Reading is crazy!

This year I read nearly 50 books. For a large part of the year my commute wouldn't be right unless I was knee deep in a story. So choosing this top 5 has been very difficult, despite having a Goodreads record of what I read. In the end these books were chosen for the way that they removed me from the world I live in, with patients and illness and all sorts of things like that, and they took me far away to a better place. As usual - these aren't necessarily books from 2011, I just read them this year for the first time.

5) Haunted - Chuck Palaniuk (NSFL)
A writers retreat turns out to be nothing more than a lock in with no food, no light, no heat, and no better way to pass the time than telling horror stories. The first character story is the least palatable but every page is filled with images and thoughts that made me desperate for the mind-bleach. I won't put a full list of triggers here but this is the only book I have ever read that made me feel sick and want to put it down whilst luring me deeper and deeper in. Spoiler alert - a man dies by choking on a severed penis.

4) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
This book took me out of my comfort zone and flew me across the sea to a small Dutch port in Japan. From swashbuckling to accountancy, from samurai swords to western medicine, this story has it all. Oddly, it's one of several books I've read that were set in Japan, but it is hands down the best.

There is a theme about the top 3 of this list. Maybe that theme is related to my job, or to my boyish personality, but the next few books are all for young adults:

3) Holes - Louis Sachar
Stanley Yelnats is guilty of nothing, but ends up going to a juvenile punishment camp where they dig holes. It's a therapy, and a punishment, and the basis of a very exciting book. If you can't find the time for this short but fun book then this is one of the rare cases where the film is nearly as good.

2) Nation - Terry Pratchett
Pratchett covers life, death, superstition, science, god and God, and that awkward time when you're old enough to read books this incredible but not old enough to be taken seriously. Not set on the Discworld, Nation is actually set in an alternate version of the world of the British Empire where most of the lineage to the throne have died in a sudden outbreak of disease. I don't think there is a man more capable than Mr. Pratchett in fitting in so much philosophy into such a simple story. I loved this book enough to immediately go out and get the audio book so I could listen on my way to Uni and Work,

1) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
This is probably the most anticipated book to film project in the world right now, and after reading it I completely know why. I don't want to spoil it here so I won't say much other than GO READ IT! The best Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Adventure, and even Romance book I think I've ever read. If you don't like it then I don't understand how you can exist. Sorry.