So here are the 30 books I read in 2011. I know this because I use Goodreads and gave myself a 30-book goal for 2011. Just barely made it, too, finishing ‘Ender’s Game’ on Dec. 30.

Favorite Five

Matterhorn

I can’t say enough good things about this book, one of the best I’ve read in years. It’s the story of a company in the jungles of Vietnam during the war, written by combat veteran Karl Marlantes, and after reading it I feel like I understand that war so much more than I did before. What really sets the audiobook apart is the narrator, Bronson Pinchot (yes, from ‘Perfect Strangers’). He brings every character to life, to a point that it’s easy to forget it’s just one man. I rarely lose myself listening to a book the way I did with this one. Click here to buy

Stealing the General

Another audiobook narrated by Bronson Pinchot, this is the account of the Andrews Raid that happened just a few miles from my house. I’m sorry to say I didn’t know much about this bit of Civil War history before listening to this book. All I knew was that some Yankees stole a Confederate train and unsuccessfully tried to drive it north. But there’s so much more to the story. Your heart breaks for the doomed raiders, but there are no villains in this book. Just men on each side doing what they thought was right for their country. Click here to buy

Beauty Queens

The most fun I had reading a book all year. A sharp satire of beauty-obsessed culture, it follows the adventures of a group of teen beauty pageant contestants whose plane crashes on what appears to be a deserted island and are presumed dead. Meanwhile, “The Corporation” — which owns the pageant and pretty much every other company — tries to find a way to profit from the crash. Author Libba Bray makes great use of footnotes and interstitials to add to the absurdity of the story. Click here to buy

Ender’s Game

The last book I read in 2011 was also one of my favorites. Orson Scott Card’s futuristic classic about a young boy who is plucked from his home to save the world was almost like a sci-fi Harry Potter. It’s set in a dystopian future Earth, so of course I was bound to love it. The ages of the kids threw me a bit — I kept imagining my 6-year-old nephew being taken into space to learn to be a soldier — so I had to keep reminding myself that these kids were chosen because they were not typical kids. Apparently this is the first in a series of Ender stories, and I’ll definitely be reading more. Click here to buy

A Prayer for Owen Meany

I’m not sure why I originally picked this up, but man was it good. Owen Meany is a tiny boy with a squeaky voice who accidentally kills his best friend’s mother and believes he is an instrument of God. So to say Owen is odd is an understatement. The book follows his adventures through childhood and into the Vietnam War. John Irving tells a captivating story about faith, friendship and destiny with humor and sadness. Owen was a character who stuck with me and for days after finishing the book, I found myself thinking about it. Click here to buy

And the rest

The other 25 books I read this year unexpectedly delighted me (“Packing For Mars”), wrapped up a favorite series (“Mockingjay”), made me laugh (“Reaper Man”), made me cry (“One Day”), shocked me (“A Game of Thrones”) and totally disappointed me (“Swamplandia!”). Plus, for the first time I ever, I read a celebrity memoir — three actually, and all by funny women. Here they all are, in the order I read them:

Harry Against the Dementors by Chrisables

The Malfoys by Nebezial

Harry Potter by Annie Claudine

Vector Potter by Brodiehbrockie (who has a GREAT Harry Potter series here)

Snape and Lily – Is by Liquidscissors

Hagrid by Pocketowl

Youfoundme: The Weasley Twins by leeviii

Harry Potter by Mikemaihack

Ron + Hermione by BellaNique

Another Zero Potter by ellaine

The book was interesting, well-written and had some really great characters. But I hated it.

I know I’m in the minority. The author has received several awards, and most reviewers — including the New York Times, which called it ‘a marvel’ — loved ‘Swamplandia!’.

It’s just so depressing.

‘Swamplandia!’ is about a family called the Bigtrees that run an alligator amusement park in Florida, Swamplandia!. Their world starts to fall apart when the mother, an alligator wrestler who is the park’s main attraction, dies from cancer, and the grandfather gets sent to the saddest-sounding old folks home in history. Father ‘Chief’ Bigtree (whose family is NOT Native American) is up to his eyeballs in debt and trying to save the park. Brother Kiwi takes off, and younger sisters Ava and Ossie (who believes she is dating ghosts) are left to fend for themselves.

