Hassan's Book of 2011

As 2011 comes to an end, I find myself reflecting on the fifty five books that I have read... through fifteen thousand, six hundred and fifty eight (15,658) pages.  The longest book was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, by Steig Larsson (743 pages) and the shortest was Not a Star, by Nick Hornby (69 pages).  My most productive month was February (9 books), and my least was September (no books at all).

I have encountered three books that absolutely sucked (that I didn’t finish),

Two books that were quite simply “Not Good” (one of which I didn’t finish),

Ten books that were just “Meh” (another one not finished here),

Twenty one books that I considered as “Good,”

Seventeen books that were “Very Good,” and

Seven books that I would recommend as REQUIRED READING:

• True Notebooks, by Mark Salzman
• Little Princes, by Conor Grennan
• Microserfs, by Douglas Coupland
• Finnie Walsh, by Steven Galloway
• One Day, by David Nichols
• The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz
• The Myth of You and Me, by Leah Stewart

Microserfs, Finnie Walsh, and One Day are all great books, but were all re-reads from previous years.  I highly recommend all of them for having characters that you will carry with you... but none of them can fairly qualify for Hassan’s Book of 2011.

• True Notebooks is stories and writing of children in the LA prison system, by Mark Slazman (a writer, and their instructor).
• Little Princes shares the experiences of Conor Grennan in his quest to free children and return them to their families in Nepal.
• The Long Walk is the tale of Slavomir Rawicz who escaped the Russian Gulags ... on foot.
• The Myth of You and Me is the story of a friendship.

If I were going to recommend just one of these, I would have to say that the amazing experience of Mark Salzman and the writing of these children who have made mistakes and find a system more focused on retribution than rehabilitation sucks you in and doesn’t let you go.  The Hassan Book of 2011 is True Notebooks.

A LOOK BACK

• Hassan’s Book of 2010 was Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden
• Hassan’s Book of 2009 was The Help, by Kathryn Sockett
• Hassan’s Book of 2008 (and of the decade) was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie