my books. my life.

Happy Sunday everyone. I think I am finally settled into the new year and I can just give you a regular old Sunday Salon today.

My big news this week is that I found out I am having a boy. Also, I already think he’s adorable and funny. If only we could come up with a name for him (boys’ names are hard). This whole pregnancy is kind of flying by and makes me think we should probably start thinking about things like “where are we going to live?”

In my book life, I’m back to reading pretty slowly, making my way through The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and listening to Packing for Mars (finally).

This week I reviewed The World We Found, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and told you which authors I desperately want another book from.

And now I need to get ready for some kids’ birthday parties today. Isn’t it a bit early for this to be starting already?

Title: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Genre: Literary Fiction
ISBN: 0618329706
Pages: 368
Year: 2005
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:

9-year-old Oskar Schell lost his dad on 9/11. One day, he finds a key in his father’s closet in an envelope marked “Black.” He decides to go on a mission and speak to every person named Black in New York City to solve the mystery in the hopes of learning something about his dad.

My Thoughts:

I am kicking myself for waiting this long to read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I am a big fan of Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animals literally changed my life) and this book only solidifies it.

Precocious and socially-awkward, Oskar is immediately lovable. He’s one of those characters you just want to hug. He is so sad without his dad and he can’t seem to find a way to move on with his life. Until he finds this key and suddenly he has A Plan. Along the way he meets all kinds of people, befriending many. In the end, he is different, though maybe not in the way he imagined.

The book jumps between Oskar’s story and the story of his grandparents, who fled Dresden during WWII and found each other again in New York. This is where Foer takes liberties and plays with different writing techniques. It is ambitious, but works. Yet even during these wonderfully-written passages, I was drawn back to Oskar and longed for his story.

The story happens because of September 11th but it is not a book about September 11th. It is a story of survival, loss, love, and life. I highly recommend it to those of you who, like me, have let it linger on your shelves.

Others’ Thoughts: S. Krishna’s Books; Erin Reads; Take Me Away;

Buy It Now: IndieBound

It’s been awhile since I participated in Top Ten Tuesday, but I am a little in love with this week’s topic. There are the authors (not quite ten…) whose next novel I am very much anticipating. Which authors are you waiting on pins and needles for?

JK Rowling

Marisha Pessl

Justin Kramon

Eleanor Brown

Diane Setterfield

Jonathan Safran Foer

Trenton Lee Stewart

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted by the fabulous The Broke and the Bookish.

Title: The World We Found
Author: Thrity Umrigar
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN: 0061938343
Pages: 320
Year: 2012
Publisher: Harper
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

Laleh, Kavita, Armaiti and Nishta were inseperable in college, where they were political activists striving for socialism. Over the years they have drifted apart. Armaiti to America, Laleh and Kavita to their comfortable lives in Mumbai, and Nishta to her life of poverty with her socialist-turned-devoutly-Muslim husband. When Armaiti discovers a life-threatening brain tumor, she calls on her three old friends to visit her in America.

My Thoughts:

I thought this book would be about the friends’ reunion in America, but it was actually about the women preparing for it. While it was a different book than I expected, I liked what I found.

The World We Found gives us a glimpse at modern Mumbai – the stark difference between the rich and the poor and the religious intolerance that still exists. Through Nishta, we see the life of a devout Muslim’s wife, forced to wear a burka and trapped in her own home. Through Laleh and Armaiti, the lives of the wealthy on two different continents. And through Kavita, the life of someone who never quite fit in.

At its heart, The World We Found is a story of friendship.  Although this book was more about character development than it was about plot, I found myself frantically turning the last 30 pages not knowing what was going to happen. It is very readable and very worth reading.

Buy It Now: IndieBound

I know everyone loves the end of year lists, but I personally like this post the best. I like looking back and seeing what my reading year looked like. So maybe this post is mostly for me, but I hope a few of you enjoy it as well. You can skip to the bottom if you just want to see my goals for 2012.

Some Numbers

Books Read: 93 (up from 76 last year)

100 books wasn’t really my goal, but when I saw it in reach, it unofficially became one. However, the pregnancy threw my reading for a loop and my numbers fell drastically the last three months of 2011 (it’s a sad day when reading makes you nauseous). All in all, I am happy with 93 and it is still my best year ever.

Print: 60
Audio: 33

Pages Read: 20,264
Average Pages per Book: 337.7
Average Pages Read per Day: 55.5
Longest Book: Habibi (672 pages)
Shortest Book: Our Town by Thornton Wilder (114 pages)

Audio Hours: 354.9 (almost 15 days!)
Average Length of Audiobook: 10.2 hours
Average Time Spent Listening to Audiobooks per Day: 55 minutes
Longest Audio: The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukerjee (20.8 hours)
Shortest Audio: Earth, the Audiobook by Jon Stewart (3.6 hours)

Fiction: 79
Nonfiction: 14

Rereads: 12

Female Authors: 67
Male Authors: 30 (2 books had both a male and female author)
New (to me) Authors: 57
Most Read Author: Jasper Fforde (6)

