Hey, I had Christmas almost 2 weeks late – can’t I be late with my 2011 Book Review? Heh.

2011 was one of my worst years on record for reading books. I’ve been keeping track of my books read since 2001, and from 2006 on, I’ve managed to read over 50 books in a year. 2008 was my highest with 65. This year, I only finished 51. World of Warcrack was mostly to blame, because in April & May, I only finished 1 book and instead was heavily into the game. I can also blame A Song of Ice and Fire for being such long books…

This was the year I finally purchased an eBook reader. Though I’ve been reading books on my phone for awhile (since 2008), I decided to buy a BeBook Neo reader. And the reason I bought it was a bit, um, unusual. Many of my friends were excited about The Game of Thrones coming to HBO and so I decided to try reading the series. The waitlist from my library was long, but the eBook wait wasn’t as big. So I decided I’d finally break down & buy an ereader. (redstarrobot‘s reviews helped me decide what I wanted.)

The Neo went on sale at just the right time, so I ordered it, put in the request for the 4-book set from my library (they didn’t have individual eBooks, alas). And after the BeBook arrived, I was in love. I loaded it full of free eBooks and bought a couple of eBooks and checked out books from the library. There’s just something nifty about sitting at home in your comfy chair and ordering a book from the library – and reading it minutes later!

I managed to get the first two books read before the time ran out, so I got myself on the waiting list again, only to be too impatient and buy the 4-book set online. Heh. A Dance with Dragons, OTOH, I’ve only eborrowed from the library. (When it’s cheaper, I’ll get it.)

Thanks to recommendations from gregmce, I bought a few eBooks from a small press publisher, Small Beer Press. And discovered the Armitage family (down, judiang!) in The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken. I found her stories about this somewhat magical family delightful. Many were funny, some were quite sad, all were entertaining. I also bought a couple of eBooks from A Book Apart, which focuses on short books about web development. Here’s hoping I can support more small book publishers in 2012.

This was the year when Ben Aaronovitch got his first two non-Doctor Who books published (Midnight Riot/Rivers of London and Moon over Soho), and I enjoyed them. Looking forward to book 3 (and beyond). There were some new Pratchett books this year and some new books by my favorite webcomic artists. I even finally read the Albert Campion novels I never got around to reading. (Just have the ones by Allingham’s husband to read. And probably rereading the short story collections in case I missed any of those.)

So, although it wasn’t my best reading year by far, I’d say it was a success. Many more hits than misses, which is always a good thing. Discovered a few new (to me) authors which I’ll revisit in the future. And this year is already off to a good start with 4 books read already (though two were VERY short books). Arriving tomorrow should be 2 new children’s books (well, they’re 40+ years old, but new to me) along with CDs of Sylvester McCoy reading them. Plus I received quite a few books for Christmas. So the future is bright when it comes to books!

I have been keeping track of which books I have read since June of 2001. Originally it was something I was doing to try and curb my book buying habit. I’d promised myself that I’d only buy a book if I’d read 5 (or was that 10?) that I already owned. It didn’t work out too well – I still bought books despite the agreement. But it did get me in the habit of recording my read books.

A couple of years ago I saw some of my LJ friends had tried to read 50 books in one year. That sounded, to me, to be a noble goal. Now, compared to some folks in my family (mom, dad, my dearly departed Granny) 50 books in one year is a mere drop in the bucket. But it sounded reasonable to me. However, 2004 and 2005 eluded me. I’d get into the 40s, but never reach 50. But then came 2006! Although I never quite managed my 2006 goal of reading at least 30 min every day, I still wound up reading 54 books. Go me!

Before you start picturing me with 1000 page novels and stuff, I will admit that I do read children’s books as well as novels and science books. And yes, some comic graphic novels or the equivalent are present. That I don’t mine – reading is reading and I’m glad to be doing it. I still don’t think I’m doing as much as I’d could. I blame my addiction to City of Heroes for that.

The funny thing is that, despite my great number read last year, I’ve yet to finish a book this year. Whoops! I’m almost done with two of them – People of the Fire by the Gears and a Murder She Wrote novel which is in my purse. And I’ve got a few short reads that I received at Christmas which I might be able to get read before January is over. So I could well get back on schedule. And I’m hoping that, if I ever get my bookshelves started, much less finished, I’ll have even more reason to read. I’ll have a lovely library to read in. 🙂

Rather than include all 54 books that I’ve read, I’ll choose a few to discuss. A few notables: mom has gotten me hooked on a Nora Roberts trilogy, the one with the vampires (The Circle Trilogy) for those of you familiar with her work. She’s still waiting on book 3 from her friend and then she’ll loan it to me. 🙂 Also I was fortunate to not really have any clunkers in the selection this year. Two of them were very dry (in fact, the Quantum World was a book I’d started a couple of years ago and FINALLY finished in August), however.

2006 marked the end of the BBC Doctor Who books with past Doctors, and Atom Bomb Blues was the final one. Rather fitting to end with the 7th Doctor, especially one written by Andrew Cartmel. I enjoyed the books, but it did make me nostalgic for the days when Doc7 ruled the books and clever plots & characters were showing up every month. Thank you Virgin Publishing for keeping the flame burning during the dark times! 🙂

Speaking of the 7th Doctor, if you’d like to see a character somewhat based upon him, check out The Dying Days by Shannon Patrick Sullivan. I will admit I tend to look for roles to cast Sylvester McCoy in when reading books (and other actors I enjoy watching). And in this book, he slipped in perfectly. I checked with Shannon and he admitted that the character was inspired by Sylv’s 7th Doctor. But don’t worry, the character has his own special characteristics too – it’s not a rip off by any means. The novel itself was very enjoyable – a wonderful first novel. I’m hoping Shannon continues with his characters and setting in future novels.

I borrowed Life of Pi from Rachel when I was visiting her & Amy this summer. This is one of those books which I’ll remember for a very long time. Pi Patel is a fun character, which is good because you spend most of the book alone with him and a tiger on a boat in the ocean. The ending was the bit I liked least about it, but others have said that’s the part they like the most.

2006 was also notable for finally ending the Series of Unfortunate Events. This children’s series was entertaining, silly, stupid, and fun. I’m glad there was an End to it. Prolific authors will be my downfall (take a bow Terry Pratchett). Lemony Snickett should probably have his head examined. 😉

Speaking of children’s series, I read more of Philip Ardagh‘s work this year. (I’d been hoping they’d put out more audio books as read by Sylvester McCoy, but it never happened. So I bought the books & read ’em myself.) The House McNally series just didn’t work for me as well as the Eddie Dickens books have. And the second Eddie Dickens trilogy was almost as fun as the first trilogy. But like the McNally books, the third book of the series just didn’t entertain me as much. Not sure why. Maybe someday I’ll figure it out.

Other books that I read this year which I’d recommend to all: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley (I’d recommend it over the movie), the Nursery Crime series by Jasper Fforde (I’m enjoying those books more than the Thursday Next ones).

So, 2007, let’s see about another 50 books or so!