Somewhere along the path that was 2012 I stopped blogging about books read. Primarily I had doubts as to whether it was relevant to anything at all, even to myself, but also it was just a scattered year full of changes and there were times when both reading and blogging fell by the wayside.
It was not my best year, reading-wise. I didn't read anything for rwo months, and yet I still managed to read only 62 books. Granted a significant number of them were light escapist reading, with less than half (26) being books that made me think, reconsider, or open my eyes or mind in any new ways, but I think it is ot so much what I read that is important, but that I read, and that I found it worthwhile for whatever reason.
Now I shall subject you to the list. (an * has been placed at the end of each book which is light, escapist reading)
1. Azar Nafisi. Thing I've Been Silent About
2. Andrea Eames. Cry of the Go Away Bird
3. Danielle Steele. 44 Charles Street *
4. Charles Frazier. Nightwoods
5. Diane Mott Davidson. Crunch Time *
6. Danielle Steele. Happy Birthday *
7. Danielle Steele. Hotel Vendome*
8. Stuart Woods. Grass Roots *
9. Sophie Kinsella. I've Got Your Number *
10. Paul Fussell. Class
11 John T. Molloy. Why Men Marry Some Women and not others
12. Dan Wells. Partials
13. Isabel Wilkerson. The Warmth of Other Suns
14. Carré Otis. Beauty Disrupted
15. Alexandra Zissu. The Conscious Kitchen
16. Mark Walton. Boundless Potential
17. Suze Orman. Young Fabulous and Broke
18. Suze Orman. Women and Money
19 Annabel Pitcher. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
20. Tim Gunn. Shaken not Stirred *
21. Diane Mott Davidson. Dark Tort *
22. Diane Mott Davidson. Sweet Revenge *
23. Diane Mott Davidson. Catering to Nobody *
24. Diane Mott Davidson. Dying for Chocolate *
25. Diane Mott Davidson. The Cereal Murders *
26. Diane Mott Davidson. The Last Suppers*
27. Diane Mott Davidson. The Main Corpse *
28. Diane Mott Davidson. The Grilling Season *
29. Diane Mott Davidson. Prime Cut *
30. Diane Mott Davidson. Sticks and Scones *
32. Diane Mott Davidson. Chopping Spree *
33. Diane Mott Davidson. Double Shot *
34. Carolly Erikson. The Last Wife of Henry VIII *
35. Margaret Lazarus Dean. The Time it Takes to Fall
36. Michael Chabon. The Final Solution
37. Eric Abrahamson. A Perfect Mess
38. Karent Thompson Walker. The Age of Miracles.
39. Maria Dueñas. The Time In Between.
40. Andrea Pomerantz Lustig. How to Look Expensive *
41. Jennifer Baumgartner. You are What You Wear *
42. Penelope Fitzgerald. Offshore.
43. Elizabeth L. Cline. Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.
44. David Brooks. The Social Animal.
45. America's Test Kitchen. Slow Cooker Revolution
46. Luca Turin. Perfumes: The Guide.
47. Anne Lamott. Traveling Mercies.
48. Elizabeth Warren. The Two-Income Trap: Why American Middle Class Families are Going Broke.
49. Gillian Flynn. Gone Girl.
50. Thomas J. Stanley. The Millionaire Next Door.
51. Suzette Hollingsworth. The Paradox *
52. Suzette Hollingsworth. The Conspiracy. *
53. Lee Child. Bad Luck and Trouble. *
54. C.S. Lewis. Out of the Silent Planet.
55. C.S. Lewis. Perelandra.
56. Diane Ackerman, The Zookeeper's Wife
57. C.S. Lewis That Hideous Strength.
58. Keith Devlin. Introduction to Mathematical Thinking.
59. Andy Andrews. How Do You Kill Eleven Million People? * (stupid)
60. Lisa Jackson. Unspoken. *
61. Tom Clancy. Locked On. *
Fantastic! I wish I had read half that many books this year -- it's really cool that you keep track of your reading. Great idea.
Here's to more reading in 2013! Happy New Year!
Posted by: Diane Egelston | 01/02/2013 at 11:59 AM
Interesting post! I used to keep track of my reading, but hadn't done so recently. Your post inspired me to go to my Kindle orders on Amazon, and I learned that I bought (and read) 58 books in 2012. The only book you and I read in common was Gone Girl, though in the past, I've read other books by some of the authors you included. Happy reading!
Posted by: Tricia | 01/02/2013 at 03:22 PM
I can see that you went on a little mystery excursion with Diane Mott Davidson. I've read some of her stories too.
Have you ever read anything by Sujata Massey? She has written a number of mysteries with her heroine, Rei Shimura, who is a sometimes English teacher/textile expert in Japan.
I'd never heard of her until some friends of ours sold their house to her and her husband. I was so pleased they were buying our friends house I decided I should read one of her books and that's what got me hooked. They were good reads.
Posted by: RoseAG | 01/02/2013 at 08:43 PM
Your post is wonderful. it is a timely reminder of how i, too, used to keep a log of the books that i read. Thank you for the inspiration for the new year!
Posted by: Linda | 01/03/2013 at 02:25 AM
It's fun to keep a list of reading, even just for ourselves, I think. And I love looking over fellow readers' lists -- quite a few here I've read, although some not for eons. That C.S. Lewis trilogy takes me back . . .
Posted by: materfamilias | 01/03/2013 at 10:42 AM
I think it's very brave to post the list of books, because they lead to all sorts of impressions. That's well over a book a week!
One request" There are a some writers I don't know on your list. Is it possible to mark the "light" ones with an asterisk? (I'll pick from the other category as am feeling like stretching myself.)
Posted by: Duchesse | 01/04/2013 at 04:21 PM
You have inspired me to write my own post re books read last year and I'll return to consult this one as I look for ideas for this year; thanks!
Posted by: Duchesse | 01/07/2013 at 06:49 PM
Thank you Diane, Tricia, and Linda!
Posted by: Mardel | 01/08/2013 at 06:07 PM
Mater, when I picked up the C.S. Lewis trilogy I was somewhat apprehensive, afraid that it would no longer hold the magic that captured me in my youth. I need not have worried. The book struck me in different ways now that in did before (and it has been a decade or more since I last read it) but the books seem to be among those that I find offer up new rewards with every reading.
Posted by: Mardel | 01/08/2013 at 06:09 PM
Duchesse, I am about to go off and update the list, indicating the light and escapist choices. I will be intrigued to see your list.
Posted by: Mardel | 01/08/2013 at 06:10 PM
Thank you, Mardel, that's so helpful! (Though I kind of guessed that the Introduction to Mathematical Thinking was not a lead-pipe cinch!)
Posted by: Duchesse | 01/09/2013 at 07:02 PM