While She Knits - Farewell, 2011

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year, Reprobates! 

What are the best books you read in 2011?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Okay so I read that title super fast and for a second I thought it was "While She Knits, Farewell" As in mwt had just finished the next book and my heart stopped for like five seconds when I skimed it though. Thanks Chex. I almost had a heart attack from pure joy!

Just finished: Bridge to Light. Its about a western women's spiritual journey! Really great.(:

The friends are forcing me to read the Hunger Games. So I shall be on that for the first book of 2012!

Elle

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl

The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us by Tanya Lee Stone

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznick

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Chime by Franny Billingsley

The Hotel Under the Sand by Kage Baker

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Considering her track record, I wouldn't get your hopes up for news of book number five until 2014, at the very least. :) Only three more years! XD

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

My writing instructor recommended Rebecca Stead to me. What did you think of "When You Reach Me"?

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

Best of my 2011 reading list:

The World of Downton Abbey – Jessica Fellowes (Because I'm just a little bit obsessed with the TV show)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

A Curse Dark as Gold - Elizabeth C. Bunce (I do love a good old school fairy tale retelling! And this one is top notch!)

The Hunger Games trilogy - Suzanne Collins (Frustrated by the ending though.)

Incarceron, and Sapphique - Catherine Fisher (Again, the end really lacked something, but I enjoyed the world Fisher created and the character Jared just stole my heart.)

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, and The Empress’s Tomb - Kirsten Miller (Plain good fun!)

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke (OH MY GOODNESS.)

Sorcery & Cecelia, The Grand Tour, and The Mislaid Magician - Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

Inheritance – Christopher Paolini (Because I wasn't going to quit after dragging myself through the previous 3 books, and because I *had* to know what happened to Murtagh. The end.)

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle (Reread, because it's always that good, and because I'm excited about the new BBC Sherlock adaption!)

Tales of a Traveller - Washington Irving (Found an antique edition of it on my mom's bookshelf, read the first couple chapters on the spot, and fell in love.)

And if I remember aright, there are some fellow Lord Peter Wimsey fans hereabouts... I highly, highly recommend Conundrums for the Long Week-End by Robert Kuhn McGregor & Ethan Lewis... about the life, times and writings of Dorothy Sayers. It's fantastic.

[(Anonymous)]

That's okay, Anonymous. I thought I'd died. "When did I die? Why didn't anyone tell me? Does this mean I can stop knitting now?"

Happy New Year to you, too, Checkers.

: )

~mwt

[coyul.livejournal.com]

Considering I didn't get to do much reading, at least in this second half of the year (memory bad and can't separate anything earlier...) I think the most readable textbook was Modern Japan by Duus.

Oh yeah, before the semester from hell, I read The Hunger Games trilogy. Towers of Midnight may or may not have been early this year. So I vote for that one. :D

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

And I thought Checkers wan't going to post WSK anymore...I beleive this is what's called a comedy of errors!

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Hey Lady Jane, I don't know if you got my PM, but I wanted to tell you that I started reading 'The Squire's Tale'! I'm really enjoying it...Terence is so cute! Thanks for the rec!

[(Anonymous)]

I love Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes! I read it so long ago, but it was a beautiful story. :)

[readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

Funny, I just wrote about this on my blog. Here are my favorites from 2011:

Chime by Franny Billingsley
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Feed and Deadline by Mira Grant (who knew that someone who doesn't like horror could enjoy zombie books)
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Honorable Mentions:
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

[readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I haven't yet read A Curse Dark as Gold, but I quite enjoyed both books in Elizabeth C. Bunce's Thief Errant trilogy (StarCrossed and Liar's Moon).

I requested Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell ages ago through Paperback Swap and I have yet to read it. The fact that it is roughly the size of a doorstop and I'm trying to read as many books in a year as I possibly can has done much to deter me from picking it up, but I keep hearing how good it is. Someday I will give it a go.

I had forgotten all about Sorcery & Cecilia and The Grand Tour, but I remember quite enjoying both of them. They were fun little romps into the Georgian period, if I recall correctly.

And yes, Kiki Strike is plain good fun!

[chubbyleng.livejournal.com]

"A Matter of Magic" by Patricia C. Wrede
"Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom
"The Healing Wars" Trilogy by Janice Hardy (though I've only read the first 2)
"The Perilous Gard" by Elizabeth Marie Pope
"East" by Edith Pattou
"Heroes of the Valley" by Jonathan Stroud
"Eagle of the Ninth" by Rosemary Sutcliff
"City of Masks" by Mary Hoffman

That's about it, in no particular order. But I think "A Matter of Magic" really *is* the best book I read last year.

Wow... I just noticed, "Chime" is in a lot of people's list. I must say though, it was quite a disappointment for me. =( I guess it's just one of those books that people either really like or don't like. Oh well. ^^

[chubbyleng.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's what I thought too!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

OoohOoohOooh--how was Froi of the Exiles???

[readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

It was amazing! One of my absolute favorite reads of this year. I think if you liked Finnikin of the Rock, you will adore this book.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

The Perilous Gard and The Eagle of the Ninth are two of my all time favorites!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Opps, I sent a reply yesterday. Did the internet swallow it? I will try again!

Oh yes, Terence is the cutest thing ever. You love him from the moment he walks into the tree! XD

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Heh... XD No, no, don't die, Megan! You haven't finished the series yet!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

I thought it was marvelous. It's in interesting take on a dysfunctional slice-o-life with a sci-fi plot twist that I really didn't see coming. It's not the sort of book I usually read, but Stead surprised me. I loved it!

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Kiki Strike is amazing! I was just reading Miller's blog, and she said The Shadow Dwellers is turning out to be the best thing she's ever written. So excited!

Also, make sure you try Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles if you haven't already.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Nope, didn't get it...sorry :( It's so weird because lately I've been having a problem with gettin my emails, and my mom has been having a problem with getting her emails...I think we're living in the twilight zone!

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I think the best books I read this year was "The Glassmaker's Daughter" by V. Briceland...I got it on the reccomendation of one of you nice people...
Some other good books:

The False Princess by...by...ummm...somebody..oops! *edited to correct memory lapse* by Eilis O'Neal
The Shield, Sword, and Crown series by Hilari Bell
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Though I think I'm probably the last person on Sounis to have read that on!)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

And here I thought I was to the point and not at all vague. Glad I could get everybody's hearts pounding! It's good cardio exercise.

You can never stop knitting, Megan. Never.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I have to ask, mostly because my yellow lab's name was Kiki, but what is Kiki Strike about?