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Best of 2012

/ justbookreading / 13 Comments

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.

Nothing Bookish. Just Bloggy.

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I haven’t been feeling very bookish lately. I won’t admit to a slump but I haven’t felt much like reading either. I did feel like doing something bloggy though so here it is folks. A few things I thought I’d share because I like them.

101 Cookbooks – I love this site. Not only is this a great place to find a dinner recipe but there are also some amazing photos to go with it. I have Heidi Swanson’s most recent book, Super Natural Everyday, and it’s already a well used kitchen tool. Also, this is where I got the idea to do a list like this.

Madame Guillotine – Seriously, I covet her pink hair. I wish I could carry this off but I have curly hair which means I’d look as though I have a mass of pink cotton candy on my head. It would not be attractive. Anyway, she’s also a great writer and if you’re a person who might be interested, say one day, in being an author. Or you know something like that. Actually, forget I said that. Anyway, she’d be a person to follow. Also, there’s the hair. Did I mention that?

Villainess Soaps – I want to order all the stuff. All. The. Stuff! My birthday is in early December and I’ll be getting it all. All I tell you. I’ll call them gifts and use them all. Someone must be a test subject.

Writing. I need to do more of it which is probably why you’re getting this right now which has nothing to do with books. I find I’m a happier person when I find time to write and I need to do just that.

Since this is a book blog, I will now commence talking about some favorite books. List commencing:

All Jane Austen except Emma. Why? I can’t stand Emma. Simple.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Period.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Why did it take me so long to read this? Why?!

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Awesome.

The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger. Steampunk fiction. How do you not love that? Also, that’s not a question.

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. It will fill your head with facts you did not know you needed to know.

That is the end of the list not because I have no more to add but because we’d be here to New Year’s and I don’t feel the need to keep you entertained until then. 🙂

And now I’m back

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Actually, I got back a few days ago but it’s taken some time to re-adjust. After 17 days on vacation, coming home is wonderful; going back to your normal life isn’t so wonderful. I do have reviews to post but I thought I’d share photos instead because I’m still feeling slightly lazy when it comes to writing. I read three books while on the road — Railsea by China Mieville, The Seventh Gate by Richard Zimler, and finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — but this was a vacation spent outdoors and lugging books in a pack with water and food didn’t happen often.

First stop, San Diego for a wedding. While waiting for the festivities to begin, we made a stop at Balboa Park. They have a fantastic museum called the Museum of Man that we got to spend time in. I recommend it if you’re going to be out that way.

On the way out of San Diego, we stopped at Cabrillo National Monument.

We moved on to Sequoia National Park which is simply the most beautiful place I’ve been so far in this life. The pictures don’t do it justice and it was impossible to take a photo of tree that’s so tall you almost fall over backwards trying to look up at it. These trees are the most amazing things I’ve seen and I want to share every photo I took just to convince you of this but I’m going to pick one and one only. You really have no idea how difficult this is. 🙂

Kings Canyon was next. It’s a little known national park tucked behind Sequoia National Park that has some of the most amazing views. It’s difficult to get to, the drive in is crazy, there’s only one road in and out, but it’s worth it. I thought Sequoia was beautiful with the lush forests and fantastic views but Kings Canyon made me rethink that statement, for only a minute, but it was a long minute. To be safe, I’d say it was a tie.

Then came Yosemite. Now, Yosemite is a beautiful place but a crazy place too. The valley floor is crowded, you can walk up a paved path to almost everything there, but once you get off the floor and start to explore the mountains, you really see the beauty of this place. For this I give you Toulemne Meadow which is a most peaceful place to lose yourself. It’s also the place where we saw a snow storm in June. Yes, you read that correctly — a snowstorm in June. It was scary and awesome all at the same time. We made it off the mountain without a problem but it will forever be a crazy memory. This was taken the day before the storm.

We made our way to Napa after Yosemite and oddly I didn’t take any photos. Could have been all the wine…

The final stop, San Francisco. Really, it seems I only took a picture of the gate in Chinatown so here it is. We were there to visit friends we haven’t seen in a few years and it’s a city we know (and love) and honestly, after that many days of taking photos, I gave up.

That’s the short re-cap. I’ll be back to posting reviews probably tomorrow.

Excuse me for a moment

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I meant to post something last week but life intervened, and well, now I’m getting around to it thanks to some free wifi.

I’m taking a short break and plan to be back with news of all sorts of  books read, places seen, mountains conquered. You know, that sorts of thing.

So, enjoy those books!

Look at this book!

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A co-worker lent me this book. It’s fabulous. In all honesty, I’ve never heard of this book but it has three things going for it that made me love it and I haven’t even opened it yet.

1.) Look at that cover. No, really look at it and focus some energy on the bottom right corner. Yes, those knights are pretty much dismembering each other. Awesome.

2.) It says it’s epic! Epic people. And right on the cover. The little blurb claims it compares with the Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings! Yep. I might be a sucker but I’m a sucker that loves the Lord of the Rings so I’m reading this book.

3.) Pictures. It has pictures. Those are soldiers of demonland if you can’t read the caption due to my crap photography skills.

This is going to be so much fun. Or not. We’ll see.

Book Hoarders Anonymous Book Club – BHA for short

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Seriously, I can’t spell anonymous without the help of a spell check so thank god for acronyms. BHA from here on out!

I joined a book club readers, yes I did. March is the first month we’ll be gathering online to discuss our chosen book which is Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. I haven’t read this book since I was a child so I’m looking forward to seeing how I feel about it as an adult.

Want to join us? Go here. There’s not much to it — just read and talk about it.

And thanks to Alison at The Cheap Reader for coming up with the idea, organizing, and hosting.