Favorite Reads of 2011
Livejournal is working again for now, and they extended my paid membership, and it's a new year, so I thought I'd make a point of actually posting to my Livejournal more often. Here's to good intentions! Here's my list of the top 15 reads for 2011, broken up into age-range categories again this year. These favorites include a few books not published in 2011 and exclude re-reads, because there are some all-time favorites I re-read every year and it would be silly to keep putting them in my favorites for the year. I'll be updating this again with short descriptions of the books, but I want to post this before I lose it to a LJ snafu. I hope to follow this up with a favorite television post, because frankly, when I wasn't reading I was watching TV (sometimes I was doing both at once!).
See some more of my favorites that didn't make this list on Goodreads here!
Top Kids Books
So I'm going to cheat a bit. Most of the 160 books I read this year were young adult books, so I don't have a lot of true picture book or middle grade reads that made it onto a favorites list (though two of the books on my young adult list -- A Monster Calls and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland -- could probably qualify as middle grade). So I resolve the right to add more than five books to my young adult and my adult list so that I can still have 15.
Plain Kate, by Erin Bow. Fantasy.
Liesl & Po, by Lauren Oliver. Fantasy.
The Jewel of the Kalderash (Cabinet of Wonders, Book Three), by Marie Rutkoski. Fantasy.
Top Young Adult
Obviously I read a TON of YA books, but here are the ones I already want to re-read (and in some cases, already have).
Finnikin of the Rock (2010), by Melina Marchetta. Fantasy.
A Monster Calls (2011), by Patrick Ness. Fiction.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (2011), by Laini Taylor. Paranormal Fantasy/Romance.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (2011), by Cat Valente. Fantasy.
Where Things Come Back (2011), by John Corey Whaley. Fiction.
The Isle of Blood (The Monstrumologist, Book Three) (2011), by Rick Yancey. Literary Horror.
Top Adult Books
Midnight Riot (Peter Grant, Book One) (2011), by Ben Aaronovitch. Urban Fantasy.
A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, Book Three) (2011), by Alan Bradley. Mystery.
Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer, Book One) (2011), by Melanie Card. Paranormal Romance.
Ready Player One (2011), by Ernest Cline. Science Fiction.
Mind Games (Disillusionists, Book One) (2010), by Carolyn Crane. Urban Fantasy.
Zone One (2011), by Colson Whitehead. Literary Horror.
See some more of my favorites that didn't make this list on Goodreads here!
Top Kids Books
So I'm going to cheat a bit. Most of the 160 books I read this year were young adult books, so I don't have a lot of true picture book or middle grade reads that made it onto a favorites list (though two of the books on my young adult list -- A Monster Calls and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland -- could probably qualify as middle grade). So I resolve the right to add more than five books to my young adult and my adult list so that I can still have 15.
Plain Kate, by Erin Bow. Fantasy.
Liesl & Po, by Lauren Oliver. Fantasy.
The Jewel of the Kalderash (Cabinet of Wonders, Book Three), by Marie Rutkoski. Fantasy.
Top Young Adult
Obviously I read a TON of YA books, but here are the ones I already want to re-read (and in some cases, already have).
Finnikin of the Rock (2010), by Melina Marchetta. Fantasy.
A Monster Calls (2011), by Patrick Ness. Fiction.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (2011), by Laini Taylor. Paranormal Fantasy/Romance.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (2011), by Cat Valente. Fantasy.
Where Things Come Back (2011), by John Corey Whaley. Fiction.
The Isle of Blood (The Monstrumologist, Book Three) (2011), by Rick Yancey. Literary Horror.
Top Adult Books
Midnight Riot (Peter Grant, Book One) (2011), by Ben Aaronovitch. Urban Fantasy.
A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, Book Three) (2011), by Alan Bradley. Mystery.
Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer, Book One) (2011), by Melanie Card. Paranormal Romance.
Ready Player One (2011), by Ernest Cline. Science Fiction.
Mind Games (Disillusionists, Book One) (2010), by Carolyn Crane. Urban Fantasy.
Zone One (2011), by Colson Whitehead. Literary Horror.