Monday met her goal!

Hello, girls! It's Monday!

Alexandra - I've heard good things about the BBC's Sherlock, though I haven't seen it myself yet. I also completely relate to the boyfriend/husband standing over your shoulder as you play a game, telling you what you're doing wrong!

Carlyn - How goes the Book Thief?

Christina - I was three semesters into my education degree when I came to the same realization you have -- that a classroom was not where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. So I can understand your frustration with the next four months. That being said, soak up the experience of being overseas in every way that you can. You're lucky enough to be doing what so many people say they're going to do someday but never get around to. Enjoy France!

As for this JAB week, my life is much the same as always, plus a new job (I just got hired part time at my library) and a virus that's making me miserable (Worst words ever from a doctor: "It's viral. There's nothing we can do."), but I don't want to talk about any of that.

Instead, I'm going to do my 2011 Reading Wrap-Up that I never got around to. My goal was to read 125 books, a goal I met early in December, at which point, Chase challenged me to hit 150 by the end of the month. I did. Boy, was that exhausting! But anyway, here are my final totals:

Total books read: 150
New Books: 82
Rereads: 68
                  
I looked online and I found an end of the year reading survey that I'm going to adapt to suit my purposes here, and for the sake of ease and fairness, I'm going to limit my answers to the new books I read last year.

Best Book: Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Favorite Book: Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Fire by Kristin Cashore
Most Interesting Book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?: 
Disappointing was probably The Extra Ordinary Princess by Carolyn Q Ebbitt -- It had such promise! It was a wonderful premise, but it was not executed well at all. Book I wish I loved more than I did, Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card. It was fascinating, but so complicated. I just couldn't keep all his ideas in my head at once. I know it's a brilliant book; I just didn't enjoy reading it.

Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

I was pleasantly surprised by Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. I was expecting some YA romance fluff, but it was actually very good and a lot more complex than I had anticipated. 

Book you recommended to people most in 2011?

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, as part of the Hunger Games trilogy.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson -- one of the best books of hers I've read thus far

The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Best series you discovered in 2011?

Hands down, the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan

 

Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?   

Eilis O'Neill, Polly Shulman, Ally Condie, Elizabeth Gaskell

Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

Definitely Keep Sweet by Michele Dominguez Greene, a book about a young bride in a polygamous Mormon sect

Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

 

Book you most anticipated in 2011?

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Most beautifully written book read in 2011?

Fire by Kristin Cashore

 

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I know, I know. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper. Who gets to be 23 without having read those books, right?

Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?

From I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, one of the reasons I love him so much:

 

"There is a lot of folklore about equestrian statues, especially the ones with riders on them. There is said to be a code in the number and placement of the horse's hooves: If one of the horse's hooves is in the air, the rider was wounded in battle; two legs in the air means that the rider was killed in battle; three legs in the air indicates that the rider got lost on the way to the battle; and four legs in the air means that the sculptor was very, very clever. Five legs in the air means that there's probably at least one other horse standing behind the horse you're looking at; and the rider lying on the ground with his horse lying on top of him with all four legs in the air means that the rider was either a very incompetent horseman or owned a very bad-tempered horse."

 

Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?

Fire by Kristin Cashore will be reread, as will many that have sequels or next in series coming out this year: Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, The Heroes of Olympus books by Rick Riordan, and probably several others

 

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which gets mailed out tomorrow!!! Also The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, the sequel to Pegasus by Robin McKinley, and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

 

Reading Goal for 2012?

120 books for the year, 60 new. 

 

Here's to another year of reading!