Books Read in 2011

Since I work in a library I know all too well that there are just too many awesome books in the world to possibly read them all.  I have really enjoyed keeping track of what I did manage to read this year though and will be keeping up the practice.   Since I had to clear out to 2011 list to make way for 2012 I thought I'd copy it down here, you know, for historical record.  Or so that I don't end up reading the same book twice until developing a strong sense of deja vu half way through.  (That has happened to me.)

My favorite book read in 2011 was...a tie....either No-Impact Man (Colin Beavan) or In Defense of Food (Michael Pollan).  The "Best" is a hard distinction to make though, hence the tie!  In the end I chose these two titles out of the list of many, many contenders for the top because they were both very, very humorous as well as tremendously educational and out-of-this-world inspiring.

My least favorite book was also a tie with either Harvesting the Heart (Jodi Picoult) because I had a strong dislike for all the characters.   They were all jerks.  Either that or Mind Grenades (John Plunkett) because I don't think I "got" it.  But, it was put out by the people at Wired and I'm not all that techy so I don't really know what I was thinking picking it up in the first place.

• Dirty Job (Christopher Moore)*
• Island of the Sequined Love Nun (Christopher Moore)*
• Harvesting the Heart (Jodi Picoult)*
• Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence (Nick Bantock)
• Possum Magic (Mem Fox & Julie Vivas)
• Hidden Cuba: A Photojournalist's Unauthorized Journey to Cuba to Capture Daily Life - 50 Years After Castro's Revolution (Jack Watson)
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (David Sedaris)*
• It's Thanksgiving (Jack Prelutsky)
• New York in the Thirties (Berenice Abbott & Elizabeth McCausland)
• The Tao of Pooh (Benjamin Hoff)
• Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman (Kathleen Krull)
• Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s (Michael Cooper)
• A Bride Goes West (Nannie T. Alderson & Helena H. Smith)
• Out of the Dust (Karen Hesse)
• The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes)
• Lush ( Natasha Friend)
• Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression (Clara and Christopher Cannucciari)
• Stitches: A Memoir (David Small)
• Infidel (Tim Hetherington)
• Curly Tails & Cloven Hooves (Lisa Kemmerer)
• American Indian Games (Jay Miller)
• Silent Music: A Story of Bagdad (James Rumford)
• The Librarian of Basra: A True Story From Iraq (Jeanette Winter)
• Second Nature: A Gardener's Education (Michael Pollan)
• Hello, Laura! (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
• Glasses: Who Need 'Em? (Lane Smith)
• A Voice Crying In The Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto): Notes From A Secret Journal (Edward Abbey)
• In Celebration of Simplicity: The Joy of Living Lightly (Penelope Wilcock)
• A Child's Book of Blessings (Sabrina Dearborn)
• Kokopelli and The Butterfly (Michael Sterns)
• Aesop's Fables: For Modern Readers
• The Year Of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (A.J. Jacobs)
• Blueberries for Sal (Robert McCloskey)
• Mind Grenades: Manifestos from the Future (John Plunkett)
• The Sweet Smell of Christmas (Patricia Scarry)
• Trashy Town (Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha)
• Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade (Kurt Vonnegut)
• Harvey (Herve' Bouchard & Janice Nadeau)
• Switch Bitch (Roald Dahl)
• Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography (Sid Jacobson & Ernie Colon)
• Slapstick (Kurt Vonnegut)
• The Ranch Woman's Manual (Gwen Petersen)
• Children's Prayers From Other Lands (Dorothy Spicer)
• Meet Josefina, an American Girl (Valerie Tripp)
• Plain Truth (Jodi Picoult)
• The Essential Calvin and Hobbs (Bill Watterson)
• With You All the Way (Max Lucado)
• The Little Red Hen (Violet Findley)
• Bag in the Wind (Ted Kooser)
• If the World Were a Village (David Smith)
• It's a Book (Lane Smith)
• The Pop-up Book of M.C. Escher
• My Hutterite Life (Lisa Marie Stahl)
• Fearless John: The Legend of John Beargrease (Kelly Rauzi)
• One Kitten for Kim (Adelaide Holl)
• No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process (Colin Beavan)
• Montana: Where My Treasure Is (Carol Myers)
• Symbols of Montana (Rex Myers & Norma Ashby)
• Ox Cart Man (Donald Hall)
• The Fairy Alphabet (Fanny Y. Cory)
• Owl Moon (Jane Yolen)
• Grandfather's Journey (Allen Say)
• Yamsi, The Story of A Man's Love for A Ranch in the Oregon Wilderness (Dayton O. Hyde)
• Growing Up Amish (Richard Ammon)
• Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish (Sue Bender)
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Michael Pollan)
• The Long Brown Stocking and Other Tales of Bygone Days (Betty Booth Stewart)
• Welcome to the Moneky House (Kurt Vonnegut)
• God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (Kurt Vonnegut)
• Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)
• Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (Guy Delisle)
• Mother Night (Kurt Vonnegut)
• Sirens of Titan (Kurt Vonnegut)
• A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book (Frank Warren)
• Player Piano (Kurt Vonnegut)
  * indicated audiobooks