50 Book Challenge for 2011

[Belowen]

01: American Subversive by David Goodwillie
02: The Collector by John Fowles
03: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
04: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
05: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
06: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
07: Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
08: The Forest Of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
09: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
10: The Odyssey by Homer
11: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
12: The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
13: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
14: Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

15: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton​

16: The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham

17: Bossypants by Tina Fey​

18: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

19: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins​

20: Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

21: Cell by Stephen King​

22: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
23: The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch by Emma Magenta
24: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
25: Divergent by Veronica Roth
26: If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino
27: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
28: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

29: Prism by Faye & Aliza Kellerman
​

30: The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers
31: All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
32: Innocents by Cathy Coote 33: Spear of Destiny by Daniel Easterman
34: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
35: Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts
36: Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
37: The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
38: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
39: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
40: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

 

[Bonbonenata]

Tell us your favourites!

 

[YoninahAliza]

In no way did I complete this challenge but I am quite happy with the books that I read. I may not have read a lot but I really enjoyed the ones I did read. Anyways, there is always 2012...
1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. Persepolis:The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
4. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
5. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
6. Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine
7. Maus by Art Spiegelman
8. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
11. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
12. The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew by Ranya Idliby, Priscilla Warner, and Suzanne Oliver
13. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
14. Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
15. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
16. We Two: Victoria & Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill
17. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
18. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
19. The Hunger Games (I re-read this one again)
20. The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett
21. Atonement by Ian Mcewan
22. The American Heiress: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin

 

[ChrissyM]

Just posting my list again as I assess what I think are the best and worst books I read this year:

1: This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
2: Just Kids by Patti Smith
3: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K.Rowling
4: Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
5: The Monster of Florence: A True Story by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
6: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
7: Little Bee by Chris Cleave
8: The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy
9: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
10: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
11: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
12: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
13: The Last Titan by Rick Riordan
14: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
15: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
16: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
17: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
18: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
19: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
20: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
21: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
22: The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
23: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
24: A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
25: Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
26: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
27: Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
28: Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
29: Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
30: Room by Emma Donoghue
31: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
32: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
33: From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
34: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
35: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
36: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
37: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
38: Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
39: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
40: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
41: I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
42: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
43: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
44: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
45: Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
46: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
47: Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
48: Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain
49: The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
50: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

The books I loved:

Just Kids by Patti Smith... To be honest I was only marginally familiar with her writing but this book really surprised me in a good way. It was beautifully written and described a bygone era in New York. A great read that I definitely recommend.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak... I keep calling it the "not your typical WWII hiding the Jew in the basement book." Not to put down a lot of other great works about WWII but this seemed to offer a fresh perspective when it came to telling the tragic sort of story that is typical of that time.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley... This is the first in a series (I subsequently read the rest of the books this year) and I found the protagonist to be so likable. It was lighthearted but it was a joy to read.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins... I resisted reading at first because the plot sounded so dark, but this and the following two books in the trilogy were great. I tore right through them and can definitely see myself reading them again. I'm psyched to see how the movie will turn out.

The books that disappointed me:

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl... I didn't like this at all. It's the first in a series of books and I didn't care about the characters AT ALL. I had no desire to continue reading the series and was glad when I finished this book.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger... I was a big fan of the Time Traveler's Wife and found this book from the same author to be a HUGE disappointment. The plot turned in such a sick, distasteful direction that the only reason I continued reading was to see if it would somehow redeem itself. It didn't.

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace... It's tough to judge a book of short stories when they're so wildly different from one another. This was torture to get through. Too much style over substance for me. Some of the stories were enjoyable but were overshadowed by some big stinkers in the mix.

