Favorite books read in 2012

11 years ago

I am a huge fan of the year-end book list, and it's always fun to see what everyone liked best. (It also helps to add to next year's TBR pile ...)

This year, my favorites were (in no particular order):

The Devil in White City by Erik Larsen -- a thrilling true story, told like a novel.

The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman -- a dark take on teen-age wizardry that I could not put down.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach -- this was a beautifully written book that had everything, including love, loss and baseball.

Shadow of the Night by Deborah Harkness -- the sequel to last year's A Discovery of Witches started out a bit worrisome, but quickly found its footing. I loved it and can't wait for the final book in the trilogy.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern -- another beautifully written book quite unlike anything else I've read. There were star-crossed wizards here. too, but the mood and tone and wonder of the story elevated it far beyond the usual fantasy novel.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline -- I think you have to be or have been a gamer to really love this, and coming of age in the 1980s helps, too. As I qualify on both counts, I thought this was brilliant.

Caravan by Dorothy Gilman -- recommended here by Chris in the Valley, I picked it up because I had enjoyed the Mrs. Polifax books decades ago but I had no idea what to expect. This was a terrific story in every way.

So, what were your favorite books read in 2012?

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Comments (34)

carolyn_ky
11 years ago
Some of mine were:

Before the Poison, Peter Robinson
The Marx Sisters, Barry Maitland
Billy Boyle, James R. Benn
The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths
The Yard, Alex Grecian
Creole Belle, Jaes Lee Burke
A Question o Identity, Susan Hill

As you see, I like mysteries.
junek-2009
11 years ago
Two that stand out for me, and I have read lots this year.

"Doc" by Mary Doria Russell.

"The Sisters Brothers" by Patrick Dewitt.
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My favourite Books of 2011 - no particular order - 1) ""Get Me Out of Here" - Henry Sutton A dark -- very dark -- satire set in modern-day London.... Tells of a once-successful financial professional who's on the skids -- yet, still hankers for the luxuries and amenities so many of his ilk had during the '80s - early-2000s - until the global financial crash. 2) "Bleak House" - Charles Dickens My first reading of this classic. Like the above -- another tale of riches-to-rags -- for some characters, rags-to-riches. Teeming w/ delightful or creepy characters, high drama, ugly-beyond-belief slum scenes and human cruelty, enough neuroses to keep a psychiatric clinic busy for a decade (or more!), generosity of spirit, healthy lust for life, etc., etc. ... a rich cornucopia of humanity -- both wonderful and lousy. 3) "Left Early, Took My Dog" - Kate Atkinson Very "juicy" mystery involving a kidnapped spunky little girl and one of the most delightful female police detectives I've ever encountered. ... She reminded me of the actress Dawn French. 4) "King Solomon's Carpet" - Barbara Vine / Ruth Rendell One of the best books she's ever written ... even though I was annoyed w/ how meagre the explanation was at the end -- of a couple of the characters' outcomes. But, still, a fascinating ride -- in both senses! -- the story as well as the hair-raising subway ("Underground" in Brit speak) scenes. Some of the weirdest, most intriguing characters I've come across in a book in a long time! 5) "Bad Behavior" - Isabel Wolff A woman's storybook -- I call this genre -- some call it "Chick Lit", which turns me off. Anyway -- a lovely story about a young, single woman setting up a new veterinary practice in London. She has a very awful secret in her past. A war photojournalist comes into her life, and the secret if blown open. 6) "My Cousin Rachel" - Daphne du Maurier Several of us "chatted" about this in the August thread. I still think the dame did it! 7) "The Private Patient" - P.D. James A professional investigative TV journalist goes to a posh country clinic to have an old scar removed from her face. But much more than that happens to her. Really intriguing who-done-it... although I felt that bringing Dalgleish's personal life into the story interrupted the flow. That's it. This year think I'll read more non-fiction. After going over the lists of all the books I read - 2011 - I noticed I've been reading way too many mystery books! Some books keep popping up in the lists above and in discussion that I want to try -- "IQ84", "Discovery of Witches", "The Assassin's Cloak". Kathy9norcal - You named 2 of my all-time favourite books: 1) "Brazzaville Beach" - Wm. Boyd -- Every time I mention this novel I have the feeling I'm the only person who's read it, as no one seems to've heard of it! Although I've read some awfully good books set in Africa (fict. &...
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veer
11 years ago
Bringing Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel. Second part of her work on Thomas Cromwell

Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller. 'Goings-on' between a pupil and teacher through the eyes of a jealous colleague.

