Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2013

Book List 2012 Part VI: Fiction

So... It's March. And I'm finally finishing up my book list from last year. Whoops. At least I'm finishing! Without further ado:

Fiction Books I Read in 2012:

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
I wanted to read this before seeing the movie. Almost 100% of the time, I like the book better than the movie, and this was the same. There was more in the book, and the movie didn't convey some of the characters as well as I wanted it to. It was also the first book I read on my Kindle!

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
In college I took a courses on the history of India and the Middle East, where I discovered the joys of novels based in the area. This book is a collection of short stories, that I really enjoyed.

Bed, by David Whitehouse
This is the story of a son who, on his 25th birthday, refuses to leave his bed. It follows his life, and the toll his decisions take on his family. Like a lot of good novels, it's depressing. But a great read.

Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart
I read this after my friend recommended it to me. Umm, I really like this book. A lot. It's an interesting view of the near to mid future world. The most interesting part was the prevalence and incorporation of technology into our lives. Yes, there is also a love story.


The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
This novel follows a man and his family as he emigrates to America, marries, raises a family, and copes with the change in cultures. I decided to read this after reading Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies (see above).

How to Read the Air, by Dinaw Mengestu
Many of these books came from the NYTimes bestseller lists. This was one of them. It's. Really. Boring. The son of an African immigrant tells his father's story, and recreates a road trip his parents took. All while the son's marriage is falling apart. I just couldn't connect to this one...

Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell
After her mother dies, Ava and her family try to keep their alligator wrestling show open. I can't say too much more without making the book sound strange. It is strange. But very good. This was one of my favorite fiction books, and another NYTimes bestseller.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire
Two years ago, I saw the musical with my friends in Indianapolis. I liked the story, but thought the ending was really dumb. A year ago, I was lucky enough to see the musical again in DC (Kennedy Center for the win!). I decided I needed to finally read the book that started it all, and I really liked it. The ended is different, and much more realistic than the musical.


The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
Okay, this was definitely my favorite fiction novel. It reminded me of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, in the sense that it was two magicians pitted against each other in the past. The book is full of beautiful images of the Night Circus, which is only open at night, and full of mysteries. Read this book!

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
Yet another NYTimes bestseller... It took forever to borrow this on my Kindle, because there was a long wait list. It was a good mystery, but I hated the main characters. They were really annoying, and it made it hard to enjoy reading.


I promise the 2013 book list will be shorter! I have less free time, and the two books I'm reading are both long (David Copperfield and Anna Karenina).

Monday, February 18, 2013

Book List 2012 Part V: Mysteries

A lot of the books I read this year were mysteries. I enjoy the excitement of trying to solve the mysteries myself, and I get so involved that I usually finish the book in a day or two. This part looks short, but it's because I grouped the mysteries by series. You don't really want to read 19 entries about the same character, do you?

Mystery Books That I Read in 2012:

The Harry Hole Series (The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, Leopard, Snowman)
My dad got me started on the Icelandic/Nordic/Dane/etc. mysteries. It started with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and it's still going strong. These mysteries tend to feature a flawed, middle-aged male character. Jo Nesbø creates beautifully complicated plots (but not complicated enough that you can't follow them). The hardest part is keeping track of all the foreign names! The lastest Harry Hole novel is on my book shelf, waiting to be read...

Stephanie Plum Series (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, Four to Score, High Five, Hot Six, Seven Up, Hard Eight, To The Nines, Ten Big Ones, Eleven on Top, Twelve Sharp, Lean Mean Thirteen, Fearless Fourteen, Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Sizzling Sixteen, Smokin' Seventeen, Explosive Eighteen, Notorious Nineteen)
 I love these books. They are short, witty and have great plots. I started reading the series after receiving one as a gift, and I couldn't stop. The first book was made into a movie, but I was disappointed with it. The humor of the characters didn't come through, and Ranger was not nearly as hot as I imagined!

