TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE BEST/WORST OF 2011 - BOOKS!

The year before last, I made a totally subjective list of the best/worst books and movies of the year. Just for fun, I thought I would do it again. This list has almost nothing to do with what came out this year, or really anything to do with the objective quality of the work. It's all about what I read, watched, and liked over the past 12 months, hence the "totally subjective" part. Let's dive in with books!

BOOKS

Wow, what was wrong with me this past year? Only 34 books? That's shamefully low! My slow pace probably had something to do with a host of medical problems that cropped up in my immediate family - dealing with that left me too exhausted to do anything but collapse on the couch and watch old episodes of Star Trek - but I also read a lot of non-fiction, which I don't tend to blaze through at the same lightning pace as fiction. With that in mind, let's start out with my favorite non-fiction book:

Best non-fiction

This was a tough call. I read some fantastic books by Barbara Ehrenreich, Mary Roach, Erik Larson, and Tina Fey. But the book I won't shut up about is Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, by Peggy Orenstein. Orenstein explores the explosion of "princess" culture as it manifests in beauty pageants, Disney princesses, "pink" marketing, and the early sexualization of girls, and reflects on how the cultural shift has affected her own daughter. Part personal essay, part social criticism, this is a book every mother, father, aunt, older sister, teacher, or anyone who cares about the future of girls should read. It will open your eyes to how monochromatic girl culture has become and make you want to go out and buy your niece some Legos. Read with Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the U.S.A., by Julia Alavarez, for a view of the same topic from the vantage point of young women entering adulthood.

 

Novel that left me drooling for more

To be completely honest, I picked up Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins, because it had a cool cover. Girl witches? School for supernatural beings? A misunderstood vampire roommate? Sounds like a good way to pass an afternoon. But really, this is one of those books that ends up being so much more than the sum of its parts. Hex Hall had adventure, magic, a genuinely spunky main character, and a wry sense of humor. I came away utterly charmed and frantic for more. Thank goodness there was book two in the series, Demonglass, which upped the ante by taking the story to England, but wait. . . where is book three, Spell Bound? It doesn't come out until March 13, 2o12?!? Augh!!! March can't get here soon enough.

 

Most disappointing

Last year, I ate up The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs, and wanted more. In The Year of Living Biblically, Jacobs turns his own life into an experiment by trying to live according to Old Testament strictures and Jewish tradition. Jacobs's mixture of self-deprecating humor and respect for the traditions he was exploring hooked me. So, I picked up The Guinea Pig Diaries, where he details a year of shorter experiments such as allowing an outsourcing company in India to take over his daily correspondence and dipping a toe into the practice of "radical honesty." Unfortunately, only half of the book feels fresh. Some of the entries, such as Jacobs's experiment in "being famous," seem as though they've been dredged up from his back catalog of magazine features. Of course, The Year of Living Biblically was so good that I still might try The Know-It-All, Jacobs's experiment in reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica over the course of a year.

Best manga/comic book

I was expecting Chi's Sweet Home, by Konami Kanata, to be adorable, maybe a manga version of Cute Overload, but this story about an abandoned kitten who is taken in by a Japanese family that lives in a no-pets-allowed apartment complex turned out to have unexpected depths. The art is consistently adorable, and cat-owners will automatically recognize their own pets in Chi as she adapts to her new home. The vignettes are sweet on their own, but they all string together to create a simple yet profound story of belonging and family. This is one of the few mangas out there that is truly for both children and adults.

Best cat book

I read a lot of books about cats this year, paving the way for my future as a crazy cat lady. The most helpful of those was The Cat Who Cried for Help: Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of Cats, by Nicholas H. Dodman. In it, Dodman discusses common problems and behaviors of cats through a series of case studies that are sometimes funny and other times heartbreaking. It helped me understand my own pets more, and inspired me to make a giant scratching post for my own cats. (You can read more about that adventure here.) Any book that causes you to go out and interact with the world is a boon for introverts like me.

My embarrassing admission of reader failure

I was psyched to read Wildwood, by Colin Meloy. One of my favorite things about The Decemberists, the band Meloy heads, is the way Meloy incorporates storytelling into his songwriting. I also love Carson Ellis's art, so a book written by him and illustrated by her struck me as the most exciting thing to happen all year. When I finally got my hands on an advanced copy of it and spotted illustrations of coyotes in military costume, I couldn't wait to run home to read it. I loved the first few chapters. Adventures in a forbidden wood! Crows kidnapping babies! Talking birds! The quirky characters and fearless vocabulary!

