10 Books for 2011

With a new year comes new adventures: not only am I planning out what books I’ll be reading, I’m also participating in my first ever Top 10 Tuesday, in conjunction with the amazing bookworms at The Broke and the Bookish.

I don’t know if I’ll be participating every week (it depends on what the list is), but since it’s the beginning of the year I knew I should dive right in.

So here we go: 10 books I’m pledging to read in 2011.

1. Bitterblue (Kristin Cashore)

Bitterblue takes place six years after the events of Cashore’s debut novel, Graceling. I don’t really know what the plot is, other than that it involves Bitterblue (a character from the first novel) and will bring back some of Graceling‘s main characters. I loved Graceling, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel (release date: April 1, 2011).

2. The Epic of Gilgamesh (Anonymous)

Gilgamesh is a story that originated in Mesopotamia. The tale follows Gilgamesh on his adventures with Enkidu (his male companion), and is believed to be one of the earliest known pieces of literature.

3. Inbound Marketing: Getting Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, and David Meerman Scott)

I work at a kick-ass inbound marketing and web design company, and I’m always on the lookout for inspiring reads that help me keep up with the latest trends.

4. The New Rules of Marketing & PR (David Meerman Scott)

Marketing is changing: instead of pushing advertising on people, it’s becoming a marketer’s job to pull people in with great, helpful content. It’s about starting and joining conversations, and I love me some good talkin’.

5. The Parasol Protectorate series (Gail Carriger)

“Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.” The first in the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, Soulless is set in Victorian London, and seems to involve the perfect combination of manners and mayhem.

6. The Castle of Otranto (Horace Walpole)

I wanted to start off my Gothic Reading Challenge with this book. Published in 1764 as a supposed translation of a recently rediscovered Italian story (circa 1529). Unfortunately my local library doesn’t have a copy, so I’ll have to wait awhile before I can read a story that involves a family curse, mistaken identities, and over-the-top tragedies.

7. The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel (Diana Gabaldon; illustrated by Hoang Nguyen)

I’ve read a handful of graphic novels (namely Watchmen and From Hell), but have never been able to figure out how to find more good ones. But when I found out about The Exile, I knew it would be good. I’ve already read all of Gabaldon’s Outlander series, which are written from the perspective of Claire. The Exile, however, is written from Jamie’s, and it will be nice to read (and see!) his side of the story.

8. DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education (Anya Kamenetz)

“The future lies in personal learning networks and paths, learning that blends experiential and digital approaches, and free and open-source educational models. Increasingly, you will decide what, when, where, and with whom you want to learn, and you will learn by doing.” As a recent university graduate, I am very much in touch with the stresses of education. Having a college degree is becoming more and more necessary — and more and more expensive. We learn a lot in college, but is the knowledge we take in, the knowledge that best suits us to being productive and happy?

9. The Technology of Orgasm: “Hysteria,” the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction (Rachel P. Maines)

“From the time of Hippocrates until the 1920s, massaging female patients to orgasm was a staple of medical practice among Western physicians in the treatment of ‘hysteria,’ an ailment once considered both common and chronic in women. Doctors loathed this time-consuming procedure and for centuries relied on midwives. Later, they substituted the efficiency of mechanical devices, including the electric vibrator, invented in the 1880s. In The Technology of Orgasm, Rachel Maines offers readers a stimulating, surprising, and often humorous account of hysteria and its treatment throughout the ages, focusing on the development, use, and fall into disrepute of the vibrator as a legitimate medical device.”

10. How to Buy a Love of Reading (Tanya Egan Gibson)

My first effort at reading metafiction (in which the characters know they’re in a novel), Love of Reading revolves around Carley Wells, whose answer to the question “What is your favorite book?” is “Never met one I liked.” Intent on turning their daughter into a bookworm, Carley’s parents commission a failed author to write a book just for Carley. At first Carley refuses to participate, but as her family life begins to deteriorate, she begins to discover the power and escapism that stories and storytelling can bring.

There’s lots more books on my list for this year, but I think this list is a great place to start.

What’s on your list for this new year?