What I Read in 2012

I know, I know, it's February and all the end-of-the-year posts have already been done, but these are my favorite!  So bear with me and let me tell you what I did in 2012.

Here's a list of all the books I read (and finished) in 2012.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

read for book club, really enjoyed it. not as much as middlesex, but i love his writing.


The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

read for book club, didn't really love it.  

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

my pick for church book club.  interesting premise but it got kind of lost towards the end.  

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

read on my own.  took me a long time to finish because i got really sad.  the writing was beautiful and the stories were really interesting.  has anyone seen the movie? 

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

gosh, i really loved this book.  i was hooked right away even though it's really out of my usual reading comfort zone. the main character had such a great voice and i loved all of the pop culture references. i heard it's being made into a movie and i couldn't be more excited.


The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

read this for book club.  it was short and sweet and an interesting look at Japanese internment. 


11/22/63 by Stephen King

my pick for book club and my first ever stephen king. i loved it so much that i wrote a letter to the author, although i didn't send it.  if you like history or have always been fascinated by time travel, you will love this book.  don't be afraid of how long it is--it flies by.  it's also not gory or scary, just suspenseful.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

i read this during a day of travel and it was the perfect distraction from turbulence and layovers.  mindy is so funny and tells stories like you're old friends catching up over lunch. 


A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

it took me a few times to get into it, but i really enjoyed this supernatural drama.  most of the book takes place in an around oxford and now i really have a hankering to take a trip.  the romance gets a bit cheesy towards the end, but i loved the history and science throughout the book.


 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

technically a upper elementary/middle school book, but it was such a lovely story and the ending really caught me by surprise.  


Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

this was my favorite emily giffin book since something borrowed.  so good.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

oh man, what a crazy story!  the twists and turns never ended and by the end i was extremely suspicious of everyone around me.  i don't know how the author wrote such crazy and messed-up people, but i was impressed. 

Divergent by Veronica Roth

i read this for church book club and was surprised at how much i liked it.  i normally take my time reading, but i ate this one up in a couple days.  at one point, i said that i liked it better than the hunger games.  i've already read the second book, but i finished it a few days into 2013 so it's not on this list.  i've heard that they are casting the movie and i'll be interested to see how it turns out.

here's what's up next on my list for 2013:

Broken Harbor by Tana French
Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale
One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
The Round House by Louise Erdich
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks


what are you reading? anything good?

all pictures from goodreads.com.  are you on goodreads? it's a great way to keep of track of books you've read and books you want to read.

what i read in 2011

i had a lot of fun doing my recaps for 2010 so i may as well make it a tradition. here's what i read [personal and book club, not counting school reading] in 2011, by month:

January:


image via powells.com

One Day by David Nicholls
first book i read on my kindle! i really enjoyed the format of this book, visiting the characters each year on the same day. i was really surprised by the ending and almost a year later, it still upsets me. i haven't seen the movie for that reason. did anyone see the movie that hadn't read the book? did the ending fit better?




The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
last book in the millenium series. i think that the second book was my favorite. this one felt rushed and i wanted more for the characters. still such a great series.

February:


image via sarahblakebooks.com

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
read this one on my kindle for book club. the premise was intriguing but not well executed. it felt like a first draft and had several typos. unfortunately this was one of my suggestions. whoops.


March:



Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell
i'm making my way through all of the Kay Scarpetta books and this was #9 in the series. i'd recommend this series if you like CSI--lots of forensic lingo.

April:


Bossypants by Tina Fey
oh geez. if you missed my post reviewing this book, go here. this is a must-read. loved every bit of it! i just got it on audiobook and am looking forward to hearing it a second time read by tina herself. speaking of, 30 Rock is back tonight! woohoo!

May:


image via laurahillenbrandbooks.com

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
another one i read on kindle for book club. i don't typically read a lot of nonfiction so i was unsure about this but i ended up loving it. it was a pageturner, full of suspense and tension. a really inspiring story. funny story: on a kindle, you don't see page numbers to tell you how far in the book you are, you see a percentage. when i was 76% through, the story was wrapping up and i was really confused. what was the other 24% ? her bibliography. holy moly she had a lot of sources! needless to say i was relieved that the hero wasn't going to end up tragically dying on the last page.




The Book Thief by Mark Zusak
i bought this book several years ago on a recommendation from my teenaged cousin but it sat on my bookshelf until this summer. the premise seemed strange and i just couldn't get myself to read past the first ten pages. i'm so glad that i gave it a second chance. it was such a beautiful, poignant story. when it got closer to the end i knew it was going to be a mess of tears and sobs so i kept putting it off until the perfect moment. not eating lunch at whole foods, not waiting for my dentist appointment, etc. i finally bit the bullet and sat down in bed with a box full of tissues. it was bad but so good. the tagline says that this book is "life-changing" and i agree.

image via meganmccafferty.com

Bumped by Megan McCafferty
i'm a huge fan of mccafferty's jessica darling series so i was excited to read her latest non-series book. it's very clever and sarcastic but so interesting. it seemed to be one of many young adult dystopian novels that came out this year but i thought it had a fresh take on the genre. the sequel comes out in april.

June:


image via beautifulcreaturesnovels.com

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
this is the second book in the beautiful creatures series. i reviewed the first book last year and eagerly awaited this one's release. i love the history, the supernatural romance and the fresh voice. the third installment, beautiful chaos, came out earlier this fall and it is on my to-read list.

August:



Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
i read this for book club but it was another that had been sitting on my shelf. i loved the dual narrators and the intensity of the story. i was disappointed with how the character's stories ended and didn't enjoy the last part of the book as much as the first. it was really interesting to learn about a side of world war II that i hadn't heard before, especially since i read so many books set in that time. i haven't yet watched the movie but i've heard it's good.

September:



Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
this was the fifth book in the thursday next series and i successfully finished it after starting it several times. these books are in their own category and sometimes it is hard to get into them but once you do, they are a lot of fun. thursday next is a detective inside the world of fiction, managing the sometimes difficult characters in our favorite books. i love the book jokes, even if i don't always get them. it reminds me which classics i've read and which i haven't. note to self: read wuthering heights! this is definitely one of my favorite series and i'm excited to read #6, which is probably the last.


image via annbrashares.wordpress.com

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
the last book in the sisterhood of the traveling pants series, this was a bittersweet ending to characters i love. if you've only seen the movies, you should really read the books. they are on the lighter side of literature, for sure, but still great. i was really surprised with the endings that the author chose for these characters. i was also surprised that i was so moved by the stories but i guess i just got emotionally invested.


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
i finally caved and read this on my kindle. i really dislike reading/watching/doing things that everyone is doing/talking about/obsessing over but curiosity got the best of me. i really enjoyed this book and loved the interesting characters, plot, and suspenseful writing. super excited for the movie.

October:


image via tanafrench.com

Faithful Place by Tana French
this was another one of my picks for book club. i read her other two books, into the woods and the likeness and i really liked them. she writes about detectives in ireland and i like the grittiness of the stories. she writes the dialogue so well that i can hear the irish accents in my head when i'm reading, although i'd never dare attempt it out loud. my book club didn't like this very much but i thought it was her best one yet. can't win 'em all.


Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
i read the second book on my kindle and i couldn't put it down. so exciting and scary and i don't remember much because i moved on to mockingjay pretty quickly. hmm, i should probably read it again.

November:


Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
this was the only one i read in book form and i can actually say that i liked reading these on the kindle better. i could turn pages faster and it was easier to hold. plus the words weren't as small. anyways. i was nervous that i wouldn't like the ending because i'd heard some people were disappointed. i was talking with a friend and she said that the ending made sense for the characters because after all they had been through, a shiny, perfect ending just wouldn't fit. i thought it was appropriate for the story and was what i'd been hoping for. it's incredible what the author dreamed up for these books and i thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself into that world but i was so glad to leave it.

December:



Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
i read this classic for the first time thanks to a free download on my kindle. i have the rest of the books in print form but have somehow lost this one. it took me a while to get used to anne's way of talking [really babbling] but she really grew on me. i had somehow got it into my head that there was a romance but i guess that's not until later on in the other books. not sure if i'll read them or just watch the movie. anyone read the other books?


image via barnesandnoble.com

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
read this for book club. crazy, crazy book. really interesting but terribly frightening. i don't think i have the stomach to watch the movie. anyone else read this one? love to hear what you thought. not many people in the book club managed to finish.



Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
i watched this movie recently and enjoyed it--first movie where i thought r. pattz was actually attractive. i could barely watch some parts of it because anything with animals makes me sick or cry, one or the other. i was intrigued by the story so i got it pretty cheap on my kindle. it was a fast read but super graphic. while i got more of an insight into the characters, i think i liked the movie version better. maybe that would be different had i read it first but i don't know.


looking back over my books for the year is really eye-opening. i know that i read a lot of world war II books, that's not surprising. i was surprised that i read so many books in a series, though. maybe i need to branch out a bit. i've really loved reading books on the kindle and i've just started using it for library books, although there are not many available for that yet. it does bug me that you don't have page numbers but overall it's pretty great.

i've got a lot of books to read this year, just take a look at my nightstand!



i'm currently reading the tiger's wife by tea obrecht and extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathan safran foer. my book club is reading the marriage plot by jeffrey eugenides but i haven't started yet. yikes.

what did you read in 2011? what are you reading in 2012?

i keep track of all my books on goodreads.com . it's a great website, come join me!

*all photos via amazon.com, unless otherwise noted.

i caved.

i'm one of those people that doesn't like to do something if everyone else is doing it. i'm stubborn that way, i guess. it took me forever to read harry potter and now i've joined the bandwagon on yet another series: the hunger games. still not jumping on the twilight train. gotta draw the line somewhere.

the great thing about joining late in the game is that you don't have to wait for the books to come out. i'm a genius, really. anyways, everyone and their mom has been telling me to read these books but i was convinced i wouldn't like a book where kids have to kill each other. i've been proven wrong. i'm now on the third book and have really enjoyed them so far. while i admit the subject matter is not very light and cheery, it makes for some seriously page-turning stuff! i'm trying to savor this last book and i'm very nervous about how it will all end. i don't want to be disappointed!

i started about a month ago so i knew about the movie and who was playing the main characters but i tried to forget about that and just read. the other day i was getting really curious who some of the other characters were going to be and stumbled upon this article from entertainment weekly [if you like tv, books, or movies at all you should subscribe to this magazine, i love it!]

they've released posters featuring the most prominent characters from the book. i thought i'd round them all up and give you a sneak peek! the article has the specific links for each picture. i couldn't find photo credit info for each picture, however.


































while i didn't really picture lenny kravitz being the kind of person to play a character from a young adult series, i feel pretty good about all of these actors. i think the movie is going to be great and i can't wait to see a preview!

what about you? have you read the books? are you excited for the movie?


i'll leave you with this awesome collage of the posters.


from ign.com

marcel the shell

do you remember this guy?




here's the link also because i've been having trouble with videos lately: http://youtu.be/VF9-sEbqDvU

marcel is a tiny little shell with the cutest voice: jenny slate from SNL. remember her doorbell sketch?



i miss her! anyways, this video made the rounds a while back and i just heard that marcel is going to be a children's book! read the full article here from entertainment weekly.

are you sure you want to read this? it doesn't have any pictures!

7 things that made me happy this week . . .

one: seeing a movie with my sister at 10 in the morning. half-asleep because we'd stayed up so late the night before. now it makes sense why i was laughing so much more than everyone else in the theatre.

two: a few days of really beautiful weather. maybe this time i can put away my sweaters?

three: justin timberlake on snl. knocked it out of the park.

four: ryan gosling in the trailer for crazy, stupid, love. hello!

five: baking cookies, by myself, on a saturday night. while listening to my adele pandora station. there is something so relaxing about sifting flour. although it did not make my cookies any different. huh.

six: book club this week for half the sky. have you ever had six layer coconut refrigerator cake with sour cream icing? well, that's what we eat at my book club when we read really grim, depressing books about everything horrible that's happening in the world. that and lots of cheese.

seven: finally getting around to reading water for elephants. really enjoying it so far. anybody read it and see the movie? what did you think?


. . . and 3 that didn't

one: watching home movies and realizing how bossy i was as a kid. yikes.

two: and we're back to the rain. here's to hoping summer gets here before august.

three: no pictures. wow, this no camera thing is terrible. i'm going to get right on that.

how was your week?

