The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson

The title says it all, really. There's lot of consuming of rum, and it's a diary.

I really loved this book!

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Generally, I avoid books with vampires. Not that I hate them (there are really good books out there), just that I hated The Twilight Saga, which killed the desire in me to read any other vampire book ever again. But I kept hearing about it a lot, so I figured I give it a try.

I liked the main character, Diana, at the beginning as being stubborn, intelligent and independent. But after she fell in love with a vampire, Matthew, it started to feel like I'm reading The Twilight Saga again - vampire watching her sleep, being possessive, deciding what she could or could not do, keeping things from her etc. Sounds familiar? And he has to be next to her every minute of the day. Sadly, she doesn`t find this disturbing. I guess, that's love...
Another thing that got on my nerve was detailed description of Diana eating and drinking tea. There was too much of it.

But I liked the scenery - Oxford, the library, and Diana's aunt house.
I read it in 2 two days, so I can say it was an easy read and a page-turner. And I do feel like I'm going to read the second book of the series, which is released in July this year. I just want to know what happens next.

2012

I'm not going to challenge myself to read more books this year, because my life and work is so unpredictable and there may come times when I'm unable to pick up a book weeks on end, but I do hope to keep the steady pace of one book per week. 52 is pretty neat number to end a year.

Books 2011

I read exactly 37 books in 2011. Not much, but considering I didn't read at all from January till May (that makes about 1 book per week), I do feel pleased with myself...a little:)

And here's the list of the books I read 2011:

1. Burned Alive by Souad
2. Memoirs of a Not So Dutiful Daughter by Jenni Murray
3. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
4. Sickened by Julie Gregory
5. Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder
6. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
7. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
8. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
11. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
12. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
13. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
14. Ghost Story by Peter Straub
15. Crazy by William Peter Blatty
16. Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
17. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
18. The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch
19. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
20. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
21. Paranormality: Understanding the Science of the Supernatural by Richard Wiseman
22. 1st to Die by James Patterson
23. 2nd Chance by James Patterson
24. Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by Luke Harding & David Leigh
25. God Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe
26. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
27. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
28. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
29. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
30. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
31. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
32. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
33. L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad
34. Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan
35. The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
36. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
37. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway