120 books

So I did it. I read 120 books (+ counting) in 2011. I’m proud of myself and… I have nothing more to say, really - ‘cept for ~~**I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT!!!!**~~.

Here’s a recap of my good reads this year, in alphabetical order by title:

1. Applesby Richard Milward
2. Ballads of Suburbiaby Stephanie Kuehnert
3. Cracked Up to Beby Courtney Summers
4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
5. Goth Girl Risingby Barry Lyga
6. Hard Loveby Ellen Wittlinger
7. Kissing Annabelby Steven Herrick
8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianby Sherman Alexie
9. The Time It Takes to Fallby Margaret Lazarus Dean
10. The Virgin Suicidesby Jeffrey Eugenides
11. Vintage Veronica by Erica S. Perl
12. Will Grayson, Will Graysonby John Green and David Levithan

(Yes, as you might have noticed, I’m partial to YA. Very partial, actually.)

Here’s to moar and moar books to devoooouuuur! *clinking glasses… as in eyeglasses*

#111 of 2011: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Scientists claim fear and excitement are the same, so I couldn’t say what I really felt when I finally had this widely-acclaimed book in my hands. I was honestly afraid of it first because almost all my friends fell in love with it; at the same time, I was so eggzited because everybody seems to think it’s amazing, and I def didn’t want to miss out. Jonathan Safran Foer’s writing is experimental, but it’s not very hard to get into. It was clever he used a nine-year-old boy’s voice to tell this 9-11-inspired story, because it was fresh and practically got away with anything. The use of photos was also v. helpful in concretizing or painting the scenes in a couple of chapters. And my favorite thing about it is the fact that every chapter always gives you something to look forward to, what with the range of narrators Foer created. It’s probably a given that the story’s intense because of the 9-11 factor but it was also insightful and made you think quite profoundly about life.

#110 of 2011: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

For some idiotic reason, I put off grabbing a copy of this because I was so sure I wasn’t going to like it. What lie! Because after finally reading it, I feel like I’m never ever going to let go of this book. Junior’s story, the main character in the book who was from an Indian rez, touched me in so many ways, I am calling it as an ‘eye-opener’ book. I thought Sherman Alexie wrote such a brilliant YA story that not only introduced a different culture from all those ones in the mainstream YA novels but also one that made you actually experience and enjoy what it felt like to be, literally and figuratively, ‘different’ and made you realize it was okay (even more than okay) to stay true to being such. And if you’re thinking it’s cliched and all preachy, stop! It’s not at all. It’s a heart-breaking, enlightening, lifting story written in a marvelous way. I usually stray out of the way of award-winning books because I’ve had bad experiences with several, but this one, it really turned me around and reminded me never to miss taking a chance.