Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Best Books 2012 edition (IMO)


Has your reading changed over the years?  I was looking at my Top (10) list of books I read (10) years ago; this is what the list looked like.

In 2002 I read 87 books. My top 10 were:
  1. The Lovely Bones; Alice Sebold
  2. Eden Close; Anita Shreve
  3. Blindness; Jose Saramago
  4. Tuesdays With Morrie; Mitch Albom
  5. Whispers & Lies; Joy Fielding
  6. Snow Island; Susan Towler
  7. Gold Coast; Nelson DeMille (audio)
  8. Salem Falls; Jodi Picoult
  9. All the Names; Jose Saramago
  10. Chasing the Dime; Michael Connelly (audio)
Here's my 2012 Top Books Read lists:

Top 10 Fiction
  1. East of Eden; John Steinbeck
  2. A Sense of an Ending; Julian Barnes
  3. The Beginner's Goodbye; Anne Tyler
  4. The Spectator Bird; Wallace Stegnar
  5. Tell the Wolves I'm Home; Carla Rifkin Brunt
  6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry; Rachel Joyce
  7. A Grown Up Kind of Pretty; Joshilyn Jackson
  8. The Bartender's Tale; Ivan Doig
  9. Translation of the Bones; Francesca Kay
  10. Heft; Liz Moore
Top Non Fiction
  1. Lot's of Candle's Plenty of Cake ; Anna Quindlen
  2. A Moveable Feast; Ernest Hemingway
  3. No Buddy Left Behind; Terry Crisp
  4. Quiet; Susan Cain
  5. Say You're One of Them; Akpan
Top Audio Books
  1. The End of Your Life Book; Will Schwalbe
  2. Defending Jacob; William Landay
  3. Live By Night; Dennis Lehane
  4. Winter of the World; Ken Follett
  5. Canada; Richard Ford
Top Kids Picture Books
  1. The Day Tiger Rose Said Goodbye; Jane Yalon
  2.  A House in the Woods; Inga Moore
  3. If You Spent a day With Thoreau at Walden Pond; Burleigh and Minor
  4. It's Okay to Be Different; Todd Parr
  5. How to Babysit a Grandpa; Jean Reagan
Most Disappointing Books Read
  1. Fairy Tale Interrupted; Rose Marie Terenzio  (NF)
  2. Home Front; Kristin Hannah (fic-audio)
  3. Dark Side; Belinda Bauer (fic)
  4. Blue Monday; Nicci French (fic)
  5. Beautiful Ruins; Jesse Walter (fic-audio)
Have you read any of these and felt differently about them?

22 comments:

  1. I'm sure my reading has changed but I haven't kept records for as long as you have. Your lists are great!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read half the books on your 2002 list, and your 2012 list. I trust our similar taste enough to look into the other halves ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. i read 95 books this year. I loved The Lovely Bones but read it a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I started the blog in 2008 and had a journal before that, but it didn't go back all that far and I wasn't consistent with writing stuff down, so I can't compare. I'd have to say that my preference for heavier reads has grown though.

    Great list. Mine posts New Years day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like how you organized your reading into these lists. It's interesying Saramego was listed twice in your top ten. I loved Blindness. I want to read Quiet, which I own, and Anna Quindlan's "Candles" book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I started keeping reading lists a couple of years before I started blogging, but didn't rank them in any way. My reading has changed a lot over the past years of blogging - it's made me more open to exploring new genres. I'm still a sucker for a good nonfiction or sci-fi read (my go-to books in days of yore).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can I say, I haven't read a single book on either the 2002 list or the 2012 list. I feel so behind right now, I really want to read a few of these.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Our lists overlap a bit -- look for mine tomorrow. I lost track of my stats this year, but I plan to be better in 2013

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've kept a reading journal since 2001, but didn't start making my Top Ten lists until I started blogging. Blindness was one of my favorites back when I read it, but I've never gone on to try anything else by Saramago. I'm anxious to read the Quindlen book, as I love everything she's written. Maybe I'll get a copy with one of my B&N gift cards. I've been holding out for the paperback, but I don't think I can wait much longer! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I wish I had kept some sort of reading journal or started blogging years ago. I have no idea what my favorites per year are until I started the blog in 2010-ish (my first post was in 2008, though!); well done on keeping such a great record!

    Yay for Harold Fry! I just loved that book to pieces, as I did with A Moveable Feast. Hemingway is just incredible and I love most of his stories. I need to get back to his work next year, it has been a while.

    Happy New Year, Diane!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I hate to say I have read only a few of the books you have on your top books list. It's nice to know what I can still pick up for a good read!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I need to look into more of these books on your top picks list! I agree with you 100% on not wasting your time on books you don't LOVE. Life it too short and there are too many awesome books out there!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I liked a lot of the same ones you did (but we disagreed on The Sense of an Ending) and I love the idea of comparing your previous top books to this years!

    Wishing you all the best in 2013!

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Lovely Bones and Tuesdays with Morrie remain all-time personal faves! I liked the comparison. Maybe I'll steal it for a post.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My reading tastes have changed a little. At least I think I'm expanding my range of books and most of that has happened since I started the blog in 2009. Harold Fry was the only book on your 2012 list that I read and yes, I enjoyed it too.

    The Lovely Bones and Eden Close are both favorites of mine, although I think I read Eden Close in the early 90s. I agree on Home Front, very disappointed with that book. However, I loved Beautiful Ruins and I also enjoyed Blue Monday.

    I wish I had a complete list of what I read 10 years ago but much of it has vanished into time. That's one of the reasons I joined goodreads, so I could track my books.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Salem Falls and The Lovely Bones are such great reads, aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I read 4 of your 2002 books (I started writing them down in 2003) and only 3 of your 2012. I, too, enjoyed Blindness, but haven't read anything else -- even though I have several of his books (library sales are a wonderful thing). I'm surprised by Blue Monday (I liked it) and Beautiful Ruins (I've seen mainly positive reviews). Hmmm

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great to see Heft and Tell the Wolves I'm Home on your list. Ken Follet is one of those authors I've always wanted to try - I need to get to him in 2013. Thanks for sharing so many books with us in 2012. I look forward to following you next year.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I so wanted to put Sense of an Ending on my top list too but there were so many good books this year I had to leave it off. Looks like you had a really good year!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Looks like you've embraced so many new genres now!!! I am loving this list because I have a few of them to read on my shelves and some I have read and loved!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I know my reading has changed, more Jane Austen and WWII to be sure! ;)

    Great lists, but I haven't read a single one of those books.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Yay for A Moveable Feast! I love that book.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to visit and double thanks for any comments. If you ask a question in your comments, I will try to reply to it here, or by email if your settings allow me to do so. Thanks again for visiting.