Children’s and Young Adult Fiction
Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith.
Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan. Semicolon review here.
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller. Semicolon review here.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz. Wonderful writing, appealing characters, not so appealing theme or plot.

Adult Fiction
The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarity.
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith. Semicolon review here.
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson.

Nonfiction
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. Semicolon review here.
Goodbye to a River by John Graves. Semicolon review here.
Bringing Home the Prodigals by Rob Parsons. Semicolon review here.

Young Adult Fiction:
Bumped by Megan McCafferty. One word review: BLECH.
Sabotaged by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Good entries in this time travel series for middle grade readers.
Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Semicolon review here.
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. Semicolon review here.

Adult Fiction:
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz. Semicolon review here.
The Summer of Katya by Trevanian. Semicolon review here.
Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris. O.K. but not a favorite.
Dorchester Terrace by Anne Perry. Typical Anne Perry. I think I’ve outgrown or just become tired of this particular series of Victorian-setting mysteries. Or Ms. Perry is becoming repetitious and boring.

Nonfiction:
Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature by Philip Nel.
The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt.

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction:
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet. Semicolon review here.
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Semicolon review here.
Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale. Semicolon review here.
Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood St. by Peter Abrahams. Semicolon review here.
The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Where I Belong by Gillian Cross. Semicolon review here.

Adult Fiction:
The Bookshop by Penelope Lively. Semicolon review here.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. Semicolon review here.
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. Semicolon review here.
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark.

Nonfiction:
Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis, with Beth Clark. Semicolon review here.

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction:
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker. I read an ARC of this YA romance novel. It’s due out from Bloomsbury on May 22, 2012.
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. Newbery Award winner for 2011. Semicolon review here.
On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells. Time travel via Lionel model train. Semicolon review here.
Eyes Like Willy’s by Juanita Havill. World War I fiction.
A Time of Angels by Karen Hesse. World War I fiction.
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. More World War I fiction. Semicolon reviews of all three WW I novels here.

Adult Fiction:
Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin. Fiction based on the life and work of school principal Minnie Vautrin during the Rape of Nanjing. Semicolon review here.
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. The first read from my Classics Club list. Semicolon review here.
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar. North Africa Reading Project.

Nonfiction:
Fortunate Sons by Liel Leibovitz and Matthew Miller. “The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization.” Semicolon review here.
Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass-Marketed Spirituality by Ravi Zacharias.

Children’s and YA Fiction:
The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone. Semicolon review here.

Adult Fiction:
Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George. Semicolon review here.
The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith.
Bertie Plays the Blues by Alexander McCall Smith. Thoughts on Mr. McCall Smith and his books here.
One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni. Semicolon review here.
The Bone House by Stephen Lawhead. Semicolon review here.

Nonfiction:
Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel by Jeffrey Tayler. Recommended by Nancy Pearl in Book Lust To Go. Book #1 in my North Africa Reading Challenge. Semicolon review here.
Sahara: A Natural History by Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle. Recommended by Nancy Pearl in Book Lust To Go.
Winston’s War: Churchill, 1940-1945 by Max Hastings. Semicolon review here.
The Devil in Pew Number Seven by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo with Robert DeMoss. Review coming soon.

Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction:
Saraswati’s Way by Monika Schroder. Semicolon review here.
Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy. Semicolon review here.
With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo. Semicolon review here.
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Semicolon review here.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. This YA novel got a lot of publicity, maybe an award or two last year, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. In fact, I found it strange and somewhat tedious.
For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Semicolon review here.
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances by Lenore Look. I didn’t think this one was as good as some of the other Alvin Ho adventures, but Alvin is still my hero—even if he is afraid of everything.
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami. Bollywood. Lots of suspension of disbelief. Did you know that Mumbai and Bombay are the same city, just different names? I am ashamed to say that that bit of geographical knowledge escaped my notices until I read this kind of silly, kind of fun little novel about Dini, her best friend Maddie, and their obsession with Dolly Singh, the filmi star in Bollywood. (Yes, filmi is the word. I don’t know why.) Reviewed by Melissa at Book Nut.

Adult Fiction:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. My review at Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint.
When She Woke by Hilary Jordan. My review at Breakpoint.

Nonfiction:
The Egg and I by Betty Macdonald. Semicolon review here.
I Loved a Girl by Walter Trobisch. I picked up this book at the church library because I remembered reading it long, long ago when I was a teenager (back in the dark ages) and finding it helpful in the area of boy/girl relationships, dating, and s*x, which are some things we’re dealing with here in Semicolonland. This time through it was helpful, as I remembered, but the ending was abrupt. And it didn’t exactly speak to the particular issue we’re confronting.
My Father’s Secret War by Lucinda Franks. Review forthcoming soon. “I liked it, but . . .”

And that’s it for 2011. I’m reading Winston’s War: Churchill 1940-1945 by Max Hastings now, and it’s not a fast read. It may take me a while to finish, but I am learning a lot about England during the Second World War.

Easy Readers for Cybils:
Mr. Putter and Tabby Ring the Bell by Cynthia Rylant. Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by Maria Ciccone at The Serpentine Library. Semicolon review here.
Kylie Jean, Blueberry Queen by Marci Peschke. Cybils nominee: Early Chapter Books. Nominated by Jennifer Glidden, Capstone Press. Semicolon review here.
No Room for Dessert by Hallie Durand. Cybils nominee: Early Chapter Books. Nominated by Jama Rattigan. Semicolon review here.
Dixie by Grace Gilman. Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by Bigfoot at Bigfoot Reads. Semicolon review here.
Ruby’s New Home by Tony and Lauren Dungy. Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by The HappyNappyBookseller. Semicolon review here.
Dodsworth in Rome by Tim Egan. Cybils nominee: Easy Readers Nominated by Sondra Eklund at SonderBooks. Semicolon review here.
Ruby Lu, Star of the Show by Lenore Look. Cybils nominee: Early Chapter Books.
A Call for a New Alphabet by Jef Czekaj.
Miss Child Has Gone Wild! by Dan Gutman.

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction:
Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka.
An Ocean Apart, a World Away by Lensey Namioka.
The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow. Nominated for 2011 Cybil Awards, Young Adult Fiction category. Nominated by Teacher.Mother.Reader. Semicolon review here.
A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes. Nominated and shortlisted for the INSPY Awards, Literature for Young People category.
The Truth of the Matter by Andrew Klavan. Nominated and shortlisted for the INSPY Awards, Literature for Young People category.
Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer. Nominated and shortlisted for the INSPY Awards, Literature for Young People category.
The Final Hour by Andrew Klavan.

Adult fiction:
Over the Edge by Brandilyn Collins. Semicolon review here.
The Bishop by Stephen James. Nominated and shortlisted for the INSPY Awards, Mystery/Thriller category. Semicolon review here.
Fatal Judgement by Irene Hannon. Nominated for the INSPY Awards, Mystery/Thriller category. Semicolon review here.
Back to Murder by J. Mark Bertrand. Nominated and shortlisted for the INSPY Awards, Mystery/Thriller category. Semicolon review here.

Nonfiction:
Surprised by Oxford: A Memoir by Carolyn Weber. I think I would have enjoyed this one more had I read it in book form instead of on my Kindle. I’m finding that my reading experience on the Kindle just isn’t the same. But it’s difficult to explain how it’s different and difficult to know whether it’s the book that is the problem or the device.
For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz. Semicolon review here.
Fabulous Fashions of the 1920’s by Felicia Lowenstein Niven.