"I like big books and I cannot lie." - Sir Mix-a-lot.
About 4 years ago I started a book club with the intent of reuniting some old HS friends who love reading as much as I do. After noticing that we were constantly posting on the Book of Faces about what we were reading and chatting in comments I decided to take it to the next level and The We Heart Books Club was born. It's been seriously amazing. So amazing that I hated to leave it behind when we moved. It was (and still is) a delightful book democracy featuring cocktails, pies and the occasional movie we had already read. We took a Christmas field trip to Powell's in Portland to buy books, had ugly sweater parties, Twilight viewing parties, and many happy hour drinks. I seriously miss having this is my life.
And while formalized get together's aren't possible for me anymore, I still read along with as many of the selected books as possible. (I like to I think that in general I read as many books as possible though). A few of my book club compatriots are commuters and read so much that at the end of the year they could post a list of all the books they had read. It never occurred to me to keep track before! So in 2012 I joined Goodreads so I could keep a log of all the books I read and could post a list in December. Conveniently Goodreads had a 2012 reading challenge widget and set a goal of reading 26 books in 2012. One book every two weeks sounds totally do-able right?
Yes. So do-able that I met my goal early. So I upped it to 30...
...then 32...
...then 35...
It is the end of 2012 and I am happy to say I have read a total of 39 books.
39!
I'm really happy with this number. I am not often proud of myself but I am really proud of this.
But I'm going to spare you the entire list. If you are curious you can find me here.
I will however go over the highlights. The Five Star Reviews. The ones I highly recommend.
The Intrepid McKenna's Best of 2012 Reading List
1. Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
Excellent and moving. It's an essay so you can read it pretty quick but it will move your soul long after. I plan on reading some of Kings work every January.
2. The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
I think I loved this book more than the rest of my book club did. It's a series of short stories about the same town and I loved it. This book has become really significant to me since the morning I woke up after staying up late to finish it, I had diplopia. It made me want to read more Alice Hoffman. And I have. Here is a little snippet of the book club review I wrote for it.
So The Red Garden... I loved it. I really enjoy reading short stories but I felt like this wasn't individual stories as much as it was one long love letter about Blackwell. My favorite story was The Monster of Blackwell. Broke my heart. I didn't find the book to be sad like some of you did. I felt like it was very mundane if anything. Here are little vignettes about ordinary people in an ordinary town with a little mysitcism thrown in, that makes the situations life changing and formative. A bear was a great symbol for the pioneering spirit and fearlessness of all the characters. They were all fighting there own little battles.
You should read it.
3. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This is not the first or the last time I will read this book. It's one of my Top 10. I have 3 copies of it on my bookshelf because I love to encourage people to read it and it's easy to do that if I just give them a copy. The movie did not do this beautiful story justice. I love Henry. He's a librarian.
4. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
Judge this book by it's cover. The cover artwork is beautiful for the entire series and so is the cast of characters. This book 5 of the Mortal Instruments series and I can't wait for book 6. There is magic, romance, and demon hunting all in one lovely story. To be honest the main characters, Clary and Jace, were getting a little tiresome but book 5 gives you lots of story about the supporting cast who are much more interesting. It's very satisfying. Plus, a movie based on the first book is coming out in 2013 and it look great! I was really hesitant to see how they were going to film it. And even though I hate the actor cast as Jace, the trailer makes me really excited. See it here: City of Bones
5. Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster
My favorite memoirist tells her tale of finally growing up...in her 40's. Many that I have shared her books with return them saying she is the republican version of me. I think she is even funnier. I listened to this as an audible book while driving from Vegas to Sacramento and it felt like having a conversation with her. Even Chris loves Jen's books. She also writes a hilarious blog, you can find here. I'm looking forward to her next book, The Tao of Martha.
6. The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
Hoffman's book always have a mystical quality to them and this was no exception. This story of a lightening strike survivor and her bond with another melted my heart. A very quick read with a satisfying end.
7.War by Sebastian Junger
It took me over two months to go through this book chapter by chapter. It was worth it though. A very intense look at the daily lives of our troops stationed in Afghanistan. It's gritty and intense and I learned a lot about guns.
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Very few characters have stuck with me quite like Charlie has. I can see myself reading this book annually. And the movie adaptation was excellent, but you should still read the book.
9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Hands down my favorite book of 2012. It's received a lot of praise that it rightly deserves. I'm not sure how John Green figured out what it feels like to be a 16 year old girl. But he did. I didn't cry as much as I did with perks, but I was trying to be tough like our main character Hazel.
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Another book deserving of all the praise it received.The whole time I knew there would be twists so I kept guessing the most outrageous things I could think of and Bam! I was wrong. This book was so much smarter then me.
11. The Grey Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima
This is book 3 in the Seven Realms Series. It's a 4 book series and as far as middle books go, this was outstanding. The main character Princess Raisa is a seriously kick ass princess with a lot of integrity. I love this series and I'm dragging my feet on the last book because I don't want it to be over.
12. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
No book about dogs has screwed me up this bad since Where the Red Fern Grows. A very original idea that is a beautiful portrait of family.
13. Bossypants by Tina Fey
I listened to the Audible version of this. Love, love, love. Again, it was like having a conversation with your funniest friend. Plus there are additional jokes she makes just for audio book listeners.
Honorable Mention:
1. Man Made by Joel Stein
No other book had me laughing this hard all year long. Upon finding out he is having a son, Joel sets out to find out what it really means to be a man and hilarity ensues. It does have its serious moments and lots of lessons about "real men" but I was a little dissappointed with the ending. As a woman, I think a real man is a little different to me then it is to men. But what to I know? So I gave it 4 stars.
I'm going to set my 2013 goal at 32 books. In 2012 I had two periods of unemployment as well as a job that allowed me to read on the clock and I do not have that in 2013. I'm working full time now so I think that 32 is still a pretty good goal. I'm reading two books right now as well as listening to audio books at the gym. I learned a valuable lesson this year too. I only like listening to audio books that are memoirs narrated by the authors. It feels like having a conversation. I bought Wild by Cheryl Strayed as an audible book and I cannot get through it. The reader sounds like Bernadette Peters and her voice makes my skin crawl. I really wanted to read this book, but I don't want to buy another copy so I may never know about her journey. However, my conversations with Tina Fey and Augusten Burroughs were great. Does anyone else feel like this? How do you like audiobooks? I think I might like them more if Alec Baldwin narrated all of them :)
Tell me about your reading plans in the comments below. I want to know what you are reading and how you felt about what you read in 2012.
I hope you all have fabulous biblio-adventures in 2013!
Angelina
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