I read 331 books in 2011 and blogged about all of them! These were my favorites.

I really should start keeping a note of what I read, because I'm having a hard time remembering what I read last year. But I shall try, because I'm supposed to be working and this is more fun.

I know I read Charlotte Bronte's Villette, because I usually re-read it once every couple of years (love that book).

Quite a bit of Hilary Mantel, including Wolf Hall, finally - enjoyed it, but have probably enjoyed other books of hers more, particularly A Change of Climate. Might re-read Wolf Hall, as I do tend to race through books to find out what happens, when I'd be better off stopping to admire the view from time to time.

Slowly discovering (Metafilter's Own) Jenny Diski, and liked her Apology for the Woman Writing.

I also had a subscription to the London Review of Books throughout the year, which means I've been reading more long-form essays, reviews and articles. Love that magazine.

I read about half of Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver before abandoning it - my overwhelming impression was of an author trying to impress me with the amount of research he'd done. I liked the first section, but the middle book didn't hang together at all, for me.

I think there were a number of other abandoned books in 2011, but I can't remember what they were. I'm currently reading The Rainbow by D H Lawrence. Love me a bit of Lawrence, when the mood is right.

leesh, you are kind of my hero right now.

Thanks, gaspode! :)

I don't keep a list. Sometimes I think I should, but then I realize it would only be for bragging (I don't feel compelled to keep an archive for my own personal use; I don't care if I forget what I read). Which isn't really a good enough reason. So I can't really remember what I read this year. Did I read Columbine this year or last year? That was really good; great re-thinking of a tragedy that cast a huge shadow over my high school years.

I think the most riveting thing I read last year was The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

I started keeping track last year using GoodReads, but I didn't include all of the trashy romances I read in s3kr1t on my Kindle app :P I will say that last year was definitely an anomaly for my reading, as I wound up quite a bit with both physical books and ebooks (mostly thanks to BookMooch).

According to GoodReads alone, I read 70 books last year. 2011 was alllll about the comfort reading.
My five-starred ones:
The Far Pavilions (M.M. Kaye)
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake (Sarah MacLean)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice and Justice Hall (Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes #1 and #6, by Laurie R. King)
This Heart of Mine and Match Me If You Can (Bonner Brothers/Chicago Stars #5 and #6, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips)

I'm keeping note of this year's books (and movies) as a simple iPhone note. I've started a couple that I haven't really gotten into, which is a bummer. I want to follow the Nancy Pearl rule of abandoning books if I feel like it, but argh! I picked them for a reason! They should be good!

The best reason to keep a list is so you can recommend books to other people TPS! Like Columbine there, I remember reading a review that said it was excellent, but forgot to put it on my "to-read" list and never thought about it again until today. So yay you for remembering because now it's on my list.

I do it October to October, but my 2011 list is here.

From memory: 3 Franzen's, 3 Murikami's, 1.3 Ishiguro's (the 1 being Never Let Me Go, which I can't let go of and so must name.) 1 Hardy, lots of fractions from abandoned or postponed stuff (e.g. .5 of Middlemarch).

The best reason to keep a list is so you can recommend books to other people

This is one of the reasons I started my blog--ppl would always ask for recommendations and I could never remember what awesome things I'd read. It's still mainly for my own personal edification though, I don't really have a lot of readers. :)

alto, have you read "Nothing Natural" by Jenny Diski? I read it in the 80s when it was published and thought it was amazing.

I don't keep a reading list, but looking at my Kindle and in the list of what I read last year I enjoyed:

Margaret Attwood : The Blind Assassin (re-read)

Tina Fey : Bossypants

Barbara Vine : The Brimstone Wedding and A Dark-Adapted Eye (both re-read)

I LOVED Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. Really loved it.

Anthony Bourdain : Kitchen Confidential

Richard Yates : Revolutionary Road (re-read and so much better than the movie)

Joe McGinniss : The Rogue (about Sarah Palin)

Adam Langer : The Thieves of Manhattan

Anita Brookner : Undue Influence

Yeah, Bossypants was one of my four-starred reads. a little light, but that's to be expected from that kind of book, and other parts more than make up for it in wit.

