# Top Ten books you read in 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076 "2013-01-04T16:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/41 "2013-01-05T04:43:42Z")
Fun thread! Lemme see what I can remember, in no particular order: [Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk](http://www.amazon.com/Billy-Lynns-Long-Halftime-Walk/dp/0060885599). Not at all what I normally read, it’s a novel set almost entirely (except for flashbacks) during a single Dallas Cowboys game. The protagonist is a 19-year-old hapless soldier. It’s funny and moving and vicious satire. [Doc: a Novel](http://www.amazon.com/Doc-Novel-Mary-Doria-Russell/dp/081298000X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357360219&sr=1-1&keywords=doc), by Mary Doria Russell. It retells Doc Holliday’s story, making him a much more pathetic but likeable character than I’d thought before. And now I REALLY don’t want to die of tuberculosis. Jesus Christ. [The Classic Fairy Tales](http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Fairy-Norton-Critical-Editions/dp/0393972771/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357360293&sr=1-1&keywords=maria+tatar+the+classic+fairy+tales), edited by Maria Tatar. This one (and the next few) stand out in large part because I got to take a class with Dr. Tatar this summer and the experience was tremendous; but this is a stellar collection of both historical and modern retellings of fairy tales on its own, and the critical essays include some real gems. Okay, I’m gonna stop linking, because it’s taking too long. Hunger Games–really, the whole trilogy. I was skeptical, but I absolutely loved them. My favorite aspect of them was how they drew me in with the action and then subverted it with the PTSD. Sneaky. Peter Pan. I’d never read it before, but I got to read it for the summer class, and it’s a work of art. A racist sexist work of art, but still Peter Pan is such an iconic deity, it’s difficult for me to believe that he didn’t exist prior to this book. Feels like he arose straight out of mythology. The Hobbit. I hadn’t read it since I was a kid, and I got to read it to my three-year-old daughter and experience its beauty through her eyes. I’d forgotten how funny it is. Arabian Nights. If I’d forgotten how funny The Hobbit is, I’d never known how **racy** Arabian Nights is. I knew there was some infidelity in the book, but I didn’t know said infidelity would involve 20 court ladies and 20 slaves in a mass, explicitly-described orgy. And it just gets better from there. Sex and violence aside, it’s a complex and sometimes subtle meditation on the tension between justice and mercy. Also for the summer course. Angelmaker. I check a lot of stuff out of the library having no idea whether it’ll be great or be a total stinker, and about a third of the time it’s stinky. This one was great. Son of a glamorous London gangster and grandson of a clockmaker, the protagonist tries to keep his granddad’s legacy alive while running from his dad’s. Doesn’t work out so well for him. It’s tremendously funny stuff. Daniel O’Thunder: A nineteenth-century boxer finds God and starts boxing for God. Honestly, I can’t remember why this one appealed so much to me, but I remember loving it. Finally, The Tale of Despereaux. I read it to my students every year, and every time I read it I love it more. It’s the perfect children’s tale, beautifully written, funny, sad, full of lush symbolism that kids can grasp, complex characters, etc. It’s also nothing like the appalling movie, so don’t make that mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Sevencl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sevencl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevencl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/42 "2013-01-05T05:10:05Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Peter Pan. I’d never read it before, but I got to read it for the summer class, and it’s a work of art. A racist sexist work of art, but still Peter Pan is such an iconic deity, it’s difficult for me to believe that he didn’t exist prior to this book. Feels like he arose straight out of mythology. Isn’t the narrator hilarious? And a dick too. “Let us now kill a pirate, to show Hook’s method. Skylights will do.” I loved Lemony Snicket as a kid, but Barrie does the meta thing so much better. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/43 "2013-01-05T05:14:44Z")
> [@Sevencl](#): > > Isn’t the narrator hilarious? And a dick too. “Let us now kill a pirate, to show Hook’s method. Skylights will do.” I loved Lemony Snicket as a kid, but Barrie does the meta thing so much better. Definitely so. Especially near the end, when he starts working out his mommy issues in his asides (paraphrased: “Look at Mrs. Darling, building her life around her children–what a contemptible specimen she is, how loathesome! Oh, but never mind, I am sorry I said that, she is a lovely mother, may I take it back?”). It’s a bit creepy but also pretty fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Sevencl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sevencl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevencl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/44 "2013-01-05T05:28:42Z")
