My top 5 books in 2011

This seems to be the thing to do as we end the year, so I figured I would jump on the band wagon. These books might not have been published in 2011, but I first read and enjoyed them this year. So without further ado, the five books I read this year and you should read next year!

Plain Kate by Erin Bow– When Kate’s wood-carver father dies, she is left to support herself with her woodworking talent while living in her father’s former market stall with a cat named Taggle. When Linay, a mysterious and magical stranger, comes to town and buys Kate’s shadow, he gives her the money she needs to escape her village home, where people are blaming her for the hard times that have fallen on them. It is rumored that her talent comes from magic, but Kate’s journey leads to unexpected consequences and danger for her and the Roamer family whom she joins. It’s up to Kate; her new friend, Drina; and Taggle to defeat Linay with their own magic, as they come to discover the truth about his past and his desire for revenge.

I really can’t say enough about this book, I just fell in love with it from the moment I saw the cover. I love any fantasy that sucks you in and won’t let you leave the world. All I have to do is think about this book and I’m back in that world even though it’s been months since I read it. Great for any lover of fantasy!

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey– Will Henry is the 12-year-old apprentice to Pellinore Warthrop, a brilliant and self-absorbed monstrumologist–a scientist who studies (and when necessary, kills) monsters in late-1800s New England. The newest threat is the Anthropophagi, a pack of headless, shark-toothed bipeds, one of whom’s corpse is delivered to Warthrop’s lab courtesy of a grave robber. As the action moves from the dissecting table to the cemetery to an asylum to underground catacombs, Yancey keeps the shocks frequent and shrouded in a splattery miasma of blood, bone, pus, and maggots. The industrial-era setting is populated with leering, Dickensian characters, most notably the loathsome monster hunter hired by Warthrop to enact the highly effective “Maori Protocol” method of slaughter.

Another book that had me hooked with the cover. Such a dark premise that in no way disappointed. Even though the book is a little long, I breezed through it with no problem, eager to see what happened next. I’ve read the first two books now, and I’m looking forward to reading the next in 2012.

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick– It could happen tomorrow . . .
 An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions. Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP. For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Amazing, scary, hard to put down. Can not WAIT for the second book. I love a book that hooks you in a way you totally didn’t expect, and I went into this one not knowing what it was about. Boy was I surprised and thrilled by it. Sure, it’s a bit more end of the world stuff, but Bick presents it in a much more raw, engaging way than I’ve ever seen before.

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff– In the wake of a wildly disastrous affair with her married archaeology professor, Willie Upton arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York, where her hippie-turned-born-again-Baptist mom, Vi, still lives. Willie expects to be able to hide in the place that has been home to her family for generations, but the monster’s death changes the fabric of the quiet, picture-perfect town her ancestors founded. Even further, Willie learns that the story her mother had always told her about her father has all been a lie: he wasn’t the random man from a free-love commune that Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely. Someone from this very town. As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, she discovers that the secrets of her family run deep. Through letters, editorials, and journal entries, the dead rise up to tell their sides of the story as dark mysteries come to light, past and present blur, old stories are finally put to rest, and the shocking truth about more than one monster is revealed.

I really don’t know what it was about this book that attracted me. It’s nothing like most of what I read, but it held me in thrall. I listened to the audiobook version and I would actually take walks just to listen to more of it. The way the present and past stories weave together was perfect. Groff has a new book scheduled for 2012 and I am more than psyched about it!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins– In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games,” a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.

Okay, it felt a bit obvious to pick this book, but it’s just so damn good! I can’t think of another series that I have recommended to so many people and waited so eagerly for them to finish so we could talk about it. I only hope the movie can live up to the book.

So there’s my top five books for the year. Next week I’m going to be posting the five books I’m most looking forward to reading this year!