I could probably add some more books to each of these lists but I'll stop while I'm ahead

 

[mint condish]

1. Marian Keyes, This Charming Man
2. Lucy Kellaway, In Office Hours
3. Lisa Lutz, The Spellmans Strike Again
4. Lisa Lutz, Revenge of the Spellmans
5. Heads you Lose, Lisa Lutz and David Hayward
6. Bossypants, Tina Fey
7. Heart of the Matter, Emily Giffin
8. Summer in the City, Candace Bushnell
9. JPod - Douglas Coupland
10. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
11. The Associate - John Grisham
12. Seriously, I'm Kidding - Ellen Degeneres
13. The Visible man - Chuck Klosterman
14. Is everyone hanging out without me ? - Mindy Kaling
15. Sex, drugs and cocoa puffs- chuck klosterman
16. Eating the Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman (Currently Reading)

(I've read "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl many times over, and I've recommended it at TFS numerous times, so that book won't count in my reviews here.)

The Good:

The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman is the best fiction book I've read this year. I'd recommend it to anyone. The plot is about a genius level scientist who creates a special cream that makes him invisible, and the book is mostly about what he does with this special power. Do you need to know more?! The author/narrator's thoughts/revelations on human nature are endlessly fascinating. As this list says, I'm also devouring some of Chuck's non-fictional essay books, and I'm doing so with much enjoyment. Though a generation older than I, he speaks about pop culture topics that I myself love so much, and he does it to relate to the world at large.

For fiction, I also adored JPod by Douglas Coupland. Almost-nerdy-but-not-too-nerdy office humour. Just loved it, after really disliking several of his books. A 5/5 book for me, though I'm not sure it's for everyone?

Bossypants by Tina Fey was great. Very funny. Is Everyone Hanging out without Me? by Mindy Kaling was less accomplished, but so readable and quite interesting.

The Bad:

On the other hand, Ellen Degeneres's latest book was a huge disappointment this year. I don't think I laughed out loud once. And keep in mind that I am a fan of hers and her past books.

The books by Lisa Lutz were also disappointing. This author is hit or miss. She's simply.... not great in my opinion. Her books are supposed to be a mix of mystery and comedy but as someone who loves humourous books I really think hers fall short.

The Nice Surprises:

Summer in the City by Candace Bushnell kind of surprised me, in that it was a really cute, fun read. I didn't expect that - I expected to be disappointed! Heart of the Matter was disposable but very easy to read as well.

I read a lot of chick-lit type fiction this year -- a genre that I totally love. I'm focusing on more non-fiction in 2012. I read Time's recent Top 100 list of the best Non Fiction books of all time that really inspired me.

 

[MissKateCherie]

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl... I didn't like this at all. It's the first in a series of books and I didn't care about the characters AT ALL. I had no desire to continue reading the series and was glad when I finished this book.

I read it last year and I actually forced myself to even read it until the end...It was kind of boring and I have no intention either on reading the other books in the series

 

[ChrissyM]

I read it last year and I actually forced myself to even read it until the end...It was kind of boring and I have no intention either on reading the other books in the series

Exactly, i had the same experience. If I didn't have a compulsive need to finish the books I start I definitely would have given up on this one. I didn't care at all about tying up the loose ends in the plot points (his mother's death etc). Definitely not worth the time.

 

[myown]

In no way did I complete this challenge but I am quite happy with the books that I read. I may not have read a lot but I really enjoyed the ones I did read. Anyways, there is always 2012...
]

i think 22 books are a lot

 

[Alvedansen]

