2012 is over and I read a total of 42 books.
I recently read an article (which I can’t find) that said that Americans read
on average 6 books a year. Six! I really hope that average goes up in upcoming
years, but in the meantime, I’ll help raise that average.
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The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
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The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
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The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
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Anthem by Ayn Rand
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1984 by George Orwell
Broken Harbor by Tana French
Another Dublin crime squad thriller. I am a fan of these. This
book was obviously meant to wrap up November, which I dubbed thriller month.
Detective Kennedy is out to solve the murder of almost an entire family in an
abandoned half-built housing development in the outskirts of Dublin. The mother is the
sole survivor and in intensive care. The evidence isn’t quite lining up and
Kennedy is also dealing with his sister who is ‘off the rails’. In combination
with the location of the murders and his family issues, long ago memories of one particular family vacation in
Broken Harbor come to the surface.
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
I could go on and on about this book. The timing
of when I read this, devastatingly, aligned with another school shooting in
Connecticut on December 14th. In the book, Eva is writing letters to
her estranged husband on what it was like to raise a son who ends up on a
killing spree at his high school. Two years after the rampage, Eva is trying to
explain to her husband how unlovable Kevin was as a baby and child, and now as
a teenaged convicted felon.
This book, along with the events of the
numerous school shootings around the country in the last 20 years, have spawned
many debates—most prominently, gun control. I think there needs to be more
focused attention on mental health and the media coverage. Yes, gun control
needs to be way more limited. There are a lot of unnecessary weapons in this
country. Honestly, who the hell needs an automatic weapon? There are also many kids
(and adults) dealing with mental illness that aren’t getting the proper
attention. And that needs to change. I recently heard on the radio that Lady Gaga has set up counseling for concert-goers. Which I think is a
great move and I really hope many follow suit. Like I said I could go on about
this, but this books give an interesting perspective on the unfortunate high
number of mass killings out there.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Marriage Plot centers on Madeleine
and the 2 main boys in her life during her time at Brown and after. Mitchell is
a friend of hers from throughout college that’s been in love with her the
entire time. His love goes unrequited and Madeleine eventually falls in love
with Leonard and follows him to Cape Cod after graduation. But not before he
has a breakdown due to his manic depression. Mitchell on the other hand
backpacks throughout Europe and India to forget about Madeleine. The year of
ups and downs for this love triangle was told very well and I do recommend this
book.
Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumway
This book was a switch from the last one,
even though the main characters were around the same age. Dawn who is one year
out of college, is living in NYC and trying to get a job as a writer,
unsuccessfully. However, after a year of temping she falls into a researcher
job for a magazine to track down their Ten
Girls to Watch from the last 50 years. She is also having trouble in love.
But what 23 year old isn’t? Of course there is an attraction to a 30 year old,
which was a little annoying from my 31 year old self. Of course a 30 year old guy would be interested in a 23 year old. The book was a quick read
and if you are looking for something light and easy, this does the trick. Parts
of it I liked since I could relate to my early years in NYC. Most of the book
was predictable though—like most romantic comedies.
So
I wrote about all the books I read this year. It was fun, but also stressful. I
decided for this year I will only write about those books that I really really
like. And if anyone is interested in any books I read, be my friend on goodreads.com.
42/30 books in
2012.
Lastly, to recap, I read most of the books I initially
had on my short list.
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The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
