Books of 2011
January
1. Theodora Goss, In the Forest of Forgetting – 4 stars 2. A. P. Fuchs, Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head – 2 stars 3. Sigrid Nunez, Salvation City – 3 stars 4. Cherie Priest, Boneshaker – 3 stars 5. Caleb Carr, The Alienist – 3 stars 6. Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now – 4 stars 7. Joan Nestle (ed.), Women on Women: An Anthology of American Lesbian Short Fiction – 3 stars 8. Helen N. Parker, Biological Themes in Modern Science Fiction – 2 stars 9. Natalie M. Rosinsky, Feminist Futures: Contemporary Women’s Speculative Fiction – 2 stars 10. Suzy McKee Charnas, Motherlines – 1 star 11. Amy Gerstler, Dearest Creature – 4 stars 12. Pamela August Russell, B Is for Bad Poetry – 3 stars 13. Allen Barnett, The Body and Its Dangers and Other Stories – 4 stars 14. Harriet McBryde Johnson, Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales from a Life – 5 stars 15. Kenny Fries (ed.), Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out – 4 stars 16. ZZ Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere – 3 stars 17. Amy Gerstler, Ghost Girl – 4 stars 18. Tess Williams (ed.), Women of Other Worlds: Excursions Through Science Fiction and Feminism – 4 stars 19. Jewelle L. Gomez, The Gilda Stories: A Novel – 4 stars 20. Paul Monette, The Politics of Silence – 5 stars 21. Mary E. Bradley, Mizora: A World of Women – 2 stars 22. Siobhan Fallon, You Know When the Men Are Gone – 5 stars 23. Paul Harding, Tinkers – 3 stars 24. George Whitmore, Nebraska – 3 stars 25. Paul Monette, Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir – 5 stars
February
1. Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber – 4 stars 2. Susan Hill, The Shadows in the Street – 4 stars 3. John Green, Zombicorns – 4 stars 4. Markus Zusak, The Book Thief – 5 stars 5. Matt Haig, The Radleys – 3 stars 6. Scarlett Thomas, Our Tragic Universe – 3 stars 7. Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice – 4 stars 8. Laurie R. King, A Monstrous Regiment of Women – 4 stars 9. Laurie R. King, A Letter of Mary – 3 stars 10. Ryan North (ed.), Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die – 4 stars 11. Elmer Kelton, Hanging Judge – 3 stars 12. Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark – 2 stars 13. Jack Schaefer, Shane – 4 stars 14. Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain – 5 stars 15. Jeffery Deaver (ed.), The Best American Mystery Stories 2009 – 3 stars 16. Scott B. Smith, The Ruins – 4 stars
March
1. Margo Lanagan, Black Juice – 4 stars 2. Elizabeth Engstrom, When Darkness Loves Us – 4 stars 3. Peter Y. Paik, From Utopia to Apocalypse – 3 stars 4. Jean Barr, Common Science?: Women, Science, and Knowledge – 4 stars 5. Claudia Henrion, Women in Mathematics: The Addition of Difference – 3 stars 6. Theodore Roszak, The Gendered Atom: Reflections on the Sexual Psychology of Science – 1 star 7. Margo Lanagan, Tender Morsels – 4 stars
April
1. David Levithan, The Lover’s Dictionary – 5 stars 2. Bernard Beckett, Genesis – 3 stars 3. Margo Lanagan, Red Spikes – 3 stars 4. Kenneth W. Warren, What Was African American Literature? – 2 stars 5. Julia Holmes, Meeks – 2 stars 6. Focus: Letters: Your World, Your Images – 4 stars 7. William Germano, From Dissertation to Book – 3 stars 8. Kevin Brockmeier, The Illumination – 3 stars 9. Eleanor Harman, The Thesis and the Book: A Guide for First-Time Academic Authors – 2 stars 10. Beth Luey (ed.), Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors – 2 stars
May