01. John Steinbeck - The grapes of wrath
02. Richard Matheson - I am legend
03. Joyce Carol Oates - Big mouth & Ugly girl
04. Ken Follett - The pillars of the earth (re-read)
05. Haruki Murakami - Afterdark
06. Gayle Forman - If I stay
07. J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (re-read)
08. Patti Smith - Just kids
09. J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (re-read)
10. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The lightning thief
11. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The sea of monsters
12. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The titan's curse
13. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The battle of the labyrinth
14. Stephen Baxter - Ark
15. Markus Zusak - The book thief
16. Ethan Hawke - Hin und weg (original title: 'the hottest state')
17. Patrick Süskind - Der Kontrabaß (English title: 'the double-bass')
18. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt - Monsieur Ibrahim und die Blumen des Koran (English title: 'Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Qu'ran')
19. Eva Ibbotson - The secret of Platform 13
20. Justin Cronin - The Passage
21. Daniel Glattauer - Gut gegen Nordwind (English title: 'Love virtually')
22. George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
23. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The last Olympian
24. Hape Kerkeling - Ich bin dann mal weg (English title: 'I'm off then')
25. George R. R. Martin - A Clash of Kings
26. Jay Asher - Thirteen reasons why
27. Fynn - Anna schreibt an Mister Gott (Original title: 'Anna's book')
28. Neal Shusterman - Unwind
29. Mark Haddon - The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
30. Harry Mulisch - Augenstern (English title:'Pupil')
31. Liz Jensen - Endzeit (Original title: 'The Rapture')
32. Eva Ibbotson - Not just a witch
33. Erich Segal - Love story
34. George R. R. Martin - A storm of swords
35. Pittacus Lore - The power of six
36. Susan Hill - The woman in black
37. Russell Brand - My booky wook
38. Ally Condie - Matched

 

[tigerrouge]

Finished my 'Dickens in December' challenge...

1 The Old Curiosity Shop (608 pgs)
2 Our Mutual Friend (832 pgs)
3 Dombey and Son (848 pgs)
4 Martin Chuzzlewit (832 pgs)
5 Edwin Drood (448 pgs)

After reading Martin Chuzzlewit, I completely understand why it didn't sell that well in his own day, but for an unfinished novel, Edwin Drood was good, it opened with someone getting wasted in an opium den, and it was shaping up to be almost more like a crime thriller than a manners-and-morality tale, and because Dickens died while writing it, what happens to Edwin Drood really is a mystery, so you have to invent your own ending.

I also read Broadmoor Revealed, an ebook about Victorian-era inmates of a British criminal mental hospital, written by archivist Mark Stevens.

 

[kate_is_goddess]

01 // Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
02 // Limit by Frank Schätzing
03 // Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
04 // The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
05 // Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
06 // Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
07 // The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
08 // The Collector by John Fowles
09 // The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
10 // Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
11 // Slapstick! or Lonesome No More by Kurt Vonnegut
12 // Bei Einbruch der Nacht (L'Homme à l'envers) by Fred Vargas
13 // A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
14 // To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
15 // The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
16 // Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
17 // Written in Bone by Simon Beckett
18 // Whispers of the Dead by Simon Beckett
19 // My Booky Wook by Russell Brand
20 // The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
21 // Der Meister und Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
22 // All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
23 // Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland
24 // Deadly Décisions by Kathy Reichs
25 // Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
26 // Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
27 // Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk
28 // A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer
29 // Der Brenner und der liebe Gott by Wolf Haas
30 // Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
31 // Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
32 // Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
33 // The Road by Cormac McCarthy
34 // Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
35 // Palo Alto by James Franco
36 // Death's Acre by Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson
37 // Ausgeliebt by Dora Heldt
38 // All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
39 // Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann

This is my final list, unless I manage to squeeze in a last quick read in the last two days of 2011. I wish I had read more, but I had neither the time nor the inclination to pick up a lot of books in the last couple of months... I'll definitely compete again next year and I will try to beat my high score

As for the books I liked the most/least, I will post sth next week...
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Teja]

My goal was to read 20 books this year. Unfortunately I'm one book behind so my total for this year is 19 books.

