Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
It is the time of year when we think about the best books we have read in 2012.
So far, I have read 180 books and I will probably add a few more by December 31rst.
I enjoyed nearly all the books, but I did get rid of a few.
Which books that you read this year were your favorites? They do not have to be published this year, but may be from any year.
Mysteries
Twelve drummers drumming
1. Bamboo and Blood by James Church (Inspector O)
The whole set of four go together:
A Corpse in the Koryo (Inspector O)
Hidden Moon
Bamboo and Blood
The Man with the Baltic Stare
2. Dead and Buried by Barbara Hambly (Benjamin January #9)
3. The Confession by Charles Todd (Ian Rutledge)
4. An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd (Bess Crawford)
5. The Terra-Cotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri (Inspector Montalbano)
(I read and liked all of his this year except The Shape of Water which was the first one)
The Snack Thief
The Voice of the Violin
Excursion to Tindari
The Smell of the Night
Rounding the Mark
The Patience of the Spider
The Paper Moon
August Heat
The Wings of the Sphinx
The Track of Sand
The Potter’s Field
Age of Doubt
6. Broken Harbor by Tana French
7. The Double Comfort Safari Club, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, and The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
8. Bruno, Chief of Police; The Dark Vineyard, Black Diamond, The Crowded Grave by Martin Walker
9. The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
( I recommend reading all of hers in order)
Still Life
A Fatal Grace
The Cruelest Month
A Rule Against Murder
The Brutal Telling
Bury Your Dead
A Trick of the Light
10. A Wanted Man by Lee Child
11. The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill (Inspector Simon Serrailler #2)
The Risk of Darkness
The Vows of Silence
The Shadows in the Street
The Betrayal of Trust
A Question of Identity
12. The Fashion of Shrouds by Margery Allingham
(I enjoyed all of her books with Albert Campion)
Fantasy/Science Fiction
(Most of these are series stories)
Eleven pipers piping
1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
2. Initiate's Trial by Janny Wurts
3. Snuff by Terry Pratchett
4. Intruder by C J Cherryh
5. City of Dragons by Robin Hobb
6. Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik
7. Crossed Blades by Kelly McCullough
8. Invisible World by Patricia McKillip (short stories)
9. David Falkayn: Star Trader by Poul Anderson
10. Cast in Peril by Michelle Sagara
11. The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer
Biography/Autobiography
Ten lords a-leaping
1. Taylor Branch series:
Parting of the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68
2. An Ordinary Man: autobiography of Paul Ruesabagina with Tom Zoellner
3. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
4. In the Sea There Are Crocodiles: Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari by Fabio Geda
5. Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne (Story of the Comanches and Quanah Parker)
6. Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth
7. Lake with No Name: A True Story of Love and Conflict in Modern China by Diane Wei Liang (about Tiananmen Square)
8. Waiting for Snow in Havanna by Carlos Eire
9. Eudora Welty: Bio by Suzanne Marrs
10. The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine
Non-fiction
Five golden rings
1. The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo by Paula Huntley
2. Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work by Edwidge Danitcat...essays
3. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
4. Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku
5. The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis
War: True
Four calling birds
1. The Cat from Hue by John Laurence
2. Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre
3. No End Save Victory ed. by Robert Cowley
4. A Rumor of War by Philip Cavuto, a memoir of Vietnam
Humor
Three French hens
1. Get Real by Donald Westlake
2. The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett
3. Owls Well that Ends Well by Donna Andrews
Historical fiction
Two turtle doves
1. Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (re-read)
2. Queen's Play by Dorothy Dunnett (re-read)
And a partridge in a pear tree!
Children’s
Jinx by Sage Blackwood
YA
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
True Adventure
The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet
General Fiction
The Charioteer by Mary Renault
Of the best books listed above, the very, very best, imo:
1. The Charioteer by Mary Renault
2. The Cat from Hue by John Laurence
3. Taylor Branch series:
Parting of the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
5. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
6. An Ordinary Man: autobiography of Paul Ruesabagina with Tom Zoellner
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! Snarling Slippage
by GussieFN and Sensible Shoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
SNLC, Vol. CCCLIII/UDKCJ 20: Timon of Athens Edition
by chingchongchinaman
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: plf515 has book talk on Wednesday mornings early
