12 Best Children’s and Young Adult Novels I’ve Read in 2011

Jan3

Some of these were actually published in 2011; some were older but good-er.

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton. Semicolon review here.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr. Not reviewed yet.

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow. Semicolon review here.

Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Laurence. Semicolon review here.

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Semicolon review here.

Divergent by Veronica Roth. Semicolon review at Breakpoint Youth Reads.

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang. Semicolon review here.

Trash by Andy Mulligan.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Semicolon review here.

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo. Semicolon review here.

Invisible Inkling by Emily Jenkins.

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper. Semicolon review here.

For more great children’s and YA literature of 2011, check out the 2011 Cybils Finalists.

12 Children’s and YA Books of 2012 That I’m Looking Forward to Reading

Jan2

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. More dystopian fiction, but it sounds really good. “Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption.” January 3, 2012.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. “Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.” John Green can write, no doubt about that, and sometimes I really, really like his fiction, in spite of (because of?) its “irreverence.” January 10, 2012.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. Sequel to Delirium. February 28, 2012.

Out of Sight, Out of Time, Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. I like me some Gallagher Girls, and so do my daughters. March 13, 2012.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, A Mysterious Benedict Society prequel by Trenton Lee Stewart. “Before there was a Mysterious Benedict Society, there was simply a boy named Nicholas Benedict. Meet the boy who started it all….” This one could be a disaster, or it could be very, very good. April 10, 2012.

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker. From this Harper Collins publisher preview at Fuse #8. April 24, 2012.

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi. A companion novel to Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker. “Paolo Bacigalupi brilliantly captures a dark future America that has devolved into unending civil wars, driven by demagogues who recruit children to become soulless killing machines.” May 1, 2012.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth, the sequel to Divergent. May 1, 2012.

The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze. Also found at Fuse #8’s Little Brown publisher preview post. “The year is 2090. England is a barren land. Food is rationed. Oil has decimated the oceans. The people are restless. A ruthless revolutionary enacts a plan to destroy the royal family, and in a moment, the king is dead. His heiress, Princess Mary, and her brother, Jamie, have been abducted, and no one knows their fate. Princess Eliza Windsor barely escapes, and finds herself scared and lost in London’s dangerous streets.” May 8, 2012.

The Missing: Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix. “Still reeling from their experiences in Roanoke in 1600, Jonah and Katherine arrive in 1611 only moments before a mutiny on Henry Hudson’s ship in the icy waters of James Bay. But things are messed up: They’ve lost the real John Hudson, and they find what seems to be the fabled Northwest Passage—even though they are pretty sure that route doesn’t actually exist. Will this new version of history replace everything they’ve ever known?” I actually haven’t read the third book in this series, called Sabotaged, yet. But I will. Torn comes out in June, 2012.

Lost Girls by Ann Kelley. Found at Fuse #8’s Little Brown publisher preview post. “What once seemed like a vacation in paradise has become a battle against the elements. Peppered with short, frantic entries from Bonnie’s journal, Lost Girls is a page-turning, heart-pounding adventure story about a group of teen girls fighting for their lives.” July 10, 2012.

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown. Road trip book, yes! Also found at Fuse #8’s Little Brown publisher preview post. “Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art — until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation. Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all — with enough distance, maybe she’ll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.” July 10, 2012.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in December 2011

Jan1

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.

Saturday Review of Books: December 31, 2011

Dec30

“Books to the ceiling, books to the sky, my pile of books is a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them.” ~Arnold Lobel

Happy New Year to all, and Happy Reading, too!

SatReviewbuttonToday, SATURDAY December 31st, is a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books just for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, a list of all the books you got for Christmas, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. I’ve already collected a list of those end of the year/beginning of the year lists that I see all over book blogger world, and you can scroll down for those lists. However, I might very well have missed yours, so please come by on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day and add a link to the list of lists.

I’m also trying my hand at a little reader’s advisory, so for every list linked I’ll try to suggest a book or two that you might like to read in 2012. Because all of us need more books on our TBR lists, bedside tables, towering stacks of unread books, etc. If you don’t have a blog or don’t have a book list on your blog, you can leave a list of your favorite reads from 2011 and I’ll try to give you a recommendation for the new year.

Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So link to yours for a Happy New Year.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #6

Dec30

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

So Many Books: 2011 Reading in Review. Stefanie reads so many books that I’m not sure what to recommend for her. She read Bleak House in 2011 and enjoyed it, so I’ll say that my favorite Dickens novel is David Copperfield. I can see some of its flaws and still it’s a wonderful novel. I haven’t read it yet, but I wonder what Stefanie would think about P.D. James’s new take-off on Jane Austen, Death Comes to Pemberly?

The Reader Bee: Best Books of 2011. Wow, lots of vampires and zombies and YA romance here. Maybe Sara Zarr’s How To Save a Life? Or Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi?

Live, Learn, Love: Great Books Read in 2011. First of all, I suggest that Annette re-read that last book on her list, and I think I’ll join her. The Bible can always be profitably re-read. As for other book suggestions, I’m wondering if she’s read The Gammage Cup by Carolyn Kendall. It’s an older fantasy title that I’ve been wanting to recommend to someone, and since Annette has been enjoying children’s literature as well as adult books, I’ll give the endorsement to her. As for adult fiction, I think Annette would enjoy reading The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas (Biblical/historical fiction), Christy by Catherine Marshall, or The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson.

U Krakovianki: Highlights from 2010 (Books, of course) For Karen in Poland, something old and something new. Has she read Mila 18 by Leon Uris? It’s the fictionalized history of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. As for new, perhaps she would like one of the books on this list of dystopian fiction, since she’s “a glutton for a good dystopia.” I particularly recommend Divergent by Veronica Roth and The Declaration by Gemma Malley.

Let’s Eat Grandpa: 2011 End of the Year Book Survey. Some of her picks are books I love (The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis), and others are books I want to read (Doc by Mary Doria Russell). I’d suggest for Cori: C.S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy, beginning with Out of the Silent Planet, Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth, Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy, and For the Win by Cory Doctorow.

Secrets and Sharing Soda Books of the Year. Katie likes House (The TV show) and children’s books and picture books and Young Adult books, and she and I worked together on the Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books Cybils panel. So we have lots of stuff in common. She read one of my favorite books this past, The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright, and she says she plans to read the rest of the books in the series. She also likes The Penderwicks, so I’m trying to think of a couple of books in that general vein. I think she’d like With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo, and All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor, and oh, go ahead and read The Hobbit. You’ll be glad you did.

Supratentorial: My Best Books of 2011. For Alice, a pediatrician and mother of three, I suggest The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon.

Magistra Mater: My 2011 Reading List. I want to read everything Carol has read, certainly everything that’s at the top of her “genre lists”. And I will venture to suggest for Carol The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. Both are favorites of mine that I pulled from this list, but she may have already gotten around to reading them.

OK, that’s it for now folks. If I didn’t get your list linked in my six posts on reading lists, then leave a link in the Saturday Review linky. I’ll try to recommend some books for each person who links in the Saturday Review. It sounds like a lovely way to spend the first week or so of 2012.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #5

Dec29

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Sheila at Book Journey: The Good, the Bad and the Ugh. Since Sheila enjoyed listening to Catch Me if You Can by Frank Abagnale, I’m suggesting the older book The Great Imposter by Robert Crichton (a book that was also turned into a movie, starring Tony Curtis). She might also like one of the books from this list about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, particularly Katherine Weber’s Triangle.

Hope Is the Word: Books I read in 2011: juvenile & YA fiction (plus top picks) Best Adult Fiction and Nonfiction of 2011. Amy would like The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd and The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, both about people on the autism spectrum, one for children and the other for adults. And I wonder if she and her girls might enjoy reading aloud one of the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood; B is for Betsy is the first one I believe. The books are hopelessly old-fashioned, very 1950’s, and therefore quite lovely.

Dolce Belleza: End of the Year Book Survey. Belleza is already planning to read Winds of War by Wouk for the Historical Fiction Challenge; she’ll want to follow that one with the sequel, War and Remembrance. She also has several books lined up for her own Venice in February reading challenge, but I’d like to suggest another by one of my favorite authors: The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes. As for children’s literature set in Japan, has Belleza read Katharine Paterson’s early novels, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, Of Nightingales That Weep, and The Master Puppeteer? I read them quite a while ago, but I remember thinking they were quite well-written, just as her later Newbery award-winning novels were.