01. Burned Alive by Souad
02. Figures De Poupe by Marcel Marien
03. Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
04. Notes From The Underbelly by Risa Green
05. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
06. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
07. Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
08. Night by Elie Wiesel
09. Animal Farm by George Orwell
10. Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
11. Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
12. The Old Men And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
13. Sherlock Holmes . A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
14. Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi
15. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
16. Sherlock Holmes : Famous Client by Arthur Conan Doyle
17. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
18. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
19. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Goal for 2012: 30 books

 

[Alvedansen]

01. John Steinbeck - The grapes of wrath
02. Richard Matheson - I am legend
03. Joyce Carol Oates - Big mouth & Ugly girl
04. Ken Follett - The pillars of the earth (re-read)
05. Haruki Murakami - Afterdark
06. Gayle Forman - If I stay
07. J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (re-read)
08. Patti Smith - Just kids
09. J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (re-read)
10. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The lightning thief
11. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The sea of monsters
12. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The titan's curse
13. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The battle of the labyrinth
14. Stephen Baxter - Ark
15. Markus Zusak - The book thief
16. Ethan Hawke - Hin und weg (original title: 'the hottest state')
17. Patrick Süskind - Der Kontrabaß (English title: 'the double-bass')
18. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt - Monsieur Ibrahim und die Blumen des Koran (English title: 'Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Qu'ran')
19. Eva Ibbotson - The secret of Platform 13
20. Justin Cronin - The Passage
21. Daniel Glattauer - Gut gegen Nordwind (English title: 'Love virtually')
22. George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones
23. Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson - The last Olympian
24. Hape Kerkeling - Ich bin dann mal weg (English title: 'I'm off then')
25. George R. R. Martin - A Clash of Kings
26. Jay Asher - Thirteen reasons why
27. Fynn - Anna schreibt an Mister Gott (Original title: 'Anna's book')
28. Neal Shusterman - Unwind
29. Mark Haddon - The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
30. Harry Mulisch - Augenstern (English title:'Pupil')
31. Liz Jensen - Endzeit (Original title: 'The Rapture')
32. Eva Ibbotson - Not just a witch
33. Erich Segal - Love story
34. George R. R. Martin - A storm of swords
35. Pittacus Lore - The power of six
36. Susan Hill - The woman in black
37. Russell Brand - My booky wook
38. Ally Condie - Matched

ok, i just realized that i'm not far enough in any of the books that i'm currently reading that i will finish any of them in the next 27 hours, so this is my final list for this year

Top 5 (good (i will not count the re-read books as the fact that i decided to read them again already suggests that i loved them)

John Steinbeck - The grapes of wrath
this wasn't an easy read, i gotta admit. i sometimes struggled with this since i prefer faster-paced books and this certainly wasn't however the end completely made up for it and it really stayed with me

Markus Zusak - The book thief
i was a bit sceptical about this, there's such a big hype around this and i usually end up not liking those books (too high expectations i guess) but this was very beautiful. i loved that the people were very realistic and that it told the story of average people just trying to survive. obivously the main characters are "good" Germans, but the book doesn't gloss over the terrible things that DID happen at that time. a very touching book and also beautifully written.

Justin Cronin - The Passage
this just barely made it into my top 5...i LOVED the first third of the book, but then there's a sudden break and the story is being told at a completely different time with completely different characters and unfortunately i never grew to really like them. the biggest problem for me was that it was never perfectly explained how this new "world" worked. i still have many images and scenes from the first part in my head, but can barely remember what happened in the second part...not a good sign. but for the first part alone this book earns to be on this list

George R. R. Martin - A Song of fire and ice (1-3)
i loved all three books i've read of this series so far, so i'm gonna count them as one. epic fantasy saga with great characters. i personally love (a friend of mine hates it, so i guess it depends on what you like) that there's not a single character around which this series revolves, there are several characters from whose point of view the story is being told and it changes with each chapter. for me this is great because i like to know where i am in the story and with who (if that makes sense). kick*ss female characters, political intrigues and characters to love and to hate, this really has it all, sometimes you beg Martin to please finally kill off a despised character and the other second you're stunned because something happened you would have never expected.