1. Will McIntosh, Soft Apocalypse – 4 stars 2. Alan Bradley, A Red Herring Without Mustard – 3 stars 3. Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress – 4 stars 4. Eliot Pattison, Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America – 2 stars 5. Wendy McClure, The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie – 5 stars 6. Carrie Ryan, The Dark and Hollow Places – 4 stars 7. Jonathan Evison, West of Here – 2 stars 8. Graham Joyce, The Silent Land – 3 stars 9. Robin McKinley, Spindle’s End – 4 stars 10. Janet Evanovich, One for the Money – 3 stars 11. Marsha Canham, Through a Dark Mist – 3 stars 12. Karen Marie Moning, Darkfever – 3 stars 13. Karen Marie Moning, Bloodfever – 4 stars 14. Karen Marie Moning, Faefever – 3 stars 15. Karen Marie Moning, Dreamfever – 4 stars 16. Karen Marie Moning, Shadowfever – 4 stars 17. Mira Grant, Deadline – 4 stars
June
1. Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies – 4 stars 2. Libba Bray, Beauty Queens – 5 stars 3. Walter Mosley, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey – 4 stars 4. Swati Avasthi, Split – 5 stars 5. Sophie Littlefield, A Bad Day for Sorry – 3 stars 6. Jim Butcher, Storm Front – 2 stars 7. Alison Sinclair, Darkborn – 4 stars 8. Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lolly Willowes: Or, the Loving Huntsman – 4 stars 9. Stephen King, The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I – 2 stars 10. Stephen King, The Drawing of the Three: The Dark Tower II – 3 stars 11. Mat Johnson, Pym – 4 stars 12. Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter – 3 stars 13. Sue Grafton, “A” Is for Alibi – 4 stars 14. Kelli Stanley, City of Dragons – 3 stars 15. Loretta Chase, Lord of Scoundrels – 4 stars 16. Julia Quinn, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever – 3 stars 17. Jude Deveraux, The Taming – 2 stars 18. Jennifer Ashley, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie – 3 stars 19. Sue Grafton, “B” Is for Burglar – 3 stars 20. Meg Rosoff, The Bride’s Farewell – 4 stars 21. Julia Spencer-Fleming, In the Bleak Midwinter – 4 stars 22. Janet Evanovich, Two for the Dough – 3 stars 23. Joe Hill, Horns – 3 stars 24. Jonathan Maberry, Rot & Ruin – 3 stars 25. Alex Kava, A Perfect Evil – 3 stars 26. Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test: A Journal Through the Madness Industry – 4 stars 27. Connie Brockway, McClairen’s Isle: The Passionate One – 3 stars 28. Adam Mansbach, Go the Fuck to Sleep – 5 stars 29. Daniel H. Wilson, Robopocalypse – 3 stars 30. Lev Grossman, The Magicians – 5 stars
July
1. Megan McCafferty, Bumped – 4 stars 2. Anna North, American Pacifica – 4 stars 3. Philip Palmer, Red Claw – 4 stars 4. Georges Simenon, Maigret Meets a Milord – 4 stars 5. Ron Currie, Jr., Everything Matters! – 5 stars 6. David Sedaris, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary – 3 stars 7. Susan Wise Bauer, The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had – 2 stars 8. Ken MacLeod, The Execution Channel – 3 stars 9. Anne Kreamer, Going Gray: What I Learned About Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters – 4 stars 10. Katy Stauber, Revolution World – 3 stars 11. Daniel Abraham, A Shadow in Summer – 4 stars 12. Daniel Abraham, A Betrayal in Winter – 4 stars 13. Daniel Abraham, An Autumn War – 5 stars 14. Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (eds.), Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It – 4 stars 15. Adam Hines, Duncan the Wonder Dog – 4 stars 16. Tana French, Faithful Place – 5 stars 17. Julia Spencer-Fleming, A Fountain Filled with Blood – 4 stars 18. Daniel Abraham, The Price of Spring – 5 stars 19. Philip Palmer, Debatable Space – 2 stars 20. Lauren Beukes, Moxyland – 4 stars 21. Albert Sánchez Piñol, Cold Skin – 3 stars 22. Dan Wells, I Am Not a Serial Killer – 3 stars 23. Benjamin Nugent, American Nerd: The Story of My People – 2 stars 24. Project Itoh, Harmony – 4 stars 25. Lauren Beukes, Zoo City – 3 stars 26. Hiroshi Yamamoto, The Stories of Ibis – 4 stars 27. Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen – 3 stars 28. Rachel Swirsky, The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window – 4 stars 29. Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects – 4 stars 30. Elizabeth Hand, The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon – 3 stars 31. Alastair Reynolds, Troika – 3 stars 32. N. K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – 4 stars