The Literary Stew: End of the Year Book Survey. Another kindred spirit, as must be anyone who is a fan of Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries featuring Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey. I recommend C.J. Sansom’s stand-alone novel about the Spanish Civil War, Winter in Madrid. Also, Mrs. B should check out P.D. James—the detective novels, of course– but I’m thinking of her futuristic novel, Children of Men, which reminded me of Never Let Me Go (or maybe Ishiguro’s novel reminded me of the one by James).

Mental Multivitamin: Ten Memorable Books from 2011. It is with fear and trembling that I recommend any books to Melissa at Mental Multivitamin. She reads James Joyce and Joyce Carol Oates, and likes both, whereas I can’t . . quite . . . get it. Nevertheless, we do share some affinities: Both of us listed Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson as one of our favorites reads of 2011. Alan Jacobs is a favorite voice of mine from the academic world, although I haven’t read the book Melissa includes in her favorites yet. We both enjoy many genres and media: children’s literature, young adult, literary fiction, movies, TV, at, poetry. And, of course, there’s the Bardolatry that we share. So, without further ado, I suggest that Madame MM-V might like The Hawk and the Dove by Penelope Wilcock (and its sequels), Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone, and Exposure by Mal Peet.

Oversight of Souls:Best Reads of 2011. Best Reads With my Kids in 2011. I repeat myself, but to paraphrase the poet, “I contain multitudes.” Mr. Van Neste should read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxis.

My Friend Amy: 2011–The Year in Books. I see on Amy’s blog that she was looking forward to reading Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce, but I don’t see that she ever reviewed it. If she hasn’t read that one yet, it’s an excellent piece of “Christian fiction” that I think Amy would appreciate. I also suggest that Amy seek out and read any of the following books with the theme of community that she hasn’t already read: The Hardest Thing To Do by Penelope Wilcock, In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden, A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L’Engle, No Graven Image by Elizabeth Elliot.

Book Hooked Blog: Best Adult Fiction of 2011. Julie likes a lot of different kinds of books, so I’m suggesting that she try the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness or some of the others in my dystopian fiction post of a few weeks ago and perhaps Unplanned by Abby Johnson.

Challies: My Top Books of 2011. Tim Challies is a Canadian pastor with a hugely popular Christian blog. He reads mostly nonfiction. I suggest that he check out Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber and/or The Shooting Salvationist (aka Apparent Danger) by David Stokes.

Cindy at Ordo Amoris: 2011 Top 10 Fiction Reads. 2011 Top Ten Nonfiction Reads. Cindy says, “A year without (C.S.) Lewis is not a good year.” Yes. She plans to re-read Till We Have Faces, a plan I support, but has she read The Narnia Code by Michael Ward? (Don’t worry, good book, not all Davinci Code-ish, probably named by the publishers.) Also for Cindy, I suggest some older, now neglected novels, if she hasn’t read them: The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi, The Singer by Calvin Miller, and Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.

Dani at A Work in Progress: Favorite Reads of 2011 & Other Miscellanea. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is on Dani’s American Authors TBR list; I think she’d really enjoy that novel. I also see that she has a Helen Macinnes book, Decision at Delphi, “on the nightstand”–I love Helen MacInnes’s novels, and I highly recommend all of them.

Kimbofo at Reading Matters: My Favorite Novels of 2011. Kimbofo says she’s a sucker for an Irish novel, but I find no mention of Stephen Lawhead on her blog. Patrick by Lawhead is not his very best (Byzantium is my favorite), but it is his most Irish of novels. Kimbofo is also hosting an Australian Literature Month in January 2012, and although she says she already has a stack of Australian books to read, I can recommend On the Beach by Nevill Shute, A Town Like Alice by Nevill Shute, and Stolen by Lucy Christopher.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #4

Dec29

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Melissa at Mental Multivitamin left a link to a list by Trevor at a blog called The Mookse and the Gripes: My Twelve Favorite Reads of 2011. I must admit that, despite the fact that we share an affinity for making lists of twelve rather than five or ten, Trevor is beyond me. I’ve heard of a couple of the authors on his list and of none of the books. He writes, “If this list has a consistent theme it could be quasi-fictional biographies on eccentric personalities.” I am consulting my European correspondent and expert on all things literary and strange. In the meantime, I’ll venture to suggest that Trevor try out Wendell Berry or perhaps Philip Caputo.