I don’t need every book I read to be frothy and fun and have a happy ending. But ‘Swamplandia!’ was just one horrible thing after another happening to children. Nothing good ever happens to them. And that’s even more heart-breaking because Russell made the characters so interesting that you really care about them.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who will love this book. I’m just not one of them.

Psychonauts: This is probably my all-time favorite video game. I’ve played it several times since it was first released for the original Xbox. Here’s the official description of the game: “For years, the Psychonauts have deployed their psychically-armed operatives all over the world, but now there is trouble brewing in their own boot camp. A deranged scientist is abducting camp cadets for their brains! One student, a mysterious and powerful new arrival named Raz, stands alone against the lunatic. Raz must develop and unleash an arsenal of paranormal powers, including his most powerful weapon of all–the ability to launch himself telepathically into the minds of others.” The game is funny, creative and visually a knock-out. It’s available as a download on Xbox live, and it’s also on Steam.

Peanut M&Ms: The perfect candy, as far as I’m concerned. It’s colorful, chocolatey, with a salty peanut in the center. And it has an adorable mascot.

Suave Professionals rosemary and mint: I may be a geek, but I am a girl. And I love the way this shampoo and conditioner from Suave smells. Plus it makes my hair feel really clean.

Modern Family: Such a funny, funny TV show. An episode of this ABC sitcom is almost always funnier than whatever new comedy Hollywood is putting out.

Matterhorn audiobook: I can’t say enough good things about this book, one of the best I’ve read in years. It’s the story of a company in the jungles of Vietnam during the war, written by a combat veteran, and after reading it I feel like I understand that war so much more than I did before. What really sets the audiobook apart is the narrator, Bronson Pinchot (yes, from ‘Perfect Strangers’). He brings every character to life, to a point that it’s easy to forget it’s just one man. I rarely lose myself listening to a book the way I did with this one.

Kindle: I can’t believe how much easier it is to read on Kindle than a printed book. It’s light, there’s no propping it open. And Kindle new release books are significantly less expensive than the printed ones, so I can actually afford to buy books before they’ve been out a year.

TWIT: No, it has nothing to do with Twitter. TWIT stands for “This Week in Tech,” and it’s a podcast from former TechTV personality Leo Laporte. He gathers a handful of tech experts each week to talk about the week’s news. It’s sometimes funny, sometimes serious, but I always learn something.

TeeFury: There are a lot of daily t-shirt deal websites, but TeeFury is my favorite. Each night at midnight, a new design goes up, and it’s only available for 24 hours. Many, many designs are pop culture related, with Star Wars and Doctor Who especially popular. You can see a gallery of previous designs on the website. The tees are only $10.

Firebug: I use this browser plugin pretty much every day. It’s a wonder tool for people who build websites. It makes it so easier to diagnose and fix problems. My favorite feature is the real-time changes you can see on live websites.

Evato marketplace: I love the Envato marketplace. It’s a collection of websites where designers and developers can buy components for their projects. I’ve purchased everything from WordPress themes to graphics to plugins. The prices are reasonable, and there’s so much to choose from. Plus, each website has a new free file you can download and use each month.

Les Miserables: A late-breaking addition to this list. PBS recently aired the 25th anniversary concert of the landmark musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel (which I read in high school). The concert special was four hours long, but I loved every minute of it. The music is so beautiful, and it’s such a great story. I bought the VHS of the 10th anniversary concert, and this new special is a great follow-up to that. Plus, the woman who played Eponine 15 years ago portrayed Fauntine in the 25th anniversary concert. The Broadway veteran who plays Javert is a real highlight of the show.

