Read in 2012

Rating system
1 star – If I finished it, shame on me.
2 stars – I wanted to see how it ended, but it was just okay.
3 stars – I liked it.
4 stars – I loved it.
5 stars – It was brilliant and you should read it immediately – in fact, everyone should.

January:

1. Thanks for the Memories by Cecilia Ahern (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

2. Tipperary by Frank Delaney – 4 stars – my review

3. While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delisnky (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

4. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (read-aloud) – 5 stars

5. That Distant Land: The Collected Stories by Wendell Berry – 5 stars

6. Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry – 4 stars – my review

7. Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner – 3 stars – my review

8. The Passage by Justin Cronin (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

9. What He Must Be If He Wants to Marry My Daughter by Voddie Baucham Jr. – 4 stars

10. The Informationist by Taylor Stevens – 5 stars – my review

11. The Annotated Persuasion by Jane Austen – 5 stars – my review

12. The Death Cure by James Dashner (read-aloud) – 5 stars – my review

13. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

February:

14. The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

15. A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

16. Digging to America by Anne Tyler (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

17. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood – 4 stars

18. Divergent by Veronica Roth – 4 stars – my review

19. Pretty by Jillian Lauren – 3 stars – my review

20. The Last Storyteller by Frank Delaney – 5 stars – my review

21. I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

22. The Last Child by John Hart (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

23. The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson – 4 stars – my review

24. Legend by Marie Lu – 4 stars – my review

25. The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry – 5 stars – my review

March:

26. Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer (read-aloud) – 4 stars – my review

27. The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

28. Promises to Keep by Jane Green – 3 stars – my review

29. Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult (audiobook) – 2 stars – my review

30. These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf – 3 stars

31. Memento Mori by Muriel Spark – 3 stars – my review

32. The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey – 5 stars – my review

33. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – 4 stars – my review

34. Feed by Mira Grant – 4 stars – my review

April:

35. The Innocent by Taylor Stevens (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

36. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – 5 stars – my review

37. A Million Suns by Beth Revis – 5 stars – my review

38. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

39. A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

40. The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani – 5 stars – my review

41. The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons – 5 stars – my review

42. Deadline by Mira Grant – 4 stars – my review

43. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson – 3 stars – my review

44. The Midnight Gate Helen Stringer – 4 stars – my review

45. An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

46. The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan – 2 stars – my review

May:

47. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt – 4 stars – my review

48. The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge (audiobook) – 2 stars – my review

49. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

50. Pure by Julianna Baggott – 4 stars – my review

51. Insurgent by Veronica Roth – 4 stars – my review

52. Ninepins by Rosy Thornton – 4 stars – my review

53. The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

54. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry – 5 stars – my review

55. Fear by Michael Grant (read-aloud) – 4 stars – my review

56. Delirium by Lauren Oliver (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

57. My New American Life by Francine Prose – 3 stars – my review

58. Lottery by Patricia Wood – 5 stars – my review

59. The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

60. Being Flynn by Nick Flynn – 3 stars – my review

June:

61. Blackout by Mira Grant – 4 stars – my review

62. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

63. Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris – 5 stars – my review

64. The Yard by Alex Grecian – 5 stars – my review

65. The Annotated Emma by Jane Austen and David M. Shapard – 5 stars – my review

66. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

67. The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan (read-aloud) – 4 stars – my review

68. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene – 4 stars – my review

69. Starters by Lissa Price (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

70. You Take It From Here by Pamela Ribon – 4 stars – my review

71. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – 5 stars – my review

July:

72. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – 5 stars – my review

73. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

74. When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man by Nick Dybek – 4 stars – my review

75. Passing Love by Jacqueline E. Luckett – 3 stars – my review

76. Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

77. 11/22/63 by Stephen King – 5 stars – my review

78. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

79. We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane – 2 stars – my review

80. Incurable by John Marsden – 3 stars – my review

81. All the Truth by Laura Brodie – 4 stars – my review

82. Black Heart by Holly Black (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

83. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – 5 stars – my review

84. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

August:

85. Heat Wave by Richard Castle – 4 stars – my review

86. Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry – 4 stars – my review

87. Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery – 4 stars – my review

88. Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together by Mark and Grace Driscoll – 4 stars – my review

89. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley – 5 stars – my review

90. Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

91. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

92. Naked Heat by “Richard Castle” – 4 stars – my review

93. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray – 4 stars – my review

