Looking back, I am pleased to see that I read a mix I am happy with -- I read some of my favorite authors, some books I've been meaning to get to for a long time, a couple of big classics, some vintage mysteries, plenty of prize winners, and some that were just pure fun.
There is not much rhyme or reason to whether I review a book or not. Some of my favorite books go without a review. For an explanation of my rating system, see here.
If you have reviewed any of the book I reviewed, and you would like your review listed on mine, please leave a comment on my review post for that book with a link to your review and I will add it.
2011 BOOKS
The Human Stain by Philip Roth (4.5/5; reviewed here)
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (3/5)
A Study in Scarlet by (Sherlock Holmes, No. 1) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)
When Will There Be Good News? (Jackson Brodie, No. 3) by Kate Atkinson (4/5)
A Mind to Murder (Adam Dagliesh, No. 2) by P. D. James (3.5/5)
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (4/5; reviewed here)
Strangers and Brothers (aka George Passant) (Strangers and Brothers, No. 1) by C. P. Snow (3.5/5; reviewed here)
By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille (3.5/5)
365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik (3.5/5; reviewed here)
10 Lb. Penalty by Dick Francis (3/5)
Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell (3/5)
G by John Berger (2/5; reviewed here)
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (3/5)
Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts (3.5/5; reviewed here)
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (3/5; reviewed here)
Death in a Strange Country (Commissario Guido Brunetti, No. 2) by Donna Leon
99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 by Anthony Burgess (4.5/5; reviewed here)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (4/5; reviewed here)
Blindfold Game by Dana Stabenow (3/5)
Bech: A Book by John Updike (4/5; reviewed here)
Bolt by Dick Francis (3.5/5)
Bad Things Happen (David Loogan, No. 1) by Harry Dolan (4/5; reviewed here))
Maps and Shadows by Krysia Jopek (3/5; reviewed here)
The Food of France by Waverley Root (4/5; reviewed here)
The League of Frightened Men (Nero Wolf, No. 2) by Rex Stout (3/5)
Indiscretions of Archie by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy, No. 3) by Stieg Larsson (3.5/5)
Honolulu by Alan Brennert (3/5)
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (4/5)
Strip Jack (John Rebus, No. 4) by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)
The Sign of the Four (Sherlock Holmes, No. 2) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3.5/5)
The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire, No. 1) by Anthony Trollope (4/5)
The Marvelous Album of Madame B: Being the Handiwork of a Victorian Lady of Considerable Talent by Elizabeth Siegel (4/5; reviewed here)
Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie, No. 4) by Kate Atkinson (4/5; reviewed here)
One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer (3.5/5)
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier (3.5/5)
Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman (3/5)
Because You Might Not Remember by Don Colburn (4/5)
The Losing Role by Steve Anderson (3.5/5; reviewed here)
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (3/5; reviewed here)
Knots and Crosses (John Rebus, No. 1) by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)
Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding (3.5/5)
Banker by Dick Francis (4/5; reviewed here)
Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, No. 2) by Dorothy L. Sayers (4/5; reviewed here)
A Plague of Secrets (Dismas Hardy, No. 13, or San Francisco, No. 17) by John Lescroart (3.5/5; reviewed here))
The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich (3.5/5)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (4/5; reviewed here)
The Crime of the Century by Kinglsey Amis (3/5)
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein (2.5/5)
Meet Me in Venice by Elizabeth Adler (3/5)
Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd (4/5; reviewed here)
The James Joyce Murder (Kate Fansler, No. 2) by Amanda Cross (3/5; reviewed here)
Marrying the Mistress by Joanna Trollope (3.5/5)
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook (3/5; reviewed here)
The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning (3/5)
Knockdown by Dick Francis (3.5/5)
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (4/5)
The Hidden Target by Helen McInnes (3/5)
Break In by Dick Francis (3.5/5)
Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley (3.5/5)
Evening Class by Maeve Binchy (3.5/5)
Spinning the Law: Trying Cases in the Court of Public Opinion by Kendall Coffey (2.5/5)
Locations by Jan Morris (4/5; reviewed here)
The Rebel Angels (Cornish Trilogy, No. 1) by Robertson Davies (4/5; reviewed here)
Treasure Hunt (Wyatt Hun, No. 2, or San Francisco, No. 18) by John Lescroart (3/5)
American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen (4/5; reviewed here)
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (3/5)
A Friend From England by Anita Brookner (3.5/5)
Decider by Dick Francis (3.5/5)
42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey by Maureen Hovenkotter (3.5/5; reviewed here)
Very Bad Men (David Loogan, No. 2) by Harry Dolan (4/5; reviewed here)
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (4/5; reviewed here)
Hide and Seek (John Rebus, No. 2) by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)
One Was a Soldier (Clare Fergusin, No. 7) by Julia Spencer-Fleming (3.5/5; reviewed here)
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front by Joel Salatin (3.5/5; reviewed here)
On Beauty by Zadie Smith (3/5; reviewed here)
Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey, No. 3) by Dorothy L. Sayers (3.5/5)
Don't Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards by P. J. O’Rourke (3.5/5)
The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie (4/5)
Unnatural Causes (Adam Dagliesh, No. 3) by P. D. James (3.5/5)
The Reluctant Detective (Faith Morgan, No. 1) by Martha Oakley (3/5; reviewed here)
Nat Tate: An American Artist, 1928 – 1960 by William Boyd (3.5/5; reviewed here)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2.5/5; reviewed here)
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (4.5/5)
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (4/5)
Past Perfect by Susan Isaacs (3/5)
Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited by Vladimir Nabokov (3.5/5)
Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women by Mary Rechner (3.5/5; reviewed here)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (2/5)
Carry Yourself Back to Me by Deborah Reed (4/5; reviewed here)
Girl from the South by Joanna Trollope (3/5)
Real Women, Real Wisdom: A Journey into the Feminine Soul, edited by Maureen Hovenkotter (4/5; reviewed here)
The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis (2.5/5; reviewed here)
Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby (3.5/5)
Drood by Dan Simmons (3/5; reviewed here)
4 Blondes by Candace Bushnell (3/5)
The Finishing School by Muriel Spark (3.5/5)
Solar by Ian McEwan (3.5/5)
The Girl on the Boat by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5)
Cathedral by Nelson DeMille (4.5/5; reviewed here)
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (4.5/5; reviewed here)
French Spirits: A House, a Village, and a Love Affair in Burgundy by Jeffrey Greene (3/5)
With a Jug of Wine by Morrison Wood (3.5/5)
61 Hours (Jack Reacher, No. 14) by Lee Child (3.5/5)
Odds Against by Dick Francis (3.5/5)
Crooked House by Agatha Christie (3.5/5)
Therapy by David Lodge (3.5/5; reviewed here)
The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (4/5; reviewed here)
Tooth and Nail (John Rebus, No. 3) by Ian Rankin (2.5/5)
Bleak House by Charles Dickens (4/5)
Delights and Prejudices: A Memoir with Recipes by James Beard (5/5; reviewed here)
The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton (3/5)
Dear Money by Martha McPhee (3.5/5)
Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher, No. 15) by Lee Child (3.5/5; reviewed here)
Tinkers by Paul Harding (2.5/5)
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Cordelia Gray, No. 1) by P. D. James (3.5/5)
