Books I Read in 2012

January -  a time for reflecting on the past and anticipating the future. In the Appalachian mountains I call home, it's also the time of year we get the biggest snows. What better time to start reading the first book of the New Year and look back on what I read or re-read in 2012. Here's my list.

Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Gilead by Marilynn Robinson

The Best Advice I Ever Got by Katie Couric

Pennance by Clare Ashton

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht

Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston

Success in Hill Country by Amy Clark

What Happiness Looks Like by Karen Lenfestey

The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

The Ghost of Mandy Rosental by J.S. Egan

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Burning Bright: Stories by Ron Rash

Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart

11/22/63 by Stephen King

The Slow Moon by Elizabeth Cox

The Common Man by Maurice Manning

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton  

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Serena by Ron Rash

Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

If I had to choose the best book from this list, it is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout. It was wonderful on many levels, number one being the perfect main character, Olive. She was indeed a character I loved to hate! Second runner-up to best book is Stephen King's 11/23/63. If you are a Stephen King fan, read this book! If you are not a King fan, read this book!

The book that disappointed me the most from this list is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. If ever a book would have benefited by deleting 100 pages, then this is the one. So many times when I was reading this book I said out loud "Enough is enough!" I'm all for using profanity, sex, etc. if the writer so chooses, but when it's used over and over, it loses it's "shock value" and detracts from the plot and the character development.

My favorite re-read from the list is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMutry. There is so much to love and learn from this wonderful book. 

The biggest "Surprise" from this list is The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. One of my students gave me this book and promised me "you will love this!" and I did. The sisters, all named from Shakespeare's plays, are as unique as their names. 

Must reads from this list are The Common Man by Maurice Manning and Burning Bright: Stories by Ron Rash. Both are BRILLIANT!

My list for 2013 is off and running with Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A novel by Jamie Ford.

What are your favorite reads of 2012?