The Best Books I Read in 2011… And The Overrated Ones To Avoid

I read a LOT now – you know, just one of the many job perks as a Hausfrau! I’m actually really glad I brought my eReader here from my old job at Sony because it can get a bit difficult to find good books in English (and I only read around 6th grade level German so… not the most thrilling of topics available for me besides Heidi). No joke, from all the way across the world here in Switzerland, I can check out my eBooks for free from my parents’ public library. And if they don’t have what I want, I just buy it online and have the book I want in seconds… in English. Amazing. Love technology.

So many of my readers ask me to share my favorites since I have impeccably good taste in books (I may have added the last part on my own). Lo and behold, here is a compilation of the best books I’ve read this year. I also thought I’d save you the effort of wasting your time reading bad books; there’s also a list of completely overrated books you can skip and feel fine about. I’ve read many more books that were neither great nor terrible (like Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, for example) but haven’t included them here. Shall we begin?

The Books I Loved:
Most of them were thought-provoking, interesting, well-written, and entertaining – a winning combination! Feel free to disagree with me, but remember that I am always right. Kidding. Sort of (ask Florian).

Did anyone notice I sneaked in my sister Rachel’s book and my Dad’s book?

Books I Thought Were Overrated:
Anyway, I also get that you hear everyone buzzing about a book and Hollywood wants to make a movie about it so inevitably you think to yourself  Well, this must be good, I should spend what precious free time I have on reading it. BE WARNED!! Just because a book is popular doesn’t mean it’s actually good. You’re welcome for the list below.

Anything important I forgot to include (either good or terrible???). I mean, shoot, I read so many books this year I forgot some of the ones I read! Any suggestions on the best way to keep a book list?

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The Best Books I Read in 2011… And The Overrated Ones To Avoid

I read a LOT now – you know, just one of the many job perks as a Hausfrau! I’m actually really glad I brought my eReader here from my old job at Sony because it can get a bit difficult to find good books in English (and I only read around 6th grade level German so… not the most thrilling of topics available for me besides Heidi). No joke, from all the way across the world here in Switzerland, I can check out my eBooks for free from my parents’ public library. And if they don’t have what I want, I just buy it online and have the book I want in seconds… in English. Amazing. Love technology.

So many of my readers ask me to share my favorites since I have impeccably good taste in books (I may have added the last part on my own). Lo and behold, here is a compilation of the best books I’ve read this year. I also thought I’d save you the effort of wasting your time reading bad books; there’s also a list of completely overrated books you can skip and feel fine about. I’ve read many more books that were neither great nor terrible (like Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, for example) but haven’t included them here. Shall we begin?

The Books I Loved:
Most of them were thought-provoking, interesting, well-written, and entertaining – a winning combination! Feel free to disagree with me, but remember that I am always right. Kidding. Sort of (ask Florian).

Did anyone notice I sneaked in my sister Rachel’s book and my Dad’s book?

Books I Thought Were Overrated:
Anyway, I also get that you hear everyone buzzing about a book and Hollywood wants to make a movie about it so inevitably you think to yourself  Well, this must be good, I should spend what precious free time I have on reading it. BE WARNED!! Just because a book is popular doesn’t mean it’s actually good. You’re welcome for the list below.

Anything important I forgot to include (either good or terrible???). I mean, shoot, I read so many books this year I forgot some of the ones I read! Any suggestions on the best way to keep a book list?

My Goals & Resolutions for 2012… Plus An IOU

Dear Friends,

I have been very busy (READ: lazy) this holiday week. Please accept my apology and this IOU for the following blogs that I should have posted before the new year, but didn’t, but will in the near future:

1. My Attempt to Learn How to Ski in the Alps. I’m pretty sure the bunny hill was actually an American double-black diamond   Posted! You’ll enjoy the pictures of it here 
2. My Top Ten Memories of 2011. An annual tradition but tough this year because SO many things happened! Well… I’ve actually read quite a few other blogs that sum up their year and I have to say they’re kind of boring. I’ll save us both and not post about this. You’re welcome.
3. Best & Worst Books I Read in 2011. Being a housewife has it’s time advantages – I’ll save you the trouble of figuring out which books are worth spending time on.  Posted! Don’t hate me if your favorite book is listed as overrated here 

As a consolation, please accept this very-public list of my goals and resolutions for 2012 – from this moment on, you may feel free to point and laugh at me when I fail at them. Oh, and you’re probably having a WTF moment wondering why I set goals and resolutions. 1) Old habits die hard. I come from the business world where we make up a lot of unnecessary and fancy terminology: goals, objectives, values, mission… you get it. 2) I won’t admit that my undergraduate degree in Philosophy was a poor choice and so to prove that, I philosophize whenever possible (despite the fact that it’s often unwarranted). In this case, a resolution is a determination to take action, while a goal is the result of which your action is aimed. Did you catch the subtle difference? Resolution = saying I want to do something, Goal = actually taking action that is consistent with a specific end result. See Mom and Dad, $48,000 well spent! 

Lisa’s 2012 Goals:

• Be patient
• Think before acting
• Fail BIG
• Change the world
• Be less wasteful

Lisa’s 2012 Resolutions:

• Become conversationally fluent in German
• Learn to play tennis
• Go to the gym at least 100 times 
• Take more pictures (check out our 365Project.org page!)
• Learn how to parallel park
• Cross one thing off my bucket list

All my love and kisses and best wishes for the New Year!

XOXO,

Lisa

What should I make Florian do when I reach 100 days at the gym first??

My Goals & Resolutions for 2012… Plus An IOU

Dear Friends,

I have been very busy (READ: lazy) this holiday week. Please accept my apology and this IOU for the following blogs that I should have posted before the new year, but didn’t, but will in the near future:

1. My Attempt to Learn How to Ski in the Alps. I’m pretty sure the bunny hill was actually an American double-black diamond   Posted! You’ll enjoy the pictures of it here 
2. My Top Ten Memories of 2011. An annual tradition but tough this year because SO many things happened! Well… I’ve actually read quite a few other blogs that sum up their year and I have to say they’re kind of boring. I’ll save us both and not post about this. You’re welcome.
3. Best & Worst Books I Read in 2011. Being a housewife has it’s time advantages – I’ll save you the trouble of figuring out which books are worth spending time on.  Posted! Don’t hate me if your favorite book is listed as overrated here 

As a consolation, please accept this very-public list of my goals and resolutions for 2012 – from this moment on, you may feel free to point and laugh at me when I fail at them. Oh, and you’re probably having a WTF moment wondering why I set goals and resolutions. 1) Old habits die hard. I come from the business world where we make up a lot of unnecessary and fancy terminology: goals, objectives, values, mission… you get it. 2) I won’t admit that my undergraduate degree in Philosophy was a poor choice and so to prove that, I philosophize whenever possible (despite the fact that it’s often unwarranted). In this case, a resolution is a determination to take action, while a goal is the result of which your action is aimed. Did you catch the subtle difference? Resolution = saying I want to do something, Goal = actually taking action that is consistent with a specific end result. See Mom and Dad, $48,000 well spent! 

Lisa’s 2012 Goals:

• Be patient
• Think before acting
• Fail BIG
• Change the world
• Be less wasteful

Lisa’s 2012 Resolutions:

• Become conversationally fluent in German
• Learn to play tennis
• Go to the gym at least 100 times 
• Take more pictures (check out our 365Project.org page!)
• Learn how to parallel park
• Cross one thing off my bucket list

All my love and kisses and best wishes for the New Year!

XOXO,

Lisa

What should I make Florian do when I reach 100 days at the gym first??