Books read in 2011

Once again it's time for my annual salute to my own anal-retentiveness as I provide the list of all the books I read in the last year.

It was an iffy year, with lots of things that didn't click for various reasons. I did notice a trend of the more crazy stuff being memorable this year (read some particularly good narration by batshit-crazy characters).

1. Grendel - John Gardner
2. The Auctioneer - Joan Samson *
3. The Forest for the Trees - Betsy Lerner
4. The Cider House Rules - John Irving
5. Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
6. Lily of the Nile - Stephanie Dray *
7. Magic - William Goldman
8. The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
9. Boys and Girls Together - William Goldman **
10. The Little Sister - Raymond Chandler
11. Poison - Sarah Poole
12. A Quiet Belief in Angels - R. J. Ellory
13. Candy - Luke Davies
14. The Preservationist - David Maine **
15. Tinsel - William Goldman
16. Blind Submission - Debra Ginsburg
17. Because the Night - James Ellroy *
18. How Right You Are, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
19. Another City, Not My Own - Dominick Dunne
20. Drop City - T. C. Boyle **
21. The Keep - Jennifer Egan
22. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
23. Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons *
24. Daughters of Rome - Kate Quinn
25. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
26. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
27. One Fearful Yellow Eye - John D. MacDonald
28. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
29. A Dance With Dragons - George R. R. Martin
30. Naked Heat - Richard Castle
31. The Love Machine - Jacqueline Susann *
32. The Light Bearer - Donna Gillespie *
33. The Collector - John Fowles
34. Night Walker - Donald Hamilton
35. Cry to Heaven - Anne Rice *
36. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
37. Burnt Offerings - Robert Marasco *
38. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett **
39. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John LeCarre
40. L.A. Confidential - James Ellroy **
41. The Woman - Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee
42. Right Ho, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
43. Anything for Billy - Larry McMurtry
44. Tideland - Mitch Cullin
45. The Getaway - Jim Thompson
46. Free Fall in Crimson - John D. MacDonald
47. The Milagro Beanfield War - John Nichols **
48. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
49. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
50. The Last King of Scotland - Giles Foden *
51. The Gamble - LaVyrle Spencer
52. The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory **
53. The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe
54. Pop. 1280 - Jim Thompson
55. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - Sherman Alexie
56. 11/22/63 - Stephen King

* = unfinished

** = reread

My favorites of all the non-rereads were (in no particular order)

• Cold Comfort Farm
• The Hunger Games trilogy
• A Dance With Dragons
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• The Getaway
• Sharp Objects
• Dark Places
• 11/22/63
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
• The Crossing

First book for 2012 is Horace McCoy's They Shoot Horses Don't They.