Best of 2011: Books Read in 2011

…That were not published in 2011. I divide my favourite books of the year into two categories: The best books I read in 2011 that were not published in 2011, and the best books I read in 2011 that were published in 2011.

Both lists posed different challenges. I read a lot of books in 2011 which were published in different years, and I had trouble narrowing it down to five. It was easy, however ,to choose my five favourite books published in 2011, but impossible to rank them, because they’re some of my all-time favourites. Don’t worry, you’ll hear more about my angst over that tomorrow.

So, how did I solve the problem for today’s list? Well, I have six books on the list instead of five. I won’t tell if you wont.

                  6. You Against Me - Jenny Downham

"Do you want this to be a love story?"

Full disclosure: I finished this book yesterday, and it was the first book I read on my shiny new e-reader. So, I’m attached to it, and I’m not sure how I’ll handle it when the library copy expires and I can’t click on the steamy and sweet scenes anymore. Seriously, this was the first book in a long time I went into without expectations. Sure, I loved Before I Die, and I read reviews for it awhile ago, but I’d forgotten by the time I downloaded the book. I didn’t even remember what the plot was. And guys, that made for such a nice and surprising reading experience. I’m not a fan of third person, but Downham made me forget that the book was in third person (I didn’t realize it until I was a few pages in, honestly,) because she still brought my into the characters’ heads. The plot kept me turning the pages (and I’m not typically a stay-up-until-two-in-the-morning-reading girl) and the characters gave me a reason to care.

5. I Know It's Over - C.K. Kelly Martin

"How many times can a person break your heart?"

Read my full review here. Martin’s such a rockstar. I’d argue that she writes the most realistic books in YA today, and I Know It’s Over is the perfect example of it. Nick’s voice is smart and poignant and so real; it almost feels like he’s your brother, the way you grow to know and care about him. The plot could’ve been melodramatic, but it wasn’t; Martin told the story in an honest and heart-felt way, which made it feel like the story of your brother. Also, this book is so Canadian, and I think this is the first time that a book which isn’t about mining in the maritimes (you guys don’t understand how many of those I had to read for school,) has felt Canadian to me.

3. Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler

"I'm heavy, like there's too much gravity on my heart."

Read my full review here. Ugh, this was the perfect summer read. Not because it’s a light-hearted romance—don’t let the title fool you—but because it captures the magic of summer so well. This was the book I wish I read when I was a teenager. This book deals with so many themes I could relate to—loss, summer love, how to handle temporainess—and I’m sure others relate to, as well. It’s become a really personal  book to me.

3. Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins

"Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?"

It’s true, I didn’t read this until 2011. It’s the only book I read twice in 2011, actually; I read it for the first time in February, and for the second time when I went to Kazakhstan in July. I brought it to Kazakhstan because it’s the ultimate comfort read. Anna’s voice is perfect, self-deprecrating but still smart, and always funny. And, of course, there’s the Boy Wonder himself: Eh-tienne. I’m more of a Cricket girl myself, but St. Clair still made me swoon. This book is cute and poignant, and I think it’ll be my comfort-read for many years to come.

2. Please Ignore Vera Dietz – A.S. King

"If we're supposed to ignore everything that's wrong in our lives, then I can't see how we'll ever make things right."

To quote my goodreads review, "This is the kind of book that makes me wish I was a high school teacher so I could assign it to my students. It's just really, really good." And honestly, I don’t know what else to say about it. It’s just so good. But I’ll try anyway: It’s insightful but never pretentious. It has characters unlike any other characters I’ve read in YA that you care about. Its plot is page-tuner. It takes risks. It’s good.

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1. A Blue So Dark – Holly Schindler

"Sanity is a sonnet with a strict meter and rhyme scheme-and my mind is free verse."

Read my full review here. Honestly, there’s not much more that I can say that I didn’t say in my review. This book caught me so off-guard. I didn’t expect to like it. I definitely didn’t expect it to get inside me the way it did. But, it joins Sarah Dessen’s The Truth About Forever in being one of the few books that I’ve connected with in a way I can’t even describe. Not only did this book help me deal with some issues in my personal life, but it also made me write again. That’s a pretty powerful book.

My connection to is why it’s number one, but don’t think that means it’s any less brilliant of a book. The charactertization and portrayal of relationships is spot-on and the prose is brilliant and poignant. Of all the books I read in 2011, this is the one I’ll take the most from.

What were your favourite books read in 2011?

I'll post my  favourite books published in 2011 tomorrow!