Reading Resolutions: Realized! 2011

Last December, I resolved to read [at least] 60 books in 2011. A smallish number, considering the riotous sprees of my youth, when ten books a week was no unusual number... devouring stack after stack of Cherry Ames stories, every LM Montgomery novel ever written, Judy Bolton, DE Stevenson... ahem. I was a series girl. But I met my 2011 goal. Yay! (I'm also a goal-meeting girl.) Here are a few categories:

Best New Discoveries
Author: Charles Williams
(I adore his writing, so abstruse and bizarre and fusty.)
Novel: Pilgrim's Inn, by Elizabeth Goudge
Character: Sam W/Veller (Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens)
(Indubitably the literary father of Mervyn Bunter.)

Favorite Classic
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas

Favorite MG/YA Novels
Okay for Now, by Gary Schmidt *also my Newbery prediction*
The Dragon's Tooth, by N.D. Wilson
Fly Trap, by Frances Hardinge
Starcrossed, by Elizabeth Bunce

Most Difficult to Complete (But I Did!)
Heretics, by GK Chesterton

Disappointments from Authors I Liked Last Year
Uncommon Criminals, by Ally Carter
The Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy Sayers

Surprises from Authors I Didn't Like Last Year
Starcrossed, by Elizabeth Bunce

Favorite ReReads
Saving Francesca, by Melina Marchetta
Listening Valley, by DE Stevenson

Books I Thought Would Be Amazing But Really Weren't That Great
The Piper's Son, by Melina Marchetta

(I feel like such a backstabber to even type the above, but if she hadn't set such impossibly high standards with two of my all-time favorite novels, Piper's Son wouldn't have fallen short for me!)

Books I Didn’t Think Would Be That Great But Ended Up Amazing
What is a Family? by Edith Schaeffer
Rees Howells: Intercessor, by Norman Grubb
Wrestling Prayer, by Eric Ludy


Stats for the total list of books read in 2011 here.

Reading resolutions for 2012: upcoming post.

5 comments:

Holly said...

*updates Goodreads "to read" list accordingly*

"Fusty" is such a perfect word.

sally apokedak said...

You are so awesome, Noel. I wish I were half as smart and dedicated as you are.

Noël De Vries said...

smart... well, I WAS homeschooled. ;) dedicated? more of a first-born over-achiever thing. but thank you for the kind words, Sally.

sally said...

Ah, that's my trouble. I'm a last-born underachiever. :)

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