Saturday, December 31, 2011
Rules. This post breaks a lot of them. It was supposed to be posted on Thursday -- it's now Saturday. It was supposed to be a top 10 -- it's a top 12. Actually more like top 16, because we were each supposed to pick our top 3 -- but we all had ties!

Oh but wait, with the overlaps, it turns out to be 10 after all... Well at least we did something right. :P

Anyway, without further ado, here are our favorite books of 2011:


Ingrid
  1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Deep sigh. Genius.
  2. (tie) If I Stay / Pegasus - I'm torn in two. They're so different but so amazing.
  3. Entwined - Love the family dynamics in this book, which is something I want more of in YA.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1) If I Stay (If I Stay, #1) Pegasus Entwined

Stephanie
  1. (tie) Daughter of Smoke and Bone / Pegasus - I loved everything about these books, especially the flying.
  2. Entwined - The Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my favorite stories when I was little, and I was delighted to see it re-envisioned.
  3. Mockingjay - I was a bit late getting to this book, but I was blown away. I can't wait to see the films!
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1) Pegasus Entwined Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)

Kristan
  1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - This book devastated me.
  2. Pegasus - Somehow Robin McKinley manages to make even her infodumps seem magical and interesting. And seriously, who wouldn't want to be bound to a pegasus?
  3. (tie) The Sky Is Everywhere / The Book Thief - Two completely different books, but both so very special. Lovely prose in particular.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1) Pegasus The Sky Is Everywhere The Book Thief

Sarah

All of my favorite picks have everything to do with character on top of good storytelling.
  1. (tie) Chime / Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Love how my imagination stretches to include the Boggy Mun and teeth = wishes.
  2. Fire - Read this for the first time this year, and I'm absolutely obsessed.
  3. Imaginary Girls - Even now, Ruby haunts me.
Chime Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1)  Fire (The Seven Kingdoms, #2) Imaginary Girls

So, um, it's probably pretty clear what our favorite book of the year is, collectively. Congratulations, Laini Taylor. Your writing picked us up on satin wings, flew us to the moon, and then let us freefall back to Earth. We may never recover (but oh boy what a ride).

What was your favorite read (or reads) of 2011? You can link to your post if you have one.

With that, we bid this year adieu. Have a fun and safe New Year's Eve -- we'll see you on the 2012 side! (And don't forget this is your last day to enter our Holly Jolly Giveaway.)

5 comments:

Sara (of the Page Sage) said...

Great choices! (especially The Book Thief :) I just did a list like this for Top Ten Tuesday, but I couldn't keep it to only ten! haha

Erica said...

I still need to read quite a few of these. Everyone tells me The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is so amazing - I really need to make an effort to read that one soon.

Jim said...

Some great picks there - definitely agree with the gorgeous prose of The Sky Is Everywhere and The Book Thief!

I seem to be one of the few people who's read Daughter of Smoke and Bone who hasn't got it in my top 10 - although that was partly because I loved the first half or so hugely and then thought it went downhill just a tiny bit. Still a great pick, though!

Will have to check out some of the others on your list.

We Heart YA said...

@Sara-
10 is so hard!! Next year we might do all our faves, no limits.

@Erica-
DOSAB is so wonderful. Definitely worth a read, even if it doesn't turn out to be a favorite.

@YA Yeah Yeah-
We've seen a couple other people on forums who didn't love it as much as we did. And that's totally fair. But what most people do agree about is that the writing in it is gorgeous and masterful, and the imagination wildly rich.

P.E. said...

I honestly have no idea what my favourite is. Maybe The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan or Divergent by Veronica Roth. Both have lots of action and awesome characters.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone never really clicked for me *sigh*, but Pegasus was such a cool read. Same with If I Stay, I read it this year and I loved it. I can see why many of you like Entwined, I completely agree about the need for more family dynamics in YA. My favourite part of that book was probably the relationship with her dad!

Great post and have a great 2012!

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Stephanie, Ingrid, Sarah & Kristan — we read, write, discuss and celebrate Young Adult lit.


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on the shelf

The Bitter Kingdom
Wild Awake
The Raven Boys
Mind Games
Eleanor and Park
The Shattered Mountain
The Shadow Cats
Transparent
Froi of the Exiles
Days of Blood & Starlight
Every Day
Jellicoe Road
Finnikin of the Rock
Guitar Notes
The Dead-Tossed Waves
The Crown of Embers
New House 5: How A Dorm Becomes A Home
Bitterblue
The Fault in Our Stars
Pretties


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