All of your recs sound great, Senyar; I have The Blind Assassin but have yet to crack it open. And I do read a lot of mysteries, so getting into Barbara Vine would be good as well; I've only read one or two Rendells. (Maybe they were Vines... ah, who knows.)

Among other stuff, I am about 100 pages from making it through the Aubrey-Maturin Series. And a bunch of others. . .I'll list them if get my mind to cooperate and remember them.

I keep track, sorta, on Good Reads too. I listen to a lot of books, which don't always make it into my Good Reads list. And I liked too many books last year to list 'em all . . . that's what happens when you are a book-a-vore. (Truth to tell, if I don't like it, I stop listening/reading. Unless it is for the MeCha Book Club., in which case I slog on so I can trash it in our discussion thread.)

Just joined Good Reads. I have already read 4 (4!) books this year, thanks to the flu. Hoping to keep up with it.

Danf, I remember when I finished that series. I felt the loss for a long time. For, like, two years I always knew what I was going to read next...the next O'Brien book. When that dried up something went missing.

Danf, I remember when I finished that series. I felt the loss for a long time. For, like, two years I always knew what I was going to read next..

Well I have purposely read stuff in between, or at least had another book going. Although from The Commodore on, it's just been O'Brian. He has reminded me of Whedon in that he'll just kill people off sort of randomly and suddenly. (Barrett Bonden)

He has reminded me of Whedon in that he'll just kill people off sort of randomly and suddenly. (Barrett Bonden)

War is hell.

It was a light year for me too with only 35 books read (though I'm not sure if I included all the books I read for seminary/papers on my list or not). I'm not sure if I really liked all the things I read either - but here are some highlights.

Bossypants - Tina Fey
The Whites of their Eyes - Paul Lockhart
A Being So Gentle - Patricia Brady
Biography of a Mexican Crucifix - Jennifer Hughes
The Pastor: A spirituality - Gordon Lathrop
Holy Ground - Gordon Lathrop

And looking over the list, I was stuck in Early U.S. history and Christianity all.year.long except for the month I took to read "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. Finally took care of that!

JanetLand: I LOVE The Secret History. Mean to re-read that sometime too.

And I keep meaning to get around to the Master and Commander books. I know I will like them. It's quite reassuring having a big list of "to read" books, isn't it?

I'm saving Bossypants and the Mindy Kaling book (and three or four others) for my vacation in June. I suspect they will be perfect lying in the hammock reading.

I discovered Steven Erikson a couple years back. He destroyed my love of reading.

I know I will never read another fantasy series as good as his again. Even the flaws are wonderful.

The Secret History is a favourite book of mine, but her next book, The Little Friend, was a big disappointment.

I loved Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard,The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by

Dinaw Mengetsu. Mostly, I worked on writing my own novel. A big thrill for me was that Mark Helprin allowed me to quote from A Soldier of the Great War and from his short story Swan Lake in my book. I hope it will be published soon.

AHHH I love Mark Helprin! I have all three of the Swan Lake books (plus a bunch of his novels, but those don't have such pretty illustrations by Chris van Allsburg).

Leesh, I'm very interested in the ability that some people have for reading a book a day. Being a rather slow reader myself, its hard for me to imagine it without spending hours and hours each day. I'd certainly love to have that ability.

alto, have you read "Nothing Natural" by Jenny Diski?

Not yet but I've added it to my mental list of books to get hold of... It's in my local library's catalogue, but the results say "no copies available" (meaning that they just don't have any, not that someone's borrowed it - I'm not sure why it's listed...).

Among other stuff, I am about 100 pages from making it through the Aubrey-Maturin Series.

That's one I forgot! I read about half of Master and Commander before being distracted by something else. I did enjoy it, though, so will go back to it and read the rest of the series. Unfortunately my local library only has a few of them.

Alto, there is also the audio option for many of them, when read by the awesome Patrick Tully. He really is the definitive narrator and I wish there was an audio version by him for all of them. I loved that series, to which I mostly listened via library borrows.