Another year, another lamentation that I didn’t write as much as I wanted. I did, however, read a lot last year. Here’s the list of books I read in 2011. Asterisks indicate my favorite book in each month, and (RR) indicates that it was a re-read.
January
“In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom” by Qanta Ahmed
“Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater” by Matthew Amster-Burton
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
“The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance” by Elna Baker
“The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman *
“House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton
“The Bestiary” by Nicholas Christopher
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
February
“The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stewart
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen *
“North and South” by Elizabeth Gaskell
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan
“God is not Great” by Christopher Hitchens
“Sisters Red” by Jackson Pierce
March
“Withering Tights” by Louise Renniston
“Metadata for Digital Resources” by Muriel Foulonneau and Jenn Riley
“Blonde Roots” by Bernardine Evaristo
“My Life in France” by Julia Child *
“Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay
“Health at Every Size” by Linda Bacon
April
“Pictures from Italy” by Charles Dickens
“The Imperfectionists” by Tom Rachman
“Switched (Trylle Trilogy, Book 1)” by Amanda Hocking
“The Weird Sisters” by Eleanor Brown *
“American Gods” by Neil Gaiman
May
“Dearly Devoted Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay
“Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton *
“An Omelette and a Glass of Wine” by Elizabeth David
“Drinking Closer to Home” by Jessica Anya Blau
June
“Bossypants” by Tina Fey
“Anne of Green Gables” by L. M. Montgomery (RR)
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Episode 8: Parts 1-3” by Joss Whedon et al
“Beauty Queens” by Libba Bray
“My Life” by Bill Clinton
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Episode 8: Parts 4-8” by Joss Whedon et al
“The World that Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square” by Ned Sublette
“Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table” by Sara Roahen *
July (what happened in July?)
“The Lover’s Dictionary” by David Levithan
“Dexter in the Dark” by Jeff Lindsay
August
“The Stand” by Stephen King (RR)
“Anne of Avonlea” by L. M. Montgomery (RR)
“Operating Instructions” by Ann Lamott
“She’s Come Undone” by Wally Lamb * (RR)
“The Next Queen of Heaven” by Gregory Maquire
“Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit” by Barry Estabrook
September
“Room” by Emma Donoghue *
“Crooked Little Heart” by Anne Lamott (RR)
“Rosie” by Anne Lamott
“The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Laura Ingalls Wilder” by Wendy McClure
“O Pioneers” by Willa Cather
“The Chemical Carousel: What Science Tells Us About Beating Addiction” by Dirk Hanson
“Bumped” by Megan McCafferty
October
“This Beautiful Life” by Helen Shulman
“Best Food Writing of 2010” ed. Holly Hughes
“Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef” by Gabrielle Hamilton
“The Secret Circle Trilogy” by L.J. Smith (RR)
“Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs *
“The Hangman’s Daughter” by Oliver Pötzsch and Lee Chadeayne
November
“Fledgling” by Octavia Butler
“Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate)” by Gail Carriger
“The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger (RR) *
“Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space” by Tom Heath and Christian Bizer
“The Man Who Ate Everything” by Jeffrey Steingarten
December
“Solar” by Ian McEwan
“The 3-Day Cleanse” by Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss
“The Family Fang” by Kevin Wilson *
“The Table Comes First” by Adam Gopnik