Susan Hill - The woman in black
this was just a quick read and i probably could have picked another book to be in my top 5, but as i wanted to read a ghost story and be a bit scared this totally served that purpose. there seriously were moments where i was glad that i was reading it while sitting in a train to work/uni and not at home alone

Top 4 (bad couldn't decide on the fifth
Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson series
where to begin? terrible writing and insanely juvenile, i like YA literature, but this was straight up children's lit and yeah, didn't like it. i never grew to care about any of the characters, the battles, especially the last one completely left me cold. the pacing was off and whenever there was a struggle, the solution was too easily found. i also hated the way Greek mythology was used, i'd rather just read the originals (even when that reminds me of my latin classes)

Jay Asher - Thirteen reasons why
this whole story was so unrealistic and the reasons she stated were just pathetic for the most part, definitely not a reason to commit suicide, i know the girl was supposed to suffer from depression (or something similar) but this whole thing just didn't fit together. i also hated the idea of her burdening others with her story and even guilt

Neal Shusterman - Unwind
dystopian YA novel. and a bad one, a very bad one. nothing made sense! i loved the first THG novel and even though that plot sounded crazy (kids killing each other in a big brother-like game arena) it seemed realistic, the world in itself made sense, but in this book it was just stupid and ...well BAD. it's the first in a series and i'm not gonna read the others.

Ally Condie - Matched
again dystopian YA novel. not as bad as UNWIND, but not much better. parts of this society made sense, but a large part was just way too unrealistic. i also didn't like that nothing really happened in the book and 80% was just a love-triangle that was utterly boring for me, although i liked one of the guys. i will give the second book in the series a chance as the girl has now a mission, maybe the story will pick up, but i worry that the love-triangle will still go on(yawn)

 

[Belowen]

The books I read in 2011 were:

01: American Subversive by David Goodwillie
02: The Collector by John Fowles
03: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
04: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
05: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
06: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
07: Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
08: The Forest Of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
09: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
10: The Odyssey by Homer
11: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
12: The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
13: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
14: Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

15: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton​

16: The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham

17: Bossypants by Tina Fey​

18: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

19: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins​

20: Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

21: Cell by Stephen King​

22: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
23: The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch by Emma Magenta
24: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
25: Divergent by Veronica Roth
26: If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino
27: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
28: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

29: Prism by Faye & Aliza Kellerman
​

30: The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers
31: All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
32: Innocents by Cathy Coote 33: Spear of Destiny by Daniel Easterman
34: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
35: Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts
36: Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
37: The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory
38: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
39: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
40: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The definite stand outs for me were:

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 

[Siennalicious]

I got to number 30 but I'm still happy. hope next year it will be 50!!!
Congrats to everyone that got there and everybody who participated in the challenge. Happy New Year!!!


1.The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and a Son by David Gilmour
2.Fragments*by Marilyn Monroe, Stanley Buchthal and Bernard Comment
3.Łóżko by Janusz Wiśniewski
4.Zawód fotograf*by Chris Niedenthal
5.Ukrwienia by Janusz Wisniewski
6.Room by Emma Donoghue
7.One Day by David Nicholls
8.The Help by Kathryn Stockett
9.Korczak. Próba biografii*by Joanna Olczak-Ronikier
10.Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
11.Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
12.Malowany Ptak by Jerzy Kosiński
13. Shopaholic & Baby*by Sophie Kinsella
14.Sister*by Rosamund Lupton
15.Just Kids*by Patti Smith
16.On the Road by Jack Kerouac
17.The Book Thief*by Markus Zusak
18.To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
19.The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
20.The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell*
21.Aleph by Paulo Coelho*
22.Mapa i Terytorium (La carte et le territore) by Michel Houellebecq
23.Marzenie Celta (El sueno del celta) by Mario Vargas Llosa
24.A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
25.Coco Chanel by Justine Picardie
26.Londyńczycy by Ewa Winnicka
27.By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
28.Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy*by John le Carré
29.Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edwards - Jones
30. Gottland by Mariusz Szczygieł

 

[Annu]

It is so hard to pick favorites, I re-read so many my favorites this year.

