2012 Media Roundup - Books
Yes, two of these in one day to catch up to my schedule. So here goes:
I have had a wonderful reading year! I got through SO many more novels than I have for the past few years - I guess that's what happens when you don't have academic reading to do and you sort of don't read any fic for, like, half a year? (My mind is still boggling over the latter. I need a new OTP in an active fandom.)
Anyway - I tried to do the traditional Top Ten for books, but there are many more than 10 I can happily recommend, so why restrict myself. So - we're gonna go through a whole bunch lightning fast.
Looking through this list, it seems the catch phrases are "siblings" and "castles" which are two pretty wonderful things!
First, I have to give a special shout out to my number one book of the year:
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
I've already written about this book here before, but I'll repast this little list I wrote in my original review:
-awesome ladies
-awesome ladies who are best friends
-lady pilots
-lady spies
-WWII
-unique story structure
-dreamy men in kilts
-adventures on motorbikes
-adventures in airplanes
-castles
And my catchphrase for this book is, as always, you will cry and you will like it.
And a special shout out to my favorite author of the year:
Frances Hardinge
I got turned on to Hardinge's works by thebooksmugglers, whose blog I read religiously. Hardinge's imagination and linguistic skill is phenomenal. I am so, so impressed by her work. So far I've gotten through all of her books but one - The Lost Conspiracy - which is on my tbr list for 2013. So, here we go:
Fly by Night & its sequel Fly Trap
Our winning heroes are gritty orphan Mosca Mye, her cantankerous pet goose Saracen, and the silver-tongued conman Eponymous Clent. Together, they don't fight crime but often attempt to cause it, while inadvertently causing revolution instead.
These books are magical. Fly Trap is my favorite out of all of Hardinge's books.
A Face like Glass
In an underground society where people are born without facial expressions, one girl with an elastic face and a background in cheese making will throw the cavern world into chaos.
Well Witched/Verdigris Deep
The goddess of a wishing well gifts three English kids with powers in exchange for them helping to carry out wishes - regardless if they're for a motorcycle or for bloody revenge.
And now, my other recommended reading from this year's haul
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Our narrator Cassandra Mortmain is /the/ most charming narrator I've read all year. England. Diary entries. Castles. Family. Romantic entanglements. Poverty. Art and society.
Crush by Richard Siken
The only poetry entry on this list. If you spend much time on tumblr, you've read many a quote from this, whether you realize it or not. /Stunningly/ beautiful. And, to my eyes, 100% Wincest.
Quiet by Susan Cain
The only nonfiction entry on this list - a brilliant and much needed discussion of introversion and its place in our extravert-dominated society.
The Montmaray Journals by Michelle Cooper
Family. World War II. European politics. English Society. Balls. Intrigue. LQBT. Rocky islands on the sea.
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand
Spooky Stepford/Pleasantville-esque town is hiding an "orphanage" with hideous goals. You will ship a pair of twelve year olds without shame.
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood
Victorian governess gets assigned to three children raised by wolves. Whimsical. /Adorable./ If you liked A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Inside Out & Outside In by Maria V. Snyder
A very literally self-contained dystopia. Our protag lives in the pipes and tunnels of a physically regulated society. Much is not as it seems. Quick reads
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin
Do I really have to recommend these? It's Game of Thrones
The Curseworkers trilogy by Holly Black
Magic. Mobs. Cursework. Cats. Grifters. Gloves.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Jasper Dent is a charmer… and the son of the most notorious serial killer is modern US history
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
This reads like a series of bedtime stories- about a human boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard.
This Dark Endeavor and Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
A young Victor Frankenstein and his twin brother Konrad get into adventure, and trouble with serious consequences, when they first learn about alchemy and the black arts with their friend Henry Clerval and cousin Elizabeth Lavenza. Also: activate your shipping goggles. The third in the trilogy yet to come. Also: book one made me tear up.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
There's a monster living outside Conor's house.
This book isn't really about monsters.
It will make you sob.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
While we're on the subject of crying, might as well get it all out at once. Cancer, romance, tragedy, Amsterdam, etc. I'm sure you've heard of this one already.
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Three novellas filled with magic, girls, dangerous choices, and Taylor's lyrical prose
Daughter of Smoke and Bone & Days of Blood and Starlight
Again, Laini Taylor's writing is just magical. She is wonderful at creating setting and painting pictures in your mind. These books have chimeras, art, a lovely lady friendship (<3 Zuzanna and Mik!) and lots of teeth. Unfortunately, they also have an epic paranormal love~ a la many other YA books. Fortunately, that's honestly only one bit of a rich series of other delights. *Note: Book two needs a trigger warning for rape
The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter
Siblings. Secrets. Scarves. Castles. Crowns. Cats
The Candy Butchers by Mary Borsellino/sharpest_rose
This isn't out yet but I hope it finds a publisher soon. Robots and class divides and found families and non-normative relationships and secret identities and much more.
The Revenant by Sonia Gensler
Ghosts. Boarding school. US history. Romance. Cherokees American Indians. If you liked A Great and Terrible Beauty.
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Cajun teen attends British boarding school for a year. Ghosts. Jack the Ripper. But the reason I rec it - a brilliant depiction of the relationship between the media, notorious crime, and modern society.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
This one's a classic I only just got around to. And it was a delight. It didn't quite hit me as a very favorite like it seems to many others, but it was a charming read. A floating castle, our protag who's cursed to look like an old lady, a wizard without a heart, and a demon in the fireplace. (Calcifer was my fave<3).
The Collected Essex County by Jeff Lemire
The only graphic novel on this list. Canada. Families. Hockey. Secrets. Beautiful illustrations.
Sooo... what should I read in 2013