1 book
- Sarah’s Key/ Tatiana de Rosnay
The Historic Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Historic Tapestry Goal: 2 books, Read: 2 books
- A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Series #1)/ Charles Finch
- The September Society (Charles Lenox Series #2)/ Charles Finch
The Outlander Reading Challenge hosted by The Lit Bitch Goal: 7 books, Read: 7 books
- Outlander
- Dragonfly in Amber
- Voyager
- Drums of Autumn
- The Fiery Cross
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes
- An Echo in the Bone
The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge hosted by The True Book Addict, Goal: 2 books, Read: 2 books
- The Mischief of the Mistletoe/ Lauren Willig
- A Christmas Carol/ Charles Dickens
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Books for Review Recap
Here is a list of all the books I read/reviewed this year (alpha order by title)
- A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
- Blameless by Gail Carriger
- Changeless by Gail Carriger
- City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare
- City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare
- City of Glass (Mortal Instruments #3) by Cassandra Clare
- Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
- Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
- Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
- Devoured by D. E. Meredith
- Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
- Emma by Jane Austen
- Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke
- Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- Heartless by Gail Carriger
- Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace
- Letters in Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin
- Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
- Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia
- Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
- Soulless by Gail Carriger
- Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
- The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King
- The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasumussen
- The Caldecott Chronicles No.1 by R.G. Bullet (Short Story)
- The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
- The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
- The Devil’s Ribbon by D. E. Meredith
- The Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
- The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
- The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch
- The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
- The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Rebel Wife by Taylor M Polites
- The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
- The September Society by Charles Finch
- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber
- The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart
- The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
- Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen
- Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte