Book-It 'o11! Summation!

[alivemagdolene]

In a hustle to get this shit out of the way, I'm posting and have decided to omit a book since I did technically finish it in 2012, albeit only a few hours in. See the dedication I have to my own set challenges? Sometimes? At any rate, here's a wrap up of last year's Fifty Books Challenge!

Favorite Books:
A Century and Some Change: My Life Before the President Called My Name

Llewellyn's 2011 Witches' Companion: An Almanac for Everyday Living

The Guerilla Art Kit

You'll Never Know Book Two: Collateral Damage

Rose of No Man's Land

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

Full Dark, No Stars

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir

Blankets

Habibi

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Volume II

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Volume I

V For Vendetta

Bunny Drop, Vol. 1

Bunny Drop, Vol. 2

Market Day

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Hark! A Vagrant


Least Favorite Books:

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes

Sing You Home: A Novel

In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood

So Much Pretty: A Novel

Finding Marjorie West

The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel)

Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years

Delirium's Party: A Little Endless Storybook

The Little Endless Storybook

Mister Wonderful: A Love Story

Green River Serial Killer--Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

Liar's Kiss


Books That Felt Like a Sisyphean Ordeal:

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes

It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living

Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years


Books That Made Me Want to Smack the Author(s):
Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes

Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook: Wonderfully Witchy Blessings, Charms & Spells

Sing You Home: A Novel

In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood

Finding Marjorie West

The Help

Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years

Green River Serial Killer--Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

Liar's Kiss


Books That Helped Me Look at the World in a New Way:
A Century and Some Change: My Life Before the President Called My Name

Llewellyn's 2011 Witches' Companion: An Almanac for Everyday Living

The Guerilla Art Kit

Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

Full Dark, No Stars

Lost and Found: The True Story of Jaycee Lee Dugard and the Abduction that Shocked the World

It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living

Secrets in the Cellar: a True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir

Blankets

Anya's Ghost

Habibi

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Volume II

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Volume I

V For Vendetta

The War Within: One More Step at a Time

Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years

Bunny Drop, Vol. 1

Bunny Drop, Vol. 2

Green River Serial Killer--Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

Market Day

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

American Splendor: Another Dollar


Books I've Already Recommended to People:
A Century and Some Change: My Life Before the President Called My Name

Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

Full Dark, No Stars

It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media

Habibi

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Volume II

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Volume I

Hark! A Vagrant


Most Disappointing Books:

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes

Paint it Black

Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook: Wonderfully Witchy Blessings, Charms & Spells

The Onion Presents A Book of Jean's Own!: All New Wit, Wisdom, and Wackiness from The Onion's Beloved Humor Columnist

In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood

So Much Pretty: A Novel

Finding Marjorie West

Anya's Ghost

The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel)

Jack the Ripper: A Journal of the Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889

Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years

Delirium's Party: A Little Endless Storybook

The Little Endless Storybook

Green River Serial Killer--Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale

Bunny Drop, Vol. 3

The Best American Comics 2010


Most Depressing (as in Sadness-Inducing) Books:

Paint it Black

Dearest Anne: A Tale of Impossible Love

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

Full Dark, No Stars

Lost and Found: The True Story of Jaycee Lee Dugard and the Abduction that Shocked the World

Secrets in the Cellar: a True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir

Blankets

The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel)

V For Vendetta

Market Day

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty


Most Uplifting Books:
Llewellyn's 2011 Witches' Companion: An Almanac for Everyday Living

It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

Habibi

V For Vendetta

Comments

[meaculpa-g.livejournal.com]

You have so much patience! If I'm not immediately taken with something, I rarely pick it up again. Exhibit A. Tried to read The Help over a weekend in order to help a student with an essay. Got through a few chapters before I realized that I would rather take a knife to the abdomen than endure the entire thing.

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

Holy typos, Batman! This is why I shouldn't compose entries (well, like this) while doing a million other things.

Really, I'm the same way regarding my first impression of a book.
The Help was considerably helped along by the fact I was reading it during the time the hurricane wiped out our power and I really needed to focus AWAY from the fact I couldn't get on the internet.

That book is (unintentionally) almost hilarious, were it not for the fact so many people take it as "historical" truth. The liberties the author took with history (uh, among many other things) were leaps and bounds, as you might imagine. That's not even my period of history and I was correcting minute shit going "Nope... nope... no... uh uh...."
What pisses me off aside from the fact it's being lauded as such an "important" work is the fact that it COULD'VE told an empowering story about that period that we haven't heard, since so very many exist, they just haven't been given the exposure they so richly deserve. But instead this author comes up with this Disney fairytale of race relations and segregation and FOR FUCK'S SAKE, USE AN EDITOR AND/OR TAKE THE DAMN "HISTORICAL EDITOR"'S NOTES, YOU FATHEAD. Ahem.

< /ranty panties >

[meaculpa-g.livejournal.com]

From what I recall, your review of the book REALLY helped me out, i.e., allowed me to help a student while saving me from having the read the whole thing.

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

Geezum Crowz... the next time that happens, hit me up! I'll be glad to play Cliff's Notes (I howl at that notion, but hopefully you get the idea) to spare you a foul read. Particularly when I was almost gleefully taking notes of the historical errors.

[meaculpa-g.livejournal.com]

Also, I really really really want to read Habibi.

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

FUN FACT: The book contains illustrations of Mohammed. Seriously. But it's done in the most gorgeous and I'm going to assume respectful way.

[klaudyna.livejournal.com]

Yay, the good list has something I rec'd you!!! I wish you lots of anazing and eye-opening book experiences in 2012. <3

[klaudyna.livejournal.com]

Anazing? Kinda sounds dirty but I'm not sure why...

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

Or awesome. ANAZING!

[alivemagdolene.livejournal.com]

Silly, of course it does! ^_^ And you, too! ♥

I have to admit, one of the reasons I generally don't solicit suggestions (for this challenge) is that I'm such a nitpicky cunty reviewer and I would absolutely hate to end up loathing a book a friend loves and suggested to me. I'm not saying that I think everyone's going to agree with every book I post, but it just seemed extra nasty to pick apart a book that obviously means a lot to someone who means a lot to me. I've had that happen to me too many times. :^|

[klaudyna.livejournal.com]

Oh, I understand what you mean so well! I feel guilty in general when I don't enjoy something a friend rec'd, and sometimes even end up lying about it, which is absolutely ridiculous on so many levels...