Faves of TwentyEleven – The books

Fave reads of 2011:

 
It is that time of the year, when we step back to reflect on the year passing, looking longingly to the year ahead, and wondering which were our best moments so far. This applies to the books we’ve read as well.

I still can’t believe that the year it’s almost over.. There are so many books that I loved, there are so many books waiting for me to pick them up and love them, there is so much joy in the world, and these books have given me (each) a little piece of it – of joy, of happiness, all powerful emotions, and a bit of ache from time to time just to appreciate the beauty of life.

So, let’s see… Let’s award the best  favorite books of the year.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the greatest of them all?

1. favourite book read in 2011

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Can you be in love with a book? I know that I can fall in love with a character, I had a few crushes here and there, but if I were to want to get married with a book, I would propose to this one in a heartbeat. Dear Graffiti Moon, will you please marry me?.. For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live, until my kindle do us part.. Will you? …Read More!

2. most powerful book

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Oh, this is a hard book to review and I know that I won’t make it justice so I won’t even try that much. One word: awesome! Why? Because is so complex and beautiful, and the characters are amazing and smart and funny, and the drama is not overwhelming, and the story makes you laugh and shudder, and when you think that you have it all figured out something changes drastically, and your head is spinning around …Read More!

3. brilliantly funny

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Ha-haa, what a fun way to spend the evening. This book was amazingly cute, and the characters too adorable for words. From Jordan and Henry, to JJ, Carter, Ty and the girls, and even the family members – they were all so great that I wished for them to be part of my life. They filled …Read More!

4. best ache-y, heart-breaking, tear-jerker read

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Oh boy, what a ride.This book is really amazing, for me it was better than the first one, and I enjoyed every single bit of it – the dreams, the purposes, the teenage drama, the family involvement, the friendships, the decisions and all those emotions radiating from my kindle like heatwaves from hot pavement.. it was all so beautiful I can barely describe it. It was a mix of happy moments and dramatic turnarounds …Read More!

5. most beautiful story

The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

I might need to change my rating system for this book to be given only 5 stars..
Also i need some time to sort out my feelings (between both overwhelming joy and sadness) and come up with a proper review, because i have lots of “wow”s in my mind right now, but i fear that it might not be enough to express how beautiful this book really is. This story really touched a soft spot in my heart …Read More!

6. delicious rainy day comfort read

The Education of Hailey Kendrick by Eileen Cook

“Tell me the truth. When you were a kid, did you always color inside the lines?”
“Coloring in the lines is the whole point. That’s why they have lines,” I said.
“That’s where you’re wrong. The lines are there just to hold you in. Like a prison.
Think what you might have created if there hadn’t been any lines.” …Read More!

7. adrenalin-fuelled, unputdownable award

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I picked up this book last night. It was late and I couldn’t sleep.
I didn’t intend to read it all, but just a bit, just a chapter or two, to clear my mind. Oh, what a terrible mistake. What I didn’t know is that you can’t read just a bit of it. This book is like glue – you hold it in your hands and you can’t put it down …Read More!

8. the beautiful prose award

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

“Killing time isn’t as difficult as it sounds. I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hands tick tick tick their final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocate seconds just by holding my breath. I’ve been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind.” …Read More!

9. most atmospheric and vivid setting

Blood Song by Rhiannon Hart

Another Aussie book on my shelf full of awesome. This is one of those books that you take in your hands and then you can’t put down. I started reading it late at night and the first thing I did in the morning was to finish it.. no breakfast for me until the last page …Read More!

10. i-so-want-to-go-there award

Timeless by Alexandra Monir

I’ve heard about loving a book from the very first page, but I’ve never felt this way before. Not until now… This was ‘love at first page’ and now my heart is broken because I want so badly to know what happens next. I’m holding my breath for the sequel and it’s gonna take a lot of waiting until the next one comes out. Read More!

