Happy New Year!

Today I welcomed in the New Year with a trip to Barnes & Noble with The Kid.  We are not a good combination in a book store.  We got into a book spell.  We grab everything we see.  We even discussed how awesome it would be to be snowed in a Barnes for a few days.  Books and Starbucks!  Sounds like a dream come true.
My 2011 book total ended up being 105.  Not bad.  I have been obsessively reading the last month.  I am going to admit I have been reading too much!!  There are nights when I get home from work it is time for bed and I have not done anything but read.  That can make it hard to sleep.  My brain does not get down time.  Tru Stories wants to know some of the best books I have read this year.  She is pretending she is going to read.  Here are books I rated a 5.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb - His books are not easy reads.  They are very unique books to read.  Tru Stories, you will not enjoy his books.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova - The Old Lady and I really enjoyed this book.  It is not a feel good story!  It is about a woman that has early onset Alzheimer's.  Once again, not a book for TS.

The Boy In Striped Pajamas by John Boyne - Big NO!  It is about a concentration camp.

Room by Emma Donoghue - This is about a girl that was kidnapped and kept in a room.  I think I see a pattern with the books that get a 5!  They are not sweet, feel good stories.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld - TS you might enjoy this story.  It is loosely based on Laura Bush.  Alice is just an ordinary girl that meets and falls for a charismatic, affluent man.  It is a great read.

The First Day of The Rest of My Life by Cathy Lamb - Not related to Wally Lamb.  It is a tragic story about sisters.  They have a fairy tale life under their father dies and their mother remarries. 

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka - This is one that TS might be able to enjoy.  It is about Japanese Picture Brides or mail order brides.  They think they are coming to the United States to have wonderful marriages.  In truth, they are told lies and brought to work.  I wrote that it reads like poetry.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt - I gave you this to read TS.  It is a nice story with interesting characters.

Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto - Three years after her husband Max's death, Shelly has not adjusted to his loss.  This is a story about a man that cannot die.  It is a modern fairy tale.  Interesting story.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - TS will not read this.  I have it on my Kindle.  Do not own the book.  It is a true story about an Olympic athlete that becomes a prisoner of war.  Great story about human strength.

Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz - Not a feel good story. 

The Oprah Winfrey Show - (Coffee table book).  TS you will enjoy this. 

That is 12 books that I rated 5.  Seems like a high number.  There are more books that are rated 4.  More of those have a light subject matter.  They might be easier for a mother of 3 to find time to read.  We will baby step TS back into reading. 

Back to my first story of 2012.  It is the book after Reservation Road called, Northwest Corner.