Books read in 2011

This list isn't complete, as I went through a phase around May/April where I didn't note down what I read, but other than that it's pretty much all there.

Young Adult

• Last Chance by Sarah Dessen (4 stars)
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (4 stars)
• Pretties (Uglies #2) by Scott Westerfield (3 stars)
• Specials (Uglies #3) by Scott Westerfield (3 stars)
• At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper - my review (4 stars)
• How to be Popular by Meg Cabot - my review (3 stars)
• That Summer by Sarah Dessen (5 stars)
• Junk by Melvin Burgess (4 stars) 
• Huntress by Malinda Lo (5 stars)
• What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (5 stars)
• Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen (5 stars)
• The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins (5 stars)
• Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins (5 stars)
• Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins (4 stars)
• Runaway (Airhead #3) by Meg Cabot  (3 stars)
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Gemma Doyle (4 stars)
• Ash by Malinda Lo (5 stars) 
• Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman (4 stars)
• Amber by Jacqueline Wilson (out of print)
• Falling Apart by Jacqueline Wilson (out of print)
• Waiting for the Sky to Fall by Jacqueline Wilson (out of print)
• The Other Side by Jacqueline Wilson (out of print)

Children's books

• In the Fifth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
• Angel Cake by Cathy Cassidy
• Second Form at St Clares by Enid Blyton 

Non Fiction

• Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter (5 stars)

Classics 

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (5 stars)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (4 stars)

Books for Adults 

• House Rules by Jodi Picoult (3 stars)
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (4 stars)
• The Women's Room by Marilyn French (4 stars)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini  (4 stars - read for college)
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The book that I loved the most: 

The books that surprised me: Wuthering Heights was such a confusing mess to read. I expected to hate it, since I disliked both Cathy and Heathcliff, but oddly I didn't.

Living Dolls was a non fiction book, which I never read, and I loved it.

The books I started but didn't finish: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Emma by Jane Austen

Shine by Lauren Myracle, though that's because I only started reading it yesterday :-)

Book related goals for 2012:

•  update this blog more
• read more classics
• read at least 50 books and actually note down all the books I read so I know if I've achieved this goal!

Happy New Year, everybody :-)

30 Day Book Meme - Day 2

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times

I think this meme is underestimating how often I re-read books. I'm sure that there are books I've read more than ten times.

Any book that I loved during my childhood, so most Roald Dahls, most Jacqueline Wilsons, the Famous Five books. The Harry Potter series have probably reached double figures by now.

More recently, I've definitely re-read Just Listen and Along For the Ride by Sarah Dessen more than three times.

30 Day Book Meme - Day 1

I was going to start this at my Livejournal, but I figured it made more sense to do it over here as it's actually a blog about books.

Day 01 – The best book you read last year

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and 1984 by George Orwell.

I was recomended Good Omens by so many people, both on and offline, and I was looking for it for ages. When I finally found a copy I was so glad I read it. I'd read a bit of Gaiman's books, but I hadn't read any of Terry Pratchett's books. I like it so much because it's actually consistantly funny, as opposed to so many other books that try to be funny but fall flat, or which have one or two funny moments, but the rest is pretty mediocre.

I don't think 1984 needs much explanation, it's a classic for a reason. :-)

Tuesday Top Ten

So as I just got this blog and I'm still trying to get my head around it, I thought I'd give this meme a go. It's from the broke and the bookish.

This week's theme is Top Ten Sequels I am dying to read.

1. Where She Went by Gayle Forman - If I Stay was really beautiful and sad and poignant, so I'm slightly worried that this won't live up to it. It's from Adam's point of view, and I loved Adam so much in If I Stay, and Mia has left Adam in this book. I want to read it so badly but I'm worried about how much I'm going to cry.
2. The Legacy by Gemma Malley - Okay, so this is the third in a trilogy, does that count? I'm going to say it does. The Declaration and The Resistance were really clever and interesting dystopic novels, and I'm curious to see how Gemma Malley finishes off the series.
3. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray - Technically I'm still reading A Great and Terrible Beauty but it's amazing so far and I can't wait to read more.
4. Extras by Scott Westerfield - Again, it's the fourth in the series. This one looks a bit different from the first three, not only because it follows a different protagonist but I enjoyed the first three Uglies books so this should be good. And for the record, the British cover of this book is terrifying.
5. Ironside by Holly Black - I got Tithe from the library and really enjoed it, then I found Ironside as an ex-library copy which was being sold and it's been sitting on my shelf for about a year now. I think this is the sequel, or there may be one in between, I'm not 100% sure.
6. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris - I got the first ten Sookie Stackhouse books for Christmas last year and then for some reason I stopped reading them after the second. I was enjoying them, too. Just other books distracted me.
7. Betrayals by Lili St. Crow - I read Strange Angels when I was on holiday last year. I was ok, not brilliant but ok. It would be interesting to see if it gets any better.
8. Day of the Predator by Alex Scarrow - I liked the first Time Riders book. It had an interesting premise and there were certain plot points I want to find out more about, particularly with Liam. And this one has dinosaurs :-)
9. Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper - I liked At The Sign of the Sugared Plum and this one seems good too.

And I couldn't come up with a 10th :-).

How to be Popular by Meg Cabot

I do enjoy Meg Cabot's books. This one was a library book that I brought with me on holiday. It's pretty much the definition of a holiday book: light, fluffy and funny.

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper

I read this book when I was on holiday in Spain and overall I really enjoyed it.

The obligatory 'I've just joined and I'm trying to work out how this site works' post

I decided to make a blog about books, because I want a place to share my thoughts about the books I read, and I wanted to see what blogger was like. Expect me to be thoroughly confused for a good couple of weeks.