What I read last year, 2012

Some years I don’t get a chance to read as much as others. This year was spent more on recovering from a physical and mental challenge, and so I did not read as much. Nevertheless, I see that somehow I did get plenty read this year. Forgive me if I don’t recall a lot about the books…this fibromyalgia fog is pretty real. 🙂

Harry Potter, the entire series by JK Rowling. This is my third read-through. I needed something lighter and more familiar, less challenging. This is a beautifully written series of books, deeply satisfying. Its message of friendship, of good over evil, of love and perseverance, is classic. I will read it again and again.

The Lord of the Rings, the three volumes by JRR Tolkien. I hadn’t read this series since high school. I won’t tell you how long ago that was, but it was high time I read it again. Its depth and beauty is awe-inspiring and timeless. Now I am watching the movies again. What joy!

The Sherlock Holmes series of short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Reading these stories is spilling over into this current year. I have never read these stories–a real shortcoming in my classic reading list.

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. This is a mystery, a funny story told by a wealthy, arrogant British woman who loves archaeology. Peters has many, many such mysteries in her repertoire. I tried the next in the series and got bored with it. Crocodile was fun, though.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I picked this up because my son, the sci-fi geek and English teacher, told me it was fantastic and that there will soon be a movie of this one. It was pretty fantastic–doggone-it–I have to admit that to my son. Ender is a little boy brought to a training station to learn to fight the invaders from another world.

Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. This is the mystery of a little girl who turns up in Australia at the turn of the century, and of her granddaughter, who goes on a quest to find out the answers. Well-written and finished nicely.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I finally gave in to the pressure from all sides and read this one, just in time to see the film once it was released on DVD. This was a great read!

I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley. This is part of the Flavia de Luce series that begins with Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. This 11-year-old girl in post-WWII Britain solves mysteries with her uncanny wisdom and love of chemistry. Humorous and entertaining, I found each book delightful. The next one comes out at the end of January.

Insurgent (Divergent) by Veronica Roth. Part two of a trilogy, this is a dystopian novel along the lines of the Hunger Games series, only (I think) better. Her next highly-anticipated novel comes out later this spring.

Middlemarch by George Eliot. Eliot tells a long story of different characters involved in relationships–some in loveless marriages or in badly matched marriages. I almost gave up a couple of times on this one but persisted because a friend was also reading it, and who wants to be beat in a reading contest? Really, this one went on a bit long but ended better than it began.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. A sweeping epic novel along the lines of The Lord of the Rings. This one is magical, fantastical, scary, and lovely altogether. I loved it and can’t wait to read the next one of his books.

Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis. I was underwhelmed by this one, unfortunately. Somehow in my fog I just didn’t get it–whatever “it” is. Sorry, Lewis fans! Maybe I need to try the next books in this series in order to get it. Maybe not.

What’s up for this year? I will keep reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories; I have a lot more to go. There are some sequels on this list that I’d like to pick up. That’s easy to remember, in my fog; all I have to do is read my blog again. 🙂