Posted on January 16, 2012
The Art of Reading For My Brain
Last January, I made a list of “try-hards”. They weren’t necessarily resolutions, but instead various things I endeavoured to do over the course of 2011. I wanted to move out of downtown Vancouver, so I did. I wanted to make more room in my life for yoga, and I have. I also wanted to read more than my average of two or three books over the course of one year…
Feel the need to lurk my bookshelf? Click here to view the large size of this photo.
Throughout 2011 I read no less than the following:
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama
- The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
- Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
- Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
- The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
- The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
In total, that equates to one book per month over an entire year. And the truth is that there may be one or two that I’ve forgotten about. J prescribes to the notion that “if you don’t use it, you lose it” when it comes to brain power, so 2012 has already started off well. It’s only mid-January and I’m already working on my second book of the year.
What are some of your favourite reads from 2011? Do you have any must-read books that you’d recommend?
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A Thousand Splendid Suns – by the author of the Kite Runner, but much better in my opinion. One of the best fictions I’ve read in years.
On the non-fiction front, In the Land of Invisible Women. One of the best looks at life for women in Arabia, of which I’ve read many.
Without a doubt, my favourite book I read in 2011 was The Golden Spruce (http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676976458). Written by Vancouver author, John Vaillant, this book had me hugging trees and longing to visit Haida Gwaii. I highly recommend it!
One Week. I haven’t seen the movie but I could not put the book down!
One of my favorites is the Kiterunner
The Golden Notebook was one of those books that changed me and the only book that really stands out from the list of what I read in 2011. It’s brilliant, frustrating yet completely engrossing, and I’ve never encountered a read that seemed to put me right inside a person’s head as much as that book did. Recommended!
Some recent ones I have liked:
“Water For Elephants” – Sara Gruen
“Tinkers” – Paul Harding
“The Importance of Being Earnest” – Oscar Wilde
“Invisible Monsters” (Chuck Palahniuk) is still one of my favorites though.