Favorite Books of 2011

Now that the year is winding down, it was fun for me to take a look and see which books lasted as my top picks. (Or maybe I saw that MBC just did this and thought, "Huh. Good idea!") Anyway, in no particular order, here they are!

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese. I've already talked about this one, but it's great. I got a copy for Christmas and can't wait to try out some of her recipes. And to read about the goats and the bobcats again.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. by Barbara Demick. If you are like me and know hardly anything about North Korea, this book will just kill you and you won't be able to put it down. When you do put it down, it will be to tell someone what you just read.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. Alice blacks out at the gym and forgets the last ten years of her life. The last thing she remembers is being a happy, pregnant newlywed. Now people are telling her she's a stressed-out, soon-to-be-divorced mother of three. The author takes a somewhat soapy premise and does some wonderful, thought-provoking things with it.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. It's illustrated in the same style as his Invention of Hugo Cabret, so despite being a fat book it's a quick read. I dare you not to be sniffling at the end.

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Loved this--it's real letters from a woman who left her job doing laundry in Denver in the early 1900s and headed west with her young daughter to try homesteading. This lady was hard core. And! You can get the Kindle edition for free. So there you go.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The language may not be for everyone, but man. I listened to the audiobook and within the first 30 minutes was crying and laughing out loud. How many books can do that?

Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer. Just before the eight shelves of Twilight books begin, you'll find this series. Read Book #1 and I can almost guarantee you'll read another. An orphaned London street urchin disguises herself as a boy and joins the British navy as a ship's boy. It's like Horatio Hornblower but with a cheeky cross-dressing girl as the hero.

Anybody else read any of these? Agree or disagree with my vote? Feel free to toss in some of your top picks in the comments so I can add them to my "to read" list in Goodreads!