What I Read in 2011

I've been doing this list since I started blogging and, I'm pleased to say, every year the number of books I get to read in a year has increased. I was a little worried about this year, since I had a master's thesis to research and write (and none of that work really qualifies here), but I managed to make up for my slow start. In all, I read 51 books (I'm part way through the 52nd), which is pretty alright I think. I'll break down the list at the bottom, but in the meantime, here's what my 2011 bookshelves look like (with links to relevant reviews that I wrote for Books Under Skin) in chronological order of reading. As always, a star indicates a reread, of which there were surprisingly few this year.

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud
Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce*
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley
Modern and Normal by Karen Solie 
Short Talks by Anne Carson 
Red Shoes in the Rain by Jan Conn
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Étienne’s Alphabet by James King
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
Nikolski by Nicholas Dickner
The Water Man’s Daughter by Emma Ruby-Sachs
The Leopard by Jo Nesbo
The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
Carte Blanche by Jeffrey Deaver
Various Positions by Martha Schabas
“There Are Things I Want You To Know” About Stieg Larsson and Me by Eva Gabrielsson
The O’Briens by Peter Behrens
Holding Still For As Long As Possible by Zoe Whittall
Complete Physical by Shane Neilson 
Cockroach by Rawi Hage
Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich
Up Up Up by Julie Booker
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Grace by Vanessa Smith
Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
Outskirts by Sue Goyette
The Reinvention of Love by Helen Humphreys
Alligator by Lisa Moore
Easy to Like by Edward Riche
The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje
The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg
The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 by Molly Peacock
Midsummer Night in the Workhouse by Diana Athill
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant 
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Mnemonic: A book of trees by Theresa Kishkan
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
Curiosity by Joan Thomas
Still in progress: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Here's how all that breaks down (excluding IQ84, which will be counted on this year's list).
Books:
novel - 36                            new releases - 30
non-fiction - 7                      published before 2011 - 21
poetry collection - 5
short story collection - 3

Authors (only 48, since I read four novels by Alan Bradley):
male - 18                               Canadian - 29
female - 30                            international - 19


Tomorrow I'll break down what I wrote about on the blog in 2011. Happy New Year!