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2011 Reading Meme, Borrowed from Boston Bibliophile

How many books read in 2011?
52, including The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides and The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno. I started Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger before the New Year, but finished it afterward.

How many fiction and non fiction?
47 fiction and 5 nonfiction. Oops, might want to work on that!

Male/Female author ratio?
Not counting authors twice, I read 22 male authors and 15 female. I'm actually surprised it wasn't more even.

Favorite book of 2011?
It's a tough call, but I probably derived the most pleasure from Elizabeth I by Margaret George.

Least favorite?
A Song of Ice and Fire kind of got on my nerves. So, looking back, did Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why?
If I couldn't finish anything, it was probably for a class and because I didn't have enough time. I also never finished The Origin of Species, probably because I wasn't in the right mindset.

Oldest book read?
The Romance of Tristan & Iseult, since it's composed of scraps of poems dating back to the 13th or 14th century or earlier, though there's no definite publication date.

Newest?
And So It Goes, Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
by Charles J. Shields, which came out in November 2011.

Longest and shortest books?
Not sure, but Elizabeth I may have been the longest and The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios the shortest.

How many books from the library?
Eight

Any translated books?
Apparently only one, The Betrothed was translated from Italian.

Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?
Shakespeare, since I took a Shakespeare class my last semester. I read a play or epic poem every week for 4 months, so about 16.

Any re-reads?
The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, and most of the Shakespeare plays were re-reads.

Favorite character of the year?
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games.

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?
The UK, Italy, and many fictional universes.

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?
The Boy Detective Fails, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Believers, The Name of the Wind, and probably more. I can't thank my friends/fellow book bloggers enough!

Which author was new to you in 2011 that you now want to read the entire works of?
Margaret Cavendish. and all early modern women really, but Lanyer and Cary don't have any other authenticated works, though I could read the Edward II that might be Cary's. Also, David Eddings, Alessandro Manzoni, Patrick Rothfuss, and, er, more. I have delusions of grandeur when it comes to how much I can read.

Which books are you annoyed you didn’t read?
Special Topics in Calamity Physics and The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. I have no excuse, I own them both.

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?
Yes, I did get to a lot of books that had been on the back burner, including The Perks of being a Wallflower, Neverwhere, The Other Queen, and The Belgariad.

Bonus question: How many science fiction/fantasy books did you read?
16, including The Hunger Games trilogy and the first three books of A Song of Ice and Fire, and counting The Belgariad as two books since I read them in two volumes.

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