Vish Puri Mysteries (The Case of the Missing Servant, The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing)
I chose these because the covers looked nice. They are good mysteries, but they remind me of Holmes. The main character will do a bunch of stuff without explaining his motives, and then randomly solve the case in a way that makes it difficult (if not impossible) for the reader to know what's coming. Still, they were fun reads.

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Department Q #1)
This book. It's a typical northern European mystery: Struggling middle-aged male character, etc. But this was possibly the best mystery I read all year. I'm soooo impatient for the next books to be translated into English!


Heat Wave (Nikki Heat #1)
I'm a fan of Nathan Fillion. It started when my friend got me hooked on Castle, and continued when I discovered Firefly. This book is "written" by Rick Castle, the character on Fillion's tv show. It was pretty bad. Really bad. Please don't read this book. Just watch the tv show!

The Hangman's Daughter Series (The Hangman's Daughter, The Dark Monk)
I first read these because they were free to borrow on my kindle. They are set in Bavaria in the 1600s, which makes them different. It was interesting to read about daily life back then, and I believe some of the names and places are based on the author's family tree.

Southern Vampire Mystery Series (aka Sookie Stackhouse Series, aka the books True Blood is based on!) (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, Altogether Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone, Dead in the Family, Dead Reckoning)
I confess, I am a fan of True Blood. I know it's a ridiculous show, but it's a guilty pleasure. It's fun to read the books: The first season followed the first book quite closely. But from there, the show started going in its own direction. The next few seasons did loosely follow the books. They aren't close enough that seeing the show ruined the books though!


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Book List 2012 Part IV: Non-fiction

This list is pretty short. Like, 3 books short. Does this mean I should be reading more non-fiction books?

Non-fiction Books That I Read in 2012:

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, by Rhoda Janzen
A memoir about how the author coped with a divorce and a devastating car accident. It was interesting, but didn't grab me as much as other memoirs.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), by Mindy Kaling
I wasn't sure what to expect out of this book. I knew Mindy was an annoying character on The Office, but nothing else about her. I was really impressed to learn about her career. She did a great job of connecting anecdotes to form a cohesive book (as opposed to Tina Fey's book, which you could tell was written by a sketch writer). As yes, as a twentysomething girl, I could relate to it.

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them, by Donovan Hohn
I found this while I was browsing the NYTimes best sellers lists. Or maybe their Top 100 Books of 2011? Either way, it sounded interesting. And it is! The author explores everything that could have happened to the duck bath toys that fell overboard while crossing the ocean. EVERYTHING. From where they could have ended up, to the impact of disintegrating plastic in our oceans. This one is definitely worth checking out.





Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Book List 2012 Part III: The Classics

In high school we had to define what a "classic" book meant. I think we decided it was a book with a message that could speak to many generations blah blah blah... To be honest, most of the time classics = old. This isn't to say that they're boring! I guess the first definition still applies. If they weren't great books, people wouldn't be reading them 100+ years later. Or maybe people just read them because they are free on the Kindle... Anyway, here are the classics, in the order I read them:

Classic Books I Read in 2012:

Emma, by Jane Austen
Goodness, these books make me laugh. The women decide in the blink of an eye that they are madly in love with Mr. Soandso, and then spend days swooning over them. It seems a little unrealistic, but I guess there wasn't much else to do back then. It's a cute love story though.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
More drama! I was familiar with this plot line from the Bollywood movie Bride and Prejudice. The book doesn't have nearly as much dancing :(

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen
Yes, I went on a free Kindle book Jane Austen kick... Apparently this book is also a movie, which I don't understand. Because nothing happens. Nothing. It's a bunch of rich people living in the country, hanging out. They act out plays and walk around. Pretty boring. Oh, and people fall in love.

The Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I had read one or two Sherlock mysteries in high school. But I loved reading all of them! Doyle must have been ridiculously clever. Reading this gave me a new appreciation for the British tv show about Sherlock!


The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
This book goes back to my goal of reading all the books that have characters in A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's a little terrifying. Dorian is quite terrible. So, don't ever wish that you can be forever young, okay?

