Book Nerd

I wrote a detailed post last week describing how I came up with the following list of books for 2011. I reread it today before posting and had to laugh at myself. No one needs seven paragraphs to do what can be said in four sentences:

Read 30 books (well, 1 to go) in 2010. Thought 30 was a good number, but wanted to branch out from 90% fiction. Picked a few areas I’m interested in, filled in with books that have been on my list for a while. Left a few spots open to fill in later.

Simple Living

1. The Joy of Less (Francine Jay)
2. The Paleo Solution (Robb Wolf)
3. Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (Eric Bende)
4. The Story of Stuff (Annie Leonard)

Memoirs and Biographies

5. Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson)
6. My Life in France (Julia Child)
7. The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It (Tilar J. Mazzeo)

Running

8. Marathon: A Novel (Hal Higdon)
9. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen (Christopher McDougall)
10. What I talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami)

Personal Finance

11. Frugillionaire (Francine Jay)
12.
13.

Faith

14. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Rob Bell)
15. Radical: Take Back Your Faith from the American Dream (David Platt)
16. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Litterally as Possible (A. J. Jacobs)
17. Mere Christianity (C. S. Lewis)

Travel

18. Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer (Chuck Tompson)
19. The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday (Niel MacFarquahar)
20.

Career

21. Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty (Patrick Lencioni)
22.

Fiction

23. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
24. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Anne Shafer)
25. Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese)
26. I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
27. The 19th Wife
28.
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30.