94. A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd – 4 stars – my review

95. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

96. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene – 4 stars – my review

97. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen – 5 stars – my review

98. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

99. Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery – 5 stars – my review

100. Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James – 4 stars – my review

101. Escape by Barbara Delinsky (audiobook) – 3 stars – my review

102. This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers – 3 stars – my review

September:

103. The Cutting Season by Attica Locke – 5 stars – my review

104. Impossible by Nancy Werlin – 5 stars – my review

105. Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene – 4 stars – my review

106. The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

107. Need by Carrie Jones – 4 stars – my review

108. Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio – 4 stars – my review

109. Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos – 5 stars – my review

110. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

111. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan – 4 stars – my review

October:

112. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

113. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier – 4 stars – my review

114. Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery – 4 stars – my review

115. The Candidate by Paul Harris – 4 stars – my review

116. The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

117. The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister – 5 stars – my review

118. Flesh and Bone by Jonathan Maberry – 4 stars – my review

119. The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. by Nichole Bernier (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

120. The Human Factor by Graham Greene – 4 stars – my review

121. Broken Harbor by Tana French – 5 stars – my review

122. Captivate by Carrie Jones – 4 stars – my review

123. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan – 4 stars – my review

November:

124. Under the Dome by Stephen King – 4 stars – my review

125. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

126. Lola’s Secret by Monica McInerney – 4 stars – my review

127. Abdication by Juliet Nicolson (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

128. Birthmarked by Caragh O’Brien – 4 stars – my review

129. An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd – 5 stars – my review

130. The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay – 4 stars – my review

December:

131. Daddy’s Girl by Lisa Scottoline (audiobook) – 4 stars – my review

132. Prized by Caragh O’Brien – 4 stars – my review

133. Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara – 4 stars – my review

134. Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery – 3 stars – my review

135. Stay by Allie Larkin – 3 stars – my review

136. Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – 4 stars – my review

137. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (audiobook) – 5 stars – my review

138. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – 4 stars – my review

Books I started in 2012 but chose not to finish:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre (audio) – The reader is terrific, so it’s not the format. I made it through two discs, but for a spy thriller, it is slooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I mean, nothing happens. Conversations, mostly. Just couldn’t get through it.

Noah’s Compass by Anne Tyler (audio) – I love Anne Tyler’s work, but I didn’t like the reader. I’ll probably try this in print at some point.

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian (audio) – I enjoyed Midwives, but since then, I’ve tried two books by Bohjalian, and neither have worked for me. I think this may just be a case of not a good match between author and reader.

Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh – Beautifully written but too disturbing. You can read more of my reasons here.

You’re (Not) the One by Alexandra Potter – The characters seemed one-dimensional, and the dialogue didn’t ring true. Made it to page 60.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky – I wasn’t in the mood for the type of book that follows a bunch of different characters that aren’t inter-related – especially not in audio. May try this one in print at some point.

Plugged by Eoin Colfer – I think I’ll stick with his YA and children’s fiction.

The Day the World Ends: Poems by Ethan Coen – After I agreed to review this one, I was warned by a blogger friend that these poems were vulgar and crude. I figured I could handle it, but these went beyond crude. I like poems that make me think, that describe something beautiful, that make me laugh, that change the way I understand the world, that distill a human experience into a few lines. I don’t like poems that make me want to take a shower after reading them, or literally make my stomach turn. I only made it to page 20.

The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry – The writing is beautiful and I am very interested in the historical setting, but it is a historical fiction epic – lots of different characters, and the plot switches between them. I find this type of book hard to follow on audio, so I’ll be looking for this one in print at some point.

Impact by Douglas Preston – Two discs into a thriller, I should want to keep listening. I didn’t.

Viper’s Tangle by Francois Mauriac – I tried to read this one for a Faith and Fiction discussion, but it wasn’t holding my attention.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles – I gave it three discs of the audio edition. While the writing is beautiful, the characters left me cold, and I found myself avoiding it.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake – I love the premise of this one and will read it in print at some point, but the audiobook narrator is very stilted and sounds like he is reading aloud.

Seeing by Jose Saramago – I don’t know if this is a translation issue, or if this reflects the way Saramago writes, but the grammar drove me crazy. Tons of comma splices – and sometimes dialogue would change speakers in the middle of a sentence! I simply couldn’t get past page twenty.

Khatyn by Ales Adamovich and The Time of Women by Elena Chizhova – These were both very poorly translated, and I didn’t feel like spending the time to slog through them.