This year was a successful year when it came to books. Admittedly, most of them were audiobooks, and NONE were traditional books, but I “read” more this year than I did last year. Last year I read 31 books, and this year I just beat that number, having completed a total of 35 books in 2012!!! Here’s the list:
The last one on the list is currently being read/listened to (thus the asterisk). I will finish it tomorrow or Monday because I only have 30 minutes left on the audiobook and my commute to work is 45 minutes. I have another two I’m reading on my Kindle but I’m not sure I’ll finish them by Monday evening, so I didn’t put them on the list. One of them is very deep reading and I can only read a few pages at a time because there is so much to process. I’ve been reading it since the beginning of the year and I’m only 1/3 of the way through. The other one is some fluffy fiction that I’m also about 1/3 of the way through. It’s an easy read, but I just don’t think I’ll have time to finish it before New Year’s. Once I finish them they’ll go in my Completed in 2013 list.
So, looking at the list, what was the best, and what was the worst? Well, it was very hard to come up with a book as being the worst, because I read a lot of really good books this year. I suppose the worst would have to be “Double Dare” by Rhonda Nelson. It was a fluffy romance novel that I got for free on my Kindle. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either.
I really liked Jenny Lawson’s funny book, “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.” I didn’t like it as much as last year’s VERY FUNNY “Bossypants” by Tina Fey, but it was a close second for sure. And I’m not sure I’d call it the best of 2012. It was definitely the funniest of this year, though. Her story about working in the ice shack was my favorite – even funnier than the Beyonce story (which I had already read on Jenny’s blog).
The most disappointing book was “Death Comes to Pemberly” by PD James. I love all things Pride & Prejudice, but I really felt like PD James phoned this one in. The mystery wasn’t interesting, and I didn’t think the P&P characters were used effectively enough to tell a good story even without the mystery. I had such high hopes for that one, too.
Most disturbing book was definitely “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn. I thought it was a good book. It was a book club pick and most of the people in my book club had reservations about it. This was the book that, days later, I still found myself thinking about. It’s definitely not for everyone – and I doubt I’ll read any other Gillian Flynn books – but I thought it provoked good discussion at book club, so it’s a win!
The year started with my finished “Huck Finn” and I have to say that I REALLY hated Tom Sawyer. I mean, REALLY. Forget what you want to say about Mark Twain’s book in general – I almost stopped reading it just because I hated any scene that involved Tom Sawyer. Tom’s a brat and a troublemaker. Does anyone else agree? Does “Tom Sawyer” read that way, too? Maybe I should read that one in 2013 and see if Twain can change my mind on that awful character.
Gone Girl was very disturbing. I still think about it on occasion. I really hate those people. LOL
What did you think of Wool?
I liked Wool and I’ll probably read the next books in the series, but I won’t rush to read them. And I wouldn’t put “End of the Affair” near the top of the list either, despite Colin Firth. 😉
Gone Girl is on my pile, because a book club I was invited to is reading it next. I’m glad to hear you liked Stephen King’s 11/22/63 because it’s been way too long since I read any of his work, and I’d like to read this one.
Tiger’s Wife was one of my favorites for 2012.