The Best and Worst Books I Read in 2012!
I have had a great reading year, even if I have failed my Goodreads 100 Book Challenge! I found out a lot about my own reading preferences and what makes me happy and what makes me angry! I read some amazing fantasy, which is what I will remember most about my reading in 2012. Lets just hope I can be a better blogger in the New Year and start posting more frequently again! Now, without further ado here are my best and worst books of 2012: The Best of the Best: 5 Stars!
The Name of the Wind is one of my new all-time favorite books and has inspired me to read more high fantasy in 2013! Here's to Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire! BRING IT OHNN.
2012 will always be the year I first read Jonathan Safran Foer's books and gushed about them all year on my blog too! Extremely Loud changed my life for realz.
Ahh prose doesn't get much higher than JSF- some call it pretentious, I call it magic!
Just as everyone told me I would be, I was completely seduced by The Book Thief- I was sobbing in a ball by the end.
Another favorite book that I discovered this year- The Secret History is just joyous and seriously unforgettable.
5 Star Graphic Novels!
LOVE this- come on it's a classic.
I'm not quite sure why I adore this quirky graphic novel set in the English countryside but it is just a complete riot and the art is gorgeous!
I love the OTT film noir style of Sin City...it is camp and gruesome and stylised awesomeness. A Dame to Kill For is my favorite.
Favourites I will read again: the 4 Star Books!
This book is just brilliant- if you like Downton Abbey but a little bit quirkier and farcical then you should read this!
This one really surprised me. I didn't have high expectations going in, but it ended up being a meaty slice of YA fantasy with an adorable romance thrown in.
This collection of short stories was one of the first free books I received as a book blogger and I absolutely loved it- the stories were all amazing, plot driven meaningful tales rather than prose practice.
Everyone loves this and so did I! Still haven't got round to the sequel though- oops!
The Chaos Walking series is one of the best YA series out there- everyone should read it. Monsters of Men, the final book, is my favorite. Boy colt. Sob.
I have been meaning to read this book for agges and it was just as disgusting and beautiful as I had hoped. Her given name was Dolores but in my arms she was always Lolita.
This slice of fantasy was just so original and awesome- definitely want to re-read! Dragons as they've never been seen before.
I took my first plunge into Lemony Snicket this year and it got a huge thumbs up from me- great Dickensian books for children that don't patronise.
Ahh I wasn't expecting to love this vampire novel but it completely took me by surprise! It was very different and brutal. The beginning is terrifying.
2012 was a year in which I read a variety of fantasy novels set in Japan and China. This was one of the best. DRAGONNSS!
I realised this year that I am not a huge fan of Middle Grade- I like my books a bit more gritty and gruesome and you just don't get that with children's books. However, this one deserves a mention because it is whimsical and wonderful.
Terrifying, meaningful and heartbreakingly sad, this is a contemporary that throws in the zombies and works!
This was probably one of the most bloody and brutal novels I read this year which really surprised me. Seriously, I defy anyone not to cry in the first chapter.
Another fantasy series, this time set in feudal Japan (or a close relation to it). Quite simply, a simple and beautiful YA fantasy series that will have you screaming NOOOO!
I really loved this fantasy tale with Russian influences- the romance was just right up my street.
How had I never read The Hobbit before this year!? It was SO GOOD...and I loved the film too!
I wasn't expecting too much from this YA but it was top notch- original, exciting and adorable!
Best Cinderella re-telling HANDS DOWN! Brilliant.
The Casual Vacancy was probably the most controversial read of 2012 but I loved it- grit and Englishness abound.
I am really glad that I finally got around to this one- multi-layered and poignant.
They Were Pretty Good: 3 Star Books!
I really enjoyed this indie novel- contemporary fans would probably love it but I just can't completely clock with the genre.
Ach I want to love Libba Bray but her novels are hard to love. They are complex, accomplished and always a riot but...not quite for me.
Again, I found it entertaining but a bit hard to slog through. Very wordy and overwritten...but still hilarious.
This re-telling of Othello through the eyes of the villian, Iago, started out slow but became awesome by the end. If you can sit through the boring bit it's worth it.
This was quite an underwhelming Middle Grade- cute characters but a little silly on the facts and figures.
I was looking forward to The Underground Man for aggges- the premise sounded so cool. However, it was less cool than I hoped.
Uglies is from a time when there wasn't much YA about and authors could get away with mediocrity- really nothing special but not bad.
Gripping, climactic and ultimately unsatisfying- you would never want to read it twice. A throw-away thriller.
Again, not bad but pretty average. Loved the setting but the werewolves were underwhelming.
Not scary. At all. Cheap Victorian imitation novel really.
Dull, underwhelming characters and a creepy romance. Addictive though.
So forgettable...I can't even remember it. Cover nothing like contents.
I was reading this book when I started my new job, and it took me months to finish. Maybe I was stressed at the time, but this book was just boring.
I didn't care for this one: the ending was terrible and the rest felt forced.
I'm glad I read this before the film came out but it wasn't great. Kinda silly but thinks it isn't.
Books I Disliked: 2 Stars!
Depressing, morbid and ultimately tedious: I did not like.
Crewel was not for me at all: terrible characters and writing.
Truly awful story and love triangle but also so addictive!
Love the heart on the cover of this graphic novel but it was idiotic and nonsensical!
Dull, cheesy and claustrophobic: not for me.
I think I learnt that I like the epic proportions of Fantasy novels, so books set on spaceships are just not my thing. Disliked this one.
I knew this one wasn't going to be intellectual but it exceeded even my expectations of shallowness. Addictive though!
I thought I would love this but I really hated it- formulaic and boring.
This was a real disappointment: I was expecting to be wowed but instead it was a cheap Hunger Games knock-off with weird supernatural crap. Ogh.
HATRED: The 1-Starers!
I only REALLY regretted reading one book this year and that was The Map of Time by Felix Palma. Awful- took me absolutely ages to finish it and hated every single second. Well those were the highlights and lowlights of my reading in 2012! I found lots of new favourites and tried lots of different genres. Next year is all about Fantasy, and hopefully better blogging. See you on the other side!
