2011 in Review

What a year in books!  I read 40 books this year.  Of those 40, ten really stick out as favorites and one (new to me) series has captivated me.

Of course, Janet Evanovich makes that list of favorites.  She released two books in the Stephanie Plum series this year, Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen.  She also released Wicked Appetite, the first book in a new series featuring Diesel, a character from her "in between the numbers" Plum adventures.  Ms. Evanovich's books are hilarious, her characters charming and lovable, and her plots outrageous.  A true romp every time you open the cover of one of her books. 

In our book club this year, we read five books.  Three of those five make my favorites this year.  The Kitchen House, a novel about a white immigrant girl who is brought up as an indentured servant on a plantation; The Help, a heartbreaking but at the same time funny and uplifting story about household maids in the South during the 1960s; and The Book Thief.  The Book Thief is one of the most moving, incredible books I have ever read, and became one of my favorite books of all time.  I believe that this book should be taught to high school students, and should be on every book club's reading list.  This is a book that will become a classic.  The author, Marcus Zusak, is an artist with the written word.  I just cannot say enough about the power of this novel.

There were a few contemporary fiction novels that I read this year, recommended to me by friends that have also made my favorites of 2011.  The Art of Racing in the Rain, a novel about a man and his dog that touches your soul; Artichoke's Heart, a novel about an overweight girl who has had enough, and finally decides that it is time to make a change, and learns that there was a really special person there all along; and,  Garden Spells, a contemporary fiction novel with a little fantasy mixed in, that was sweet and satisfying.  I also read the last of the Hunger Games series, Mocking Jay, which was just as captivating as the first two.

Finally, I started reading the Outlander series, epic novels about a woman from the 1960s who accidentally steps through mystical stones and is taken 200 years back in time.  Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager.  Each book is over 1000 pages of adventure.  I finished the fourth book in the series (The Drums of Autumn) in January 2012, and plan to start on the fifth soon.

Books Read in 2011:

• The Witching Hour
• Mocking Jay
• The Cat Who Said Cheese
• The Rose Labyrinth (book club)
• Used to be Lovers
• Wicked Appetite
• Outlander
• Listen
• Garden Spells
• The Weight of Water
• Last Voyage of the Valentina (book club)
• The Age of Innocence
• Artichoke's Heart
• Just Revenge
• Dead Reckoning
• Rage of Angels
• Dragonfly in Amber
• Cold Service
• Sizzling Sixteen
• Smokin' Seventeen
• The Book Thief (book club)
• Millie's Fling
• Missing Pieces
• Weddings Can Be Murder
• The Art of Racing in the Rain
• Life Expectancy
• My Best Friend's Girl
• Heart of a Witch
• White Hot
• The Kitchen House (book club)
• Voyager
• Cry Sanctuary
• Bright Young Things
• The Help (book club)
• Man Law
• Fatal Judgement
• The Last Juror
• Safe Harbor
• Live to Tell
• Explosive Eighteen

Happy Reading!

Explosive Eighteen

Explosive Eighteen is the latest book in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.  This series is laugh out loud funny, and even after eighteen books it has yet to get old.  Janet is brilliant at writing simple, fun, humorous books.

In this latest escapade, Stephanie has returned from a not so relaxing trip to Hawaii, and is still juggling two men, who are both as sexy as ever.  The bail bonds office that she works for is being rebuilt, the skips she has to find are as outlandish as ever, her sidekick Lula comes so close to stealing the show that the reader wonders if she should have her own series.  The big mystery in this book involves Stephanie's nemesis Joyce Barnhardt.  Joyce is in trouble and needs Stephanie's help.  Stephanie needs Joyce's help, too.  Who would have thought these two would ever be able to work together?  The result is laugh out loud funny.

By the end of the book, the reader is left wondering if Stephanie is any closer to resolving her man issues.  My belief is that Ms. Evanovich is using these last few books to wrap up the series.  I hope this is not true, as I could read these books forever.  But it feels like she is finally trying to tie together the loose ends that unravel each time with Morelli and Ranger.  This book isn't my favorite in the series, but it was still great.

Happy Reading!