Space Station Mir

How many books read in 2012? 51, as of December 28th. How many fiction and non-fiction? 8 non-fiction and the rest fiction. That's an unusual amount of non-fiction for me! Male/Female author ratio? 19 male and 26 female authors. I had a feeling I'd read more women this year, but didn't know it was that many more! Favorite book of 2012? Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and/or The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. Least favorite? Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why? Not that I can remember. Oldest book read: Plato's Symposium , written between 385-380 BCE. Newest? The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll came out in November 2012. Longest and shortest book titles? The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making ; Symposium Longest and shortest books? I think Lorna Doone was the longest, not sure about the shortest, maybe Symposium again or...

1. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer I like what I've heard and the bits I've read of Cinder , though I need to read that first. 2. Tarnish by Katherine Longshore Gilt was one of my favorite reads this past year, though I'm a little more skeptical there's anything new to say about Anne Boleyn. 3 The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan I tend for some reason to like these "story behind the painting" type books. 4 Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende (English translation) She's one of my favorite authors, even though I haven't read her in a while. 5 Finding Camlann by Sean Pidgeon I can't resist Arthurian history, and I'm hoping that I'll finally find a historical thriller I can enjoy. Also, the cover caught my eye. 6. The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin I realized I don't know anything about Charles Lindbergh's wife-and it seems there is a lot to know. There's not anything else coming out that I'm...

This is a more *traditional* review that I wrote for a class and hoped somebody would like to publish, but no takers yet: 46. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente Children’s fantasy is traditionally filled with tempting foodstuffs-from Turkish delight to Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans-but when one finds oneself more engaged with the “great orange-chiffon pumpkin soup with candied almonds…and a chocolate cake so rich and dense and moist it shone black” than the heroine’s exploits, what does that say about the sustenance of the plot? Part of the fault lies with Catherynne M. Valente’s nearly unparalleled linguistic flair and her preoccupation with transforming or surpassing the conventions of children’s literature. Her prose is literally delicious and her daringness is charming-until you’re more than halfway through and the heroine, despite encountering various and sundry folks and enjoying numerous meals, is still unsuccessfull...

44. Henry IV Part I by William Shakespeare Falstaff. Prince Hal. Hotspur. I read this a couple months ago for a class and that's mostly what I remember, these three characters. Buddies Falstaff and Hal are complex, violent, and continually at one another's throats. Both blame each other for their licentious indulgences in drink, women, and robbery and it's hard to tell who's at fault. One can't help agreeing with the earthy Falstaff's defense of living through deceit (because appearing to be alive when dead is the greater deceit) and rooting for Hal when he gets to redeem himself in battle. Hotspur is just Hotspur, hotblooded, violent, and angry, but he makes an interesting foil for the supposedly less honorable Hal. And what does one do with a character that succeeds in battle, but doesn't know how to live without it? I've been warned off of them, but the more of Shakespeare' s histories I read, the more I wonder why they aren't read or...

This week's Top Ten Tuesday at the Broke and the Bookish . 1. The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak 2. Gilt by Katherine Longshore 3. The Coldest War by Ian Tregellis 4. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler 5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 6. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente 7. Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman 8. The Dwarves by Markus Heitz 9. God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet 10. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore

The Broke and the Bookish host Top Ten Tuesdays . Top Ten Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2012 1. Ian Tregellis One peek got me not only to read a book ( The Coldest War ) I'd had no intention of reading, but review it. 2. Eva Stachniak From way back in January, I knew The Winter Palace was one of the best books I'd read all year. 3. Katherine Longshore I thought Gilt was so fresh and funny, and it defied both my disappointment with the oversaturation of Tudor fiction and my annoyance with the YA voice. 4. Sophie Perinot She took less recognizable historical figures and both contextualized them well and made them into real people. Plus, The Sister Queens had very applicable lessons about human relationships, historical and present. 5. Catherynne M. Valente I thought the first Fairyland book was quirky and adorable, was less enthused with the second, but definitely want to go back and read her adult books now. I've never read anyone who uses lang...

One of my favorite books of all time, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell , is going to be made into a BBC miniseries !

43. Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger I'm disappointed in Lauren Weisberger. The Devil Wears Prada continues to be some of the most incisive, luscious writing I've ever read, despite concerning a niche (the fashion world) and plot I couldn't care less about. The characters, while not very sympathetic, are fascinating and at least relatable. Brooke Alter is, if nothing else, extremely relatable. She's a nutritionist who's spent five years supporting her musician husband, Julian. What's not to love? But that's the problem. Brooke is always too reasonable, too understanding, too nice. I don't like arbitrary drama and I hate when female protagonists are stupid, but Brooke doesn't even get angry when she has legitimate cause. Like Prada revolves around the fashion world, this one revolves around the music world. However, Weisberger's knowledge of this world is skin deep. It feels not only fabricated but simply...sparse. ...

This week's Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and the Bookish. 1. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz 2. Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum by Aemilia Lanyer Ed. Susanne Woods 3. Shakespeare's Common Prayers by Daniel Swift 4. The Joys of Love by Madeleine L'Engle 5. Epic: Legends of Fantasy anthology 6. The Woman Reader by Belinda Jack 7. Wild by Cheryl Strayed 8. The Queen's Lover by Francine du Plessix Gray 9. Four Sisters: All Queens by Sherry Jones 10. Sequels to The Dwarves by Markus Heitz