7 things that made me happy this week . . .

one: the 70 degree day we had this week. i drove with the windows rolled down and remembered what it was like to be warm. now if we could only have that every day.

two: the tuscan white bean minestrone at california pizza kitchen. so delicious. i'm working on my own recipe so that i don't have go drive over there every time i get a hankering. side note: all of cpk's soups are vegetarian!

three: finishing two books this week, one of which i'd been reading since january.

four: finding these gems at the library.



five: clean sheets and a clean room. i always sleep so much better when my sheets are warm and crisp and i don't have clutter everywhere. mind-boggling.

six: attending two family dinners and an adorable robot-themed birthday party for a two-year-old. family time is great. it might have been a lot for one weekend, but it was lots of fun.

seven: buying my mom a massage for mother's day so that i can get one, too. win-win!

. . . and 3 that didn't

one: getting a cold. i hate not being able to breathe out of my nose. it makes sleeping so miserable.

two: not having a good scanner so that i can upload a picture of my mom and me like all of the cool kids are doing.

three: thinking i had more time before my next semester of classes and realizing i start up again on wednesday. oh the things i was going to do!

this is my 101st post!

what's that you say? people don't normally celebrate 101 things? well, they do if they didn't even notice when they reached 100. but that's not important. i have a book to review!



i preordered this book as soon as i heard about it because, well, i'm lazy and i like getting packages. i was also incredibly excited because tina is easily my favorite person ever. and she's hilarious. i've been a huge fan since her weekend update days and she's still making me laugh.

bossypants is a quick read, more like a collection of essays than a typical book. tina shares how she went from working at the YMCA in Evanston, Illinois to creating 30 Rock. i opened my book to read before bed and was laughing out loud by the second paragraph. then i had to laugh inside because i remembered it was midnight and other people in my house were sleeping. and that's pretty much how the whole book went. i was reading it while eating lunch and had to hold it in because the other people at the restaurant were looking at me in annoyance. i read it while in a rehearsal for a church performance and happened to be silently laughing uncontrollably during a really serious part.

here's some gems:

from the chapter "there's a drunk midget in my house", tina offers some parenting advice. "'sleep when your baby sleeps.' Everyone knows this classic tips, but I say why stop there? Scream when your baby screams. Take Benadryl when your baby takes Benadryl. And walk around pantless when your baby walks around pantless" (243).

from a FAQ section about 30 Rock-
Q: How come Liz Lemon talks so much about food and overeating but she's not fat?
A: The character Liz Lemon has a rare condition called "orophasmia," where everything she eats immediately falls out her bottom like a ghost. This was established in episode 219, "The One About Liz's orophasmia"

so just go out and buy yourself a copy because you will enjoy it. or if you don't like to read, buy the audiobook so tina can read it to you.

if you just can't get enough tina, she's on late night with jimmy fallon tonight, and hosting Saturday Night Live on . . . wait for it . . . Saturday.

back on track

7 things that made me happy this week . . .

one: quality family time. silliness and all.

two: the movie arthur. just as delightful as i had imagined. i love russell brand.

three: finishing this book. now i want to buy the audiobook just so i can listen to tina read it. expect a full review sometime this week.


photo credit: amazon

four: the preview for this movie. loved the book, but until now, i was unsure of the casting choices for the movie. now i'm totally psyched.


photo credit: imdb.com

five: these chips. i used to be a huge fan of ruffles cheddar and sour cream, but kettle chips just knocked it out of the park!


photo credit: here.

six: finding these two recipes from giada at home that i am itching to try.

seven: this post by my old friend adrienne from college. why i don't eat meat summed up so beautifully. and some good thinking about veganism, too.


. . . and 3 that didn't

one: needing a good camera but having neither the camera knowledge nor money to do so. boo.

two: realizing that i have been reading far too many books set in World War II and that i need to get out of my rut. on the horizon: half the sky, water for elephants, delirium, beautiful darkness, and a kurt wallander book. what have you been reading lately?

three: trying to find non-toxic sunless tanner. does it exist? i think not.



also: thank you for all of your kind words last week. i should put up pictures more often! but probably not, since that picture took me about 30 attempts with photobooth. so awkward.

grey skies.