Noel DeVries: Reading Resolutions: Realized! 2011. Reading Resolutions 2012. Noel is more of a kindred spirit, of the race that knows Joseph. (Not that I’m dissing Mr. Trevor of the Mookse; it takes all kinds of readers to make a world.) I see that she’s been reading Edith Schaeffer; I agree that What Is a Family? is good, but my favorite book by Mrs. Schaeffer is The Hidden Art of Homemaking. And it doesn’t look as if Miss Noel has read The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton yet. She should.

Chicken Spaghetti: Norman’s Best Books of 2011. Susan of Chicken Spaghetti, who usually focuses on children’s literature, has asked her husband Norman to share his favorite reads of 2011. Mr. Chicken Spaghetti might like The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow; it’s classified as YA, but suitable for adults, I think. Atonement by Ian McEwen, if he’s not read it already (probably has), would seem to fit Mr. CS’s reading tastes, too.

Good Books and Good Wine: Top Ten Books of 2011. April has a page called Project Fill in the Gaps with a list of books she wants to read, so I choose to recommend from that list: Katherine by Anya Seton and Hood by Stephen Lawhead because both of those books are great reads and they seem to fit in with what she enjoyed this past year.

A Literary Odyssey: 2011 End of the Year Book survey. Allie has a very long and fascinating list, written in response to this meme at Perpetual Page Turner. Allie is already planning to read Vanity Fair by Thackeray, a book that I love like I love Dickens’ novels, which is a lot. And she’s going to be reading Anna Karenina, which I was going to suggest in light of her Tolstoy discovery this past year. My favorite classic that’s on her TBR list: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I predict that Allie will devour it whenever she gets to it.
A Literary Odyssey: Favorites of 2011.

The Blue Bookcase: Christina’s Favorite Books of 2011. Christina enjoyed Geraldine Brooks’ novel Caleb’s Crossing in 2011, and I’m recommending that she read Year of Wonders by the same author. I also wonder if she might like a modern classic, The Chosen by Chaim Potok, if she hasn’t already read it. It gives a wonderful picture of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish culture.

Tina’s Book Reviews: Faves of 2011, The Books. I think Tina would like Chains and Forge, both by Laurie Halse Anderson. I would also recommend to Tina, Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book, based on her love for Waterfall by Lisa Bergren.

Estella’s Revenge: Andi’s 2011 Favoritest Books Throwdown. Andi has The Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa on her list of “The Lustworthy Stacks.” I gave a copy of that book to Engineer Husband for Christmas because I think he will love all the philosophical mathematical subtexts. Ooooh, read it next, Andi. Also, I think Andi would fall for Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

Bibliosue: My Favorites of 2011. Suzanne liked Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, so I wonder if she might enjoy another novel set in Africa, Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo. She’s also participating in the Southern Literature Challenge for which I highly recommend: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, and All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren.

Books in the Burbs: My Best Reads of 2011. Oh, wow, Lisa lives somewhere near me, and she reads neat books, and she has a book club! OK, I fear that I begin to repeat myself, but City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell was one of the the best fiction books I read this past year. I commend it to Lisa. And for nonfiction, how about Little Princes by Connor Grennan?

Evolving Economics: Best books I read in 2011. This list is again not exactly in my area of expertise, but I’m going to take a stab and suggest two books for Jason, the evolutionary economist: People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck and Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future by Ben J. Wattenburg. He might find them of interest if only as a counter opinion to be refuted or engaged.

Carrie at Reading to Know: Top 10 Favorite Books of 2011. For Carrie, I’m going to suggest Between Heaven and Hell by Peter Kreeft because I know she’s a C.S. Lewis fan. It’s an imaginary dialog between John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and Lewis, three famous men with very differing philosophies of life who died on the same day. I also think Carrie would like My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay, a book I very much appreciated when I read it in 2010.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #3

Dec28

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Brandon at The Thin Veil: My Favorite 15 Books of 2011. This list is also very Catholic-centered. For Catholic writers, I’m wondering if Mr. Vogt has read any of G.K. Chesterton’s fiction, particularly The Man Who Was Thursday and the Father Brown detective stories. I also strongly believe that all engineers should read poetry, and you can’t get better than John Donne and George Herbert.

