Best/Worst Lit. Moments of 2011

[dwanollah]

Books? Blogs? Publishing? iPads? Rank 'em for 2011!

[Deleted]

Best: I enjoyed all the literary books with fantastical elements that came out this year: The Night Circus, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, The Tiger's Wife.

Worst: Sweet Valley Confidential was a huge disappointment. The bloggers and recap sites have much more love for that series and its characters than Francine Pascal does.

[americanchai]

Best: Re-discovering the library! Free books! Ditching my subscription to W magazine because it sucks now. Falling back in love with Jane Austen.

Worst: Currently reading Christopher Plummer's autobiography which came out in 2008. Some library patron before me was apparently the grammar nazi and part-time literary critic because this person wrote all over the copy I'm reading, including making what they seem to think were snarky comments directed to the author, as if he would pick up this particular copy from a library in Atlanta, Georgia, and go, "my stars! I did misuse the word `literally' many times in this tome! Let me have every copy pulped and re-print it for this genius of grammar!"

[Deleted]

Best book: Super Sad True Love Story by Shteyngart.

Best blog: hyperboleandahalf.

Best, I don't know, semi-related thing: my 7-year old nephew's new habit of writing short books and selling them to me for a dollar a piece. I mean, honestly...

[eveschmeve]

Best: Bossypants! I love Tina Fey. Also haven't read them yet (expecting them as gifts), but That is All by John Hodgman and the new Mindy Kaling book sound fabulous.

Worst: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I'm so, so bummed. Middlesex is one of my favorite books of all time, and I was really looking forward to a new book from him after 8 years, and it was so disappointing. I didn't like the characters, and he got so bogged down in obscure literary references it was hard to read at times.

[kateln]

Best: The Night Circus and Bossypants. I could not put either down until I was done with them. The Night Circus managed to really make you feel as though you were actually a part of the world, you could smell the caramel in the apples practically, without going overboard in the descriptions.

Worst: I wouldn't say that these were terrible, just more of a let down but Snuff by Terry Pratchett and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns... by Mindy Kaling. Generally I LOVE the Night Watch books by Pratchett, but I just can't seem to get into this one. I read it in spurts--but it doesn't hold my attention like other books in that mini-series have. As for Mindy's book, I like her. I think she's very funny. But I was reading a blog in book form, and it just wasn't a great book.

[iClaudia]

Best: Finally getting an e-reader. My reading habits had gotten pretty poor and mostly ended up re-reading books I'd read before. I've discovered a lot of great books that are available in digital editions. As for 2011 books, I really enjoyed "Definitely Not Mr. Darcy". It was a lot of fun and I appreciated all of the research related to the Regency period that went into.

Worst: "Satan's Sisters" by Star Jones. I bought it for a friend who is a fan of "The View" and decided to read the e-book. It didn't start out really well but it completely fell apart at the end (i.e., "Wait... what happened to....). If it was properly ghost-written, I don't think this would have happened so I'm inclined to believe that while Star probably had A LOT of input, she wrote it herself.

[butternut]

Worst: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I'm so, so bummed. Middlesex is one of my favorite books of all time, and I was really looking forward to a new book from him after 8 years, and it was so disappointing. I didn't like the characters, and he got so bogged down in obscure literary references it was hard to read at times.

I am reading this book now, and actually love the literary references for various reasons, but I spoiled myself right before the last section started. Now I have no desire to finish it. I did the same thing with the final "Hunger Games" book last week. Frustrating...on a light note, I did really enjoy "Spoiled" by the Fug Girls, but I love them so bias admitted.

[Deleted]

Dec 15, 2011 22:21:18 GMT -4 kateln said:

The Night Circus managed to really make you feel as though you were actually a part of the world, you could smell the caramel in the apples practically, without going overboard in the descriptions.

Mmmm and the chocolate popcorn.

[Smilla]

My Best/Worst moment is actually the same book (spoilered because the memory of it still creeps me out and gives me bad flashbacks): Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life. It was the single most disturbing reading experience I have ever had. It also made me feel less alone re: my own abuse issues, and, somewhat inappropriately, it made me feel better about my own life. Namely, that I actually have one. Because it was such a graphic story, however, I can't call it a 'good' book. Not something I'm going to read again, and not a book I can exactly 'recommend' to anyone.