How Many Books Can I Read in 2012?

I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read since January 1, 2012, and have only listed ones I’ve finished and actually read (somehow, usually books on CD haven’t “counted”). I’ll update this list as I finish something new and you can access if, if you choose, but clicking on “2012 Books” under LABELS (to your left).

56. Cold Days / Jim Butcher.  This is the 14th book in the Dresden Files series, that just gets better and better.  His other series, the Codex of Alera, is one of my favorites.  He is one author I actually will buy as soon as he publishes.  Not only do I not want to wait for a library copy, I want to own his books.

55. Tattoos on the heart : the power of boundless compassion / Boyle, Greg. Wow!  Father Greg (or G-Dog, as he’s known on the street) looks like Santa Claus and has had a successful street ministry with LA gangs for 30 years.  He started Homeboy Industries—he tells great stories. I read it in 24 hours (and only after kids were in bed). 

54.  Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind: 16 Essential Characteristics for Success / Arthur L. Costa, Bena Kallick.  Hmm.  Interesting. Not particularly life-changing.

53.The bee eater : Michelle Rhee takes on the nation's worst school district / Whitmire, Richard.  LOVED this!  Rhee was the chancellor of the Washington DC school district and my education reform hero.  This was another book that I cruised through in less than 24 hours, mostly after bedtime.  It fueled my passion even more to return to teaching.  Actually, it fueled more than that, but that is for a separate post. 

52.The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency / McCall Smith, Alexander. I tried to get into this series a long time ago, and it didn’t take.  We read it for book group and I found myself loving it.  I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend. I will be listening to the rest of this series to help me through dreary chores.

51.The maze runner / Dashner, James.  Wasn’t the “just like Hunger Games” that it had been touted, but very good in it’s own right.  Finishing the trilogy is on my list for 2013.

50.War dances / Alexie, Sherman.  Do I need to say more than Sherman Alexie?  I liked using his short stories in my classroom, and I still keep up all this local author publishes.

49. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without hurting the poor…and yourself / Corbett, Steve  & Brian Fikkert.   Tied (with #23 Half the Sky) at Most Important Book I’ve Read this year.  Reading Half the Sky left me at a loss, and this began opening up ways of thinking and acting about poverty alleviation.  This has sharpened my philosophy of giving, acting, volunteering, and voting.

48. Hope Lives: A Journey of Restoration /  Amber Van Schoonerveld.  Another book on poverty with one or two nuggets, but a little too touchy-feeling and felt flat after reading #49.

47. Free range kids : giving our children the freedom we had without going nuts with worry / Lenore Skenazy.  I am certainly a free-range parent, but even though she was preaching to the choir, Skenazy’s book was annoying.  She wrote like I talk to myself—which is not a great basis for persuasive writing.  Great topic, but could be much more effective in a stronger writer’s hands.   This is the mother who became famous for letting her preteen son ride the New York subway alone, once.

46. Bringing up bébé : one American mother discovers the wisdom of French parenting / Druckerman, Pamela.  Not Tiger Mother (#1), but really enjoyed the cultural comparison.  I came away with a few tips that I now incorporate into our home. 

45.Wicked : the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West / Maguire, Gregory.  Kinda fun book, but read it to prep for the musical, which is fantastic. 

44. Grace (eventually) : thoughts on faith / Lamott, Anne. Kind of a follow-up to #32 on the list. I find her very worth reading.

43. Mothers who think : tales of real-life parenthood. A wonderful collection of essays about all aspects of motherhood—and adulthood—that are varied and all extremely well-written. I got to walk a few miles in other mother’s moccasins.

42.All new people : a novel / Lamott, Anne. I tried reading a few of her novels until I could get through this one, but I’m just going to stick with Lamott’s memoirs for now on.

41.Let's pretend this never happened : (a mostly true memoir) / Lawson, Jenny. Funny, funny, funny with a lot of other "f” words.

40.Operating instructions : a journal of my son's first year / Lamott, Anne. Very worth reading, especially for parents and liberals. I try so hard to follow other political views, but , ahhhh, it feels so good to read someone whose political views are unabashedly similar to mine. And is still a Christian.

39. The Language of Flowers / Diffenbaugh, Vanessa. The author, who is a foster mother, wrote this novel about a young woman aging out of foster care. She is as screwy as any system can make you, but it’s ultimately a story of….redemption. Or close enough.

38. A Gift of Thought / Sarah Wyndes (Kindle publication only). A sequel to #21 on this list, but not quite as fun.

(#24.) The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer

(#25). The Case of the Left-Handed Lady

37. The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets

36. The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan

35. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline

34. The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye

A fictional detective has a much younger fictional sister, who at 14, is very clever, very resourceful, and very alone (spell her first name backwards). I listened to the first four Enola Holmes books on CD and read the last two. The series is marketed to young adults, and I thought they were great—especially amidst my current Sherlock obsession—and I can’t wait for my kids to read them when they are older. Like Victoria Thompson (#31), this author is really good about incorporating interesting and dreadful details of living in old London.

33. The Enchanted Wood / Enid Blyton. Any book over 200 pages I have to read aloud to the kids counts on this list. A huge kid pleaser, it’s a bit annoying for adults. Okay, this adult.