7 things that made me happy this week . . .

one: the black druzy ring that i bought for myself. and the way cool jewelry store i found it in. pictures coming soon.

two: watching aladdin with my little sister because she had never seen it before.

three: hearing adele and mumford & sons playing during yoga somehow made it so much better.

four: stumbling across the 25th anniversary les miserables special on pbs and getting major goosebumps from nick jonas' performance as marius. check it out.

five: the lovely girls' lunch on friday. let's do more of those!

six: my always entertaining book club. we read nurture shock and i highly recommend it.



seven: finally got some decent headphones for running. now i just need an amazing playlist. ideas?


. . . and 3 that didn't

one: no parks and rec, 30 rock or community this week. getting low on my funny supply.

two: one sunny day this week and grey rainy days the rest. so ready for spring.

three: so disappointed with everything that transpired with this guy. took me a lot of hard thinking to come up with this happy list. still so grumpy.

here's to better days!

wrapping it up part 2

didn't mean for part 2 to take so long, but it turns out you can't blog very well with no internet. here's my favorite books of 2010*, by month.



january: the salem witch trials are a fascinating subject for me, so naturally i gravitated towards this book. i loved the contrast of 1690s salem and modern times and getting a glimpse of what salem might have been like during the trials.



february: i'm not much for jumping on bandwagons, but i wanted to see why such a great book was being redone--and i'm glad i did. while nothing can take the place of austen's masterpiece, this is definitely a great companion piece. it managed to keep the heart of the original while infusing some silly fun. elizabeth bennet as a zombie hunter? yes please.



march: read this for book club and i was so moved by the stories of the people living in the leper colony on moloka'i in the 20th century. you'll fall in love with the characters and wish the book came with a airline ticket to see the beautiful scenery.



april: beautiful creatures was my attempt to find an alternative to twilight. this one is about a teenage boy who meets and falls in love with a girl with magical powers. i loved the southern setting, the civil war history and the fresh voice of ethan wate. the sequel, beautiful darkness, is next on my list.

i also read a thousand splendid suns for my book club and i'm glad i did, because it was not one i would have ordinarily chosen for myself. it was so interesting to read about another culture, especially one that is so different from my own. it was also a great way to learn about afghanistan history but also understand the human aspect of those events.



may: the nanny diaries is a favorite of mine so i was over-the-moon when i heard there was a sequel. nanny returns was just as great and earned itself a spot on my bookshelf for many rereads.



june: my second try at the millenium trilogy was better than the first. i just couldn't get into it last year and i don't know what was different this time around, but i was hooked. yes, the beginning was slow and i stumbled over the swedish names, but gosh i enjoyed this book. someone described it to me like an episode of law and order: special victims unit and since i love that show, i knew what to expect. it's definitely graphic in parts but the story and characters make it great. i'm now on the last book and taking my time so it lasts a while. also, is anyone else dying to go to sweden now?



july: another great book club choice, although i didn't understand the secrecy surrounding the book. what was so spectacularly shocking that we couldn't talk to other people about? not sure. i did love this book, even if it made me so sad and wish that everyone could just live where they wanted and not be afraid. this was also one of a few books this year that i actually wrote in and highlighted parts that were just so beautifully written.



august: i listened to the first half of this on a road trip and read the rest. i highly recommend the audiobook because there are a lot of characters and hearing their voices really brings the story to life. i of course loved the WWII setting and the endearing characters. i was truly sad when the book was done and kind of wanted to start over again. that says a lot, yeah?



september: i continued on with the WWII theme with this book club pick and sobbed my way through it. i have read several holocaust-set books and even been to the holocaust memorial museum in washington, d.c. but the reality of the atrocities really hit me when reading this book. i think because it was told through the eyes of a child, the ignorance and hatred seemed even more shocking and horrible. i rented the movie and renewed it three times but i just could not watch it. i know i'm making this sound like a horrible experience, but it really is a beautiful little book that will make you think about life and how we treat each other.

october: busy in grad school and reading teacher education books and not much else.



november: my pick for book club since it had been sitting on my shelf for a year or two and i had never opened it. it was the perfect book for fall and i loved getting into this gothic literary mystery. it has great twists and turns and was so fun to try and figure out. the writing is also so poetic and i underlined the heck out of it.

december: making my way through five different books from the library, including another young adult supernatural romance, the last stieg larsson book, the hunger games [am i the last person on earth to read this? yes.] and my first read on my kindle (!), one day by david nicholls. come see what i thought of them and everything else i read this year and tell me what you read on goodreads.com

* read in 2010, not necessarily published in 2010