That mid-narration snark is one of the only things I enjoy about “classical” literature. It’s a shame it’s so uncommon, now. I wonder why that is. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/45 "2013-01-05T05:45:35Z")
1. Number One without a doubt is Alex Haley’s _Roots_. 2. _The Help_ - Kathryn Stockett 3 and 4. _A Game of Thrones_ books 1 and 2 - George R R Martin 1. _Mort: Discworld #4_ by Terry Pratchet - Death is my favorite character on the Disc. 2. _11/22/63_ - Stephen King I read several more this past year, but these are the ones that really stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/46 "2013-01-05T05:56:24Z")
> [@bup](#): > > 1. \*\*\*Longitude \*\*\*by Dava Sobel I read that this year (well, in 2012). Very good. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/47 "2013-01-05T05:59:17Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I put this on my wishlist. I seem to remember that the TV mini-series based on this book was good. There was a TV miniseries? Darn it, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. It _was_ a good book. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/48 "2013-01-05T06:13:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **Yellowval** and **Eleanor of Aquitaine** , you’re right, _Into Thin Air_ was fantastic. I was struck by the commercialization of climbing Mt. Everest, and how that led to disaster. One of my favorites. I’ve read it six times over the years, and I’ve read just about every book written by others on the mountain at the same time. It’s a fascinating topic, and “summit fever” grips climbers into poor decisions. I’m not a climber, and I think those who chase Everest are nuts. Highly driven nuts, but nuts nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/49 "2013-01-05T16:17:42Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > **Of Human Bondage** – W. Somerset Maugham – waaaaaay better than the movie versions I forgot that I re-read it this summer. So I’ll toss out one of the Trollopes or Thackerays or **Bossypants** and stick that one in instead. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/50 "2013-01-05T17:30:53Z")
In no particular order: [Wild - Cheryl Strayed](http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Found-Pacific-Crest-Oprahs/dp/0307592731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406391&sr=1-1&keywords=wild+cheryl+strayed) [Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn](http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Novel-Gillian-Flynn/dp/030758836X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406440&sr=1-1&keywords=gone+girl) [The Odds: A Love Story - Stewart O’Nan](http://www.amazon.com/Odds-Love-Story-Stewart-ONan/dp/0143122274/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406499&sr=1-1&keywords=the+odds+a+love+story) [Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo](http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Beautiful-Forevers-Mumbai-Undercity/dp/1400067553/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406559&sr=1-1&keywords=behind+the+beautiful+forevers) [Tales from a Midwife - Jennifer Worth](http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Midwife-True-Stories-1950s/dp/0753828693/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406711&sr=1-3&keywords=the+midwife+jennifer+worth) [The Chaperone - Laura Moriarty](http://www.amazon.com/Chaperone-Laura-Moriarty/dp/1594487014/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406798&sr=1-1&keywords=the+chaperone+laura+moriarty) [The Dog Stars - Peter Heller](http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Stars-Peter-Heller/dp/0307959945/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406871&sr=1-1&keywords=dog+stars+peter+heller) [Tiny Beautiful Things - Cheryl Strayed](http://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Beautiful-Things-Advice-Sugar/dp/0307949338/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406911&sr=1-1&keywords=tiny+beautiful+things) [Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats - Kristen Iversen](http://www.amazon.com/Full-Body-Burden-Growing-Nuclear/dp/030795563X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357406950&sr=1-1&keywords=full+body+burden) [Redshirts - John Scalzi](http://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-Novel-Three-John-Scalzi/dp/0765334798/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357407003&sr=1-1&keywords=redshirts) Here’s my full [Goodreads list](http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1035707-glory?format=html&order=d&shelf=read&sort=date_read). ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/51 "2013-01-06T02:35:33Z")
> [@echo7tango](#): > > There was a TV miniseries? Darn it, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. It _was_ a good book. It was quite good. It alternated between historical recreation of John Harrison and the development of his clocks and the present day restoration of them. A few years ago I toured the museums at Greenwich where the clocks are on display. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/52 "2013-01-06T03:05:10Z")
