Books Read 2011

Here’s a reverse-chronological list of all the books I’ve read in 2011. My rating system is out of five stars, but it’s not a comparison system, so all of the five stars aren’t of the same value, all of the four stars aren’t the same, etc. It’s more a rating of my experience as I was reading the book. Did I absolutely love it and wish it wouldn’t end? Did I fear that it never would end? That being said, here’s my rough guideline; in practice, the line between 5s and 4s gets blurred a lot. 5: extraordinary; I will definitely read other books by this author. 4: very strong read, good writing style, really enjoyed and will seek out the author in future, but didn’t quite have the magic of a five-star experience. 3: a good read, possibly had one or two really strong areas, but the rest was average OR parts were great and other parts were just miserable. 2: there were some major flaws that affected my experience, but there were some good points as well. 1: I regret ever having even considered reading this book.

All titles are linked to the publisher’s page on the book, the Library Thing page for out-of-print selections, or the link I downloaded it from in the case of free ebooks. I want to pay more attention to imprints and editors, and this is a simple way for me to do so. :) Also, I’ve recently become interested in the age of the books I read, so the original year of publication follows the author. In the case of translated works, I’ve gone with the year it was published in its original language; in the case of books originally published in English but in a different country, I’ve once again noted the earlier year. I’ve also begun noting the translators when relevant; I get this information by checking the book’s copyright page, and sometimes the translation is just accredited to the publisher. In those cases, I’ve marked the translator as ‘unknown.’ Finally, if I’ve discussed a book on the blog, that’s noted and linked in parentheses following the author. I use ‘thoughts’ to indicate at least a paragraph-worth of writing; ‘brief thoughts’ indicates a single sentence recommendation.

-December-

-November-

-October-

-September-

-August-

-July-

-June-

-May-

-April-

-March-

-February-

-January-

20 Comments leave one →

valleau permalink

January 26, 2011 1:34 am

I quite enjoy reading your posts.

Reply
- Eva permalink*
  
  March 10, 2011 3:30 pm
  
  Thank you Valleau!
  
  Reply
lee shinyoung permalink

February 2, 2011 3:04 am

You’ve read this much in January alone? wow! I could only read 7. How do you read so much in such a short time?
Anyways, I enjoy reading yoru blog.

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- Eva permalink*
  
  April 8, 2011 7:14 am
  
  I have a lot of time to read. :)
  
  Reply
Karuna permalink

June 19, 2011 12:24 am

HI I just wondered if you had read J.M coetzee, I was particularly moved by his book Disgrace. I love following your blog.
karuna from India

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- Eva permalink*
  
  June 24, 2011 4:32 am
  
  Hi! Thanks for the comment and compliment. :) I haven’t read Coetzee yet, but he’s on my TBR list!
  
  Reply
Bücherphilosophin permalink

June 30, 2011 3:50 pm

Just out of curiosity, how many pages do you read in an hour? Your reading speed must be incredible judging from your monthly lists.
Even when I have all day to read, I never finish a book, not even a short (under 200 pages) one.
Cheers, Katarina :)

Reply
- Eva permalink*
  
  June 30, 2011 4:55 pm
  
  Hi Katarina!
  
  I have a lot of time to read (I explain why on my About page), but I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly fast reader. I do anywhere between 50 and 100 pages an hour, depending on the type of writing the book has. I can ‘speed read,’ but I don’t find it enjoyable so I v rarely do it. Another book blogger, Allie, discussed this earlier in the year if you’re curious to see how quickly other bloggers read: http://aliteraryodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/03/discussion-your-reading-speed.html. :)
  
  Reply
  - Bücherphilosophin permalink
    
    July 2, 2011 1:16 pm
    
    Thanks for the info, I’ll definitely look into this.
    I get ARCs and feel I’m constantly behind on my reading, so of course I’m interested, how other bloggers manage.
    50 – 100 pages is very fast paced, from where I come from. I think I’m a slow reader, with anywhere from 10 to 25 pages an hour (depending on the book). I’m still looking into why I read so slow, maybe it’s my concentration – I’m not dyslexic though, so it’s one of life’s great mysteries.
    
    Well, anyway I enjoy reading your blog very much.
    Cheers Katarina :)
  - Eva permalink*
    
    July 2, 2011 10:00 pm
    
    Hi again Katarina! I’ll be posting a bit more about this tomorrow, but I’m glad I could help you out a bit. I feel like I’m constantly behind on my reading too! I don’t do many ARCs, but the library books are always calling to me. ;) Do you have a book blog? I tried following the link in your username but it said the blog had been deleted.
Dovereader permalink

July 25, 2011 12:41 am

Truly eclectic! I have thouroughly enjoyed browsing your reviews. And I am definitely going to be a regular follower.

Thank you :)

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- Eva permalink*
  
  September 14, 2011 10:24 pm
  
  Thank you for such a kind comment! I’m sorry it took ages to reply; WP doesn’t notify me of comments on my pages.
  
  Reply