The worst
The land of painted caves by Jean M. Auel - You just don't change your main character nature in sixth book. Just don't. Higly disappointment.

Lovely suprises
The Blythes are quoted by L. M. Montgomery - The book is not all about how amazing Anna is, instead we have new characters in each stories and their little problems. Little bit darker than her usual girly stuff.

Fifth Avenue, 5AM: Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's by Sam Wasson - the beautiful book about making of Breakfast at Tiffany's

The Hound of death by Agatha Christie - if Stephen King would be woman and lived beginning of last century, he could have written something like this. Spooky mystery stories with little bit love.

The favorite writer
Anna Gavalda. Her Consolation & Breaking away were just so amazing, again and makes me wanna read anything she writes. Consolation was also my favorite book of year, even if I have read it many times before. My friend said she hate it because of it was blur and mixed but some how it comforts me, and in my opinion it was also warm and hopeful.

Interesting inside
War by Sebastian Junger Hiljaiset auttajat by Rauli Virtanen & Matkalla - Martti Ahtisaaren tarina by Katri Merikallio and Tapani Ruokanen - there was Afganistan war, international conflict seeing in Red Cross's aid workers point of view and international diplomacy (Kosovo). The most interesting part was to see more than just what we see in news. This genre is something I would like to read more this year.


Actually I'm suprised how good books I have read. Some reason I thought I read way too bad and disappointment books but now when I look my 50 book list, many of them reminds me their lovely moments, I seem to forget their bad parts very easily can't wait to read what this year will be offer me in books.

 

[GinAndTonic]

01 - Pop Heart (Barbara Israel)
02 - Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (Charles Bukowski)
03 - South Of No North (Charles Bukowski)
04 - Ask The Dust (John Fante)
05 - Women (Charles Bukowski)
06 - Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
07 - High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
08 - Miss Saturne (Barbara Israel)
09 - Life (Keith Richards)
10 - Chronicles I (Bob Dylan)
11 - Lord Of The Barnyard (Tristan Egolf)
12 - Francis Bacon, Interviews (Michel Archimbaud)
13 - Down And Out In Paris And London (George Orwell)
14 - Factotum (Charles Bukowski)

EPIC FAIL! I'll do better next year. I really enjoyed all these books though (apart from Miss Saturne).

 

[Bonbonenata]

Happy new year 2012, tFS users!

You did great job last year. You've read about 376 books and I'm pretty sure that I've missed some posts. I've counted from the last 3 pages.

Most read books:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - 5 people
The woman in black by Susan Hill - 4 people
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - 4 people
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - 3 people
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 3 people
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling - 3 people
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 3 people

It's difficult to say who the most read author is because every member has favorite and most of you have read many books by the same author. In my opinion:

Most read authors:
Alan Bradley
Charlaine Harris
Charles Bukowski
Haruki Murakami
J.K Rowling
Rick Riordan

Trends:

• J.K. Rowling is still must-read author
• Teen books like Gossip girl, The Vampire Diaries, The Immortals are still popular.
• I think that drama/thriller books are most common.

The best thing about our top is that we're from all over the world. There're books in so different languages! I'm really happy that this challenge was successful and I hope you enjoyed it.

You can download the full list in alphabetic order here.

Now it's time for the 50 books challenge for 2012. Thanks to Belowen for taking the initiative !

 

[kate_is_goddess]

Wow, thanks for putting together the statistics! Must have been a lot of work Great job!!

 

[kate_is_goddess]

A (very) short review:

I loved (among others
- The Chemistry of Death (Simon Beckett)
- All Families Are Psychotic (Douglas Coupland)
- Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
- The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
- Let The Great World Spin (Colum McCann)

I hated:
- Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (Peter Hoeg)
- My Booky Wook (Russell Brand)
- Palo Alto (James Franco)
- Ausgeliebt (Dora Heldt)