Lauren's Complete List for the Year 2011

 Well, here it is.  All the books that I read in 2011.  I fell short of my goal, but I am still proud of what I did accomplish because this was a busy year with not a whole lot of time for reading!  There are 40 books and a total of 14,147 pages.

1. Playing the Game by Barbara Taylor Bradford (385)
2. Pursuit by Karen Robards (365)
3. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (309)
4. Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz (403)
5. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (288)
6. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (549)
7. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (391)
8. Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson (309)
9. True Colors by Kristin Hannah (494)
10. Black Hills by Nora Roberts (472)
11. The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner (402)
12. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult (466)
13. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (331)
14. The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner (466)
15. Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (336)
16. In too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz (324)
17. The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen (350)
18. The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen (366)
19. Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (305)
20. Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal (205)
21. Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner (359)
22. Naked Heat by Richard Castle (288)
23. The Funny Thing Is... by Ellen Degeneres (177)
24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (759)
25. Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner (284)
26. The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen (355)
27. Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah (377)
28. My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson (341)
29. Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger (368)
30. Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (273)
31. She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot (354)
32. Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (278)
33. Love You More by Lisa Gardner (351)
34. Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt (166)
35. Who Loves You Best by Tess Stimson (261)
36. The Baby Planner by Josie Brown (278)
37. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (305)
38. The Next Always by Nora Roberts (324)
39. Matched by Ally Condie (366)
40. Crossed by Ally Condie (367)

L #40- Crossed

This is the second book in Ally Condie's Matched series.  The story begins where the last left off.  Cassia is trying to track down Ky's location since he has been transferred to the outer provinces.  This story is action packed.  Cassia escapes her work assignment to go find Ky.  When she gets to the outer provinces, she realizes that Ky has escaped as well.  She begins a long, treacherous journey through the Carving, to try to find Ky.  She also learns about the a group of people who are trying to go back to the way things were before the Society existed.  There are also secrets to be learned about Xander, and even though he isn't prominent in this story, Condie has set it up for him to be very important to the third story in the trilogy.

I loved this book.  I read it in an afternoon.  I am disappointed to have to wait till later in 2012 for the 3rd book to come out.

367 pages.

L #39- Matched

I picked up this Ally Condie book at a scholastic book sale.  My sister in law works there and informed me that this is the first in what will be a trilogy.  Normally I scoff at young adult books, but given I learned my lesson when the Harry Potter series proved to be the most amazing books ever (I admit I was wrong!), I thought I'd give YA books another chance.  I'm glad I did.

This is the story of a dystopian society.  Cassia Reyes is ready for her Matching ceremony.  This is where the Society tells each young adult who they are to marry.  The Society decides everything.  Who you marry, where you live, what your job is, what you eat, etc.  Cassia has looked forward to this day for awhile.  But when the time comes, she finds that her match is someone she knows, her childhood friend Xander.  She brings her microcard, with the information she needs to know about her match, home to view it.   She is shocked when she uses the microcard and realizes another boy's picture shows up.  It is another boy she knows, named Ky.  Cassia and Ky begin to fall in love.  And Cassia realizes there are flaws in the Society.  At the end, it is perfectly set up for the next book.

I very much enjoyed this story.  It was an easy read, with a fun topic.  I love stories that get your mind turning and make you wonder how a world like that would be to live in.

This one had 366 pages.

L #38- The Next Always

I used to read Nora Roberts all the time.  I was a sucker for her love stories.  After reading almost all of them, I found the formula predictable and boring.  I had trouble picking them up again.  But I grabbed this one on a whim.  And, while it was still the same old formula, I still really enjoyed it.  This one is going to be a trilogy.  It is about 3 brothers who are building an inn in the town of Boonsboro.  Obviously, they are each going to find love in their individual stories (surprise, surprise!).

324 pages.

L #37- The Language of Flowers

This book, written by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, was very intriguing.  The story is about Victoria, a girl who has been raised entirely in foster care.  At 18, with nowhere to live, she plants a garden in the park.  Eventually she finds a job with a florist.  The story moves between past and present, showing the reader how Victoria came to know the language of flowers and how it has changed, and continues to change, her life.

While this story was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading the meanings of different flowers, I never felt "attached" to Victoria's character.  It made it more difficult to finish this book.  But I still think Diffenbaugh is a fantastic writer.

This one had 305 pages.

L #36- The Baby Planner

This book, by Josie Brown, is about Katie Johnson.  When she loses her job due to budget cuts, she plans to open her own business.  Katie loves babies and decides to run a business helping women plan for the baby's arrival.  She helps them find the safest products, decorate their nursery, etc.  Her husband, Alex, doesn't want to have any children and this is a constant source of tension between them. 

This was another quick read that I enjoyed.  While I didn't agree with a lot of the choices Katie made, it was still fun to read about them.  There is a twist at the end that I definitely saw coming, so it wasn't as climactic as it probably should have been. 

This one had 278 pages.

L #35- Who Loves You Best

Who Loves You Best by Tess Stimson is the story of Clare.  A woman who supposedly has it all; her own business, a gorgeous, younger, husband and is expecting her first babies....twins.  When life doesn't go according to plan and Clare hires Jenna, a nanny, to care for her children, Clare and Jenna both learn valuable lessons about life and love and motherhood. 

I very much enjoyed this story.  Tess Stimson has a way of writing that makes it easy to flip through the pages quickly.  And while some of the story was very predictable, it was still a really fun read.

This one had 261 pages.

M #24-31

24 - The Warlock (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5) by Michael Scott
25- A Dance with Dragons (A song of Ice and Fire #5) by George R R Martin
26 - Tiassa (Vlad Taltos Series #13) by Steven Brust
27 - The Lost Hero (Heros of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan
28 - The Son of Neptune (Heros of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan
29 - Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan
30 - A Kingdom Besieged (Chaoswar Saga #1) by Raymond Feist
31 - Inheritance (Inheritance Cycle #4) by Christopher Paolini