The Big Book Post, 2012
It's time for the big book post!
This year I finished, in order:
The ranking, in order from liked most to liked least:
Fiction: 10
Fantasy: 6
Young Adult: 5
Historical: 2
Modern: 4
Short Stories: 1
Non-Fiction: 7
Humor: 3
Memoir: 3
History: 1
Self-Help: 1
Geography: 1
Looking at the authors, it's an even split with 7 men and 7 women. Martel is Canadian, Fforde is British, Zusak is Australian, and the rest are all American. I believe Kaling is the only author of color. All of them are older than me except for Shipstead (born 1983), with Fforde being the oldest (born 1961), although I can't find Goldstone's birth year (nor Lawson's but I'm assuming she's not much older than me). Vowell, Fforde, and Burroughs were the only authors I'd read before.
By publication date:
1999: Wallflower
2000: Cannoli
2001: Life of Pi
2006: Book Thief
2007: Four Queens
2008: Hunger Games
2009: Catching Fire
2010: Mockingjay
2011: Night Circus, Hanging Out Without Me, Maphead
2012: This is How, Care to Make Love, Woman Who Died, Seating Arrangements, Let's Pretend, Anne Frank
By setting (at the beginning of the book):
1254: Four Queens
1873: Night Circus
1930s: Book Thief
1948: Anne Frank (earliest story)
1970s: Let's Pretend
1977: Life of Pi
1980s: Hanging Out Without Me
1991: Wallflower
Present: Seating Arrangements, This is How, Maphead, Cannoli, Care to Make Love
Fantasy time: Woman Who Died
Future: Hunger Games
New York: Night Circus
Connecticut: Seating Arrangements
Massachusetts: Hanging Out Without Me
Pennsylvania: Wallflower
Florida: Anne Frank
Texas: Let's Pretend
Montana: Cannoli
Washington: Maphead
Panem: Hunger Games
UK: Woman Who Died
Provence (present-day France): Four Queens
Germany: Book Thief
India: Life of Pi
Why I read them:
Roommate recos: Maphead, Anne Frank, Hanging Out Without Me, Night Circus, Book Thief, Seating Arrangements
Other recos: Let's Pretend (Mary), Four Queens (Amazon)
Saw it in the bookstore: Care to Make Love, This is How
Read author previously: Cannoli, Woman Who Died
Because of the movie: Life of Pi, Wallflower, The Hunger Games
Only one of these (Wallflower) was a book club selection (Page & Popcorn)
Where I got them:
Gifts: Maphead, Four Queens, This is How
Stole from Lindsay: Hunger Games Trilogy, Cannoli
Borrowed from Roommates: Anne Frank, Hanging Out Without Me, Night Circus, Book Thief, Seating Arrangements
Borrowed from Mary: Let's Pretend
Bought: Life of Pi (Strand), Care to Make Love (The Word), Woman Who Died and Wallflower (B&N)
None of the books I read this year came from my own bookshelf, but seven of them ended up there.
Previous Big Book Posts
This year I finished, in order:
- January: Maphead by Ken Jennings
- January: Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone (have an eggroll!)
- February-March: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
- March: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
- March: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander
- April: Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
- May: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
- May: Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell
- June-August: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- September: Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
- October-December: Care to Make Love in That Gross Little Space Between Cars?: A Believer Book of Advice
- October: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- October: The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde
- November: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- December: This is How by Augusten Burroughs
The ranking, in order from liked most to liked least:
- Night Circus
- Maphead
- The Hunger Games Trilogy
- Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Life of Pi
- Seating Arrangements
- Take the Cannoli
- Let's Pretend This Never Happened
- The Woman Who Died a Lot
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
- Four Queens
- Book Thief
- This is How
- Care to Make Love in That Gross Little Space Between Cars?
Fiction: 10
Fantasy: 6
Young Adult: 5
Historical: 2
Modern: 4
Short Stories: 1
Non-Fiction: 7
Humor: 3
Memoir: 3
History: 1
Self-Help: 1
Geography: 1
Looking at the authors, it's an even split with 7 men and 7 women. Martel is Canadian, Fforde is British, Zusak is Australian, and the rest are all American. I believe Kaling is the only author of color. All of them are older than me except for Shipstead (born 1983), with Fforde being the oldest (born 1961), although I can't find Goldstone's birth year (nor Lawson's but I'm assuming she's not much older than me). Vowell, Fforde, and Burroughs were the only authors I'd read before.
By publication date:
1999: Wallflower
2000: Cannoli
2001: Life of Pi
2006: Book Thief
2007: Four Queens
2008: Hunger Games
2009: Catching Fire
2010: Mockingjay
2011: Night Circus, Hanging Out Without Me, Maphead
2012: This is How, Care to Make Love, Woman Who Died, Seating Arrangements, Let's Pretend, Anne Frank
By setting (at the beginning of the book):
1254: Four Queens
1873: Night Circus
1930s: Book Thief
1948: Anne Frank (earliest story)
1970s: Let's Pretend
1977: Life of Pi
1980s: Hanging Out Without Me
1991: Wallflower
Present: Seating Arrangements, This is How, Maphead, Cannoli, Care to Make Love
Fantasy time: Woman Who Died
Future: Hunger Games
New York: Night Circus
Connecticut: Seating Arrangements
Massachusetts: Hanging Out Without Me
Pennsylvania: Wallflower
Florida: Anne Frank
Texas: Let's Pretend
Montana: Cannoli
Washington: Maphead
Panem: Hunger Games
UK: Woman Who Died
Provence (present-day France): Four Queens
Germany: Book Thief
India: Life of Pi
Why I read them:
Roommate recos: Maphead, Anne Frank, Hanging Out Without Me, Night Circus, Book Thief, Seating Arrangements
Other recos: Let's Pretend (Mary), Four Queens (Amazon)
Saw it in the bookstore: Care to Make Love, This is How
Read author previously: Cannoli, Woman Who Died
Because of the movie: Life of Pi, Wallflower, The Hunger Games
Only one of these (Wallflower) was a book club selection (Page & Popcorn)
Where I got them:
Gifts: Maphead, Four Queens, This is How
Stole from Lindsay: Hunger Games Trilogy, Cannoli
Borrowed from Roommates: Anne Frank, Hanging Out Without Me, Night Circus, Book Thief, Seating Arrangements
Borrowed from Mary: Let's Pretend
Bought: Life of Pi (Strand), Care to Make Love (The Word), Woman Who Died and Wallflower (B&N)
None of the books I read this year came from my own bookshelf, but seven of them ended up there.
Previous Big Book Posts