My 2012 Book List

My total reads for 2012
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Looking back on 2012, I can say one thing: Thank goodness for Goodreads!

I'd never be able to keep track of what I read otherwise. I'd have to dig, dig, dig for some other interesting Monday post when all my friends are posting long lists of accomplished reading.

If your list is shorter than mine, maybe you should try Goodreads. I find a lot of great suggestions on there.

I'm definitely over the fifteen books average of most readers. (Pew Research Center statistics) I sneak in about a book a week.

This is because, as Stephen King recommends, I read whenever I can. Sipping a few sentences at the orthodontist, or inhaling an entire book on a long afternoon, reading in every spare moment is partly possible for me because of my assortment of electronic devices. (Just the other day I downloaded seven books, but I won't get to those until next year.) Hardcover books are still my overwhelming favorite, especially the ones with a shimmery cover. Paperbacks? Not so much. I only have a few of those on this list (not counting ARCs).

Classics
A Pair of Blue Eyes Thomas Hardy, ebook
Dune Frank Herbert, paperback
Brave New World Aldous Huxley, paperback
Fallen Angels Walter Dean Myers, paperback
The Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare, ebook

Adult
I Married You for Happiness Lilly Tuck, ebook
It Happened on the Way to War Rye Barcott, hardcover
The Year of the Gadfly Jennifer Miller, hardcover
Butterfly's Child Angela Davis-Gardner, paperback
Water for Elephants Sara Gruen, paperback

YA
Black Hole Sun David Macinnis Gill, hardcover
Silver Talia Vance, paperback
Skinny Donna Cooner, hardcover
The Patron Saint of Butterflies Cecelia Galante, ebook
Fracture Megan Miranda, hardcover
Enclave Ann Aguirre, ebook
Under the Never Sky Veronica Rossi, hardcover
So Close toYou Rachel Carter, hardcover
Feed MT Anderson, ebook
Gilt Katharine Longshore, hardcover
Insignia SJ Kincaid, hardcover
Code Name Verity Elizabeth Wein, hardcover
The Girl with Borrowed Wings Rinsai Rossetti, ebook
Throne of Glass Sarah J Maas, hardcover
Bitterblue Kristen Cashore, hardcover
Revolver Marcus Sedgewick, hardcover
Finnikin of the Rock Melina Marchetta, hardcover
For Darkness Shows the Stars Diana Petefreund, ebook
The Raven Boys Maggie Stievfater, hardcover
Shadow and Bone Leigh Bardugo, hardcover
Seraphina Rachel Hartman, hardcover
The Knife of Never Letting Go Patrick Ness, ebook
The Drowned Cities Paolo Bacigalupi, hardcover
The Gathering Storm Robin Bridges, hardcover
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs, ebook
The Scorpio Races Maggie Stiefvater, ebook

YA ARCs
City of a Thousand Dolls Miriam Forster
Taken Erin Bowman
Crewel Gennifer Albin
Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You Joyce Carol Oates
Masque of the Red Death Bethany Griffin
After the Snow Sophie D Crockett
Crown of Embers Rae Carson

My favorite YA this year?
The two books which left me thinking: "I wish I could write like that!"

Code Name Verity. I'll give you one tip: Make sure you keep a (full) tissue box handy. Otherwise, I refuse to give you any spoilers here. You must read it yourself. MUST.

I also really liked The Raven Boys, but I don't think it's for everyone. Beaucoup character development and plenty of pages, TRB is the first in a four book series. I think Maggie Stiefvater is having a good time writing these boys. And I'm so jealous.

MG
Summer of the Wolves Lisa Kline, hardcover
Saraswati's Way Monika Schroeder, hardcover
The Journal of Curious Letters James Dashner, ebook

MG ARCs
The Encyclopedia of Me Karen Rivers

Beta Reads (complete manuscripts)
Mina Takes the Sky Katharine Owens
The Truth About Letting Go Leigh T Moore
Fire Carrier Martina Boone
21 Days Leigh T Moore

Nonfiction
How to Write Fantasy and Science Fiction Orson Scott Card, paperback
Plot Ansen Dibell, ebook
The Elements of Fiction Writing Beginnings, Middles, and Ends Nancy Kress, ebook
Dialogue: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Effective Dialogue Gloria Kempton, ebook
Characters and Viewpoint Orson Scott Card, paperback
Second Sight Cheryl B. Klein, paperback

Some year, with some luck and a lot more hard work, maybe my books will be on somebody's list.

Here's hoping for a great 2013!

Playing Favorites

Elizabeth George Speare

I'm in the Your Best Book writing workshop this week, where Tracey Adams of Adams Literary is discussing character. One of the prep questions for the workshop: Who is your favorite children's book character? Be prepared to share why.

The options seemed endless, so I broke it down in categories:

Picture Books-

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON? Maybe. Yes. I like him, but is he my favorite? I think I like the crayon.

Stellaluna? I like her, but I didn't read her story when I was little. She's cute, but not my favorite.

Conclusion: I'm not really a picture book writer.

Middle Grade-

Lots of maybes in this category: Laura Ingalls, Mary Lennox, Lucy Pevensie, Nancy Drew, Anne Shirley...  Meg Murray? I reread A WRINKLE IN TIME because I remembered loving it years ago. But, it's not Meg. (Hey! Even Nathan Bransford has issues with this story these days.)

Conclusion: I like middle grade, but I don't love it.

Young Adult:

Karana from ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS - I really like this book, but Karana isn't the reason.

Kit Tyler? Kit Tyler.

Woah! Flashback!


I was in sixth grade the day I first read THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND. 

We had round tables in class, which I appreciated because the teacher couldn't just look down the rows and reprimand me for reading. Somehow I got a seat tucked way into the corner. The pockmarked plexiglass window behind me threw a dappled shadow over the table. The perfect place to hide a paperback? The inside of my science book, SERENDIPITY.

The story sucked me in, and then.... tears! I didn't care about the room full of kids around me, or the teacher who finally figured out the science wasn't making me sniffle. I even got myself a pen pal in the Barbados afterwards.


Remembering Kit's story, certain scenes are vivid still for me. Just in case she's not my favorite, and to research the WHY:

I reread WOBP over the weekend. I didn't cry, but it was a wake up call for me - as if I saw my younger self through a mirror portal, and I was comfortable with her.

Kit and I are sisters of the soul, and here's the why: Kit was one independent girl striving for a way to find her place in two worlds. Not an apple, or an orange, she was a pomegranate, like me. Did I know that way back in 6th grade? It was the year I went from Catholic school to public, so maybe I had an idea.

Now I look at BURNT AMBER and I see Kit Tyler walking through those pages, nodding her head. She knows me. Even in MIST OF KAVALA, I see her mark.

Conclusion:

Kit Tyler is my favorite.

Now, is it because I'm a YA writer at heart? Who is your favorite? Is it a classic? Is it something more recent?


AND lastly, I have to point out that Sarah Fine launched her book last week:

SANCTUM by Sarah Fine

 

 

A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos's best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance – hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn't just anyone – she's determined to save her best friend's soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.

As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she's captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city's endless streets. Their all-too-human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn't – the dark city isn't the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.