A Year of Words: What I read in 2012

Read a lot of stories and think about what the stories you encounter mean for your own life and the lives of those you love. In that way, you will not be alone with an empty self; you will have a newly rich life with yourself, and enhanced possibilities of real communication with others. – Martha Nausbaum

2012 was a big year in reading for me. I read a 63 works of fiction, 26 works of non-fiction, and 20 graphic novels.

My New Favorite Author:

This was the year that I discovered the works of Michael Ondaatje, an author that blew my heart out with every sentence. His haunting and dream-like novel Divisadero is my favorite work of fiction read in 2012. I first read it in March and then again in August after I’d cycled through all of his other novels at least once (or in the case of Anil’s Ghost, twice). I also read a lot of his poetry, though not in book form. My favorite poem by him is The Cinnamon Peeler. It makes me long to visit Sri Lanka.

2012:

I also read more contemporary books this year than in years past. There was a lot of good stuff that came out in 2012 and I didn’t get to nearly as much of it as I would have liked. Of particular note were a few debut books from authors like Christopher Beha, G. Willow Wilson, Robin Sloan, Katherine Boo, Lawrence Osbourne, and Kevin Powers. There were also some strong books by established authors like Andrew Miller, Per Petterson, Jami Attenberg, Scott Lasser, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Graham Joyce.

My Top Ten Books published in 2012:

1. What Happened to Sophie Wilder by Christopher Beha
2. Can Animals Be Moral? by Mark Rowlands
3. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
4. Pure by Andrew Miller
5. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
6. It’s Fine By Me by Per Petterson
7. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
8. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
9. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
10. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Honorable Mention: The Forgiven by Lawrence Osbourne, Every Love Story is a Ghost Story by D.T. Max, Eat and Run by Scott Jurek

Full list of stats:

All titles can be found HERE.

Total Fiction: 63

Total Non-Fiction: 26

Total Graphic Novels: 20

# of above read as eBooks: 15

Average per month: 9.1

Average per week: 2.1

Best month: November (13 titles)

Worst month: January (5 titles)

Favorite Fiction Book Read: Divisidero by Michael Ondaatje

Favorite Fiction Book published in 2012: What Happened to Sophie Wilder by Christopher Beha

Favorite Non-Fiction Book Read: *The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film* Michael Ondaatje

Favorite Non-Fiction Book published in 2012: Can Animals Be Moral? by Mark Rowlands

Favorite Graphic Novel Read: Habibi by Craig Thompson

Favorite Graphic Novel published in 2012: any of The Unwritten titles by Mike Carey that came out this year