August
1. James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes – 3 stars 2. Julia Spencer-Fleming, Out of the Deep I Cry – 5 stars 3. Julia Spencer-Fleming, To Darkness and to Death – 4 stars 4. Julia Spencer-Fleming, All Mortal Flesh – 4 stars 5. Julia Spencer-Fleming, I Shall Not Want – 4 stars 6. Gerald Graff (ed.), They Say / I Say – 4 stars 7. John Darnielle, Master of Reality – 4 stars 8. Tony Hillerman (ed.), The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century – 3 stars 9. Etgar Keret, The Girl on the Fridge – 3 stars 10. Marty Roth, Foul & Fair Play: Reading Genre in Classic Detective Fiction – 3 stars 11. Blake Liebel, Daniel Quantz, R. J. Ryan, and David Marquez, Syndrome – 3 stars 12. Harlan Ellison and Alan Robinson, Phoenix without Ashes – 3 stars 13. P. D. James, Talking About Detective Fiction – 4 stars 14. Julia Spencer-Fleming, One Was a Soldier – 5 stars 15. Jayne Ann Krentz (ed.), Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance – 3 stars 16. John Green, An Abundance of Katherines – 5 stars 17. Jane Yolen, Briar Rose – 4 stars 18. Tom Gauld, The Gigantic Robot – 5 stars 19. Etgar Keret, The Nimrod Flipout – 3 stars 20. Tina Fey, Bossypants – 4 stars 21. Lavie Tidhar (ed.), The Apex Book of World SF – 3 stars 22. Guy Gavriel Kay, Ysabel – 3 stars 23. J. L. Langley, My Fair Captain – 2 stars 24. Adam Ross, Mr. Peanut – 4 stars 25. Austin Grossman, Soon I Will Be Invincible – 4 stars 26. Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese – 4 stars 27. Minister Faust, The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad – 4 stars 28. John Scalzi, Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 – 3 stars 29. Janet Mitchell, The Creepy Girl and Other Stories – 2 stars 30. Ian Fleming, Casino Royale – 2 stars
September
1. Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – 4 stars 2. Henning Mankell, The Troubled Man – 5 stars 3. Castle Freeman, Jr., Go With Me – 4 stars 4. Michael Langlois, Bad Radio – 4 stars 5. Melina Marchetta, Jellicoe Road – 5 stars 6. Yardena Rand, Wild Open Space: Why We Love Westerns – 3 stars 7. Justin Richards, The Clockwise Man (Doctor Who New Series Adventures #1) – 3 stars 8. Colin Brake, The Spaceship Graveyard (Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny #1) – 2 stars 9. Neal Stephenson, Reamde – 4 stars
October
1. Gordon van Gelder (ed.), Welcome to the Greenhouse: New Science Fiction on Climate Change – 4 stars 2. Isiah Lavender III, Race in American Science Fiction – 2 stars 3. Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan – 4 stars 4. Gail Carriger, Soulless – 3 stars 5. Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – 4 stars 6. Richard Dungworth, Alien Arena (Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny #2) – 3 stars 7. Margaret Killjoy, What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower – 4 stars 8. Cherie Priest, Clementine – 3 stars 9. Alden Bell, The Reapers Are the Angels – 5 stars 10. Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels – 4 stars 11. Lawrence Block, The Sins of the Fathers – 4 stars 12. Sally Goade, ed., Empowerment Versus Oppression: Twenty-First Century Views of Popular Romance Novels – 3 stars
November