Target Age

Adult: 58
Young Adult: 33
Middle Grade: 2

Genre

Contemporary Fiction: 29
Paranormal: 14
Dystopian: 10
Other Fantasy: 9
Classics: 5
Memoirs: 4
Science: 4
Verse: 4
Gothic: 4
Short Story Collection: 3
Biography: 3
Other Nonfiction: 3
Graphic Novel: 2

Library books: 38
Review Copies: 23
Books from my existing collection: 22
Purchased in 2011: 10

Average Rating: 4.06 out of 5

Published in:
2011: 41
2010: 18
2009: 5
2008: 6
2007: 1
2006: 4
2005: 1
2004: 1
2003: 1
2002: 2
2001: 1
2000: 1
1900s: 11
1800s: 1

2011 Goals – How’d I do?

1. Read more during the week. I do most of my reading on the weekend but there is no reason that I can’t read for 30 minutes or an hour every day. [I did alright at this one in early 2011. Not so great the second half.]
2. Keep up with Goodreads. I’m going to just start from this point on and really try to use it. [Done!]
3. Read more of my own books. I read a lot of library books this year. I’d like to balance this out a little. [Fail. Fewer library book but more review copies.]
4. Along those lines, limit myself to two books on hold at once at the library. I hate when all 10 of the books I have on hold come in on the same day. [I did pretty good with this one.]
5. Use audio mostly for nonfiction and rereads. I enjoy these audiobooks the most and I really want to focus a little more on nonfiction and rereads in general. [All of my rereads were audio and I read a lot more nonfiction.]

As you know, music is my other favorite type of media to consume. And because year-end lists are fun, here are my favorite albums of 2011 (with little to no commentary).

Note: I often give you samples of music but with the abundance of streaming sites these days and my own lack of energy, I’m going to let you discover it on your own.

The Top 5 (aka the albums that were often kept on repeat for  weeks)

The King is Dead – The Decemberists

El Camino – The Black Keys

Young the Giant – Young the Giant

What Did You Expect from The Vaccines – The Vaccines

Circuital – My Morning Jacket

The Rest 

In the Mountain in the Cloud – Portugal the Man

People and Things – Jack’s Mannequin

Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

Virtue – Emmy the Great

21 – Adele (I know it’s overplayed by it’s a seriously good album)

A Creature I Don’t Know – Laura Marling

Young Love – Mat Kearney

Bon Iver – Bon Iver (it’s no For Emma but still pretty darn good)

The People’s Key – Bright Eyes

Most Anticipated Album of 2012:

Human Again – Ingrid Michaelson

What was your favorite album of 2011? And what are you looking forward to in 2012?

Since it was so popular last time, I asked my husband to put together a list of the best books HE read this year. So today you get a break from me as I turn the blog over to Ben.

I hope you enjoyed Ben’s list, although I am a bit concerned that my husband may want to run off with Eleanor Brown now. Are the rest of your family members readers? What were some of their favorites?

This is the week I like to look back on the previous year. I’m kicking it off today with the one everyone anticipates the most: my top reads of 2011. I’ve broken them down by category this year. Later this week my husband will be making an appearance with his top ten and I will also share my favorite albums. Finally, I will round out the reminiscing with some reading statistics and goals for 2012. Enjoy.

In no particular order, here are my favorite reads of 2011, with a one-sentence description why. You can click on each book to read my full review.

Adult Fiction 2011 

Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner is a heart-wrenching novel about two kids who lose and find each other. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown is a beautifully-written novel about family and growing-up. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is simply magical. Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy employs gorgeous writing on its jarring emotional journey. Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman is both a hilarious and poignant look at modern family.

Audiobooks 2011

Bossypants by Tina Fey made me laugh out loud – constantly. The Langauge of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a beautifully-written and beautifully-narrated story of a newly emancipate foster kid trying to find her way in life with the only thing she knows: flowers. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is my absolute favorite audiobook experience of the year, and I don’t think I’m alone. Faith by Jennifer Haigh follows a family through an unimaginable accusation, examining religion and relationships along the way. I discovered both Feed and Deadline by Mira Grant this year and found myself completely caught up in its zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic world. 

Young Adult 2011 

Shade and Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready is my absolute favorite discovery of 2011.  Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is cute and romantic and quirky – sometimes that’s all we need. Divergent by Veronica Roth kept me on the edge of my seat and has me eagerly anticipating its sequel this spring. Saving June by Hannah Harrington took me on a musical roadtrip across the country that left me emotionally exhausted. The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson surprised me enough to make it here.

Pre-2011 Books I Just Got To in 2011

Our Town by Oscar Wilde is a heartbreaking play made even better because I read it with my husband. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is an often-sad-but-ultimately-uplifting novel about a boy who loses his father on 9/11. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan was ambitious and unique. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson somehow sucked me into a European adventure while I was already on one. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr showed me that faeries are not for little kids.

Your turn. What were your favorites this year?

I am wrapping up the Mini-Review Madness with a couple of books recommended by Jen at Devourer of Books. Since I talk to Jen more than anyone else in the world (ask Ben) and she reads about 5 times faster than me, a lot of the books I read are on her recommendation.

I first read both of today’s books in print. Recently I reread them in audio. I liked both a little less this time around, so maybe stick with print.