2012 was an odd reading year for me. I went through a dry spell in the middle, and thought that I wouldn’t even hit my annual goal of 75 books (I made it to 77).
Without further ado, here are my notable reading experiences of 2012.
Blog-to-Books
I never thought I’d read a single blog-to-book, but this year I read four, including The Best of Catherine, Caffeinated by Catherine Ryan Howard and The Freelancer’s Survival Guide byKristine Kathryn Rusch. Which just goes to show: never say never.
Short Fiction
I read several anthologies, both single author and not. My comfort reads this spring (right after our move) were six volumes of L. M. Montgomery’s short stories. I finally tried out Margo Lanagan’s work by reading her collection, Black Juice, and yes,”Singing My Sister Down” is one of the most powerful and heartbreaking stories I’ve ever read.
Best YA Fantasy
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
One of the most well-done treatments of human-dragon relationships I’ve ever read.
Best Book I Didn’t Expect to Like
Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines
This book is more about family dynamics and social commentary than action-adventure. A surprisingly moving read.
Best Worldbuilding-YA
Dark Life by Kat Falls
Two words: Undersea. Colonies.
Best Worldbuilding-Adult
The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells
This, and the third book of the Raksura trilogy, The Siren Depths, are just awesome. I love the depth of Wells’ world, with its mysterious flying islands, several sentient races, giant trees, and–especially–the Raksura themselves who are both so alien and so sympathetic.
Best Book That I Did Not Finish
The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
Beautifully written, but so emotionally wrenching that I had to put it down.
Book That Filled the Georgette Heyer Void in My Life
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
This book is a romp, featuring a marriage of convenience, eccentric family members, a search for treasure and a cute romance. Different from the books starring Miles Vorkosigan, but in the best way possible.
What were your favorite reads of 2012?
Related Post: 7 Favorite Books of 2012 (as of 9/24/12)
Ooh, I’ll have to check two of these out (one after the price comes down. I’m not paying $10 for an ebook). Freelancers Survival Guide is a good book.
The only e-book I’ve paid over $10 for is ICEFALL by Matthew Kirby. It was one of those books I just HAD to have after I read the sample.
Otherwise, I just get it from the library. One of the biggest perks of living in No. Virginia is the AWESOME library system. 😀
I just added Dark Life to my Goodreads list. Thanks!
Woohoo! I hope you enjoy it.
‘The Georgette Heyer’ void?!?! Might have to check that one out. I should probably check out the Martha Wells series too. I haven’t heard of it, but I love great fantasy worldbuilding epics. Ye Gods – so much to read!
Hard to believe that a SF book would do that, but it’s so much more Heyer-esque than the other Regencys I’ve tried to solace myself with.
I’ll definitely have to try that if it’s Heyer-esque!
It’s definitely a romp. 🙂
That’s a whole lot of books – more than one a week! I’m well impressed 🙂
Didn’t do much reading this year but I’ve started again – with old favourites like Agatha Christie, Anne McCaffrey and Alexander McCall Smith (No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books). There’s a pile of ‘serious’ books from Christmas the first of which is a biography about Patrick Leigh Fermor who walked from London to Constantinople in 1934 when he was 18 or 19.
Happy New Year to you and yours. Hope 2013 is a good year for you all x
Thank you, Prue! We had some issues that kept me away during the last (and first) days of the year, so I’m late responding! Happy New Year to you and I hope that 2013 is a time of healing and peace.
I finally read my first Lois McMaster Bujold book (Shards of Honor) and loved it! Will be reading more of those. 🙂 I’m going to add Seraphina to my list for 2013–I have a thing for human-dragon relationships!
Thanks for all the recommendations, and Happy New Year!!
You’re welcome, Kirsten! I’d love to know what you think of Seraphina. Happy New Year!
I like the idea of reviewing your year according to the books you’ve read. Maybe I need to keep better track of my reading habits!
Every New Year, I create a word doc. called booklist_[Year]. I put in the names of books as I read them. I’m used to keeping booklists for homeschool, so this works pretty well for me. I just got on Goodreads, so maybe I’ll let GR be my backup. 🙂