Books of 2011

As the year comes to a close, I look back at the books I've read. Here is my list with stars beside my favorites.

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

The Garden of Eden - Ernest Hemingway *

Imperial Bedrooms - Bret Easton Ellis

Sunstorm - Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter

The Odyssey - Homer

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

Banana: The Fruit that Changed the World - Dan Koeppel *

The Prism and the Rainbow - Joel W. Martin *

Moonlight Mile - Dennis Lehane *

Unscientific America - Chris Mooney

Jurassic Park - Micheal Crichton

The Lost Books of the Odyssey - Zachary Mason *

Napolean's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History - Penny Le Conteur and Jay Burreson *

FirstBorn - Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter

Uncle Tungsten - Oliver Sacks

Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones *

The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens

For the Love of Physics - Walter Lewin *

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A Heinlein

Galileo's Dream - Kim Stanley Robinson *

Book of Daniel - E. L. Doctorow

The Planets - Dava Sobel *

Atonement - Ian McEwan *

Comfort of Strangers - Ian McEwan

Solar - Ian McEwan

Tabloid City - Pete Hamill

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler *

Beating Back the Devil - Maryn McKenna *

God, no! - Penn Jillette

The Nature of Human Nature - Carin Bondar *

Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart *

The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth - Richard Conniff *

The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell * (I think this is probably the one that I was impacted the most by.)

Contact - Carl Sagan

Wow, I think this was a Sci-Fi year. A lot of good books and a few great ones. I was introduced to several new authors and enjoyed previously unread classics. I also read more non-fiction than usual and most of those were starred above.

My top five from the above list?

1. The Sparrow

2. Atonement

3. The Garden of Eden

4. Napolean's Buttons

5. Galileo's Dream

If you have any thoughts about the list or any suggestions for 2012, let me know.

Enjoy the Show!