What’s great about the Webbys is that everyone is limited to five words in their acceptance speeches. No exceptions. Here are some of my favorites from this year’s event:

“Wait, we didn’t charge anything?” – Trent Reznor, Webby Artist of the Year

“Thank God Conan got promoted.” – Jimmy Fallon, Webby Person of the Year

“Can everyone get closer together.” – Flickr, community award

“Shinehart Wig Company thanks you.” – NBC.com Full Episode Player, broadband award

“Dude we got an A.” – Edutopia, education award

“I didn’t kill newspapers, ok?” – The Huffington Post, politics & blog award

“Robot sharks with lasers in space.” – Wired.com, science award

“Airna, will you marry me?” – Volkswagen Innovations, banner ad campaign award

“Read a freakin newspaper please.” – Detroit Free Press, sports video award

Anyway, I really enjoyed Death’s reaction to the socio-economic rules of holiday gifts – I’ve always wondered how poor kids feel when they hear their well-off classmates talk about the bikes and video game systems Santa leaves.

There were, however several things I liked about this year’s award show. In no particular order, they are:

1. Ricky Gervais. The British actor won for his work in “Extras” last year and wasn’t at the ceremony to accept his award, so presenters Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert “gave” it to Steve Carrell. This year, Gervais repeatedly appealed to Carrell to return the award, saying “I bet you haven’t even seen ‘Ghost Town.’ I sat through ‘Evan Almighty’; give me my Emmy.” Will the Academy please hire Gervais to host next year?

2. Fashion of the over-40 crowd. Until I looked her up on IMDB, I had no idea Jean Smart, at 57, is only a year younger than my mom. She looked frakkin unbelievable in a long, sparkly black dress topped with a layer of sheer black fabric. Also looking gorgeous were Felicity Huffman (45), Mariska Hargitay (44), Laura Linney (44), Kyra Sedgwick (43) and Julia Louis Dreyfus (47).

3. Josh Groban. Yes, a lot of people think it was weird and a fail, but I was super impressed by his vocal impressions. Plus, he did the ‘Fresh Prince’ theme song — only the best TV intro ever.

4. Bryan Cranston finally won. The “Breaking Bad” star never took home an Emmy for his amazing work on “Malcolm in the Middle,” and I don’t think anyone was more surprised than he was when his named was called for Best Actor in a Drama. I would have been thrilled had the Emmy gone to Hugh Laurie of “House,” and wouldn’t have been surprised had James Spader or Jon Hamm. But how nice was it to see Bryan Cranston finally get his time to shine?

And just for fun, here are some things I hated.

1. The painful, stilted, awkward, just plain un-funny banter between hosts Jeff Probst, Heidi Klum, Ryan Seacrest, Howie Mandel and Tom Bergeron made an already bland ceremony 10 times worse.

2. Neil Patrick Harris loses. I like Jeremy Piven. He’s great in ‘Entourage.’ But again? Neil Patrick Harris is amazing as Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother,” and he did some of his best work this season. It’s the role of his career, and I was really hoping he would be recognized by the academy.

3. David Boreanaz/Lauren Conrad. I love me some Agent Seely Booth (and I guess L.C. is okay) but who thought to put these two together? Both were stiff and uncomfortable-looking, and couldn’t you just see the life go out of him when she chided him for taking her line?

This summer, I’ve gotten through the first few seasons of Doctor Who; the first season of Torchwood; and I’m working on Greek. Plan to start Mad Men soon.

Doctor Who is my favorite of the new bunch. It’s so completely up my alley I can’t believe I wasn’t watching it before. I’m such a sci fi geek, and one of my coworkers had been telling me for a while that I should check it out. Glad I finally listened.

Torchwood, a Doctor Who spinoff, is a fun show. It’s much more ‘adult’ than its parent but still fun. What I miss though is the time travel in Doctor Who.

I’ve only seen the first few episodes of Greek but I really like it. I imagine there’s lots of high school students who can’t wait to go to college so they can join a fraternity or sorority. I’m glad that even though the show is on ABC Family, the producers realize that college students — especially the popular, beautiful ones who participate in the Greek system — drink and have sex.

I’m having a lot of fun watching these shows, but I’m still looking forward to my summer regulars, especially Eureka. And Project Runway starts again next week – yippee!