Nothing makes me more jittery than down time with nothing to read. I’ll resort to reading product labels and instruction manuals if I have to, but a good book is so much better. I found myself in a rut in 2011, barely reading any books of substance, and vowed to knock some books off my steadily growing Evernote list. I read significantly more this year, and found some of the best books I’ve read in awhile. Here are the books that graced my nightstand in 2012:
Laura Hillenbrand is the author of another one of my favorite books of all time, Seabiscuit. I’m not a huge history buff, so it takes a compelling subject and some mighty good writing to lure me in. The story of Louis Zamperini, combined with Ms. Hillenbrand’s writing, had me hooked. Zamperini was an Olympic runner who turned in his track shoes for combat gear during WWII. His plane was shot down over the Pacific, where he spent weeks lost at sea. That alone makes for a gripping read, but there’s so much more. You won’t believe the things Zamperini and his fellow soldiers endure, but you will embrace the spirit and determination that gets them through. What a generation. What a book.
The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell
Three Stages of Amazement by Carol Edgarain
Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
We the Animals by Justin Torres
designhermomma says
Last night I started Vaclav & Lena, per your suggestion. My kindle says I’m 10% through it, and so far it’s really cute! Also, now that I know The Fault in our Stars has Indy references, I’ll for sure read it.
Sacha (@zigged) says
Thanks for these suggestions! I put several of them on my IMCPL list.
I really liked ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore’ by Robin Sloan.
Kelly says
I wrote a whole long comment but then lost it. ugh. So here’s my recommendations: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. 🙂
angie says
I *hate* it when that happens. “What Alice Forgot” is on my list to read this year!
Greg Golightly says
I read two of these, Unbroken and The Fault in Our Stars. I read Unbroken in 2011 I think as I do not see it in my list of 2012.
I loved loved loved “fault”.
Instead of posting more here, here is my blog post about my 2012 books.
http://indygreg71.tumblr.com/post/40682730979/my-best-of-2012-books
angie says
Adding quite a few from your list onto my “To Read” list. I’m an Evernote user, too, and this was the first year I took the time to jot a few notes about each book. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have remembered anything. You also earn extra points because you called my blog popular.