The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells
This book also fits my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen goal. It's a short read, and you actually feel sympathetic towards the invisible man. Sometimes.

King Solomon's Mines, by Sir H. Rider Haggard
Another book from my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen quest. This turned out to be really interesting. Once you get past all the old African slang, it's a great adventure (and only a tiny bit racist for how old it is).


Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
I don't know how I missed this one growing up! It's a wonderful adventure. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, GO. Now.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
Somehow I always thought the 20,000 leagues referred to a depth. Once I got over that, this was a really fun adventure. I think part of why these old adventure books are so great is that there was a lot of unknowns back then. It allowed writers to create their own places and creatures, which is exciting!

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jules Verne
I really like Jules Verne.

The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne
I realllllly like Jules Verne. This may actually be my favorite of his novels. Think Lost, but less confusing. And with no chicks (sorry dudes).



The Child of the Cavern (or The Underground City), by Jules Verne
This one actually wasn't as good. But still good.

Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, by Jules Verne
Okay, I may have gone overboard downloading free Jules Verne stories. But this was a cute coming of age/ adventure story.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by J.R.R. Tolkien
I wanted to reread this before I saw the movie. It brought back a lot of memories (and made me want to reread the LOTR series!)


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Book List 2012 Part II: Young Adult

I think part of why I enjoyed these young adult books so much was that they provided a nice break between the heavier books that I read. There's something really satisfying about finishing a book in a few hours! I should also point out that in no way am I trying to give serious book reviews. I don't feel qualified, and it's been a loooong time since I had to analyze my reading! I just want to give you a quick idea of what it was like, and hope that if you're interested you will follow up on your own.

Young Adult Books I Read in 2012:

The Hunger Game Series
(The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay)
Yes, these are for young adults. Yes, the main character gets annoying as the series progresses. But you should read at least the first book! The concept is really interesting, and it's a quick read. I love anything with a depressing, post-apocalyptic future, so this series won me over!

The Dark Is Rising Series
(Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree)
I read these on the recommendation of a friend. It was one of her favorite series growing up, and I can see why! There are mysteries, good battling evil, and some fantasy. I enjoyed them at my present age, and I would have loooooved them as a child.

His Dark Materials Series
(The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)
I honestly don't know how I missed reading these as a kid. My brother read them. A ton of my friends read them. At least I finally got around to it? I can see how inspiring they would be to a child, and I enjoyed the series (although the ending is pretty cheesy when you're 24). I have been told to NEVER watch the movie.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
KenyonCollegeKenyonCollegeKenyonCollege. I love my alma mater! Last year, two YA authors from Kenyon made the NYTimes best seller list at the same time. One of the books was this one. It's based on these old photographs that the author found, and I love the concept. Plus, KENYON.


Thursday, January 3, 2013

Book List: Part I

It all started with a tweet.
So it's my brother's fault, really. The tweet inspired me (and my dad) to keep track of how many books we read in 2012. Umm. I sort of had a lot of free time in 2012. My job in the beginning of year had some free periods, and I was unemployed from June through September! All in all, I read over 80 books. I'm going to break them down into categories:
• Classics
• Mysteries (quick reads)
• Fiction (should I call it modern fiction? Yes, I know all of the above categories fall under fiction too)
• Graphic Novels
• Young Adult (just because I'm 24 doesn't mean I don't enjoy these!)
• Nonfiction

Today we will start with the graphic novels. Why? Because it's one of the shortest groups!

Graphic Novels I Read in 2012

Maus Vol. I and Maus Vol. II
A beautiful graphic novel about the author's father's experiences leading into (and including) World War II. Different types of characters are represented as different animals (Jews are mice, Nazis as cats, etc.).

Black Hole
My sister is really into graphic novels, and this is one that she owns. It follows teenagers as an STD spreads. The STD manifests itself different ways in different people - all of them weird. One girl starts shedding her skin, one grows a tail, and one boy develops a second mouth. Gross but intriguing!