A last look back

It's time to wrap up the old year.  I do think it's valuable to look back because it helps to see where you've been and then figure out where you want to go.

In 2011 I read 149 books.  I thought I'd hit the 150 mark, but discovered I'd double counted one of my books back in August.  Oh well.....whatever.....Here's how they break down by genre:

116 Fiction

2 fantasy
2 graphic novel
11 historical fiction
56 mystery
1 Sci Fi
3 short stories
40 pure fiction

2 Poetry

30 Non-fiction

13 bios/memoirs
2 travel
2 sociology studies
1 science
6 history
6 food

Now comes the Fun part.  Listing the best reads.   Please note: these are MY best fiction reads, not necessarily the best fiction published in 2011...many were published earlier than 2011. And I'd be VERY hard pressed to choose the best of the best, so please don't ask!

Fiction (links go to the book page on LibraryThing.com)

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Cloud Atlas
One Was a Soldier
Lester Higata's 20th Century
The Beautiful One has Come
Doc
God of Small Things
Nervous Condition
Sea of Poppies
Night Circus
A Trick of the Light

Best Non-Fiction Reads of 2011

Cleopatra: a life
The Social Animal
American Nations
Strange Relation: A Memoir
Curse of the Narrows
Unbroken

Honorable Mentions

Room
Work Song
Maine
A Buddha in the Attic
Coventry

Major Disappointments

Land of the Painted Caves
The Russian Affair
Great House
The Tiger's Wife
The Reading Promise

And finally by Format:

56 audio
10 audio /print (these were books I listened to and read in print. I often find this a particularly fascinating way to inhale a work.)
30 e books ( I love my NOOK!!)
52 print

So here's to a great year for 2012 although I don't expect the numbers will be nearly this high.  I'll be posting my expectations for the year within the next 24 hours.