I’d like to get a list together of some of our favorite books of the year and I need your help. Please email me with the titles of 1-3 of your favorite books of 2012 along with a brief (1-4 sentences) review/synopsis/reason why you loved it. Your review could even be like, “If you loved Judy Blume books as a pre-teen, you’ll love “How to Be a Woman” as an adult. Send your titles and reviews to [email protected] with the “Favorite Book” in the subject line and I’ll publish a list of our favorite books of 2012 later this month. (And, yes, I realize I dropped the ball on the DW book club, but hopefully this list will give everyone some ideas for good reading over the holidays). Thanks!
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TaraMonster December 5, 2012, 4:11 pm
Do they have to have been published in 2012? Or just books we read this year that we liked?
Wendy December 5, 2012, 4:34 pm
Books you read and liked in 2012 is fine.
TaraMonster December 5, 2012, 7:12 pm
Thanks! I’m that annoying kid in class who ALWAYS raises her hand when the teacher says “any more questions?” I just like to get the answer right! Gosh! ::pushes spectacles up nose::
bethany December 5, 2012, 4:13 pm
I think the only good books I read this year were DW book Club books! I’ll put my thinking cap on though.
kerrycontrary December 5, 2012, 4:17 pm
same!! I found a few after going through my kindle though.
iwannatalktosampson December 5, 2012, 4:14 pm
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is one of the best books I have ever read. Ever. Here is a description:
Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy’s friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn’t true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren’t his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick’s beautiful wife? And what was in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war …
I want to read it again and again and again. The mystery/crime aspect of it reminds me of John Grisham books with the intriguing characters of a Jonathan Tropper novel. It is so so so good. I am reading it again right now for the second time in a month.
iwannatalktosampson December 5, 2012, 4:15 pm
Crap I just saw that we were supposed to e-mail it to you. I got so exciting by the title of your article I just had to talk about Gone Girl. But I did e-mail you about it a few weeks ago – so…
lets_be_honest December 5, 2012, 4:28 pm
Calm the F down iwanna.
iwannatalktosampson December 5, 2012, 5:02 pm
You’re right deep breaths
bethany December 5, 2012, 4:17 pm
You liked that book?? The first half was ok, but I really didn’t like the book as a whole- Especially the ending!
LadyinPurpleNotRed December 5, 2012, 4:38 pm
Agree with Bethany…that book was bad, predictable, and mediocre writing.
CG December 5, 2012, 7:13 pm
On the one hand, I thought it was an entertaining read. But on the other hand, I thought parts were predictable, parts were totally unrealistic and neither of the two main characters was sympathetic in the least. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, either! I just felt like the author didn’t *quite* succeed at what she was trying to do.
ktfran December 5, 2012, 4:24 pm
Loved that book too.
Read Sharp Objects, Flynn’s first book. Seriously, seriously effed up.
Lindsay December 5, 2012, 4:49 pm
I loved it too! People in my book club criticized it because it wasn’t high-brow enough for them, but I read it for the plot, and it totally kept me turning pages.
kerrycontrary December 5, 2012, 4:51 pm
I really liked it too. My coworker gave it to me and I couldn’t put it down.
Roxy_84 December 5, 2012, 5:32 pm
I REALLY REALLY liked it as well, until about the last 50 pages or so. The ending fell a little flat for me, but for most of the book I couldn’t put it down.
CatsMeow December 5, 2012, 10:07 pm
It’s definitely on my list.
katie December 5, 2012, 4:15 pm
yay! im excited for this list so that i can start reading again! i dont do well with throwing a dart in the library.. i get very overwhelmed. i need people to tell me what to read. lol
kerrycontrary December 5, 2012, 4:18 pm
me too, and I’m a freaking librarian. I just hate browsing book stores and libraries. I miss the DW book club because it gave me books to read (and good ones too!!)
Wendy December 5, 2012, 4:35 pm
Oh! One more thing, if you email your faves, be sure to include your DW name so I can credit you (unless you prefer to stay anonymous).
lets_be_honest December 5, 2012, 5:03 pm
I read garbage. Its like the Kardashians of books in my kindle. 🙁
CatsMeow December 5, 2012, 10:16 pm
I barely read ANYthing this year!! I think I read 2 of the Dragon Tattoo books (yeah…..I’m way behind) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (for the book club) – which ended up being, like, one of my favorite books ever.
I have purchased The Wind Through the Keyhole, which is an addition to Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I intend to read it during winter break (which can’t come soon enough!!!!), but I’ve heard it’s kind of “meh.” Apparently, I also need to read Gone Girl. I actually have several books I need/want to read, but stupid school got in the way. Books I currently own and want to read: Big Sex, Little Death by Susie Bright; the last Dragon Tattoo; The Wind Through the Keyhole and a couple other Stephen Kings; The Road by Cormac McCarthy; I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb, and The Alchemist.
Does anyone else like Tom Robbins? Still Life with Woodpecker is one of my other all-time favs.
honeybeegood December 7, 2012, 3:51 pm
Tom Robbins is the best. I’ve read Even Cowgirls Get the Blues more times than I can count. You know how in The Catcher in the Rye Holden talks about wanting to bff a writer. That is totally me and Tom Robbins. He has the most delicious sentences. (Amusing side note- I blanked on the name of Catcher and googled “that hipster book.” It was on the list.)
I bought The Wind Through the Keyhole on my phone the second I knew of it’s existence. I absolutely loved it, but it could just be Oy was there. Oh how I want my own billy-bumbler. I also think Stephan King is an amazing and underrated writer.
I recently read When She Woke which got very mixed reviews and found it quite interesting. It does get lost a bit near the end, but I still overall pretty good. The best part for me was that the main character wasn’t a traditional dystopian rebel. She was trying and wanted to fit in.
beelzebarb December 5, 2012, 10:42 pm
Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society!
Full disclosure: My aunt wrote it so I might be biased 🙂
beelzebarb December 5, 2012, 10:43 pm
Also, I loved Defending Jacob