Lists: the Best Books I read in 2011

I have read a lot this year - 60 books total! Next Year, I hope to start and finish books before jumping to the next one, there were way too many books left unfinished.   Oh well! The top five books on the list were chosen by how well I recalled the book during my non-reading hours.
All in all a great year of reading, here is my top 5 books for 2011:

1.   Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder:

   This book was a lot of fun as I plunged into Hodder's Steam Punk - Time Travel Adventure.

2. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

   Gravity's rainbow was the hardest book to read for this year.  But it was so worth it!

3. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

   The laughter was exhausting.

4. I, Claudius by Robert Graves

   Proving Rome was full of debauchery.

5. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

   The characters remained with me for a long time after completing the novel.

6. (not finished yet) Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.

   Bonhoeffer grabs a hold of you and won't let go, you might know the ending of the story, but what this does is show the man and where his theology and core beliefs were developed

I am looking forward to 2012!  Happy New Year!

Reading Ventures

Alphabet for I Claudius:
Aa: Augustus supreme ruler
Bb: Books when they grow out of date only serve as wrapping for fish.
Cc: Carthage a menace to Rome.
Dd: Dwarfs, cripples deformities brought bad luck.
Ee:  Elephant stomped the crap out of the Rhinoceros.
Ff:  "When was the fall of Rome?" said professor Rampton to the class of freshman western civilization students.
Gg: Gaius.
Hh: His is an old man's game.  Half wits restore popular liberty.
Ii: Imperial Households are dysfunctional in their own ways.
Jj: Janus roman god of beginnings.
Kk: Keres female spirits of death.
Ll: Literary sauce is tiberius.
Mm: Mystery cults served only by the chaste so the goddesses anger appeased.
Nn: Nero not the Nero who fiddled while Rome burned.
Oo: Scope and opportunity persuade men to virtue or compel men to truth.
Pp: Pear Tree Charged with murder.
Qq: Everyone's queer but Caligula.
Rr: Reading more just makes me a greater fool.
Ss: Siring Strong Soldiers for Rome.
Tt: Tiberius name is innapropriate becasue the Tiber runs fast.
Uu:  Uxoriously
Vv: Vestal Virgins an honored position for women. They could free condemned prisoners and slaves by a mere touch.
Ww: What do ye need W's for.
XX: Xanthus, Achilles immortal horse.
Yy:  Yet again what did I say for W.
Zz: Zephyrus the God of the West Wind, the nicest and warmest wind...