2012 Books in Review
Better late than never, right? My reading totals in 2012 had a modest rise over 2011 to 51 books and 22 graphic novels. Eight of those books were read during my trip to Iceland, thereby proving that I should really just go on vacation for the rest of my life with a giant pile of books. In any event, here's a big list of books.
John Ringo - Choosers of the Slain - W 1/04
Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles - Su 1/08
*Warren Ellis & Cully Hamner - Red - S 1/14
Rowland Mead - Iceland: Globetrotter Island Guide - S 1/21
Bruce Weber - As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires - S 1/21
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: The Innocents - F 1/27
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: Highland Laddie - F 1/27
*Alex Ross, Jai Nitz, Wilson Tortosa - Bring the Thunder - S 1/28
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: The Self-Preservation Society - F 1/27
Jim Butcher - Storm Front - F 2/03
Gregg Easterbrook - The Progress Paradox - M 2/06
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: We Gotta Go Now - T 2/07
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: Herogasm - T 2/07
*Mark Millar, JG Jones, Paul Mounts - Wanted - S 2/11
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: Good for the Soul - T 2/21
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist - Su 2/26
John Steinbeck - Cannery Row - F 3/02
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games - F 3/23
Ken Follett - The Pillars of the Earth - W 4/04
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective - R 4/12
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Six Feet Under the Gun - R 4/12
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Samurai - R 4/12
Arie Kaplan - From Krakow to Krypton: Jews & Comic Books - W 4/17
Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World - F 5/04
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: The Hard Way - Su 5/06
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives - Su 5/06
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Decayed - W 5/09
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Once Upon a Crime - R 5/10
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Dirty - R 5/10
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Wilt - R 5/10
John Le Carre - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - W 5/23
Erik Larson - In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - F 5/25
Dennis Lehane - A Drink Before the War - T 5/29
John Steinbeck - The Moon is Down - Su 6/03
Chaim Potok - The Gates of November - Su 6/10
Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire - M 6/11
Chris Fair - Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations - M 6/18
Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay - W 6/20
Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes - F 7/06
Brandon Sanderson - Warbreaker - Su 7/08
Colin Wilson - Mind Parasites - Su 7/22
Lionel Shriver - The New Republic - R 7/26
*Rich Burlew - The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness - Su 7/29
*Rich Burlew - Snips, Snails & Dragon Tales - F 8/03
Harry Turtledove - The Great War: American Front - R 8/09
David Powers - Over an Ageless Yesterday - F 8/10
John Hill - Heartbeeps - F 8/10
Ray Bradbury - The October Country - S 8/11
Mark Kurlansky - Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn't Want to Be One - M 8/13
Daniel Woodrell - Winter's Bone - W 8/15
Teresa Carpenter - The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis - R 8/16
Margaret Atwood - Surfacing - Su 8/19
Lionel Shriver - The Post-Birthday World - F 9/21
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler - Influencer: The Power to Change Anything - M 10/15
Stephen King - 11/22/63 - F 10/26
William Shakespeare - Richard II - M 10/30
Clayton M. Christensen - The Innovator's Dilemma - S 11/03
*Mark Millar & Leinil Yu - Superior - S 11/10
Bee Wilson - Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat - F 11/16
Sam Kean - The Disappearing Spoon - M 11/19
Various - The Dreaming: Beyond the Shores of Night - W 11/21
Ernest Cline - Ready Player One - F 11/23
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Namesake - R 11/29
Richard Hofstadter - Anti-intellectualism in American Life - R 12/06
John Scalzi - Redshirts - R 12/13
Ivan Doig - Dancing at the Rascal Fair - F 12/14
Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor - The Innovator's Solution - T 12/18
Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies - T 12/18
David Weber - In Fire Forged - W 12/19
Charlaine Harris - Dead Reckoning - F 12/21
Charlaine Harris - Deadlocked - F 12/21
William Shakespeare - King John - S 12/22
John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar - Su 12/30
Since I only occasionally wrote about books that year, have some additional highlights:
I finished reading 100 Bullets. I originally bought the first several trades. I'm glad I got the rest from the library because it got pretty boring toward the end. One highlight was in (I think) the eight volume, which was partially set in Cleveland and had some great scenes from The Flats, The Odeon and the West Side Market. Since Azzarello is a Cleveland native this wasn't unexpected, but still nice.
I read two books by Lionel Shriver, namely The New Republic and The Post-Birthday World. Both are quite good, but I preferred The New Republic with its strange tale of a terrorist/revolutionary movement that can only be accurately covered by one reporter... who has gone missing. What happens to his replacement is odd at any number of levels.
I read all of The Hunger Games. The first one is excellent, the second mostly good and the third one atrocious, although I did like the ending and epilogue. The movie was meh though.
I snagged a copy of The Moon is Down from my father when I was home. Compared to John Steinbeck's other efforts this novel is not well known, and I don't understand why. It is set in a small country after it has been conquered by a more powerful one (Norway and Germany are heavily alluded to), and it's merely the best novelization of a resistance movement that anyone has ever written. It's short, to the point and I highly recommend it.
Interestingly, the novel Winter's Bone (which was turned into the movie that gave Jennifer Lawrence her big break) actually has a bit of a feel of The Moon is Down, in that it feels like Ree is moving through occupied territory and fighting against family that has turned on her. I highly recommend this, and thanks to tigerlily_blue for bringing it to Iceland with her.
Another book of Dad's that I borrowed was A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane. This was the first novel featuring Kenzie & Gennaro, who are the detectives featured in both the book and the excellent film Gone, Baby, Gone. As you'd expect from a first novel it's not quite as polished as some of its follow-ups, but it's still a taut, interesting detective novel with detectives worth caring about.
On the strong recommendation of many people I read John Scalzi's Redshirts. I liked it better when it was called Galaxy Quest. Ok, that's not fair, but it was more cute than good. Still, if you like Trek you'll probably love it.
I read The Innovator's Dilemma at work. You might argue about how relevant it is, but the examples it uses are very interesting even if you aren't interested in applying them to a business. In particular the anecdotes (wrong word: data is cited) about the steam shovel industry are very good.
Lastly (literally, I finished it in Seattle on 12/30), I entered the dystopian future of Stand on Zanzibar, where Earth is heavily overpopulated. Scattered throughout the plot chapters are numerous excerpts from four 'novels' of the era describing in a massively entertaining fashion many aspects of the world. They set the scene fantastically well as we learn more about sex, politics, advertising, business and a host of things. Supporting characters surface in some chapters to add depth to the world building. The ending is odd, but not inappropriate. I highly recommend this.
John Ringo - Choosers of the Slain - W 1/04
Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles - Su 1/08
*Warren Ellis & Cully Hamner - Red - S 1/14
Rowland Mead - Iceland: Globetrotter Island Guide - S 1/21
Bruce Weber - As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires - S 1/21
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: The Innocents - F 1/27
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: Highland Laddie - F 1/27
*Alex Ross, Jai Nitz, Wilson Tortosa - Bring the Thunder - S 1/28
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: The Self-Preservation Society - F 1/27
Jim Butcher - Storm Front - F 2/03
Gregg Easterbrook - The Progress Paradox - M 2/06
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: We Gotta Go Now - T 2/07
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: Herogasm - T 2/07
*Mark Millar, JG Jones, Paul Mounts - Wanted - S 2/11
*Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson - The Boys: Good for the Soul - T 2/21
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist - Su 2/26
John Steinbeck - Cannery Row - F 3/02
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games - F 3/23
Ken Follett - The Pillars of the Earth - W 4/04
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: The Counterfifth Detective - R 4/12
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Six Feet Under the Gun - R 4/12
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Samurai - R 4/12
Arie Kaplan - From Krakow to Krypton: Jews & Comic Books - W 4/17
Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World - F 5/04
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: The Hard Way - Su 5/06
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives - Su 5/06
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Decayed - W 5/09
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Once Upon a Crime - R 5/10
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Dirty - R 5/10
*Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso - 100 Bullets: Wilt - R 5/10
John Le Carre - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - W 5/23
Erik Larson - In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - F 5/25
Dennis Lehane - A Drink Before the War - T 5/29
John Steinbeck - The Moon is Down - Su 6/03
Chaim Potok - The Gates of November - Su 6/10
Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire - M 6/11
Chris Fair - Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations - M 6/18
Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay - W 6/20
Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes - F 7/06
Brandon Sanderson - Warbreaker - Su 7/08
Colin Wilson - Mind Parasites - Su 7/22
Lionel Shriver - The New Republic - R 7/26
*Rich Burlew - The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness - Su 7/29
*Rich Burlew - Snips, Snails & Dragon Tales - F 8/03
Harry Turtledove - The Great War: American Front - R 8/09
David Powers - Over an Ageless Yesterday - F 8/10
John Hill - Heartbeeps - F 8/10
Ray Bradbury - The October Country - S 8/11
Mark Kurlansky - Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn't Want to Be One - M 8/13
Daniel Woodrell - Winter's Bone - W 8/15
Teresa Carpenter - The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis - R 8/16
Margaret Atwood - Surfacing - Su 8/19
Lionel Shriver - The Post-Birthday World - F 9/21
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler - Influencer: The Power to Change Anything - M 10/15
Stephen King - 11/22/63 - F 10/26
William Shakespeare - Richard II - M 10/30
Clayton M. Christensen - The Innovator's Dilemma - S 11/03
*Mark Millar & Leinil Yu - Superior - S 11/10
Bee Wilson - Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat - F 11/16
Sam Kean - The Disappearing Spoon - M 11/19
Various - The Dreaming: Beyond the Shores of Night - W 11/21
Ernest Cline - Ready Player One - F 11/23
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Namesake - R 11/29
Richard Hofstadter - Anti-intellectualism in American Life - R 12/06
John Scalzi - Redshirts - R 12/13
Ivan Doig - Dancing at the Rascal Fair - F 12/14
Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor - The Innovator's Solution - T 12/18
Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies - T 12/18
David Weber - In Fire Forged - W 12/19
Charlaine Harris - Dead Reckoning - F 12/21
Charlaine Harris - Deadlocked - F 12/21
William Shakespeare - King John - S 12/22
John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar - Su 12/30
Since I only occasionally wrote about books that year, have some additional highlights:
I finished reading 100 Bullets. I originally bought the first several trades. I'm glad I got the rest from the library because it got pretty boring toward the end. One highlight was in (I think) the eight volume, which was partially set in Cleveland and had some great scenes from The Flats, The Odeon and the West Side Market. Since Azzarello is a Cleveland native this wasn't unexpected, but still nice.
I read two books by Lionel Shriver, namely The New Republic and The Post-Birthday World. Both are quite good, but I preferred The New Republic with its strange tale of a terrorist/revolutionary movement that can only be accurately covered by one reporter... who has gone missing. What happens to his replacement is odd at any number of levels.
I read all of The Hunger Games. The first one is excellent, the second mostly good and the third one atrocious, although I did like the ending and epilogue. The movie was meh though.
I snagged a copy of The Moon is Down from my father when I was home. Compared to John Steinbeck's other efforts this novel is not well known, and I don't understand why. It is set in a small country after it has been conquered by a more powerful one (Norway and Germany are heavily alluded to), and it's merely the best novelization of a resistance movement that anyone has ever written. It's short, to the point and I highly recommend it.
Interestingly, the novel Winter's Bone (which was turned into the movie that gave Jennifer Lawrence her big break) actually has a bit of a feel of The Moon is Down, in that it feels like Ree is moving through occupied territory and fighting against family that has turned on her. I highly recommend this, and thanks to tigerlily_blue for bringing it to Iceland with her.
Another book of Dad's that I borrowed was A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane. This was the first novel featuring Kenzie & Gennaro, who are the detectives featured in both the book and the excellent film Gone, Baby, Gone. As you'd expect from a first novel it's not quite as polished as some of its follow-ups, but it's still a taut, interesting detective novel with detectives worth caring about.
On the strong recommendation of many people I read John Scalzi's Redshirts. I liked it better when it was called Galaxy Quest. Ok, that's not fair, but it was more cute than good. Still, if you like Trek you'll probably love it.
I read The Innovator's Dilemma at work. You might argue about how relevant it is, but the examples it uses are very interesting even if you aren't interested in applying them to a business. In particular the anecdotes (wrong word: data is cited) about the steam shovel industry are very good.
Lastly (literally, I finished it in Seattle on 12/30), I entered the dystopian future of Stand on Zanzibar, where Earth is heavily overpopulated. Scattered throughout the plot chapters are numerous excerpts from four 'novels' of the era describing in a massively entertaining fashion many aspects of the world. They set the scene fantastically well as we learn more about sex, politics, advertising, business and a host of things. Supporting characters surface in some chapters to add depth to the world building. The ending is odd, but not inappropriate. I highly recommend this.