2012 Authors A-Z

 

It is time to officially close off the 2012 reading year. I just turned the final page of 'Blackrobe' and since I won't have time to start and complete another book by the end of the year it is time to recap.

2012 has been a wonderful reading year. At the outset I promised myself to touch all the letters of the alphabet during the year. That was truly a fun journey as there were times I read books by authors I would never have considered otherwise. Q, X & Y were actually the most difficult to find but were certainly worthwhile.

At the beginning of 2012 my friend Brenda & I decided to RAL some children's books. This was such fun and if you haven't read children's books for a while I can highly recommend you pick up some old faithfuls in 2013. In case you're interested I've highlighted our choices for 2012 in red. Brenda and I will continue our journey down memory lane in 2013 with our friend Michelle joining us.

I managed to read 59 books during the year and I know some of you will want to know what my favorites were. 

I loved each and every one of the children's books and can not say enough about rediscovering old friends.

Stephen King's "11/22/63" was my absolute favorite for the year. I dedicated an entire post to it before and haven't changed my mind since.

My second pick would have to be 'Traveling with Pomegranates' by Sue Monk Kidd & her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. Every mother and daughter should take the time to read this wonderful book. It will open your eyes to see just how special a mother/daughter relationship is.

Jean Baggott's memoir "The Girl on the Wall" is a must read for every woman and every stitcher. The following is part of the overview Barnes & Noble gives of the book. "An extraordinary memoir – told through a hand-sewn tapestry – of a very ordinary English life.  As the clock struck midnight on 31 December 1999, Jean Baggott vowed that from that point on her life would be devoted to the  happiness of ‘the girl on the wall’ – a  1948 photograph taken of Jean when she was eleven, recreated in needlework. Reflecting on her hopes and dreams 60 years on from that photo, Jean stitched a remarkable tapestry looking back on her life and the changing world around her."

I'll leave you with my 2012 list. Who knows, maybe you will find something on it which will appeal to you. 

01 Alcott 'The Inheritance'
02 Baggott 'The Girl on the Wall'
03 Brookner 'Hotel Du Lac'
04 Bryson 'Shakespeare'
05 Carr 'Killing Time'
06 Collins 'The Hunger Games'
07 Collins 'Catching Fire'
08 Collins 'Mockingjay'
09 Dodge 'Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates'
10 Dunn 'Death at Wentwater Court'
11 Erdman 'The Silver Bears'
12 Foer 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'
13 Follett 'Fall of Giants'
14 Ford 'Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet'
15 Grafton 'V is for Vengeance'
16 Gruber 'The Book of Air and Shadows'
17 Hodgson Burnett 'The Secret Garden'
18 Irving 'A Widow For One Year'
19 Jenkins 'Looking for Alaska'
20 Kidd & Taylor 'Traveling with Pomegranates'
21 King '11/22/63'
22 Lamb 'Henry's Sisters'
23 Lawson 'Let's Pretend This Never Happened'
24 Marillier 'Daughter of the Forest'
25 Marillier 'Son of the Shadows'
26 McCann 'Let the Great World Spin'
27 McCoy Hughes 'The Shadows Move'
28 McEwan 'Saturday'
29 Michener 'Alaska'
30 Montgomery 'Emily of New Moon'
31 Moran 'Nefertiti'
32 Mortman 'The Wild Rose'
33 Norton 'The Borrowers'
34 Orwell '1984'
35 Parton 'Dolly'
36 Peters 'Lion in the Valley'
37 Preston & Child 'Fever Dream'
38 Preston & Child 'Cold Vengeance'
39 Preston & Child 'The Cabinet of Curiosities'
40 Qiu 'Death of a Red Heroine'
41 Rosenberg 'The Twelfth Imam'
42 Shields 'Jane Austen'
43 Spyri 'Heidi'
44 Skelton 'Endymion Spring'
45 Stanwood 'The Memory of Eva Ryker'
46 Thomas 'Our Tragic Universe'
47 Trigiani 'The Shoemaker's Wife'
48 Tucker 'Living in a Foreign Language'
49 Upton 'The Alaska Cruise Handbook'
50 Vanderbilt 'Fortune's Children'
51 Verne 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'
52 Wagler 'Growing Up Amish'
53 Wall 'Blackrobe'
54 Weir 'The Children of Henry VIII'
55 Willig 'The Secret History of the Pink Carnation'
56 Wyss 'The Swiss Family Robinson'
57 Xinran 'Sky Burial'
58 Yancey 'The Highly Effective Detective'
59 Zwaan 'Parnassia'