Reading List 2011

Well, it’s that time again.  Time to review the books I’ve read in 2011.  (And, as always, I’m listing just the “grown up people” books.  I read TONS of children’s literature, but am not including their titles here.)  The list is fairly short this go-round, for a number of reasons.  2011 has been busy.  I spent the first half of the year teaching my delightful Kindergarteners, and teaching rarely leaves “free” time.  In July I moved roughly 370 miles across several state lines and endured all the time-suck that corresponds with packing up and transporting your life.  I spent October through December nannying 60+ hours a week for my beautiful niece.  I spent decent chunks of November and December applying for and prepping for my upcoming time in India.  And, on top of it all, I (finally) finished writing, editing, and defending my (300+ pages) thesis.  Life’s been busy.  As such, opportunities to read for the joy of reading have been limited.  But it’s okay!  Here’s the list, busted up into fiction and non-fiction categories, per usual.  And, if you care, the books are in date order throughout the course of the year; the higher the number, the later in the year.  And, in instances in which I wrote reviews over at GoodReads, I have included links.

Until next year, READ ON!

Fiction

1. 1.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
2. 2.  The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia #1) by C.S. Lewis (reread)
3. 3.  The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia #6) by C.S. Lewis (reread)
4. 4.  The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia #7) by C.S. Lewis (reread)
5. 5.  How Beautiful the Ordinary:  Twelve Stories of Identity edited by Michael Cart (short stories)
6. 6.  Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins
7. 7.  Potential:  The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag by Ariel Schrag (graphic novel)
8. 8.  A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
9. 9.  Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (reread)
10. 10.  A Wrinkle in Time (Time #1) by Madeleine L'Engle (reread)
11. 11.  Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
12. 12.  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
13. 13.  A Wind in the Door (Time #2) by Madeleine L'Engle (reread)
14. 14.  A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time #3) by Madeleine L'Engle (reread)
15. 15.  Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
16. 16.  Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (short stories)

Non-fiction

1. 1.  Listen Up:  Voices from the Next Feminist Generation edited by Barbara Findlen
2. 2.  Kids:  How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Raise Young Children by Meredith Small
3. 3.  Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies (graphic novel)
4. 4.  Fat Girl:  A True Story by Judith Moore
5. 5.  Nurture Shock:  New Thinking about Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
6. 6.  Food Rules:  An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan
7. 7.  Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
8. 8.  The Full Spectrum:  A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities edited by David Levithan and Billy Merrell
9. 9.  Half and Half:  Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural edited by Claudine Chiawei O'Hearn

(2012.06.14)