Ripple Effects: All the Year’s Best. Arti includes movies and books on her list of the year’s best, both lists of selections are quite literary and contemplative. I think Arti would like more Madeleine L’Engle, including my two favorite fiction books by Ms. L’Engle, A Severed Wasp and The Love Letters and also the memoirs, A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother and The Irrational Season.

Happy Catholic: My 2012 Reading Challenge Lists. I don’t know if it’s fair for me to try to add anything to what is already an ambitious set of reading lists for Julie for 2012, but that’s never stopped me before. So hey, Julie, have you read any Peter Kreeft? Brandon (see above) reminded me that I still need to finish Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensees by Kreeft, and I wouldn’t mind reading some of his other books. For “happy Catholicism”, he’s a must-read.

Book Chase: Best of 2011. Blogger Sam Sattler reads and reviews a lot of books, and at least a couple of his besties need to go on my TBR list (Doc by Mary Doria Russell and Grant’s Final Victory by Charles Bracelen). For Sam, my picks are River of Doubt by Candice Millard and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. (Yes, Unbroken is my favorite read of 2011, and I’m recommending it to more than one person.)

Linus’s Blanket: Best of 2011. Nicole reads supernatural fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction and contemporary fiction, and she lists favorites from 2011 in each category. I wonder if Nicole might enjoy Connie Willis’s To Say Nothing of the Dog or perhaps the YA verse novel A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes?

The Fourth Musketeer: Raindrops on Roses, My Top 10 Favorite Books from 2011. Margo needs to read Mitali Perkins’ Bamboo People and/or the one I just finished from 2011, With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo—and then tell me what she thinks of them!

Devourer of Books: 2011–Best Books. Judging from the number of her favorites that I added to my TBR list, Devourer and I must have similar tastes in books. So, I’m fairly confident that she would like The Queen’s Daughter by Susan Coventry or maybe Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang.

CarrieK at Books and Movies likes to make multiple list, as do I: Favorite historical fiction of 2011
Favorite contemporary fiction of 2011.
Favorite Mysteries of 2011.
Favorite Nonfiction of 2011.
Favorite Speculative Fiction of 2011.
Favorite YA Reads of 2011.
Carrie needs to read City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell, and she needs to read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry next in her pursuit of all things Berry-ish. Jayber Crow is my favorite Wendell Berry novel.

A Fuse #8 Production: 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2011. Elizabeth Bird, children’s librarian extraordinaire, makes a lovely list, but of course I see some notable omissions. Ms. Bird needs to read and make room for on her list The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton, and where’s Mo Willems and his three Elephant and Piggie easy readers that were published this year?
Fuse #8: The Ten Middle Grade novels I’m Looking Forward to in 2012. Betsy Bird knows about everything kidlit before I do, so I can’t really suggest anything new to her. And she’s working on a book about the history of kidlit, I think, so I can’t really suggest anything old either. She really needs to check the Jennifer Trafton book, though.

The Ink Slinger: Books Reviewed in 2011. I already recommended that Mr. Ink Slinger, who regularly beats me in Words With Friends, read The Chosen by Chaim Potok, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailer.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #2

Dec27

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Eric the Read: Top 10 Nonfiction Best Books of 2011. Eric’s tastes seem to run toward economics and history. My favorite book in the area of economics is an oldie, but still applicable in today’s economy: The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky. For something more recent, I also think he might like Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxis.

Lonestar Librarian at Speed of Light: Favorite Books, 2011. This one was hard because Ms. Lonestar Librarian seems to have read about as many books as I have. But in a quick search of her blog, I don’t see any reference to my favorite book of 2011, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Perhaps she would enjoy that one.

