Top 3 Books You Read in 2012

[Maithanet]

It's the year's end, and here's a chance to look back at all the books you read this year and find the cream of the crop. This exercise is much easier when you have (and use) Goodreads. According to it, I read 29 books this year, although I'm fairly sure that I forgot to update a few there in the middle of the year, so it's probably more like 30-35. Regardless, if I can't remember them they probably weren't in the top 3.

Remember, try and limit yourself to three books. I know it's hard, particularly if you read way more books per year than I, but that's really the point. They don't need to be books that came out in 2012, just books that you read this year.

My Top 3 (no order):

Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl. The book outlines how a combination of the increasing availability of abortions and ultrasound technology and a strong cultural and individual preference for boys has contributed to a staggering deficit of 160 million women and girls worldwide. This book touches on many thorny topics that are often given little attention in the United States, where sex-selective abortion is rarely practiced. Should feminists object to sex selection, which is dramatically reducing the population of women in China and India, or should protecting abortion rights trump these concerns? Should parents have the “right” to know the gender of a fetus? What is the impact of having such a skewed gender dynamic in growing countries like China and India?These are questions without neat answers, but this was likely the most thought provoking book of the year for me.

Japan at War: An Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore Cook. Based on interviews with Japanese survivors of World War II, this book covers the entire gamut of the war's experience. These interviews range from a child who survived the Tokyo firebombing to a colonel accused (indeed, guilty of) war crimes in Burma to soldiers starving in New Guinea. Wars are really about people, not battles, and this book contributed to my understanding of the Japanese perspective on the war in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. The best history book I've read in many years.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. A science fiction story about life on Earth after aliens put a semi-permeable barrier around the planet. This barrier protects life on Earth, but time is now advancing far more rapidly outside the barrier than inside. And in just a matter of Earth-decades, the sun will expand to wipe out all life, and mankind must adapt to survive. Themes of survival, evolution and humanity are present throughout, and this is one of the most imaginative sci-fi novels I have read in a long time.

[andrew_]

I read the entire aSoIaF in January/February so I'll count them as one, read Metro 2033 by Dimitry Glukhovsk (a Russian book translated to English, had a good premises but the ending was underwhelming) and read the Hobbit again (in preparation for the movie).

Also read The King of Ireland's Son written by Padraic Colum, based on old irish folklore and written nearly 100 years ago. Interesting but very odd tale to say the least

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Hmm... According to Goodreads I read 28 new books this year (not including a reread of WOT, JA's standalones, and a few others). A few stand out.

- Tower of Midnight (Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan. Really a fantastic book that lived up to everything I wanted from a WOT book.

- Blade of Tyshalle (Matthew Stover). Just a great, great book. Actually I might amend this to include the entire Overworld series, since I read them all this year.

- Zone One (Colson Whitehead). A book that took me a bit to get into and was very weird, but it stuck with me for days and days.

Honorable mentions:

- Caliban's War - James SA Corey

- Tooth and Nail - Craig DiLouie

- The Twelve - Justin Cronin

- Red Country - Joe Abercrombie

- Knife of Dreams and The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and BS/RJ

[ztemhead]

I read Blade of Tyshalle, it was okay but I wasn't in love with it. I was in like with it at best.

Of the thirty - forty books I've read this year, a couple off the top of my head:

The Poisoner's Handbook is a true crime novel about the birth of forensic science in the US, specifically NYC in the nineteen teens and twenties. The style is a fairly dry presentation of facts and stories, but by the end of it, the main characters stand out as real life heroes.

Three Cups of Tea was recommended to me by the same person who gave me Poisoner's Handbook. It's about Greg Mortenson, who began building schools for girls in Pakistan in the late 90s. If even half of what he says is true, he's a remarkable individual who proves that with enough balls-out committment, a single person can make a difference.

I finally read Guns, Germs, and Steel; which is an interesting theory of why Europeans developed high technology and an imperialist mindset, rather than say, inhabitants of New Guinea. I levelled up my intellegence +5 upon completion.

I just realized those are all non fiction books. Fiction just doesn't seem as interesting as the real world anymore. Maybe I'm just getting old.

[Maithanet]

I finally read Guns, Germs, and Steel; which is an interesting theory of why Europeans developed high technology and an imperialist mindset, rather than say, inhabitants of New Guinea. I levelled up my intellegence +5 upon completion.

I just realized those are all non fiction books. Fiction just doesn't seem as interesting as the real world anymore. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Two of my three were non-fiction as well. It might have something to do with how nonfiction is usually better once you're done (like, I'm glad I read that), whereas fiction is often more fun while you're actually reading it.

I liked Guns, Germs and Steel as well, although I thought it was overlong. He answered the question of "why were the native americans and not the europeans decimated by disease when they finally came in contact?" which is something I had wondered a long time.

- Zone One (Colson Whitehead). A book that took me a bit to get into and was very weird, but it stuck with me for days and days.

I'm reading this right now. Good so far.

[nickg]

Helsreach. Only read one book this year. It was so good I decided to stop, possibly forever. My brain was slightly damaged by the awsomeness so I'm not actually sure what it was about, but there was a bunch of chainsowrds and Orc slaughtering going on.

[polishgenius]

Faith, by John Love is the one that really stands out for me - I read it right at the start of the year when it came out and nothing's topped it since. Part Moby Dick-esque tale of a man chasing his obsession, part awesome shooty space opera, part what. the. fuck. It is in places very surreal but always brilliant.

The other two, ehm...