My Grandmothers and I - Diana Holman-Hunt. Life for a child in two eccentric 'pre-Raphaelite' households.

A Daughter's Tale - Mary Soames. Growing up as the youngest child in the Churchill family.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens, which I should have read years ago.

Most of the other reads have been so-so and some I only remember from the title and therefore can't have been up-to-much.
J C
11 years ago
Kafka at the Shore - Haruki Murakami - One of his most famous novels - after reading 1Q84 in 2011, I read all of his work that I could find.

The Light in the Forest - Conrad Richter. Classic young adult novel about a Native American/European boy caught between two worlds.

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece - Annabel Pitcher. Novel told from the POV of a ten-year-old boy dealing with grief, bullying, alcoholism, parenting issues. My favorite this year.

Sacre Bleu - A Comedy d'Art - Christopher Moore. Unusual novel with magical elements and Impressionist art. The book itself is beautiful, with blue print, embossed cover, parchment-edged pages, art reproductions, and other elements.

This year I didn't read as many books as I usually do, but I certainly had quality.
woodnymph2_gw
11 years ago
Here are mine, in no particular order:

Nowhere Else on Earth - Josephine Humphrys
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage- Eliz. Gilbert
Little Heathens: Hard Times & High Spirits on an Iowa Farm during the Great Depression - Mildred A. Kalish
Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art - Christopher Moore
The House I Loved - Tatiana de Rosnay
The Winter Ghosts - Kate Mosse
Istanbul - Orhan Pamuk
The Lost Cyclist - David Herlihy
The Light in the Forest - Conrad Richter
Killing Lincoln - Bill O'Reilly
veronicae
11 years ago
Virginia Sweet - God's Hotel
Robin Olivieri - My Name is Mary Sutter
Barbara Kinsolving - The Poisonwood Bible
Sarah Jane Jewett - The Country of the Pointed Firs
Natalie Taylor - Signs of Life: A Memoir
Margaret LeRoy - The Soldier's Wife/Postcards from Berlin
James LePore - Gods and Fathers
veronicae
11 years ago
So far, no duplicates!
bookmom41
11 years ago
Here's another vote for Conrad Richter's A Light in the Forest, although that was a re-read for me. Reading it as an adult was a very different experience from my teen self reading it to satisfy a school assignment. Patrick Dewitt's The Sisters Brothers, too, is one of my 2012 favorites.

To those, I would add:
The Garden of Evening Mists -- Tan Twan Eng
The Round House -- Louise Erdrich
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend -- Matthew Dicks

and for non-fiction:

The Last Resort: Taking the Mississippi Cure -- Norma Watkins
Call the Midwife -- Jennifer Worth
The Orchard -- Theresa Weir
Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock -- David Margolick
Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazis' Rise to Power -- Andrew Nagorski

and in the juvenile fiction category, I loved The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis.
vickitg
11 years ago
So far, only one really stands out: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, an amazing, thought-provoking story about drug companies, relationships, women, and more.

Two others I really enjoyed:

I Thought You Were Dead: A Love Story by Pete Nelson, a story with a dog that stole my heart, and
Unwind by Neal Shusterman, another extremely thought-provoking book about a post-civil war America where abortion has been outlawed but people are free to "unwind" "difficult" or uneeded children.
Chris_in_the_Valley
11 years ago
Sheri, I'm pleased you enjoyed Caravan. As I noted in another thread, it is a magical book for me.

Creole Belle and The Glass Rainbow, James Lee Burke. I don't know which one I liked better.

