2012: The year in books

Stolen Innocence

Why Have Kids?

Beautiful Ruins

Gone Girl: A Novel

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President

The Book of Mormon Girl

The Abstinence Teacher

1861: The Civil War Awakening

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Becoming Sister Wives

Devil’s Gate

Below Stairs

The Role (unpublished manuscript)

Caleb’s Crossing

The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect

State of Wonder

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing

Twilight of the Elites

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted …

The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History

A LOT of gluten/celiac-related books that I won’t list here – let me know if you need recommendations.

Re-read:

Outlander series

Harry Potter series (minus Deathly Hallows)

So what does this list say about me?

·      Six books about Mormons and/or FLDS? Apparently my appetite for books about Mormonism and polygamy has not yet been met. It’s a great time to be interested in books about Mormons.

·      I like re-reading books, particularly series. I also re-watch movies and TV shows.

·      There is a small list, but longer than usual, of books I didn’t finish this year. Instead of trudging through just to finish, when half of the people in your book club won’t have finished it either, why suffer through the ones you hate? There won’t be a test! Being able to easily access eBooks from NYPL has added to this -- I feel much less pressure to finish books I didn't pay for.   

Books I’m currently reading, but won’t finish before 2013:

Peter the Great

Less Than Zero

The Murder of the Century

Book Backlog

I don't do this. I never do this! I start a book, finish it, and move on. I don't start a bunch of books and read them all at the same time. Or start books and abandon them, never to return again. Well, maybe I am usually reading a book club book, an audiobook, and one more, but that's totally manageable. And some books are just too terrible to finish. One of my favorite things about having a Kindle is that when I finish a book I can download the next one immediately! This system has been great - for years. 

And then Amazon introduced the ability to give Kindle books as gifts. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE getting Kindle books as gifts and am lucky that so many generous people love me and give me books. I just never thought that I'd receive all of the books on my Christmas Wishlist. And that I'd want to read so many of the Kindle Daily Deals. The "To Read" folder that mostly feels like a stockpile of books I can't wait to get to maybe sometimes feels like a stack of books I'm now obligated to read because they are on my Kindle. But first I have to get through the ones I've already started.

I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I've read 26 books this year so far! I remind myself that I spent a lot of time this winter/early spring beta reading a friend's manuscript. I care about correct comma usage -- a lot. Sometimes I don't feel like reading when I read a lot at work that day. Sometimes I'd rather read The New Yorker (or Entertainment Weekly). Or watch "Dawson's Creek." So, it's okay that I'm "currently reading": 

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History

How to Be a Woman

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

1861: The Civil War Awakening (audiobook)

Gone Girl: A Novel (audiobook) 

These are all books that I'm enjoying and want to finish. And I will. Especially the last one. For Book Club.