Best of the Summer 2011 Challenge

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

What were your favorite books of the Summer 2011 Challenge?

[Dee]

i think my favorite was Kushiel's Dart that I read for the 700+ page in the 50 point task - my friend had been on me a while to read it and glad i finally did - I purchased the next 2 in the series, before I finished the first on

I would also add Beautiful Disaster (not the one with the horrendous tongue picture on the cover) and Letters From Home

[Riona]

I had so many good ones this season!

All 5 stars:
Cloud Atlas
The Savage Detectives
Paper Towns
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Oryx and Crake
To Say Nothing of the Dog


(I rarely give out 5*, so to have this many in 3 months is really something)

[Isabell]

I usually can't decide on what I like best, so I'll have my three favorites here:

Little Women would probably become the first. I loved the story and felt instantly drawn in (I think it really was in the first paragraph that I began to love it).

Jane Eyre comes as a close second. I was surprised at how much I liked it after I had my problems with Wuthering Heights by Charlotte's sister Emily.

Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr and Abhorsen are two books but I think of them more like one, because Lirael ends with a real cliffhanger and Abhorsen starts right where Abhorsen left off, so it's basically one story. I enjoyed it very much. Again I was surprised after Sabriel didn't life up to my expectations.

[Kristina Simon]

My favorites for this season were:

Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
Beloved by Toni Morrison

[Coralie]

My stand out book of the challenge was Corelli's Mandolin

[JC]

My 5 stars:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (rereads)

Towers of Midnight
Oryx and Crake *this is the stand-out that I will remember for the rest of my life!*
The Raven Prince
Minx
You Suck
The Time Machine
The Kitchen God's Wife
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China *excellent!*
The Mists of Avalon

I have a few more to read before the end, but I'm sure I'll rate Small Wonder: Essays 5 stars when I'm finished with it probably this evening.

[Bea]

The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story
I Am Number Four
At First Sight
A Light in the Attic
The Thirteenth Tale
Pirate Latitudes
People of the Book


All five stars

[Jody]

5 star ratings
Alas, Babylon
Milkweed
Olive Kitteridge

[Fran]

My favorites for the summer-

Attachments
And Then There Were None
Fade
Gone
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I love "And Then There Were None"

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "My favorites for this season were:

Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
Beloved by [author..."

I only gave Beloved three stars.

[Katrina]

Five star reads:

[Fran]

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I love "And Then There Were None""

Jayme,
It was my first Agatha Christie!

[Emma]

The Help
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Game of Thrones
A Visit From the Goon Squad

[mstan]

My favourites:
- These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901
- My Name is Asher Lev
- The Uncommon Reader

I would not have been motivated to read these without the challenge... while I have read and loved The Chosen before, for some reason, I haven't read Potok for over ten years.

A Room With a View is another 5-star read this time; it is a re-read and I gave it 4 stars when I was younger...

[Christine US]

I had so few good books this season - it was frustrating. But it made the ones I really enjoyed stand out all the more.

Wild Ride
Tales of the Otherworld
Summer Rental

[Ms.soule]

Ten this season!
A Whisper of Roses
First Grave on the Right
The Atlantis Complex
Kiss of Snow
The Hours
Crazy Cool
Tall, Dark, and Cajun
The Iron Duke
Liberation Theology: An Introductory Guide
Profiles in Courage

[★Meghan★]

My five star ratings this season were:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (reread)
Anna and the French Kiss
The Host (reread)
The Help

[Kristina Simon]

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I only gave Beloved three stars."

I actually gave it 4 stars. Like Christine US, I had a frustratingly bad reading season with only 2 5-star books and 1 4-star book. With all the 2 and 3-star reads, Beloved was definitely one of the better ones ;o). I'm looking forward to a better Fall season.....

[Dlmrose, Moderator Emeritus]

mstan wrote: "I would not have been motivated to read these without the challenge... ..."

I've enjoyed the Best Books You've Accidentally Read thread to find just that type of book. I've found some good recommendations there.

[chucklesthescot]

My favourite reads were:

Dead Reckoning
At Grave's End
Destined for an Early Grave
The Dead Of Night
Off Season
Blood Feud
Life As We Knew It
Spider's Bite
My Soul to Take
Dying Bites
The Shadow of the Pomegranate
Is it Cowardly to Pray for Rain?: The Online Ashes Chronicle of a Nation's Office-Bound Nervousness
Out for Blood
The Killer Angels

Good season for good reads!

[Kathy G.]

Kathy G.

I had lots of great reads this challenge, but these were the best ones-

White Cat
Red Glove
Ender's Game
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Romeo and Juliet (reread)
Inkheart
My Reading Life
In My Father's House
Treasure Island
The Mysterious Island (almost done!)

[mstan]

Dlmrose wrote: "mstan wrote: "I would not have been motivated to read these without the challenge... ..."

I've enjoyed the Best Books You've Accidentally Read thread to find just that type of book. I've found som..."

Ooh yes that's a great thread, Dlmrose. I should post there too...

[Angie]

5 Stars
Succubus Revealed
The Help
Outlander
A Dog's Purpose
The Host
Succubus Shadows
Succubus Dreams
Succubus on Top
Succubus Blues

[Lahni]

My 5 favorite (all are 4 stars)

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers
The Invisible Bridge
The Hiding Place
Ender's Game
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

[Aleksandra]

my 5 stars
The Lovely Bones
Girl with a Pearl Earring
The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister
The Warsaw Anagrams: A Novel
Foodography: Digital Food Photography & Styling

[N.]

Stitches was my only five-star read this summer, but rounding out the top five are:

Shibumi
The Color Purple
The Devil All the Time
Push

[Gayla]

Five-star reads:

Restoration
We Had It So Good: A Novel
The Sisters Brothers
On Canaan's Side
Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

and the whole Game of Thrones series.

[Asho]

My favorite was Half of a Yellow Sun. I gave it 5 stars, and I am stingy with my 5 star ratings.

I also really liked The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

[Lindsey]

Gayla wrote: "and the whole Game of Thrones series. " Ooo, wow, you fit the whole series into the challenge? I really need to read that.

My five stars

[Jennifer W]

My favorites were:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (which I could have swore I read years ago and hated, but this time I loved it)
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Sister
The Last Olympian (though I'm going to miss Percy and the gang) :(

[Jayme Pendergraft]

My favorites were

Veronika Decides to DieVeronika Decides to Die
Beastly
Embers
The Bridge of San Luis Rey

All really different books, but that's what I love about these challenges!