What I Read in 2012

Here is the list of books that I read this year. There are 91 of them.  There were really only 85 of them before Christmas, but I really wanted to have at least 100 for the new year. So I started reading children's books. I do have some standards, I only read the ones on School Library Journal's Best Books of the Year list. But then I felt guilty so I also read some more grown-up books. And  little more YA and eventually just decided I wasn't going to hit 100. It is good not to be ruled by these arbitrary numbers.

And since I am all about changing it up, I have made a radical departure. Usually I start with the books I could barely stand on my list and then move on to my three and four star books and then hit you with the five star books. But who wants to listen to me whine about what I didn't like? So here, right up front, are the five star books! The books that I loved - that I could not put down to pay attention to my family or even make snacks. They might seem like they are in no particular order, but they are in the order in which I read them. So ha!

Fivestars:

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by King

Rot and Ruin by Maberry

Reality is Broken by McGonigal

Distant Hours by Morten

Attachments by Rowell

Game of Thrones by Martin

Clash of Kings by Martin

The Year We Left Home by Thompson

Gap Year by Bird

Ready Player One by Cline

Before I Go to Sleep by Watson

11/22/63 by King

Notes From the Blender by Halpin and Cook

The House That Baba Built by Young

Roots and Blues by Adoff

These are the ones that I loved unequivocally, but was able to function while reading them.

Fourstars:

Hush by Chayil

19th Wife by Ebershoff

Lover's Dictionary by Levithan

Ship Breaker by Bacigalupi

Anna and the French Kiss by Perkins

Where Men Win Glory by Krakauer

Accomplice by Corrigan

Tonight at 8:30 by Coward

Between Shades of Gray by Sepetys

Keeping the House by Baker

Silent Land by Joyce

Bucolic Plague by Kilmer-Purcell

Ghost of Greenwich Village by Graham

Domestic Pleasures by Gutcheon

Don't Stop Now by Halpern

Blink and Caution by Wynne-Jones

Cryer's Cross by McMann

Summer Rental by Andrews

In the Garden of the Beasts by Larsen

Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Letts

Karma by Ostlere

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Riggs

Divergent by Roth

City of Spies by Kim

Borrower by Makkai

Penny Dreadful by Snyder

Moon Over Manifest by Vanderpool

Tale Dark and Grim  by Gidwitz

Name of the Star by Johnson

What Alice Forgot by Moriarty

Berlin Boxing Club by Sharenow

Confesions of the Sullivan Sisters by Standfords

The Mother Daughter Book Club by Frederick

Much Ado About Anne by Frederick

Dear Pen Pal by Frederick

When She Woke by Jordan

Future of Us by Asher and Macklin

Hark, A Vagrant! by Beaton

America is Under Attack by Brown

A Nation's Hope by de la Pena

Bossypants by Fey

Home For the Holidays by Frederick

Witness by Hesse

It Chooses You by July

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Levithan &Cohn

Heart and Soul            by Nelson

Dirty Little Secrets by Omololu

Food Rules by Pollan

Drawing From Memory by Say

Flotsam by Wiesner

  

I liked these a lot, but I don't expect everyone to love them as much as I did.

Threestars:

Maryann in Autumn by Maupain

Grace by Scott

Just Kids by Smith

Crossing the Tracks by Stuber

Mare's War by Davis

Trapped by Northrup

Zombie Spaceship Wasteland by Oswalt

Mad Men Unbuttoned by Vargas-Cooper

Dead Tossed Waves by Ryan

Wilder Life by McClure

Trash by Mulligan

I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Ali

Sixkill by Parker

Art and Madness by Roiphe

Once Was Lost by Zarr

Peace Love and Baby Ducks by Myracle

French Lessons by Sussman

Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Angel

If Stones Could Speak by Aronson

Other Wes Moore by Moore

Pregnant Pause by Nolan

Screpbook of Franie Pratt by Preston

Candy Bomber by Tunnell

And these ones I didn't really like much at all, but I accidentally finished so I want credit for reading them!

Withoutstars:

Art of Possibility by Zander

Mercury by Larson

Starting from Happy by Marx

 

CONFESSIONS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS

Here is the one thing I didn't like about this book - the cover. Those three glammy girls are not how I pictured sensible Norrie, hard-headed Jane and sweet, sad Sassy. But other than the cover photo, I loved everything about it from the slightly confusing first chapter to the horribly perfect denouement.

I meant to read Standiford's HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT and never finished it, but now I am going back, because she can write. These girls all had very distinct voices and their stories were gripping. 

I don't want to give too much away other than to say that there is a lot to love about this book.  Also I feel compelled at this point out that this is not a book review blog and the only reason I am writing it is to remind my old brain of what I have read. So just trust me, the less I say about a book (other than raving about how much I love it) the more likely I am to remember it because it was awesome.

And this was awesome, so go read it.

THE NAME OF THE STAR by Maureen Johnson

Why I see from the newer cover to the left that this is the first in a series. Frankly, I am thrilled because I just loved this book!

I should be pissed, because I chewed off all my fingernails reading it. Had I known it was going to be a series I could have relaxed a little knowing that my new best friend Rory would be fine. And really, is Maureen Johnson going to kill her heroine? This isn't GAME OF THRONES...

But back to the subject at hand - the awesomeness of this book.  It was funny, scary, a little romantic and it even had a few surprises. A nice group of friends and apparently future co-workers.

I knew nothing about Rory and the Ripper before I started the book. I commend the person who wrote the jacket copy because they made me want to read the book immediately without ruining any of the well paced surprises. I had an inkling about a few things but I had the pleasure of being proved right rather than waiting for the spoilers I had (not!) already read to be proved true.

I am pretty sure this book will be huge. It is certainly going to be on the BHS summer reading list next year if it is out in paperback in time. My only complaint is the cover - the gray wispy guy in the back is far too cute to be the baddie and the sleeping/dead girl in the foreground is too young, pretty and un-disembowled to be one of the victims, and too still to be Rory. I supposed it could be (spoiler!)  the girl who is hit with a lamp, but I imagine she would be a bit bloody-headed. It is an attractive, evocative cover, but not really indicative of what the book contains.

Well done, Maureen Johnson. I believe you will be the new summer reading record holder. 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES year one and BERMUDEZ TRIANGLE year two! You have left Gail Giles, David Levithan, and Jonathan Krakauer in your dust!

Plenty to love at the PSATs

Once again, standardized testing has been very, very good to me. Of course the PSATs are much shorter than the SATs so I only had 3 hours to read so I read very little. But what I read was terrific. Even the ones I expected to hate!

I am not going to go into much detail because, frankly, I don't have a lot to go on. Suffice to say, these are all books that I will be coming back to once I purchase them for the library, which I intend to do if the PTSO gives me some dollars. Fingers crossed!