Thursday, January 3, 2013

2012 in books

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd start off the year by rounding up my reading from 2012.

2012 got off to a bad start with no books being finished and didn't improve much after that. There were more months where I didn't manage to finish anything, which is not good for the total book count. As usual Easter is a good time for me to pick up on my reading but that wasn't enough to make it to 50 books this year. However I don't feel so bad as I've kept up a weird pattern that I found in my reading totals - 68, 30, 33! I feel like 2012 was a bit of a blah year for reading. 

I didn't get any "wow that was amazing" feeling until late in the year when I read The Plot Against America by Philip Roth and then again when I read Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Hmm now that I look over this list I realise that there were some pretty great books! 
Bereft by Chris Womersley was quite haunting.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson at times made me laugh so much I had tears running down my cheeks and I had to put it down and sit quietly while I calmed down.
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, while never ending was quite thought provoking.
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is still my favourite read for 2012
There were a few firsts this year - I read Somerset Maugham for the first time and listened to an audio book all the way through.


Here are all 33 books I read this year. The reviews are linked to the books that have them.
January 

February
The Complete Polysyballic Spree by Nick Hornby
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Statistical Probability of Love @ First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

March
Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons

April
Bereft by Chris Womersley
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
Poet's Cottage - Josephine Pennicott
Corduroy Mansions - Alexander McCall Smith
Boy Who Fell To Earth by Kathy Lette

May

June
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safron Foer

July
Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham
House of Fiction: Leonard, Susan & Elizabeth Jolley by Susan Swingler
Let's Pretend  This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeannette Winterson
Infidel by Aayan Hirsi Ali

August
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander
Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray

September
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

October
Between The Assassinations by Aravind Adiga
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

November
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Breasts: A natural and unnatural history by Florence Williams
Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

December
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Book Borrower by Alice Mattinson
Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store - Robin Sloan
Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Canada by Richard Ford
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

Books Unfinished But Blogged About
Two Little Boys by Duncan Sarkies
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf


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