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Top 3 Books You Read in 2012


Maithanet

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Bring up the Bodies (Mantel)

The Night Circus (Morgenstern)

Past imperfect (Fellowes)

Hon. Mention: Dead Souls (Gogol)

However, I am in the middle of The Orphan Master's Son. If I finish it in 2012, it likely will go to the top of the list.

So, I finished The Orphan Master's Son on 12/30. Do yourself a favor and go buy the book. It totally lives up to the hype.

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Going by my Shelfari, I read 36 books in 2012 and gave 6 of them a 5-star rating.

Top 3

The Dagger and the Coin (read TDP and TKB back-to-back and both were great, so I'm counting them as one)

Ready Player One (it had some flaws but it was a lot of nostalgic fun)

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (an entertaining, educational travelogue that made me want to go hiking in the mountains)

Honorable Mention

Caliban's War

Swan Song by Robert McCammon (it's been on my to read list forever and was far superior I felt to King's The Stand)

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin (a funny guilty pleasure)

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Going from memory (because I've not signed up for Goodreads.. yeah, I'm laz

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

1Q84, Haruki Murakami

A Chain of Voices, André Brink

Overall, I think the year's been good reading-wise, but not spectacular. Oh, and I should sign up for Goodreads, if I can make the effo

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The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies are definitely the best books I read this year. Only discovered Scott Lynch recently (shame on me, I know). Number three will have to be A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. It was a pretty good year :D

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Books I read this year that I rated 5 stars on Goodreads:

Death in Venice - Thomas Mann

Rent Girl - Michele Tea

Beloved - Toni Morrison

Girl with Curious Hair - DFW

My goal was to read 50 books in 2012, but I only made it to 17 :blushing:

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The books I liked the most in 2012 are:

The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney - Paranoia doesn't date. Whether this is about the McCarthy years or not, it's still a very creepy novel about a subtle alien invasion. A sort of American John Wyndham.

Road of Bones by Fergal Keane - A history book about a battle in which the British Empire defeated Japan. Not a barrel of laughs, but an important story about the fall of two empires. Really interesting.

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King - A re-read, as I've not read this for about 15 years. Vampires infest a small American town. It's like Bruce Springsteen writing Dracula. The vampires themselves fall a bit flat, but the sense of decay is really strong.

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The Gambler Fyodor Dostoyevsky

1984 George Orwell

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

Hon.:

Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Wise Man's Fear, King of Thorns,

Still trying to complete the quest to read most of the classics.

In my main interest at this moment are Tolstoi and Dostoyevsky

I have almost finished Karenina and one book of war and peace ( only like another 1200 pages to go, lol) [but will probably end up as the fav 2013]

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1.) The entire ASoIaF series- I always had passion for books(mostly older ones) but I never thought it could be taken this far and get so much pleasure from reading these books. Just an absolutely amazing series and I am privileged to be there when the next two books come out.

2.) Sherlock Holmes Novels- Well I had a book containing all the short stories and the novels and after finishing it, I can see why people consider Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a legend, the stories he makes are written amazingly and with such intelligence.

3.) The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

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My top 3:

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller – I really enjoyed this one. It was a good post-apocalyptic novel in which a virus wipes out most of mankind. Never read anything by Heller before (never heard of him until this book, actually), but wow, he is a really excellent writer. Good prose; nice narrative about a small plane pilot and his dog trying to survive a very brutal world. It was a bit disheartening at times due to the bleak picture the author paints, but there were also some very moving moments that I found myself getting misty-eyed. I guess I’m becoming soft in my old age.

11/22/63 by Stephen King – This looks to be a popular choice in the thread, and I don’t mind piling on. King shows his chops at his writing prowess, and actually delivers a great ending as well. :) I picked up the book because I was interested in the Oswald/JFK plot, but actually ended up enjoying more for the protagonist’s story line and his relationships. I found myself skimming the Oswald stuff to get back to the other storylines.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett – I was drawn to this one for the WWI historical pieces. Follett does a great job weaving the historical background/backdrop of WWI into the novel. It paints a great picture of the exponential clusterfuck that WWI was, and especially how it really resolved nothing and left the seeds sown and grown for WWII to easily take root. The fictional pieces were pretty good, too. :) Can’t wait to read the 2nd book of the planned trilogy.

Honorable Mentions:

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. Never read anything by Atwood before, so I was really impressed by my first exposure to her. Will be looking for Year of the Flood soon, as it is a semi-sequel to this one.

The Blade Itself by Abercrombie – How did I miss this one? Why did it take me so long before I read it? Damn, damn fine novel. Loved the character development!

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