Some older ones, The Zookeeper’s Wife, and The Things They Carried come to mind quickly ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/53 "2013-01-06T03:08:07Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Some older ones, > > . . . > > The Things They Carried > > . . . Just read that. Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/54 "2013-01-06T03:37:08Z")
Wasn’t it!? I live with a Vietnam vet and he almost cried when I read the “peaches and poundcake” part to him. It was his favorite as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/55 "2013-01-06T04:40:57Z")
In addition to several that others have recommended, I can only add two that I read last year that I highly recommend: [The Astral](http://www.amazon.com/Astral-Kate-Christensen/dp/030747335X/ref=la_B001IGFHVC_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1357445380&sr=1-3) The dissolution of a marriage from a man’s perspective. The author is a woman who writes entirely convincingly from the male perspective. Very real characters. Interesting article as to why she writes from the male perspective (basically so that her books aren’t labeled “chick lit”): [Kate Christensen](http://www.elle.com/life-love/sex-relationships/kate-christensen-take-it-like-a-man). I’m a 50 something guy, and am impressed how well she gets men right. [The Great Crash of 1929](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Crash-1929-Kenneth-Galbraith/dp/0547248164/ref=la_B000APM3S2_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357445929&sr=1-1) Originally published in 1954 but still oddly relevant today. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/56 "2013-01-06T22:49:26Z")
42 books last year. The top eight, in the order that I read them: _Cats Are Not Peas: A Calico History of Genetics_, by Laura Gould _Mask of the Sun_, by Fred Saberhagen _Metzger’s Dog_, by Thomas Perry \* _In the Courts of the Crimson Kings_, by S M Stirling \* _Some Like It Hawk_, by Donna Andrews _1632_, by Eric Flint \* _1633_, by David Weber and Eric Flint \* _The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler_, by Gene Kemp - Reread ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/57 "2013-01-07T00:35:57Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > _Metzger’s Dog_, by Thomas Perry \* > > - Reread I just reread this last week. Great book and if I am ever fortunate enough to have a cat, he will be Dr. Henry Metzger.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/58 "2013-01-07T01:27:23Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > 1. [Bangkok 8](http://www.amazon.com/Bangkok-8-Novel-John-Burdett/dp/1400032903/), John Burdett. Bizarre, darkly funny crime novel set in Bangkok, largely in the red-light district. Or districtS rather. We have three major ones and a handful of lesser ones. I think all three major ones are represented in that book. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/59 "2013-01-07T05:14:39Z")
> [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](#): > > Just read that. Excellent. Agreed. My book club read it six or seven years ago and just about everyone gave it thumbs-up. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076/60 "2013-01-07T15:04:20Z")
In no particular order, my top 10… 1. Throne of Glass, Sarah Maas. YA book with an ass-kicking 18-year old assassin as the heroine. The romantic subplots get pretty smurfy, which usually bugs me, but not this time. Fun fun fun with enough substance to keep it from being too silly. 2. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell. All substance, all the time. A difficult story to get through, what will the tons of historical details and languages to translate, but worth the effort. 3. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Domick. A chilling look at normal lives in North Korea. Makes you appreciate your cable television, your SUVs and, oh, your ability to eat food on a regular basis. 4. The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt. A Western that manages to keep true to the genre’s classic sensibilities while injecting some modernist nihilism. 5. Redshirts, John Scalzi. A geeky book for a geeky audience. But it made me cry a little too. 6. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. Yeah, just regular Jane Eyre. Not Jane Eyre with Abominable Snowmen or anything. It’s a classic and it’s great. 7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor. And the sequel too, even though that’s kind of cheating. A great, surprising fantasy series. 8. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy, L.A. Meyer. Parents with daughters: Read them this book. 9. 11/22/63, Stephen King. Time travelling wonderful-ness. Plus, big enough that it can double as a bludgeon. 10. Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, Sara Gran. The best detective story I’ve read in years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-ten-books-you-read-in-2012/646076.md?page=4)