2011 Book List

Currently Reading

Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton

Completed

1. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson — read my review
2. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri — Fabulous! I’ve not read many short story collections, but this one definitely lived up the hype and (even higher praise) made me excited to find other short stories to explore. I wish I’d read this years ago, when I first bought it.
3. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown — Love, love, love her work!
4. The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker — Quirky & delightful.
5. We Two: Victoria and Albert by Gillian Gill
6. Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman (reread)
7. Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff — So, so good! Fascinating subject, of course, but I also found Schiff’s writing to be star-worthy in and of itself: clear, engaging, and razor-sharp. Loved it! I’m anxious to check out more of her work…
8. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler — A fun & fluffy summer read… that went straight to the giveaway pile after I finished it! Enjoyable for what it was, but let’s face it, some books don’t need to be kept for another reading someday. This was one of those for me.
9. Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran — A memoir. She’s a solid writer, but it dragged on a bit for me, so again, straight to the giveaway pile…
10. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (reread)
11. I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters by Rabih Alameddine
12. Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
13. Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker

In the Queue

• Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
• Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey — 2010 Booker shortlist & National Book Award finalist
• Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, new translation by Lydia Davis — Vol. 1 in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. This will be a challenging book.
• Middlemarch by George Eliot — Another big undertaking.
• Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor (short stories) — started it in Feb, but didn’t finish!

• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
• Autobiography of Mark Twain — “The literary event of 2010.” This will be a lengthy undertaking!

• Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• Paris 1919 by Margaret McMillan

• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron — I got sidetracked in my earlier attempt with this book. I’ll give it a fresh start this year!
• I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t) by Brené Brown
• The Creativity Habit by Twyla Tharp

Related pages:

• 2010 Book List
• 2009 Book List
• Recommended Reading