The End of the Year

You know what I love about the end of the year?  "The Best of" lists!  Especially when it comes to books - imagine that!!!  I found this website:

http://randomhouse.tumblr.com/post/35644058862/the-best-of-the-book-lists-2012

These lists contain dozens of books that claimed "The Best Of" spots - and there's even one list of what to look for in 2013!  Here are the books I'm adding to my list:

The Orphan Master's Son - Johnson

The Light Between Oceans - Stedman

Where'd You Go Bernadette? - Semple

Quiet - Susan Cain

The Buddha in the Attic - J. Otsuka

The Cat's Table - M. Ondaatje

The Time in Between - Duenas

The Winter Palace - Stachniak

Alif the Unseen - Wilson

City of Bohane - K. Barry

Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter

Arcadia - Lauren Groff

The Dinner - Herman Koch

The Age of Miracles - Walker

Narcopolis - Jeet Thayil

The Art Forger - Shapiro

Seven Houses in France - Atxaga

The Orchardist - Coplin

I seem to be adding more books than I'm checking off my list - I still haven't finished Russian Winter yet.  It's fantastic - but it's longer than it looks! Austin and his Dad are going to a shotgun/shooting class on Saturday, so that will be the perfect opportunity for me and Lila to snuggle on the couch and I can catch up on some reading!

I'm really excited about these books - many of them are out of my "reading comfort zone" and take place in countries, cities, and cultures I don't know very much about. 

What were your favorite books of this year?  What are you looking forward to reading in 2013?

2012 Book Challenge

So, it's almost the end of the year, and I read 10 out of the 12 books I planned to read this year.  One of those, The Marriage Plot, I started, but really couldn't get into.  It happens.  The other, The Emperor of All Maladies, I just couldn't get in the right mood to pick up.  But, there's always next year, right??  Unless, of course, the Mayans were right ;)

I did surpass my goal of reading 1 book a week this year (average, of course), with 56 books - and I have a long weekend at my parents' house coming up where I'm sure to finish off a few more!  I'm in the middle of Russian Winter, a story about a Russian Ballerina who defects to the West during the upheaval in Russia.  The Russian history side of it is really interesting, reading about how people lived, and how much control the government had.  But, the story is also about her famous collection of jewelry, her love story, and a secret. 

I'll be sure to give you an review when I've finished!  This book has been on my list for a while, and I picked it up at Books A Million on their used shelf for $3.  How could I pass it up???

I've also been rereading the Harry Potter series.  It's kind of an obsession.  Austin would say that's the understatement of the year!  Anyway, I haven't read them in a while, and while Austin was in Korea, I decided to read them again.  Every time I reread the books, I pick up something new - a character that has a major part in the later books is mentioned in passing in one of the first books.  I just finished Order of the Phoenix, and while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are helping Mrs. Weasley clean up Grimmauld Place, a "locket that they can't open" is mentioned.  It's the horcrux locket!!!!!  Little details like that made rereading these books so worth it!  I'll probably take the last 2 books to Mom and Dad's to read over Christmas.  What else did Rowling hide????  I know I've been promising a post on my Harry Potter obsession, but I can't find the words to do it justice. I'll work on that.....

Merry Christmas!!!