The books I read in 2011
Paulus Hochgatterer: Caretta Caretta
Xiaolu Guo: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers
Helle Helle: Rødby-Puttgarden
Paulus Hochgatterer: Das Matratzenhaus
Morten Ramsland: Hundehoved
Nick Hornby: Slam
Tatiana de Rosnay: Sarah’s Key
Haruki Murakami: Gefährliche Geliebte
Dirk Stermann: 6 österreicher unter den ersten 5
Paulus Hochgatterer: Die Süße des Lebens
Marlene Streeruwitz: Das wird mir alles nicht passieren. Wie bleibe ich FeministIn.
Lisa Genova: Still Alice
Sue Monk Kidd: The Secret Life of Bees
Siri Hustvedt: What I Loved
Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Stephen Chbosky: The perks of being a wallflower
Janet Hobhouse: Dancing in the Dark
Anthony McCarten: Show of Hands
Erich Segal: Love Story
Justin Kramon: Finny
Alice Hoffman: Local Girls
Augusten Burroughs: Running with Scissors
Siri Hustvedt: The Sorrows of an American
David Leavitt: The Page Turner
Jonathan Coe: The Rotter’s Club
Jane Smiley: Moo
Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger
John Haskell: Out of my skin
Nicholson Baker: The Everlasting Story of Nory
Chris Cleave: Incendiary
Books in bold are the one’s I would recommend. My favourite of the year: The White Tiger.
I read the first 70 pages of Jane Smiley’s, “Moo” and I just could not get into it or connect to the main character taking care of the pig (if he is in fact the main character)…does it get better? Would you say it was a “good book?” I realize you didn’t recommend it…so maybe that’s a sign that I shouldn’t even try again, haha. And how did you like “Still Alice?”
You didn’t miss anything, it never got much better… There is not really one main character, but a whole bunch of characters to follow, and the whole thing is a bit chaotic. I liked “Still Alice” though, it was a little sad, but very touching!
What I Loved is fantastic! I read it in a class about art in literature and really loved how Hustvedt used art to help move the plot and tell the story.
Agreed! I just start another one of her books, The Summer Without Men – pretty good so far too!
I’m impressed with your list! I think I only managed to read half a dozen this year. Thanks also for the recommendations, will write some of them down and hopefully get a chance to do a bit more reading this year.
Nice work with all those books! I loved The White Tiger too. I read Between the Assassinations this year but it just wasn’t as good. I spotted a third book by Adiga in the shop yesterday. Might give it a go too.