Farm Lane books: My Favorite Books of 2011. The books on this list are all books published in 2011. She plans to make lists of the most important books published in 2011 and of her favorite books released in previous years. Jackie reads and blogs from Surrey, England. Based on this list and on my poking around her blog a little, I think Jackie would like Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That (even though it’s a polemic on the American health care system) or perhaps the Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

A Common Reader: 2011 Round-up including Best Books. Tom Cunliffe, of East Sussex, England, lists several books that I’ve never heard of, mostly European in setting or authorship or both. I think he might like Anna’s Book by Barbara Vine (maybe called Asta’s Book in the UK), a discovery of mine this year or perhaps something by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte. The Fencing Master or Captain Alatriste?

John Self at Asylum: Twelve from the Shelves: My Books of 2011. I’m not sure I’m literary or intellectual enough to advise Mr. Self, but I’ll make a stab at it anyway. I was going to suggest Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, but I see that he’s already read it. So perhaps Home by the same author? Or for short and quirky and death-filled, The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson could be a good bet for Mr. Self’s reading list.

Quieted Waters: My 10 Favorite Books of 2011. This young law student blogger read and recommended the same Eric Metaxis biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that I chose as a favorite this year, so I’m recommending back to him that he read Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, if he hasn’t already done so. He also mentions a recent or impending marriage, for which I prescribe a dose of The Peacemaker by Ken Sande, not that it’s a marriage manual. It is, however, one of the best relationship books I’ve read lately.

Read. Breathe. Relax. Best Books of 2011. I’m wondering if this fantasy/sci-fi/romance reader has read all the books on this list. In particular, I recommend Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Epitaph Road by David Pateneaude, and The Declaration by Gemma Malley. Divergent by Veronica Roth was one of my favorites this year, too.

Reading is my cup of tea: Top 5 Best authors and Best books of 2011. For fifteen year old Molly, the Brit who blogs and drinks tea, I advise the same list as the one I had for Read. Breathe. Relax. above, since Delirium and Matched are already in her towering TBR stack. Divergent lovers of the world unite!

Thoughts of a Sojourner: Top books reviewed in 2011. Athol Dickson’s River Rising and My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa Mckay are the two thrillers with Christian themes that I would put at the top of Sojourner’s reading list.

Word Sharpeners: Favorite Books I’ve Read in 2011. For Tamera at Word Sharpeners, I propose Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr and The Cure by Athol Dickson.

Sommer Reading: My Favorite Books of 2011. Suggestions for Shelley: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (YA), The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton (MGF), and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (Adult fiction).

The Anchoress: Those Year-End Book Lists. THe Anchoress’s list is very, very Catholic, and so I’ll suggest some Catholic or at least Christian books: Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer, because I think Ms. Scalia would appreciate this children’s book about a girl who wants to become a saint, and how about Praying for Strangers by River Jordan, because I think The Anchoress would identify with this true story of a woman who decides to pray for one stranger each day.

Here’s a bonus book list that I contributed to at Breakpoint’s Youth Reads: Books to Buy Your Kids for Christmas. The list is good for after Christmas, too.

Preview of 2011 Booklists #1

Dec26

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Semicolon’s 12 Best Adult Nonfiction Books Read in 2011.

2011 INSPY Award Winners. I was on the judging panel for the category, Literature for Young People, and I am proud of the book my panel chose. However, I’m especially pleased about the winner in the General Fiction category, City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell. This story of missionaries who feel as if they could be real people is a wonderful read. If any of my readers are interested in inspirational Christian fiction that deals with hard issues, I recommend City of Tranquil Light.

Dani Torres at A Work in Progress: Reading WWI: A Thursday 13. I include Dani’s list because it’s actually a list of the books she would ike to read in 2012, and it dovetails quite nicely with what the folks at War Through the Generations are planning for 2012, a focus on the literature of and about World War I.
My suggestion for Dani: a WWI novel I recently read, Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford.

A Year in Reading by Mark O’Connell at The Millions. Mr. O’Connell, who lives in Ireland, read and enjoyed a couple of my favorite novels in 2011, Anna Karenina and Gilead. The Millions has an entire series of posts by their staff writers, and by other selected authors and writers, entitled A Year in Reading.
My suggestion for Mr. O’Connell: War and Peace by Tolstoy is just as good as Anna Karenina, if not better.

