I thought this would be an interesting thing to write about for a while. 2011 was the first year I joined Goodreads. I'm pretty sure it was during the summer. It was also the first full year I became a Kindle reader. I had received my first Kindle for Christmas in 2010, and it became a great tool for me to increase my reading. I ended up reading 89 books in 2011. I think my record previous to that was somewhere in the 60s. One of the big advantages of being a Kindle reader was having access to Project Gutenberg. I ended up reading a whole bunch of books that were in the public domain (about 15. I don't think I even came close to reaching that number ever again)
Shortest book I read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery - I am so glad I was able to knock this off my list. It was so well written, but so sad.
Longest Book I read: Imajica by Clive Barker - This was one of the few years that I failed to read an 1,000 page monster for the year. This was my third book by Barker, my first being The Damnation Game, which I remember fairly enjoying, while the second book, Coldheart Canyon, was just okay. I remember, despite how odd I found Imajica to be, I quite enjoyed it, and for a while, it would be my favorite Barker until I read Weaveworld in 2017
Series I finished:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219205.Lord_Foul_s_Bane
My least favorite series of the year goes to the first series of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, and I must be in the minority because it's got a decent enough rating on Goodreads, but I just never found the overall appeal, although I must have liked something of it to want to continue the series, but I gave the whole trilogy 2 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/365.Dirk_Gently_s_Holistic_Detective_AgencyThis one is an odd entry because I actually read this series backwards. I had read The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul a few years prior (which is my favorite of the two). The first book I remember feeling very meh about, but I wanted to see what else Douglas Adams was capable of other than Hitchhiker's Guide.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76658.On_a_Pale_Horse
Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony - I don't remember much about this series, but I remember it had to do with mortals taking over the position of deities, either because they were killed, as in the first book, or I think retirement played into it. Overall, it was a solid series for me, as most of them got four stars for me, except two which received three stars (the second one, which had to deal with Time, mostly because the time stuff was confusing for me, and the last book, which dealt with all these new entities having to select a new God). The first book about Death was easily the favorite for me
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7723926-the-hunger-games
The Hunger Games was a really solid series for me. I thought the first book was action packed and very fun. Catching Fire was even better, but then Mockingjay happened. I really don't think I need to say anything more
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2429135.The_Girl_with_the_Dragon_Tattoo?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=XCf5tEuBA0&rank=1
The Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson - I had read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo back in 2010, I believe, and I had never read a thriller so disturbing, nor so brilliant since reading Whispers and The Silence of the Lambs, so I had to check the rest of the series out. I may be in the minority on this, but I slightly like book two a bit more than the first one, and Hornet's Nest was just okay.
Least favorite book: A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul - On this one, I must have really been in the minority because I remember being bored to tears with this book and giving it one star. That is extremely rare for me, as you will find out, although this will happen again in 2012. I remember wanting to give more Indian literature a try, because years prior, I had fallen completely in love with The Life of Pi and The Namesake, but this did not work for me at all.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4667024-the-help?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=i9Lm3P67Vh&rank=1
My favorite book of the year: The Help by Kathryn Stockett - When you read 89 books in one year, you hope to find some favorites, and I wound up with 13 of them this particular year (14 if you count my first reread of A Game of Thrones). Honorable mentions include The Three Musketeers (not as good as The Count of Monte Cristo, but pretty damn close), Let the Right One In (2011 was a very solid year of horror for me, which included being introduced to Joe Hill with both Heart Shaped Box and Horns, which was also in my tops for the year, and is still my favorite book by him) and The Art of Racing in the Rain (Enzo is one of the bestest boys), but The Help was heads and shoulders my favorite. At this time, I still had an extreme fondness for historical fiction. It would still be a number of years before I would switch the majority of my reads to SFF and horror (I quite enjoyed Water for Elephants this year as well). Anyway, I thought the trio of Abileen, Skeeter, and Minny were extremely strong characters. I forgot the character's name, but I wanted to badly slap the character that Bryce Howard played in the movie, and who doesn't like a chocolate pie?!
Anyway, that's mu highlights for 2011. You're not going to see those types of numbers for a while. 2012 next week
