My work has pre-occupied all my weekday while my weekends are either spent on the road traveling from north to south and back. And yet i finally managed to squeeze in my favorite past time of all time, reading. Yes, i read a number of books for this year, thanks to Ayn Rand.
So here is the 2011 list:
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- The Painted House by John Grisham
- The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
- The Diary of a young girl by Anne Frank
- First Love, Last Rites by Ian McEwan
- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
- The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
- After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
- When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Peony in Love by Lisa See
- Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World by Haruki Murakami
- Aleph by Paulo Coehlo
The aim was to read at least 2 books per month. But i have a child to take care of and a husband to please. Nonetheless, i am proud of 2011 for all the books that i read. I may have logged behind with Ayn Rand but it definitely rekindled my passion for reading. Stieg Larsson's trilogy may have been a stumbling block in my reading list but the first 2 books were definitely the best ones. I introduced my self to new authors in the likes of McEwan, Ishiguro and See and i found out that i am such sucker for love stories.
WWII themed novels are always welcomed in my list, thanks to Roth and Anne Frank the lists goes on.
Since I'm a paper back fan, i opted to wait for the release of the 2nd and 3rd installments of the Hunger Games this year. A swollen foot in April did not stop me from finishing Mockingjay while I was at the same time hastily finishing a report.
Murakami will always be my favorite. The accident of picking up Kafka on the Shore in the bookstore introduced me to the world of talking cats and a world which is unreal. After the Quake was a timely read for this year. Though the stories were experiences from the quake in Kobe, the March 2011 quake in Japan inspired me to read on.
The list for this year is not at all complete. I have 2 more days left to finish Atonement which i started in parallel with Hard Boiled Wonderland. But then again the list goes on for 2012. I have purchased a number of books on discount with the objective of getting a good deal out of the purchase. As i hoard these books in my closet and as the trend goes to e-books, i wonder if i will ever stop myself from appreciating the smell of paper and ink on a new book. I guess, I will never will.