Bringing Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick which, even as big of fan of Blade Runner as I am, I'd never read.

Victory by Joseph Conrad

Looking at this short list makes me regret and resent all the junk I read this year.
Kath
11 years ago
I also have read a lot of rubbish this year in the wake of the Fifty Shades phenomenon and my mission to find better erotica. I did find some, but I read a lot of very poor and derivative writing in the process.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel was as good as Wolf Hall.
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness was another good sequel.
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich was a fun read about a wizard in the London Met.
The Siren and the sequels The Angel and The Prince by Tiffany Reisz showed me that there is well written erotica with a good plot (that doesn't involve a young woman and a billionaire) and witty into the bargain.
frances_md
11 years ago
My reading this year appears to be much less than usual, according to my list, but here are my favorite reads and listens:

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin
Defending Jacob by William Landay
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Line of Fire by Stephen White
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
A Wanted Man by Lee Child
The Drop by Michael Connelly
kathy_t
11 years ago
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese was by far my favorite of the year - a wonderful, intelligently written novel.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer gets an honorable mention for its originality. The character Oskar Shell will linger in my memory long after details of the plot fade.
sheriz6
Original Author
11 years ago
Interesting that there are still few duplicates - we do read widely!
timallan
11 years ago
My favorite new discovery for 2012 were the mysteries of Josephine Tey. Tey is famous for her The Daughter of Time, but her other mysteries are worth a revisit. I did not read all of her novels, but those I did seemed surprisingly contemporary to their approach to the genre. Like many British writers of the 1940s and early 1950s, she writes with a wry and elegant style. I was impressed with how she was able to subvert some of the conventions of the British "cosy" mystery in a very sly way.
lemonhead101
11 years ago
From your comments here, I clearly need to find "A Light in the Forest" (Richter)... :-)

My favorites were a bit all over the place this year, and this list is not necessarily titles that were published in 2012. Only books that I actually read and completed this year. So:

* Remember, Remember - Judy Parkinson (NF history)
* A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle (F) (led to me reading most of his SH work so far)
* The Pleasures of Reading in a Distracted Age - Alan Jacobs (NF) - not an *easy* read but definitely made me think. (Always good.)
* Inside the Victorian Home - Judith Flanders (NF)
* The Joy of Less - Francine Jay (NF) - enthusiastic introduction to minimalism without going OTT
* No Idle Hands - History of Knitting in US (NF) - Just plain fun
* Edith Wharton's works (F): good reading there
* Once Were Warriors - Alan Duff (F) - hard hitting fiction but riveting if not the most comfortable read in the world
* Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga (F) - African coming-of-age novel (but so much more than that)
* The Art of Travel - Francis Galton (NF) - Victorian how-to manual for beginning world explorers
* Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie (F) (because it's so demented and kept me thinking about it for ages after I had read it)
kathy9norcal
11 years ago
I'll have to look at my reviews as I read many books this year--paper, audio, and Kindle. These are some of my favorites.

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers (I am so glad I discovered Dorothy.)

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (wonderful audio narration by Will Wheaton)

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead (A very clever, amusing story about elevator inspectors, and I loved the main character.)

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

The Book of Ebenezer LePage by G.B. Edwards (I loved it so much I listened to it twice, back to back. Audiobook is a must due to the awesome narration by Guernsey man, Roy Dotrice.)

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isobel Wilkerson

Trustee From The Toolroom by Nevil Shute

Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
lemonhead101
11 years ago
kathy -

Interested to see that The Warmth of Other Suns was on your list. I have been intrigued by it so your inclusion makes me think it must be good to read. :-)
rosefolly
11 years ago
The truth is I don't think I read any wonderful books in 2012. I read any number of pleasant books, but none that impressed me. My favorites that I read this past year were all re-reads.

I'm hoping for better from 2013. Most years I read at least two or three books that knock my socks off. This as been a so-so reading year for me.

Rosefolly
maxmom96
11 years ago
Another vote for The Warmth of Other Suns.
yoyobon_gw
11 years ago
Okay Rosefolly......please share which three books have knocked your socks off.