But then something happened that I've never encountered before. About a third of the way into the book, a character named Alexandra appeared, and it was like I hit a wall. Every time I read her name, it was distracting, like hearing your name called from another room. It brought me out of the story. Of course, this doesn't reflect any failure in the book itself; it was simply a weird coincidence that I'm sure other people have already learned how to deal with. I kept trying to forge ahead, but every time that character popped up, I came to a screeching halt. To my everlasting shame, I had to put the book down. I couldn't finish it. Does this happen to other people, or am I crazy and self-centered? I don't know. But if you have any advice that would help me finish Wildwood, I'd love to hear it.

Those are the book highlights for this year! I'll be back soon with a best/worst of movies post. In the meantime, if you want to know, here's a list of everything I read over the last 12 months.

FOR THE INTENSELY CURIOUS:

What I read in 2011

34. Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the U.S.A., by Julia Alvarez
33. Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
32. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
31. Chi's Sweet Home, v.1-7
30. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
29. The Character of Cats: The Origins, Intelligence, Behavior, and Stratagems of Felis Silvestris Catus, by Stephen Budiansky
28. The Cat Who Cried for Help: Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of Cats, by Nicholas H. Dodman
27. Devilish, Maureen Johnson
26. Spook, by Mary Roach
25. First Darling of the Morning, by Thrity Umrigar
24. Demonglass, by Rachel Hawkins
23. Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
22. Wildwood, by Colin Meloy
21. Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
20. Big Boned, by Meg Cabot
19. Size 14 is Not Fat, Either, by Meg Cabot
18. Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot
17. What Happened to Goodbye, by Sarah Dessen
16. Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein
15. Red Glove, by Holly Black
14. Nickle and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
13. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride
12. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
11. Bait and Switch, by Barbara Ehrenreich
10. The Guinea Pig Diaries, by A. J. Jacobs 

9. Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen
8. This Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen
7. The Mockingbirds, by Daisy Whitney
6. Matched, by Ally Condi
5. Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, by Susin Nielsen
4. A Feast for Crows, by George R.R. Martin
3. The Cloud Searchers (Amulet 3), by Kazu Kibuishi
2. The Stonekeeper's Curse (Amulet 2), by Kazu Kibuishi
1. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin

"RAMPION" IN RICH HORTON'S YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY 2012

I have a ton of exciting news waiting in the wings, but I can only share one piece of it today. The lineup for Rich Horton's The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012 has been announced, and my novella "Rampion" is going to be in it.

I'm doubly excited, because my friend Theodora Goss also has a story in the anthology called "Pug." I told my husband last night, and he said, "Hey, you guys are going to be anthology buddies!"

Dora writes these beautiful jewel-box stories that are sometimes fantasy, sometimes magic realism. When you read them, you instinctively want to read them carefully and make yourself slow down to admire the language. She has a lovely, unusual book called "The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two-Sided Love Story" coming out this January. You owe it to yourself to watch this book trailer:

The anthology also includes stories by three of my favorite authors, Kelly Link, Margo Lanagan, and Neil Gaiman (swoon). The release date hasn't been announced yet, but it will probably be sometime this summer. I'll post again as I hear more!

LAZY PIE POST + UNSOLICITED PIE ADVICE

My body seems to be going into its winter hibernation mode now that the sun is setting at 5 p.m., so instead of writing something for you, I'm going to post some pictures of a pie I made.

I'm the one on the right. Notice how I've artfully cropped out the frighteningly messy kitchen in the background?

This is a Granny Smith apple pie with homemade crust drizzled in honey. Would you like to see a close-up?

Oh, yes.

Until I started baking my own pies, I didn't realize this, but there are actually different kinds of apples you should use for different purposes. Granny Smiths are terrible eating apples, IMHO, but they make kick-ass pies.

Also, I love making little decorative shapes out of the leftover dough. This is actually far easier than it looks, and the recipe I found for the crust is soooooo goooooood. Don't let anyone tell you to use Crisco. (Sorry, Crisco.) Go ahead and use butter.

Hmmm, maybe this is why I never lose any weight, even though I exercise every day.