11. most original and imaginative

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I was hooked from the very first page.. yes, I can say that again.
My mind is full of beautiful stories of angels and demons (is that the right word?), stories of love and hope, stories of mythical creatures in a war as old as the world itself… My mind is screaming: I want more, I need more! One word: Hope; Two words: Amazing story; Three words: I LOVED it!; Four words: Go read it NOW! …Read More!

12. best under-appreciated, hidden gem book

Betrayed by Ednah Walters

This is the second book in “The Guardian Legacy” series. I LOVE this series! To me, Awakened was like a better version of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, and Betrayed was like a better version of “The Mortal Instruments” by Cassandra Clare.Reading this book felt like meeting with an old good friend of mine – I remembered some of the things I liked in the first story and I got to know a lot more new interesting things from this one …Read More!

13. i-had-no-idea-i-would-love this-so award

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Wait!!! No whiny female character? No “I see you and I know that you are my soul mate”? No “you want to kill me and you treat me like crap but I am still madly in love with you”?.. No obsessing?!?
God, what’s ‘wrong’ with this book?! … yeah, I’m being ironic.. In fact I mean.. what’s right with this book? And the answer is: everything! …Read More!

14. most haunting story

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

I finished reading the book, then the author’s notes at the back, and still I kept thinking about this all… I felt so sad, I can’t even put into words how much disappointment and anger I have felt. Not for the book, or the characters, but for the whole damn human kind. Like the character in this book, I felt ashamed… Because what would we be without our humanity? …Read More!

15. outside my comfort zone but gosh how i loved it

Split by Swati Avasthi

I finished reading this book a while back but I didn’t really know what to say about it.
It feels a bit unfair to sit in my comfortable chair, living my ordinary peaceful life, and give my opinions about such an important subject as family violence. You read in the book about all those horrible scenes and you know that somewhere, someone is living that particular hell, that somewhere out there a monster treats his family like that, that somewhere there are kids suffering and you can’t do anything to help them …Read More!

16. series that i’m loving

Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant

Book1: Feed
Book2: Deadline
What did I expect? Ahh.. zombies?! Duh! I mean I am not a zombie fan, not at all, but this book was highly recommended to me so I said “What the hell, I am reading it, and I’m sure I’m gonna love it!”
What did I get? A lot more than that …Read More!

17. always recommending this book award

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

“You see, the best thing about wrong decisions is that they don’t prevent you from making the right decisions later on. It’s harder, but it’s not impossible”
I’ve been waiting to read this book from the moment I first saw the cover. Look at it. Isn’t it beautiful? Not only the girl and the boy (they are cute), but that precise moment […] that fills your heart with joy and anticipation and in every cell of your body you feel that you are alive …Read More!

18. completely awesome premise award

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I am as silent as death. Do this: Go to your bedroom. Your nice, safe, warm bedroom that is not a glass coffin behind a morgue door. Lie down on your bed not made of ice. Stick your fingers in your ears. Do you hear that? The pulse of life from your heart, the slow in-and-out from your lungs? Even when you are silent, even when you block out all noise, your body is still a cacophony of life. Mine is not. It is the silence that drives me mad. The silence that drives the nightmares to me. Because what if I am dead? …Read More!

19. would make the best movie

Legend by Marie Lu

I am always afraid to read a book that I’ve been holding my breath for it to come out. Legend is one of those. I had high hopes and I am glad to say that my expectations have been met. [..] What I liked about this book is the action and turnarounds. I liked how I thought I had it all figured out one moment and then something went terribly wrong. It made me hold my breath through the story and I couldn’t put the book down until the very last page …Read More!

20. want to re-read already

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

I don’t know why it is advertised the way it is, but the content of this books is lighter compared to some other books. SHUT OUT is more about discovering yourself, defining what is ‘normal’ by your own terms, not letting other people’s life control what you want to do, respecting yourself and your body and making decisions based on what makes you feel happy, and comfortable, and safe. It’s about the pressure from the others and not letting it bother you, change you, define you …Read More!