My list of Top Ten books for 2011

I can honestly say that creating this list of my Top Ten favorites was much easier than I thought it would be.  I am being a bit brave by creating the list now and not in January.  I do still have almost a month of reading time left, but I think I'm safe.  I've read some pretty amazing stuff this year.  Even the books that are not included on this list were great.  I think I've read less than 5 during the course of the entire year that are just plain mediocre.  Those are fairly good odds. 

So, here's my list, staring with #10...

10.  Water for Elephants...Such a great story and my second biggest surprise for the year.  I really doubted how I could ever like a story about the circus.  This is so much more than a story about the circus.  I just need to see the movie now. 

9.  The Twilight Saga...My biggest surprise of the year.  I've never read Dracula and I hated Frankenstein, so how was I really going to feel about werewolves and vampires.  Well, if Water for Elephants was more than a circus story, Twilight was WAY more than a vampire/werewolf story.  If you haven't read them, you really should.

8. The Hunger Games Trilogy...I have really branched out from my usual reading material, that's all I can say.  A book about children who fight to the death doesn't sound like something I'd usually read, but I did and I loved them. 

7.  The Mark of the Lion Trilogy...Thanks, Pam, for an amazing birthday gift, that is now making its way through my family.  These books (well...the first two...the 3rd was not my favorite) touched me in so many ways and taught me so much about faith and love.  Life changing, these books (one and two) are.

6.  Night Road...I couldn't let a year go by without a Kristin Hannah book on my favorite list.  This book will forever stay with me.  It is haunting in so many ways and really speaks to the true character of people when faced with a catastrophe.  In 4 years when Abigail starts driving, I am going to have to read it again.

5.  The Walk and Miles to Go...These are the first two books in a series by Richard Paul Evans and I am eagerly awaiting the rest.  March marks the debut of book 3.  I can't wait.  I think I went through an entire box of tissues with each book.  If you read, read with tissues.

4.  1105 Yakima Street and 1225 Christmas Tree Lane...These are the last two books in one of my favorite series.  I can't believe that it's over.  What will I do next August when a new book isn't released?  Call my Mom and talk about how great the series was until it was over, I guess.

3.  Sisterhood Everlasting...This is another book, the final I think, in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.  This book touched me so deeply that when I re-read my blog about this book, I found myself crying all over again.  Friends make us who we are and I am grateful for every friend, old and new, that I have or have ever had.  I'm going to stop before I cry again.

2.  The Book Thief...Words.  A book about the power of words.  This book was written for me.  I loved it and can't wait for Abigail to read it.  She's learning about WW2 in school right now and she loves books almost as much as I do.  Powerful stuff.  Don't be put off by Death as the Narrator.  It just makes the take on the plot way more interesting.  Different points of view are always good.

AND FINALLY...

1.  The Help...This book reminded me, once again, about how lucky we are to be living when we live.  It also reminded me that my children will never completely appreciate the freedom they have and the world they live in until it's all challenged.  What a Catch 22.  I don't want them to suffer, but it would be nice for them to have some real perspective.  I adored this book and loved the movie, so much, in fact, that it's going to come live with me on Tuesday.  Read the book before you watch the movie.  It really is better doing it that way. 

Well...that's my list for this year.  I wonder what I'll read in 2012?