Wednesday, January 2, 2013

2012 Standouts - December Recommended Reading

Over the past year, I wrote a handful of posts talking about the books I read and loved, and I thought it might be fun to put them all in one place. When I look over the titles, I'm struck by the mix - fiction, nonfiction, YA, mystery, thriller, women's fiction. It really just goes to show how a good story transcends any label or page.

If you click on the month, it'll take you to that post so you can read, or re-read, the mini reviews in case you'd like to add any of the books to your TBR list. So, here it is - my Standouts of 2012:

JANUARY
The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen
A Killer's Essence by Dave Zeltserman

Also, in January, I did a separate post about of A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

FEBRUARY
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
The Widow's War by Sally Gunning
Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace

MARCH
The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore
All Woman and Springtime by Brandon Jones

APRIL
Chomp by Carl Hiassen

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor

JUNE
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

JULY
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf
Gold by Chris Cleave

AUGUST
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
The Secret River by Kate Grenville

SEPTEMBER
The Sea Captain's Wife by Beth Powning
When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt

OCTOBER
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
The Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern

NOVEMBER
Every Day by David Levithan
Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

DECEMBER
December was a good month for the quantity of reading I did, but not so much for the quality. Don't get me wrong - I read books I enjoyed. They just didn't blow me away or make me want to tell everyone about them or give them as gifts. Basically, I didn't come across any Standouts.

Books Read in December:  6

Total Books Read in 2012:  74

*****

Have you read any of the Standouts? What did you think? What were some of your favorites from 2012? (You know I need to add more books to my 2013 TBR list!)

16 comments:

  1. Seventy-four - that's three times what I read! Very impressive.

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  2. Alex - thanks! I'm aiming for at least 100 in 2013. :)

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  3. I haven't read that many books this year - I've been collecting blogger friends ebooks, but not having the time to read them. I must get on with that this year!

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  4. I just WISH I had more time for reading!!!!

    Read Gone Girl and loved it... what did you think of Left Neglected by Lisa Genova? I read Still Alice and absolutely loved it.

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  5. Oh gawd, I clicked on your links and realized you already HAD talked about the books. Derr...

    I think you'll enjoy Still Alice.

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  6. Annalisa - that's a good goal to go for!

    Cathy - go back and read Gillian Flynn's two previous novels - you'll be glad you did! And I so enjoyed LEFT NEGLECTED that I added Genova's other books to my TBR list.

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  7. Gone Girl is the only one on this list that I read. Now I have lots more to add to my TBR list! :)

    I'm impressed, I'm not sure how many I read but I know it was nowhere close to 74.

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  8. Julie - I would definitely add some, if not all, of these to your TBR list. Out of all the books I read this year, the ones on this list are the ones I still remember, the ones that still stay with me for one reason or another.

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  9. Awesome! So cool to have them all in one place and I love the variety as well! :) Happy 2013!

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  10. I love this recap - so many intriguing books that I haven't read yet! I'm aiming to hit 100 books again this year as well and hope to include some of these.

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  11. Jillian - I really hope you do check out some of these! I think you'd really enjoy EVERY DAY by David Levithan.

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  12. Madeline, I've read many of the same books...due to your recommendations! Other standouts to me in 2012? The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, Live By Night by Dennis Lehane, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, and...well, that's probably enough for now! :) Happy reading!!

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  13. Stacy - I've got HAROLD FRYE on my TBR list! Good to know it was a Standout for you. Hopefully I'll get to it this year. :)

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  14. Still can't get over how much you read! Wow. It takes me a month to get through an average-sized book. I'll be reading 11/22/63 for the next couple months, I'm sure.

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  15. Milo - I know people who've read way more than me! I'm a pretty fast reader. Plus, I read when I "should" be doing other things, like cleaning or running errands. :)

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