1. Patricia Gaffney, Wild at Heart – 4 stars 2. Pamela Regis, A Natural History of the Romance Novel – 3 stars 3. Jean Radford (ed.), The Progress of Romance: The Politics of Popular Fiction – 2 stars 4. Mariam Darce Frenier, Good-Bye Heathcliff: Changing Heroes, Heroines, Roles, and Values in Women’s Category Romances – 3 stars 5. Jennifer Crusie, Bet Me – 4 stars 6. Jennifer Crusie, Anyone But You – 3 stars 7. Jennifer Crusie, Faking It – 4 stars 8. Sarah Wendell, Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels – 3 stars 9. James Lovegrove, Redlaw – 2 stars 10. Colson Whitehead, Zone One – 4 stars 11. Thomas M. Disch, The Genocides – 4 stars 12. Sophie Littlefield, Aftertime – 3 stars 13. Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn – 4 stars 14. Paul Hornschemeier, Mother, Come Home – 5 stars 15. Blake Charlton, Spellwright – 4 stars 16. Gail Carriger, Changeless – 4 stars 17. Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls – 5 stars 18. S. J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep – 5 stars 19. Hillary Jordan, When She Woke – 4 stars 20. A. M. Dellamonica, Indigo Springs – 3 stars 21. Lisa Gardner, Love You More – 4 stars
December
1. Lauren Oliver, Delirium – 3 stars 2. Jussi Adler-Olsen, The Keeper of Lost Causes – 3 stars 3. Mat Johnson, Incognegro – 3 stars 4. Alan Bradley, I Am Half-Sick of Shadows – 4 stars 5. Timothy Schaffert, The Coffins of Little Hope – 3 stars 6. Zizou Corder, Lionboy – 4 stars 7. Jo Nesbø, The Snowman – 4 stars 8. Jo Nesbø, The Leopard – 3 stars 9. Mira Grant, Countdown: A Newsflesh Novella – 3 stars 10. Isabel Cooper, No Proper Lady – 3 stars 11. Michael Connelly, The Black Echo – 4 stars 12. Stephen Cole, The Monsters Inside (Doctor Who New Series Adventures #2) – 2 stars 13. Patricia Gaffney, Fortune’s Lady – 3 stars
Begun but unfinished 1. Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger 2. Catherynne M. Valente, The Habitation of the Blessed 3. Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (eds.), Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories 4. Rachel Bertsche, MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend 5. Carol Thurston, The Romance Revolution: Erotic Novels for Women and the Quest for a New Sexual Identity 6. Simon Pegg, Nerd Do Well 7. Sherryl Vint, Animal Alterity: Science Fiction and the Question of the Animal 8. Stephen Jones (ed.), The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 9. Laird Christensen (ed.), Teaching North American Environmental Literature 10. Julio Cortázar, Blow-Up and Other Stories 11. Jonathan Strahan (ed.), The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 12. Mark Doty, Fire to Fire 13. Michelle Wallace, Witnessing Lynching: American Writers Respond 14. Alisa Krasnostein (ed.), Sprawl 15. Robert Coles, The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination 16. Sarah Langan, The Missing
Uncountable 10 classes’ worth of essays, exams, reports, short papers, and in-class writing; miscellaneous online articles and blog posts; short stories from Asimov’s, Analog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Tor.com, etc.; scholarly articles for research
Re-read or read multiple times this year (in no particular order)
1. China Miéville, The City & the City 2. Jose Saramago, Blindness 3. Octavia Butler, Dawn 4. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed 5. Robert Charles Wilson, Blind Lake 6. Elizabeth Moon, Remnant Population 7. Mira Grant, Feed 8. Daniel Waters, Generation Dead 9. Jack Schaefer, Shane 10. Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain 11. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games 12. Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire 13. Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay 14. Loretta Chase, Lord of Scoundrels 15. Bertrice Small, Skye O’Malley 16. Project Itoh, Harmony
TOTAL Jan – 25 Feb – 16 Mar – 7 Apr – 10 May – 17 Jun – 30 Jul – 32 Aug – 30 Sept – 9 Oct – 12 Nov – 21 Dec - 13
= 222