32. Traveling Mercies / Anne Lamott. I can’t believe I’ve lived this long without reading Lamott. This is memoir within a collection of short essays about how an unconventional woman becomes and unconventional Christian. I have 20 passages marked in the first 80 pages for discussion at our next book group. This author will be showing up on this list again.

31. Murder on Sisters’ Row / Victoria Thompson. This is the latest in the “A Gaslight Mystery” series. It takes place in nineteenth century New York City and is well-researched to include details of class, corruption, social ills and niceties, and Teddy Roosevelt, all within the context of a good old fashioned murder mystery.

30. The Housekeeper the Professor / Yoko Ogawa. Neither my good reading friend, Karin, nor I remember why we both had this on hold at the library. Perhaps we both read the same review or heard about it on NPR. The story is beautifully told and somehow restful to read.

29. This I Believe. Compilation of 75 essays from NPR’s popular “This I Believe” personal essay series.

28. This I Believe II. The obvious sequel with an insightful introduction.

27. The Sense of an Ending / Julian Barnes. 2011 Man Booker Prize winner. I can’t articulate quite why this short book obsessed me so, but I felt hopeful and melancholy when I finished it and had to ease back into the real world.

26. Dead end in Norvelt / / Gantos, Jack.

25. The Case of the Left-Handed Lady / Springer, Nancy. (See #34)

24. The case of the missing marquess / Springer, Nancy. (See #34)

23.Half the sky : / Kristof, Nicholas D.,  Woman hold up half the sky, as the Chinese proverb goes. From the first page, this book is obviously written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning husband and wife team.  It is written technically very, very well, but it’s the subject that rivets.  To completely undersell this book, it is about women’s issues in the world.  There is a 45 minute video on Netflix that is a great introduction.  It is the Most Life Changing Book I’ve read probably this millennium.  (And I’ve read a lot of books.)

22. The Reading Promise / Alice Ozam  Meh. 

21. A Gift of Ghosts / Sarah Wynde This is a debut novel from my favorite writer of Fan Fiction (short stories about shows/characters written by talented--or not--fans). Sarah is talented and this novel was the perfect four-hour summer fling.

20. The Fault in Our Stars / John Green.  It won a lot of acclaim for a reason.  This Young Adult author is worth reading always.

19. The Hound of the Baskervilles / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

18. Girl Land / Caitlin Flanagan. I will read this book every five years until my daughters are fully grown. 

17. Mighty be our powers : / Gbowee, Leymah. Fascinating woman who is the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace prize, but a frustratingly dull book.

16. One small boat : the story of a little girl, lost then found / Kathy Harrison.  See #13.

15. I speak for this child : the true stories of a child advocate / Gay Courter.  I will eventually be a  CASA, in no small thanks to this book.

14. Radical : taking back your faith from the American Dream / David Platt.  Thought-provoking.

13. Another place at the table : a story of shattered childhoods redeemed by love / Kathy Harrison.  Foster mother writes about her experiences.  Harrison can always make me cry, both sad and hopeful tears.

12. Outlander / Gabaldon, Diana.  Lllllloooooooooong book, and just the first of many in a series, but a fascinating look at Scottish history and time travel and love.  I got halfway through her second book this year, and although that several hundred pages, I didn’t even come close to finishing it, therefore I can’t count it.  It will take me decades to read all of them, but at least some of them are on CD!

11. An abundance of Katherines / John Green.  I’ve read a few Green books this year, and I plan on reading all of his young adult novels as he writes them.

10. To hell with all that : loving and loathing our inner housewife / Caitlin Flanagan.  This author is always worth reading. 

9. A Matter of Class / Mary Balogh. Fun Victorian romance! 

8. Justice: What's the Right Thing To Do? / Michael J Sandel.  The author teaches this class and Harvard.  This is a high interest area for me, and I enjoyed how it was both accessible and cerebral.  I think I could read this again next year and get even more out of it.

7. Wench / Dolen Perkins-Valdez.  Slave mistresses of slave owners.  The historical context alone makes this worth reading.

6. Clockwork Angel / Clare, Cassandra.  Interesting enough that I will certainly look up the sequel when my stack runs low.

5. Think : straight talk for women to stay smart in a dumbed-down world / Lisa Bloom.  Enough good stuff in here to make it worth reading, but the real treasure was the “Further Reading” suggestions in the appendix.

4. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk / David Sedaris.  This author really is as hilarious (and occasionally crass) as his reputation.

3. Drive : the surprising truth about what motivates us / Daniel H. Pink

2. I'm Half Sick of Shadows/ Alan Bradley.  LOVE, LOVE this series.  I’ve written earlier about Flavia de Luce before when I discovered Alan Bradley’s first mystery starring this, er, unconventional 9-year old chemist. She is eleven years old in the fourth book in the series and still as readable as ever.

1. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother/ Amy Chua.  Yeah, I loved it.  Very funny, very thoughtful.  If you’ve only heard about it, you are doing yourself a disservice by not reading it. 

[Red denotes non-fiction. My New Year’s Resolution was to read one non-fiction book each month.]