I need to have a 'sock knocker' read and am short on ideas !!!
rosefolly
11 years ago
Okay, Yoyobon! Over the years there must have been a couple hundred. Here are three at random. I remember first reading M M Kaye's Far Pavilions and being unable to put it down, even for meals that others prepared. I felt that way about Richard Adams's Shardik, though I dislike his other books. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis must be included. All of these could easily fit on my personal 'enraptured' list. Something just a little more recent, though still about a decade old would be Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler. So, there are four.

Rosefolly
yoyobon_gw
11 years ago
Thanks Rosefolly !!

Now....the rest of you out there.

Name just THREE books which you feel are the type of fiction you couldn't put down....the kind that had you reading well into the night.
twobigdogs
11 years ago
Best of 2012:

End of Country, Seamus McGraw: not because it was awesome, but because it taught me more about the natural gas drilling in PA and NY than any other source.

Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury: should have read this ages ago, but I am rather glad that I read it now. The scenes of the mindless people watching endless stupid "reality" TV was apropos and still chills me to the bone.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare; Simone St. James: a ghost story that kept me up flipping pages. 100% entertainment and I was 100% entertained.

The Yard, Alex Grecian: just a really really great mystery. Pure escapism.

The Light in the Forest, Conrad Richter: I loved "discovering" this one. Powerful. Simply told but full of depth.

Sea of Glory, Nathaniel Philbrick: about the US Exploring Expedition, a slice of American history that I never knew existed.

PAM
jlsch
11 years ago
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
sherwood38
11 years ago
For Yoyobon- Three books which for me were page-turners over the years

The Haj by Leon Uris
Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Pat
yoyobon_gw
11 years ago
Pat,

Yes !
I read OUTLANDER and could not put it down.
I will certainly look into the others that you listed.
Thanks :0)
Kath
11 years ago
For Yoyobon:

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman (and Here Be Dragons a close second)
The Source by Michener
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
mary52zn8tx
11 years ago
My favorites for the year were Blackout and All Clear by Willis. I finished the year by picking up the Longmire series by Craig Johnson. I had bought the books for my husband, but I have thoroughly enjoyed them.
phyllis__mn
11 years ago
Lots of good books read this past year, and also some not-so-good ones. Yesterday afternoon, December 31, I ended my year by reading Ian McEwan's Amsterdam. Now I am thinking of it all the time, and plan on going back to read parts that I may have skimmed over, in my music ignorance.
oiveah
11 years ago
Hi All,

Brand new to the board... but I have tuned in from time to time in the past.

I read a few great things in 2012 (and some not-so-great things.)

My faves were:
A Dry White Season - Andre Brink
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz - Mordecai Richler
The Year of Living Dangerously - Christopher J. Koch
and my FAAAAAAAAAAAAAVORITE
The Cairo Trilogy - Naguib Mahfouz (this is 1313 pages from Everyman Library but I was taken away from the first chapter in which nothing happens but a woman waiting for her husband to come home from a night of carousing). Highly recommended!

I look forward to posting here.
frances_md
11 years ago
Welcome, Oiveah! I looked up The Cairo Trilogy and it sounds very interesting so I will give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation.
pam53
11 years ago
Everyone has kept their lists rather short so I will also; although it will not be a really complete list (indecisive is my middle name). Anyway here in no particular order are some of my favorites:
My Dear I Wanted To Tell You -Louisa Young
The Flight of Gemma Hardy-Margot Livesy
The Baker's Daughter-Sarah McCoy
The Unfinished Business of Elizabeth D.-Nichole Bernier
The Care And Handling of Roses With Thorns-Margaret Dilloway
Survivor-Gregg Hurwitz
Say You're Sorry-Michael Robotham
Love Anthony-Lisa Genova
and many mysteries esp. the latest 2 Simon S. books by Susan Hill and The Black Box by Michael Connelly which I just finished.
J C
11 years ago
Welcome, Oiveah! Interesting list! I look forward to hearing more from you.

Favorite books read in 2012

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