Last year, I participated in The Perpetual Page-Turner's End of 2010 Survey (you can see my post here), and this year, she has updated and expanded this survey, and I'm excited to participate again!
So here they are, my answers to the 2011 End of Year Book Survey:
1. Best Book You Read In 2011?
I read quite a few books that I LOVED this year, and I can't really narrow it down to just one, so I'll narrow it down to five: Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan, The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, and Divergent by Veronica Roth. All YA SF. (And yes, I realize this is actually 10 books, since the Uglies series has four books and The Maze Runner series has 3 books, but I can't whittle it down any more than this.)
2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
Probably Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was one of my picks for book club, and I was expecting it to be a lot more than it was. I still enjoyed it, just not as much as I had hoped I would.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
I guess that would have to be Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Several of my friends had read it and loved it, and one friend basically made me borrow it. ;) I'm not normally someone who loves Chick Lit, and this is YA Chick Lit, so I thought I would be groaning and rolling my eyes the whole time, but I ended up loving it! I also really loved the companion novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and I look forward to reading the third companion, Isla and the Happily Ever After.
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
I definitely think that would be Glow, by Amy Kathleen Ryan. I received an ARC from the Goodreads First Reads giveaway, and not only was I ecstatic to have won an ARC, but I really, really LOVED that book! I can't wait for the sequel!
5. Best series you discovered in 2011?
Well, the three series that I read in their entirety this year were The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner (although he's releasing a prequel to this series next year, so I guess I didn't read the ENTIRE series). I really enjoyed The Hitchhiker's guide series, although I didn't enjoy the last few books as much as the first couple. But I LOVED the Uglies series and The Maze Runner trilogy! I highly recommend both! I also read most of The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa (I read the first book, The Iron King, in 2010 but re-read it and then read all the other books this year, and I'm currently reading the 4th book, The Iron Knight) and I really enjoyed those as well. But I've also read quite a few books this year that are the first books of series, and the other books have yet to come out, like Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and Hourglass by Myra McEntire. Then I also read the first books of a few series that have sequels that have been published, like The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, The Line by Teri Hall, Alanna by Tamora Pierce, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, Storm Front by Jim Butcher, and Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder. I enjoyed all these books and hope to read some of the rest of each of these series next year.
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?
Scott Westerfeld, James Dashner, and John Green. I'd add Amy Kathleen Ryan, Beth Revis, Myra McEntire and Veronica Roth to that list, but I've only read one of their books each, so I'll save their names until after I've read more of their books next year.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I had never read any Steam Punk, so Boneshaker by Cherie Priest would be a good answer for this question. Also, I hadn't read a lot of YA Contemporary before, and I enjoyed all of John Green's books (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson). And I also hadn't read much Adult Chick Lit/Romance before, and I thoroughly enjoyed One Day by David Nicholls.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan and all of the books in The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner.
9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?
Well, I don't really know the answer to this one. I mean, I was looking forward to The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, but it wasn't like I couldn't wait for them to come out. I think the books that I most wanted to get my hands on this year were The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure, books 2 and 3 respectively in The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner. Once I read The Maze Runner, I had to have those other books ASAP!
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
That would have to be Hourglass by Myra McEntire. The next book in the series, Timepiece, has a great cover too! I'm excited to read that one next year!
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11. Most memorable character in 2011?
Hmm, I can't really think of any one character that stood out. I enjoyed most of the protagonists, but I always find myself really loving side characters. Like Bob the Skull in Storm Front by Jim Butcher.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
All of John Green's books. He is such a beautiful writer, and he knows how to craft a sentence in a way that I can only dream of. Plus, he's better at grammar than I will ever be, and I'm okay with that.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
I would say Night by Elie Wiesel, but I had to basically trick myself into believing that it was fiction so that I could get through it, so it didn't hit me as hard as it might have. But it still was an amazing story, and one that everyone should read.
14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
All the Hitchhiker's Guide books, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, 1984 by George Orwell, Night by Elie Wiesel, and The Giver by Lois Lowry. Most of those qualified for my Off the Shelf challenge, though, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading them.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
Hmm, I hardly write down specific quotes except for the books that I read for book club, and I couldn't find any great quotes in my notes from this year. But I did star one part from John Green's Paper Towns that I really loved because it remind me of my time in high school:
"I spent the next three hours in classrooms, trying not to look at the clocks above various blackboards, and then looking at the clocks, and then being amazed that only a few minutes had passed since I last looked at the clock. I'd had nearly four years of experience looking at these clocks, but their sluggishness never ceased to surprise. If I am ever told that I have one day to live, I will head straight for the hallowed halls of Winter Park High School, where a day has been known to last a thousand years."
16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
Probably Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Or Divergent by Veronica Roth, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, or Hourglass by Myra McEntire, all because the second books in these series come out next year, and I'll probably want to reread the first books before reading the next ones. Also I can see myself rereading The Maze Runner trilogy before the prequel, The Kill Order, comes out.
17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Um, The Maze Runner series. I really want one of my friends to read this series so we can go to lunch or dinner or something and talk all about it.
Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2011 (optional)
I'm not going to answer the questions in this part because, even though I have a blog where I review books sometimes, it isn't very consistent and reviewing books isn't the only thing I do on the blog. Next year, however, I plan on writing a lot more reviews.
But I do want to answer one question from this section:
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
Yes! I set one goal of reading 35 books this year (I read 30 books last year - it was the first year I really started reading A LOT, so I wanted to at least surpass that number) and, as I'm writing this, I've read 76 books so far this year, and I'll probably finish one more before the year ends. So I read more than twice my goal!
I also participated in the 2011 Off the Shelf Challenge by Bookish Ardour, where I challenged myself to read 15 books that were sitting on my shelf prior to the beginning of this year that I had yet to read. And I completed that challenge as well! I think that's pretty good for my first challenge, and my first year of setting any kind of reading goal!
Looking Ahead...
1. One Book You Didn't Get To In 2011 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2012? Well, I have lots of books to read next year, and several of them are kind of prioritized as to when I will read them, so the books that I answer for this question might not be the first books I read in 2012, but I will definitely get to them. That said, the books I didn't read this year but will read next year are Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire, The Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?
I'm definitely looking forward to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. My friends and I are even traveling out of state to go to his book tour! It should be a lot of fun and I can't wait! I'm also really psyched for A Million Suns by Beth Revis, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Timepiece by Myra McEntire, and Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Oh, and The Kill Order by James Dashner.
3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2012?
My friend Courtney at Abducted by Books is hosting a reading challenge next year, called the 15,000 Page Challenge. The goal is in the title - read15,000 pages in 2012. And she's going to give away a couple of prizes! Since I'll be participating in this challenge, I'll need to blog a lot more to show my updated page counts. So I plan on trying to review many more books next year, which is also a nice challenge for myself. My blog will hopefully grow because of it!
So there they are, my answers to the 2011 End of Year Book Survey. I apologize for the extremely long post. It's so hard to have just one answer for most of the questions! Let me know in the comments if you completed the survey as well, and I'll hop on over to your blog and take a look! Happy reading in 2012!