Palimpest, by Catherine Valente. The one about a sexually-transmitted-city... I also read Deathless, which is in many ways a more solid novel and certainly the more likely one to recommend to other people, but the dream-atmosphere of Palimpest stuck with me more as, tbh, did the characters.

Viriconium, by M John Harrison. This is a love-it-or-hate-it one, I know; I loved it. He builds a great atmosphere, and it's a clear progenitor of a lot of the 'weird' that I'm a big fan of in fantasy now.

[cseresz.reborn]

Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) - A. A. Milne

Christ Recrucified (1948) - Nikos Kazantzakis

Az európai irodalom története (1934) - Babits Mihály (A History of European Literature)

+

The Fires of Heaven (1993) - Robert Jordan

The Selected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca (2005)

A magyar esszé antológiája I-IV.

Tours-i Gergely: Korunk története. A frankok története (Gregory of Tours: A History of the Franks)

[Nearly Headless Ned]

There will be an honourable mentions part of this post. I can't help it.

Best was undoubtedly Maus-Art Spiegelman. Harrowing Holocaust drama but it's really the true to life Father-Son relationship with all its many pitfalls that rang true for me.

The Outlaw Album-Daniel Woodrell. Showing Cormac Mcarthy how it really should be done.

Sharps-KJ Parker. Ping Pong diplomacy is not explored nearly enough in the fantasy genre.

Honourable mentions are-Lolita-Nabakov, Heart Of Darkness-Conrad, The Last Vampire-TM Wright,

Madouc-Jack Vance and Winter King - Thomas Penns beautifully written biog of a rather sinister King Henry VII.

Edit-If I'd managed to finish Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell it would be near the top of the list. But I'm taking my time with it. Too good to rush through.

[NewsToTom]

I read a lot this year. Assuming I counted right, 121 + 7 re-reads. I may knock off a couple more before the end of the year, but probably not. Fortunately, I started thinking about my best books of the year earlier this month and came up with three, all nonfiction.

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt-Perhaps most valuable to those of us in the US, Haidt shows how differing preferences can lead to differing opinions and make discourse hard. The broader implications of this book are complicated, but (a) everybody is the hero of their own narrative and (.b.) convincing people to change their mind requires talking to them in their narrative.

Uncontrolled by Jim Manzi-on the limits of Knowledge in social science, advocating expanded use of randomized clinical trials to actually learn things.

Liars and Outliers by Bruce Schneier-A great exposition of how and why people cooperate and defect.

The closest thing I read to a great fiction book was The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq, Beyond that, any honorable mention list would be exclusively non-fiction.

[Ebenstone]

My Top 3 of the Year:

1. Redshirts by John Scalzi

2. Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

3. Island of Doom by Arthur Slade

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

I should have mentioned that I'm currently reading "Shogun" during my lunch breaks at work, and were I to finish it before year's end it would have a spot on my list.

[nickg]

Faith, by John Love is the one that really stands out for me - I read it right at the start of the year when it came out and nothing's topped it since. Part Moby Dick-esque tale of a man chasing his obsession, part awesome shooty space opera, part what. the. fuck. It is in places very surreal but always brilliant.

If I'm going to be serious, this is probably tops for me as well. I believe it was the first book I read this year. I'm pretty sure it was a debut as well which is fucking insane because it was an excellent book.

Number 2 for me is a re read of The Riddle Master trilogy by Patricia McKillip. Guess I can count this as one.

3 is Haruki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I can't tell you why I just barely got around to reading it but fuck me for waiting so long.

I'm not sure how many books I read ( completely forgot about goodreads ) but it was probably around 40.

Also, thanks nearly headless Ned, just ordered The Outlaw Album.

[UndergroundMan]

Hmmm...

This is a pretty hard, I think I read close to 100 books this year, some of which were very good:

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Honorable mention to: Small Favor by Jim Butcher, The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera, and God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

[Myshkin]

I can't remember if I read Haruki Murakami's Kafka On The Shore this year, or in late December last year. But if this year it's my number one book of the year. If not, my top three are:

The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Shalimar The Clown by Salman Rushdie

Although if you asked me tomorrow it might be three different novels entirely.

[Myshkin]

Hmmm...

This is a pretty hard, I think I read close to 100 books this year, some of which were very good:

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Honorable mention to: Small Favor by Jim Butcher, The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera, and God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Some really great books on that list.

[pig]

I just finished my 45th book of the year (Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones) and started Nobody Move by Denis Johnson. Having not read much in the way of science fiction and fantasy in the last twenty years, I spent much of the past year surveying the best the genres had to offer.

Top Three:

1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

3. A Touch of Death by Charles Williams

The Best of the Rest: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Leguin, Freedom by Jonathon Franzen, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Absolute Friends by John LeCarre, Ringworld by Larry Niven and Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard.

I'll be hard pressed to find so many good genre books to read in the coming year.

ETA: Also read all of ASoIaF this year. Add those (or at least the first three) to the 'Best of the Rest' list.

[polishgenius]

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I have a really odd thing about this book where I thought it was beautifully written, perfectly structured, heartbreakingly thought-provoking and yet I struggle to like it.

[gordonah]

I've read about 25 fiction books this year. My top three for the year are:

Heartstone by CJ Sansom - Historical (Tudor) whodunnit.

Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser - Working my way through the series, and this was a particularly good one.

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett - Again working my way through a series, and particularly enjoyed this one.

[Larry.]

Eh, I never share personal Top ____ overall until after the 31st, but I did contribute to a list of best weird fiction reads from 2012 on Weird Fiction Review, which includes three favorite story collections from 2012 (and two novels). The entire post is worth reading, I believe, so link only.