2011 is coming to a close, and the time has come to look back on the year and see what it can show us. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and even more good decisions, but there’s one thing I still hold above all else – books. Every year, I set a personal goal of reading 150 books, and usually land in the 100-130 range, and I am sorry to say that this year I came up WAY short. This is the first year that Morgue Anne has been unleashed upon the public, and between coming on board two podcasts, starting a media production company, generally being awesome and unleashing my sexiness on the world through modeling and burlesque. The point I’m getting at is it’s been a busy year, and unfortunately I only read 54 books this year, which I’m betting is still more than you read. Yet regardless of my fallibility as a human and lack of time, here are my top picks from all the books I read in 2011:

The Muse Asylum by David Czuchlewski was the first book I read in 2011. It’s reminiscent of Carlos Ruiz Zafron’s novel, “Shadow of the Wind” in both theme and feel. It’s about a group of college graduates who are trying to discover the identity of a mysterious and aloof author, only to travel down a path of literary insanity themselves. If you are a fan of books about books or read Zafron’s novels and enjoyed them, I highly recommend this as a follow up.

NonFiction:

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully is one of the saddest books you could read. It’s the true story of a boy who was nothing more than a little hyperactive, and despised by his stepmother to the point where she actually had him lobotomized by infamous Dr. Walter Freeman, who claimed to have “perfected” psychological surgery and is most well known for “Ice Pick Lobotomies”. This is a life-story narrative rather than a plot-driven one, but I promise that even the educational bits about the history of Freeman’s work on lobotomies are freakishly interesting.

Manson in His Own Words by Charles Manson and Nuel Emmons has been disputed by Manson himself, and should definitely be read with not just a grain but a handful of salt, as much of it reads as a list of excuses that, if you’re not careful, can suck you in and make you one of those people who writes him love letters. But if you’re looking for a new perspective or inside look on Manson’s world, it’s a great read.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Bartlett is dangerous, because you realize that you’re not the only one who can appreciate a good book collection, and if people are paying thousands of dollars for a first edition of something, then maybe that $50 Chuck Palahniuk you saw in the display case at Half Price really isn’t so bad, even if your bookshelves are double stuffed and you have to climb over piles and piles of novels to get into bed…. Or maybe it’s just me, but this is the ultimate enabler for book addicts.

Series:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has already gotten a lot of hype and attention, so I’ll be quick about it. This is by far the most fucked up kids books I have ever seen or read, and when I was in middle school I went on a “YA books about school shootings” kick. I read the first book in this series in one sitting, so if you’re looking for a quick shot to the gut, this is the book(s) for you. I will be seeing this movie at midnight when it comes out.

Horror:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is a fang-tastic twist on the Dracula mythos, interweaving actual history with Stoker’s fiction. Don’t be fooled by how intimidating it is in size, this is one of those books that sucks you in and makes you forget that time is passing. Part of why I loved this book so much is that it pulls in so much history from Eastern Europe, which is something you would probably not find yourself getting excited about in any other book. If you’re an avid vampire fan, and I mean a *real* vampire fan who has a brain in their skull, this is most definitely the book for you.

Eleven Twenty-Three by Jason Hornsby is not your average end-of-the-world novel. I picked this up at ZomBcon along with an armload of zombie books, and while I was about ready to start shooting anyone in the head who uttered the words “living dead” to me, Eleven Twenty-Three caught my by surprise. This is a book that is frightening in it’s hopelessness, where you don’t know who you can trust because twice a day, an undeterminable amount of people are going to go bat shit crazy and try to kill everyone. This is one of those great “What the Fuck” books, and I highly recommend it for people who love post-apocalyptic novels but are sick of hearing about them.

Favorite Authors:S.G. Browne is someone you should already know, probably from Breathers, A Zombie’s Lament, which is the book that turned me on to zombies. But this year I finally got my hands on a copy of Fated and an ARC of Lucky Bastard, both of which follow god-like creatures who hold control over Fate and Luck, respectively. I’m lumping them together, but they’re both very different books. If you are a fan of Christopher Moore and Chuck Palahniuk, S.G. Browne is their sexy literary love child and I highly suggest buying any of his books if you enjoy reading.

Those are my top picks of 2011. Not the books that came out in 2011 (With the exception of Lucky Bastard), but the ones that I read. I am carrying into 2012 a copy of The Darkness by Crystal Conner, which is the first book I’ve read on my kindle. You can follow my reading progress throughout the year at goodreads.com/morgueanne, and reviews will be posted on sexanddeath.org and twistedgeeks.com. If you would like to submit your book to be reviewed, you can find more info at http://twistedgeeks.wordpress.com/about/review-guidelines/