Amanda at Dead White Guys has a post about what she hearted and hated in 2001. (Language warning) She, too, hearted Anna Karenina, but she hated Doctor Zhivago. Not all Russian novels are created equal.
Suggested Dead White Guys: I think Amanda might like some Trollope, maybe The Warden or Barchester Towers? I could be mistaken, but it’s worth a try.

Jared at The Thinklings: Top Ten Books I Read This Year.. Jared has been reading a little bit of everything from Tom Sawyer to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Douglas Wilson.
For Jared Wilson in 2012 I suggest more Jane Austen and N.D. Wilson’s kinda, sorta tribute to Tom Sawyer, Leepike Ridge.

Reading the Past: Five historical novels published in 2011 have made the shortlist for this year’s David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction. This list isn’t the work of Sarah Johnson who blogs at Reading the Past, and she only links to her reviews of two of of the five books that made the shortlist. I’d be interested to see what Ms. Johnson thinks are the best historical fiction novels of 2011.

Ten Best Books of 2011 by Brandon Schmidt at Youth Pastor Gear. Unbroken. Check. Son of Hamas. Check. Hunger Games. Check. You’re just NOW reading Lord of the Rings? What a treat–to read these wonderful books for the first time!
I suggest that Mr. Schmidt read The Hobbit, if he hasn’t already, and Divergent by Veronica Roth is a good follow-up to Hunger Games.

Books in Bloom: Kristin’s Top Ten of 2011. Kristin’s tastes seems to run to dystopian and horror-ish sort of YA fiction, not my cuppa. However, I can suggest that she pick up some of John Green’s earlier books, especially An Abundance of Katherines, and she might like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

Erin Reads: 2011 Goals in Review. Erin launched a Classics Reclamation Project for 2011, and as a result she enjoyed Jane Eyre, I Capture the Castle, and The Woman in White, among others. I think Erin might like to read Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden and Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, since she’s also interested in literature set in India.

Pastor Carl Gregg: Top 10 Best Books Read in 2011. Pastor Gregg says he spends most of his available reading time on religion and philosophy. I would suggest Teach Your Own by John Holt, for a homeschooling classic from a completely different, rather libertarian, point of view, and how about Love Your God With All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland or Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham as counter-voices to Bart Ehrman?

LitLove: Tales from the Reading Room, Best Books of 2011. LitLove recommends at least one book that I must put on my TBR list, The Rossettis in Wonderland by Dinah Roe, a biography of the four Rossetti children including Dante Gabriel and Christina. I’m wondering if LitLove might like Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry or So Big by Edna Ferber, mostly because of the special litlove for Willa Cather.

Erin at analyfe: The Top Books of 2111, Not Necessarily Published in 2011. For Erin I’m recommending The Declaration by Gemma Malley, since she read two of my favorite dystopian fiction books, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Unwind by Neal Shusterman, and enjoyed those. She also seems to enjoy the self-help and project books, so she might find something interesting on this list that I made of “project books.” Praying for Strangers by River Jordan fits into this genre, and it was one of my favorite books of 2011.

Kathy at Book Diary: My Best Books of 2011. I wanted to add almost every one of Kathy’s picks to my TBR list, especially Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard and The Report by Jessica Kane. Has Kathy read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa? She might also like My Enemy’s Cradle by Sara Young for World War II historical fiction.

Bible Geek Gone Wild: 5 Favorites from 2011. From Greek to graphic novels about Martin Luther(?), this “33-year old man who reads an awful lot of nonfiction” might try Athol Dickson’s River Rising or for something old, Basic Writings by Jonathan Edwards.

10 Bad Habits: Favorite Reads 2011. Ooooh, one of my favorites is one of his favorites, The King Must Die by Mary Renaualt. Justin should read the “rest of the story”, the sequel called The Bull from the Sea. Then, he might check out Stephen Lawhead’s Byzantium or Taliesin.

Great Thoughts: Top Books of 2011. I haven’t read a single book on Great Thoughts’ list, but almost all of them look like books that I could enjoy. She says she likes historical fiction and books about other cultures, so I’m proposing that she try City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell or maybe Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.

O.K. enough for today. Come back tomorrow for more links to more book lists and more suggestions from me for more reading in 2012.