Pumy's Mommy 2011: A Year of Reading in Review
2011 brought with it many new adventures, including our lame book club convincing Elle Ewok and Beezuskiddo to join in the fun. However, the year also brought with it more than one trip to Buckheads (don’t judge me) and multiple trials. As a result, my reading went straight to hell. Despite all that, I was able to get through many good (and many not so good) books this year. I’ve wanted to write a piece for this blog for some time now, and I thought this would be a good way to ease my way into it. After all, my cat has already made an appearance… I think it’s time for my brilliance. Or nonsense. Whatevs.
Despite my absolute love for books, I couldn’t pick a good
book for book club to save my life this year.
I’m shocked book club didn’t disband altogether. I’m pretty sure all the drinking helped. My first pick was A Reliable Wife by Robert
Goolrick. Contrary to what the Google
machine tells you, this book made me want to stab my eyes out. The rest of book club wasn’t thrilled
either. I wouldn’t even give this book
one pierogie. Even a botulism-filled
one.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, I picked What
Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. I wish I
could have forgotten how to read instead.
It was filled with clichés (much like this post, but far less funny) and
was so predictable it took any shred of enjoyment right out of it. I truly don’t mind chick-lit sometimes. But this one was bad. Boo.
I also choose South of Broad by Pat Conroy. You know, that Prince of Tides guy. I thought it was “Eh.” It didn’t make me jump for joy, but also
didn’t make me want to hold my breath until I passed out either. I’ll put it this way, with so many great
books out there, I felt like reading this was kind of a waste of time. However, there were some in book club that
thought it was great. (Trust me, “great”
is a strong word).
- Sarah’s Key – the only good book I picked for book club. Okay, so the story line seemed a little unbelievable to me. I liked it all the same. Plus, it gave me insight into the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup which I literally knew nothing about.
- The Kitchen House – this book was so good. I could not put it down. It’s one of those books that made me want to skip work and just keep reading.
- The Help – yes, it lives up to the hype. On a side note, I just saw the movie. Unlike the other movies that I’ve seen this year based on novels, I really thought the Help stayed true to the book. I really, really enjoyed it.
- Water for Elephants – I can’t remember when during the year I read this. However, I distinctly remember thinking at the time “this is my favorite book of 2011.” At some point I read The Help and The Kitchen House and the Book Thief, so I’m not sure this stayed my favorite, but it was definitely up there.
- In the Garden of Beasts – this is another book that took me some time to get into. I ended up enjoying it. Though I’ll say, it’s definitely not as good as the Devil in the White City.
- The Book Thief – I complained the first few chapters…. I admit, I was wrong. I am so glad that I continued reading this. Once I got into it, I could not put it down.
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - 42. Need I say more?
- BossyPants – I picked up this beauty at the airport on my way home from someplace and read almost all of it on the plane. There were laugh out loud parts. Like the kind of laughter that makes the people sitting next to you uncomfortable.
- Those Who Save Us – Aunt Darlene recommended this book. Her book club went through a similar Nazi/Holocaust book phase. I found this book to be wonderfully written, heart wrenching, and made my insides all warm and fuzzy. All at the same time. I know, weird.
- The Hunger Games Trilogy – who doesn’t love young adults books? I started the series after all the books came out. I sat down and just started reading. And couldn’t stop. I’m not embarrassed to say that I literally went to Target at 8:55 to pick up the last book as soon as I stopped reading the second. So good.
- Columbine - this book was about, well, Columbine. Despite knowing a fair amount about the tragedy, this book gave me such an insight and different perspective on what happened. It also infuriated me and had me reading follow up books and articles.
- Room – though I wanted to punch mom in the face on many (many) occasions, I thought this book was great. I’d given it to everyone to read. I haven’t heard a true complaint yet.
- The Shack – okay, so
technically I “listened” to this book.
And only because my mom made me do it.
I’ll be honest, I found it to be really interesting. I’d recommend it. Plus, it’s short (yes, I own the book
version).
I also liked the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. But maybe that’s just because Elle and I saw
Rebecca Skloot speak. And she has a
Pittsburgh connection. I read the
Unnamed by Joshua Ferris and I thought the ending was stupid. I totally skipped Faithful Place by Tana
French. What? I was busy!!!! After the ending of In the Woods, I just
couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Looking back at my 2011 reading list, there are several books
crossed off that I simply can’t remember anything about. So, they might have been terrible, they might
have been great. You’ll just have to
take your chances with these:
- Look Again
- Firefly Lane
- Bad Marie
- Thunderstruck – Okay… so book club is in a week. I have plenty of time to finish. Plus, I read Beezuskiddo’s review. FINE… I didn’t read Night Circus either.
- Moloka’i
- The Secret History
- Bel Canto
- Farenheit 451
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I’ve tried to read this book 3
times. I don’t know what is wrong with
me. But, as our friend Jill says, “Loads
of stupid people have read this book, we should be able to too.” You can’t argue with that logic.
Hopefully I’ll write a real review of some book soon…
assuming Beezuskiddo doesn’t beat me too it.
No comments:
Post a Comment