I love the Top 10 Books Meme at the Broke and Bookish, and this week, it asked for Top Ten Books On My List For Winter. I'm still working on finishing the 10 Books Published in 2011 On My Autumn Reading List, so instead I wanted to share the books that I enjoyed - and didn't enjoy - reading during the cold months of winter this year, since I wasn't blogging then.

Favorite Reads of Winter 2010-2011 (Plus the Books That Didn't Wow Me)

Favorite Books

The Hunger Games & Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (books 1 & 2). EXCELLENT series of books!

The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls. This is quite a disturbing memoir about what the author went through growing up - living like vagabonds and growing up dirt poor.

Mister X, John Lutz. The plot twists were superb and unexpected, which kept me interested and guessing all the way to the end.

Ravens, George Dawes Green. Loved the plot - family who wins millions is threatened by an opportunist who basically moves in with them and tells them his friend will kill their family members if they don't give him half the money. I thought the main characters were well developed - although I didn't get a clear feel for the son, who I think would have more ... feelings since he's a 10 year old boy - but overall I would recommend this book as an interesting read.

Shit My Dad Says, Justin Halpern. Really good read. The anecdotes are insightful and lots of "funny but true and why did you have to say it like that" moments.

True Evil, Greg Iles. I finished this book off in 2 days. Loved the complexity of the plot & the characters.

You've Got Murder, Donna Andrews. Really liked the concept of the story with an "Artificial Intelligence Personality" - basically a computer that's developing more than the program, and the author did well to develop the plot.

Good

Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King. The short stories are fictional but they show how humans can turn ... ugly in real situations. King does as an excellent job writing with enough vivid detail to bring the stories to life.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot. This book was hard to read, not because it wasn't well written, but because of the subject matter. It was well presented, but reading about cancer - tough for me - reading about exploitation for scientific research - also tough - exploitation of black people - incredibly difficult to hear, but so easy for me to understand. The author did a good job and making non-fiction into something that could be read by all. Some say it wasn't scientific enough, I say it might have been a touch too scientific for the general public.

The Lunatic, Anthony C. Winkler. I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion and telling my husband that "pum pum rule" all the time. To get this book, you have to understand Jamaican lingo - patois! A pretty solid read, and definitely memorable ... and for those that don't know, "pum pum" is what Jamaicans call the vajayjay.

This Is Not Civilization, Robert Rosenberg. Loved how the author managed to successfully weave an intricate story about relationships & cultures that span 3 countries - the US, Kyrgyzstan & Istanbul. The characters were well developed and the ending seemed sad, but I really liked it - life doesn't always have neat, happy endings ... even though I wouldn't mind that either.

Just Okay

The Angel Experiment, James Patterson. I liked the character development, and this might develop into a good series. But the book as a standalone didn't really do much for me. The kids had already escaped at the beginning, and didn't seem to accomplish much by the end.

Slammer, Allan Guthrie. Loved the wtf? ending - the author leaves it up to us to interpret a few things, but one thing is for sure - at the end, the main character is crazy! It was a little hard to imagine that he would go so ape-shit over the few things that happened to him - but then again, he was 22 and a prison guard, so it might not take much. If the author had gone into a little more depth about his immaturity, youth & possible instability in the first half of the book, then it would have been more realistic. That said - this was an interesting read.

Sourland: Stories, Joyce Carol Oates. Overall most of the short stories left me feeling like they were incomplete or that I didn't understand the ending. The characters though were memorable and very well developed. "Amputee" was the story I "liked" the most - I say "liked" but really none of these are happy tales. They are all really dark & twisted.

Tales from the Town of Widows: And Chronicles From the Land of Men, James Cañón. I liked the story concept, but the book was only mildly interesting to me. There could have been more interesting character development - especially with the only 22 remaining "boys" - and a village without men - seems like the story should have been much more vivid and intriguing.

The Calling, Inger Ash Wolfe. I liked the overall storyline, and I liked that the main character, the head detective in charge was a female in her 60s - I haven't read too many books with an older, tough female character. There were a few parts of the book that I thought were irrelevant and could have been left out, and there were parts that I thought weren't detailed (backstory only hinted at). I wasn't really moved to read anymore books in this series.

The 8th Confession, James Patterson. I thought the book was okay - but I would have preferred to see it as a 1 hour episode on the tele. I didn't like all the different seemingly unrelated murder/ crime cases going on simultaneously. Although the authors made the connection towards the end of the book, I wished they were less abrupt in the transitions.

The Yellow Room Conspiracy, Peter Dickinson. As an older couple reflects back on life before and after WW 2, and a murder of one of their acquaintances, which each thought the other did, I was intrigued and thought most of the characters well developed - some not so much. But I got a little bored as the story took a long time to play out.

The Giver, Lois Lowry. I wished there was more to the book, more exploration of the deeper undertones. I guess that's why there will be part 2, 3 etc. The best part was the ending - which, while I don't typically like open-endings, I thought this one was very interesting and could really lead to some great discussions.

Wtf?!

Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems, David Rakoff. The title drew me in, and after the 1st few pages I knew I had been suckered. It was too late though, I was committed. The title is the best title ever ... but alas the book is not a commentary on all the useless frivolities enjoyed by some, but a sort of memoir of the author's experiences with extreme comforts and meaningless (to some) practices. The book was not what I expected, and I wasn't thrilled with what it turned out to be.

Kraken, China Miéville. Just too much going on for me to handle - and most of it wasn't relevant. Every chapter there are new characters and new .. sub-plots to keep up with.

Other Reads
Starting Out Triathlon: Training for Your First Competition, Paul Huddle and The 12 Week Triathlete: Everything You Need to Know to Train and Succeed in Any Triathlon in Just Three Months - No Matter Your Skill Level, Tom Holland. Both books are really good if you're just about to start training for your first triathlon.

Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier, Terry Laughlin. I noticed improvement almost immediately on practicing the techniques.

- Photo Credit: Ken's Oven
- Meme via The Broke & Bookish