2011: A Tedious and Brief Review / Top Ten Tuesday on Wednesday

So, 2011 is almost done, which means this is the time for a plethora of websites, magazines, television shows, etc. making up lists for the best (or worst) books, films, clothing, websites, magazines, television shows, etc.  And, of course, that includes, me.

While the year is not yet over (there are 5 more reading days before the end of the calendar year!) with this being  Top Ten Tuesday and the likely hood that I won't finish too much in addition to what I've already finished up, I'll do this now rather than in early

This list is out of just about 24 books finished this year and doesn't count any books that I started and gave up on didn't finish as yet.  From a quick check, I'm showing a 2 to 1 ratio on female to male authors.  I didn't finish a book written by a guy until March...and that was written by some unknown playwright named Shakespeare. 

It's also Top Ten Tuesday*, is brought to us by the letters H, W, Y, the number 51, and the blog The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is:

- Top Ten Favorite Books I Read in 2011 -

Fiction

Snowdrops - A.D. Miller: One of the last books I've read in 2011 turned out by far to be one of my favorites.  This book set behind the backdrop of new Russia about an English lawyer living in Moscow and his Russian girlfriend was an amazing read that I'm happy to have heard of.

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Ringer:  The sequel to the author's Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, continues the story from the perspective of a young English women from Jane Austen's time period who awakens to find herself in modern Los Angles.  It's a fun, engrossing story that I enjoyed, even thought I've yet to still finish reading any of Austen's novels.


As You Like It -William Shakespeare: Yeah, it's a bit of a cheat to put Shakespeare on a favorite's list, but I loved seeing this play and then loved reading it afterwords. It was one I really hadn't heard much of beforehand and quickly became a new favorite.

Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad - Forugh Farrokhzad (trans. Sholeh Wolpé): Probably the only book of poetry I read in 2011, I really enjoyed this collection of poets by the 20th Century Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad.  Poetry is a tricky one to put into a category, since it's more so a writing style sometimes than fiction/non-fiction.  Either way, it should be on the list.

Go the Fuck to Sleep - Adam Mansbach:  It's almost an honorable mention, but I did read this children's book this year.  It was a cute idea and a really funny way to spend a few minutes listening to the audio book read by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.  I eagerly await the rumored sequel: Get the Fuck Back into Bed.

K-On! - Kakifly: Again, almost an honorable mention and guilty pleasure, but I do like these short mangas about a group of high school girls setting up a pop music club.  The fourth and so far final volume came out in December, but I havne't gotten to finish reading it yet.  It's just kind of silly, but at times you do need silliness in your life, right?

Non-Fiction

It feels this year as if I read more non-fiction than fiction, though a counting shows a pretty even split between non-fiction and fiction.  I think it just feels that way since a lot of the fiction seemed to be quick or sometimes graphic novels, which hardly feel like reading anything at all in comparison to say a large novel or non-fiction.

For Us Surrender is Out of the Question: A Story from Burma's Never-Ending War - Mac McCelland: I had waited a year or so to read this one and it was worth the wait.  This is the author's true story of having worked with a group of rebels/refugees living in Thailand on the border with Burma.  Very worth the read.

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance - Elna Baker: I really liked this book.  Elna, a Mormon living in New York City, gives her memoir in a humorous tone of what it's like growing up as the "fat kid" and eventually moving to New York City and trying to find love...with an Atheist.

The Honored Dead: A Story of Friendship, Murder, and the Search For Truth in the Arab World - Joseph Barude: The story of how a reporter on assignment in Morocco helped a man to try to discover the truth of why his friend was murdered.

Chicken With Plums - Marjane Satrapi:  Oh, Marjane Satrapi with your cute little drawings of life in Iran that were made famous in your first graphic novel Persepolis and the Oscar-nominated film by the same name...Can you please write/draw some more?  If you haven't read her more famous first novel, the two-part Persepolis, about her life in post-revolution Iran and abroad as a student, I'd recommend reading that first.  This isn't a sequel, but, and not taking anything away from Chicken With Plums, Persepolis is a big stronger and longer work.

Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq - Jess Goodell with John Hearn:  The autobiographical story of a US Marine working in the Mortuary Affairs department in Iraq during the war was a heartfelt and sometimes almost detached tale which surprisingly became just as interesting once she left Iraq for civilian life.


Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China - Rachel DeWoski:  Almost an honorable mention, I liked this book, though had I read more books in 2011, it may not have ended up on the list.  I still recommend this memoir of a women who went to work in Beijing and became a sort-of celebrity after working on what turned out to be a popular Beijing soap, but there are other books on this list I liked a bit better.

Least Favorites

       Indeed, looking back at 2011, there wasn't much that I read that I didn't like, or at least that stood out as just on that side of negative, so a number of these were books that I liked...but just not enough.  Some of them even got as much as 3 out of 5 from me.  So don't take this as a list of things to stay away from...they just were books that didn't seem to grab on to me as much as others did.

The Novel Bookstore - Laurence Cosse:  Oh, how I wanted to really like this book.  It's a book about a bookstore where only the best novels are sold, what's not to like?  Possibly the constant name dropping of books I'd never heard of since most of them seemed to be by French or Italian authors I'd never heard of.  But, it's more so that if you start a book off as a murder/attempted murder mystery and then sort-of forget about the mystery for hundreds of pages while you explain the ins and outs of creating this bookstore, you run the risk of losing the reader.  The plot was good and this is probably the one book that was nearest to not being on this list, but as much as I wanted to love this book....I couldn't.  I'd possibly reread this to see if maybe I got something more out of it a second time.

Everything is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour - Rachel Shukert:  For a self-proclaimed "underfunded and overexposed European grand tour" this was a bit of a letdown that I still gave a 3 out of 5 rating. It had it's moments and was enjoyable, but I expected more from the title, not, essentially, Vienna, somewhere else, and then spend the rest of my time basically living in Amsterdam. 

Sex With Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge - Eleanor Herman: I guess I just expected more from this popular history title.  It seemed to just kind of meander and while I plan on reading the sequel, which I'm told is better, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua:  It's difficult deciding which list to put Amy Chua's memoir about raising her children in what she describes as the "Chinese way", which seems more like the "over-controlling parent" way.  Memorable, yes, but the book just became far too annoying and I just felt bad for her and her children while reading the book.

 
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life/Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Bryan Lee O'Malley: I read two and a half of the Scott Pilgrim books after watching and loving the film.  The books were a bit of a let down, though I may go back and finish reading them.  I think knowing the basics of the story plus the fact that I found the drawings sometimes really difficult to discern which character was which and the use of random flashbacks without much of a cue that the author had gone into a quick flashback kinda ruined it for me.  Maybe I'll go back and finish it, but that's not 100% likely.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough - Ruth Pennebaker:  This book didn't get that bad of a review from me, so the fact that it's on the least favorites list is, in part, due to my lack of reading this year and lack of reading anything I really disliked.  The characters just didn't seem that easy to relate to (almost to the point at times of being stock) and the plot seemed almost forced and forgettable with maybe a touch too much foreshadowing.

       Have a great New Year.  See you in 2012!

 * Well, it was Tuesday when I was going to post this, so let's just pretend Wednesday is Tuesday.  Right?