It’s that time of year when I begin to panic. Yes, panic and it has nothing to do with the holidays. What worries me, causes lack of sleep, and makes me ponder endlessly over a glass of wine (or two)? It’s best of lists. That’s stupid, I know, but here’s the thing — I always look back over the year and think about what happened, good and bad, vacations, time with family and friends, and of course, the books I read. So, to alleviate some anxiety, I’m going to share a best of list with you. Whether you like it or not.
Last year I had this genius idea (I thought it was genius and I’m not taking any feedback on that!:)). Instead of picking a list of say 10 books (how could I pick a number one), I would go month by month and pick the books I liked that month. Now, you may see a book on this list and then look at my review and notice I didn’t rate the book high at the time. The reason I picked it? All gut feeling. I’m telling you which books resonate with me, even months later in some cases, so I can say, ‘You know what, try it.’
January
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
The Secret Diary of a Princess: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Melanie Clegg
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
February
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
March
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (read along, no review)
Changeless (The Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger
April
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson
May
Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate #3) by Gail Carriger
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (read along, no review)
Railsea by China Mieville
June
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate #4) by Gail Carriger
Timeless (The Parasol Protectorate #5) by Gail Carriger
July
Among Others by Jo Walton
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
In The Woods by Tana French
August
Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
September
The Map of the Sky by Felix J. Palma
October
Death in the Floating City by Tasha Alexander
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson
November
The Likeness by Tana French
December
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
I read more fantasy and less historical fiction than in earlier years. And, as always, I have a few series going — not something that I see changing in the New Year. A good series is this reader’s downfall. It’s interesting how my reading habits change, even over the course of a year. One of the reasons I like to keep lists is to see my progress over a year’s worth of reading, that, and I really do like a good list.
OK, the big question — what did you read this year? Anything memorable, wonderful, something you wish you hadn’t read? Share, share. It’s not as if my to read list is getting any shorter anyway.
Just Book Reading 
Ha ha. Well, let’s see. My favorite books that I read this year would be two graphic novels (Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. and Batwoman- Elegy) China Mieville’s RAILSEA, and a classic, DRACULA. I surpassed my challenge of reading 50 books this year and have at this point managed 56 reads (not really a challenge, one year I read 99 as a personal best).
You have some great titles on your list. The Scott Lynch read along was fun! I remember reading Salem’s Lot when it first went into paperback and it scared me! Still need to get to Jenny Lawson’s book. It sounds fun.
Railsea was fantastic, but I’ve pretty much loved all the Mieville books I’ve read so far!
Congrats on finishing 50+ books! Even if it’s not a challenge, it’s an accomplishment. 🙂
I’m so looking forward to the 3rd Lynch book. They were great reads this year. I hope you get the chance to pick up Lawson’s book soon, she’s really funny.
I’ve been meaning to read The Mists of Avalon for like 3 decades. I really should do so. I also greatly enjoyed the Scott Lynch read alongs – those were some of my funnest books this year.
They were! I can’t wait for the 3rd one. Now go and read The Mists of Avalon! 🙂 It’s long but so worth it.
Haha! I really should dig Mists out of the book shelf.
The Name of the Wind is one I’m really looking forward to, and I’ve been meaning to get to for quite some time. So glad to see ‘Salem’s Lot on your list and thank you so much for joining The Project this year! Happy Holidays to you and yours!
I can’t even face a best-of list this year for my own blog, especially considering I kept taking breaks (scheduled and unscheduled) and generally being a terrible blogger. So I’m just bowing out of that particular duty for the year, though I do enjoy reading other people’s!
Oh man, I’ve only read, like, one of the books from your lists. But it looks like you read a lot of fantastic ones last year! And breaking them up into months *is* a fantastic idea 🙂
Thanks. 🙂 There were some good books in 2012.
I second:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger
Changeless (The Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger
Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate #3) by Gail Carriger
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
On my to reads list, but I haven’t gotten to yet:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
🙂 There were a lot of good books this year. Go for The Mists of Avalon, it’s a great read.
oooh, yeah, and it’s also a classic of the genre. I’ll have to do that!
Go for it! I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.