Here’s my annual list of my ten favorite books read in the year. As always, this is merely the best books I read this year not books published in 2011. For previous years see 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. You may also want to check out My Favorite Books of All Time or see Every Book I’ve Ever Read cataloged in Library Thing.
In no particular order:
- Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
- One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
- Triumph of the City by Edward L. Glaeser
- Maphead by Ken Jennings
- The Big Short by Michael Lewis
- Boilerplate : history’s mechanical marvel by Paul Guinan
- Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
- Soccer in a football world : the story of America’s forgotten game by David Wangerin
- The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
- 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
Every Book I Read in 2011
Books published in 2011 in bold. (A) is for audiobook.
January
- Tinkers by Paul Harding (A)
- Revolutionaries by Jack Rakove
- The Dead Hand by David E. Hoffman (A)
- The Big Short by Michael Lewis
- Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (A)
- Boilerplate : history’s mechanical marvel by Paul Guinan
February
- The Archaeology of Home by Katharine Greider
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (A)
- The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
- Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan
- Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (A)
March
- The Far Side of the World by Patrick O’Brian (A)
- One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
- Sixty Feet, Six Inches by Bob Gibson & Reggie Jackson
- Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
April
- 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
- Take Time For Paradise by A. Bartlett Giamatti
- Ambassadors of Reconciliation by Ched Myers
- Poverty of Spirit by Johannes B. Metz
- Why you can disagree– and remain a faithful Catholic by Philip S. Kaufman
- As It Was In The Beginning by Robert McClory
May
- Beastly Fury by Robert Sanders
- Soccer in a football world : the story of America’s forgotten game by David Wangerin
- Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics by Jonathan Wilson
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (A)
- The Whites of Their Eyes by Jill Lepore
- The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (A)
- Once in a lifetime : the incredible story of the New York Cosmos by Gavin Newsham
June
- Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us by Joe Palca & Flora Lichtman (A)
- Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanksi
- One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
- The Crime of the Century by Stephanie Schorow
- The Underboss by Gerard Neill
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (A)
July
- The Pox and the Covenant by Tony Williams
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Beekeeper’s Apprentice: Or On the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R. King (A)
- Taking the Field by Howard Megdal
- The F-Word by Jesse Sheidlower
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (A)
- Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway by Kirk Johnson
- Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer (A)
August
- Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
- Selected Shorts: Lots of Laughs! by Symphony Space (A)
- Dangerously funny by David Bianculli (A)
- Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion by Johan Harstad
- Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (A)
- Get Out!: 150 Easy Ways for Kids & Grown-Ups to Get Into Nature and Build a Greener Future by Judy Molland
- The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
- Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
September
- Boston Riots by Jack Tager
- At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson (A)
- Consequences by Penelope Lively
October
- The Pun Also Rises by John Pollack
- Triumph of the City by Edward L. Glaeser
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
- Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (A)
- Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression by Morris Dickstein (A)
- Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg
November
December
- Maphead by Ken Jennings
- The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson
Panorama of the Mountains 