Oh, they probably turned it in for some books at the local community center. Where you think it's at, man?

I mentioned that I was thinking about book recommendations and I started wondering, Ok what was the best book I read this year? It's not quite the end of the year, but I decided since that is only a few weeks away, I'll just go ahead and post my list now.

And because that is simply too difficult of a question to answer, I split it into categories.



Category one: Fiction
Well, I picked two as the best from this category, but I am struggling with that so much that I can't even bring myself to definitively write them down.

I'm just going to do it!

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner


and

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok






Category 2: Nonfiction
I have a stand out favorite in this category. And I have recommended it to just about everyone I know.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand






Category 3: Classic Fiction
I can't actually finish this post without even a nod at the beautiful books that I read for my American Lit class.
Absolute favorite: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee




If you are interested in the full list for 2011, here it is:

Fiction
These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

Heat Rises by Richard Castle

Declaring Spinsterhood by Jamie Lynn Braziel

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Deep Down True by Juliette Fay
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

The Running Man by Stephen King

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

No Time Left by David Baldacci

Leaving Home by Jodi Piccoult

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen

Non-Fiction
Mars and Venus on a Date by John Gray
The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Change Anything by Kerry Patterson
Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley
Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo

Classic Fiction

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald