Review and Preview

Goodbye 2012!  As far as years go, you really weren't so bad.  Maybe you were even a little good.  For Christmas I got The Patrick Melrose Novels and At Last  by Edward St. Aubyn, which shows that it pays to drop gift hints.  I also got the DVD of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, to add to my Jonathan Safran Foer obsession collection.  December is almost over, and as far as I am aware, no one has launched anything as exciting as the OASIS, which is the massively multiplayer game featured in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, that was said to have been released in December of 2012.  I think we are better off without it.  I mean really, we can barely handle Words With Friends.

My favorite books that I read in 2012 are these:

1.  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
3. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
4. Stone Arabia by Dana Spoitta
5.  Helen of Troy by Margaret George

in that order.  Your favorite books that I read in 2012 (based on page views) are:

1. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
2.  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
3.  Helen of Troy by Margaret George
4.  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
5.  Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

in that order.  So we almost agree, which is good.

For 2013, I have decided to sign up again for the Off the Shelf Challenge.  The idea of this challenge is that the participants should read books that they already own, in order to move them off their shelves.   This time I am only going to commit to moving 15 books off of my shelf.  Last time I committed to 24, and read 26.  I don't want to commit to that many this year, so that I can feel like I can review books for authors or read books that I pick up during the year, without feeling like I am failing the challenge.  So, here is the list of books that I plan to read in 2013.  As I read them, I will cross them out, and provide a link to my review.




1.  The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott Reviewed 1/26/13
2.  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Reviewed 7/16/13
3.  The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano Reviewed 3/31/13
4.  Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks Reviewed 2/6/13
5.  The Lost King of France by Deborah Cadbury
6.  True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey Reviewed 11/16/13
7.  My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey
8.  The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon  Reviewed 9/21/13
9.  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
10.  Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
11.  Zeitoun by Dave Eggers  Reviewed 2/14/13
12.  In the Woods by Tana French Reviewed 10/21/13
13.  Happy Families by Carlos Fuentes
14.  The End of Sparta by Victor Davis Hanson
15.  The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
16.  Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
17.  The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
18.  The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings Reviewed 2/25/13
19.  Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Reviewed 3/9/13
20.  The Iliad by Homer Reviewed 11/29/13
21.  The Odyssey by Homer  Reviewed 1/15/2013
22.  The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James Reviewed 4/6/13
23.  Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
24.  The Titans by John Jakes
25.  The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella Reviewed 5/2/13
26.  One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
27.  Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy Reviewed 12/16/13
28.  The Last Life by Claire Messud Reviewed 7/29/13
29.  The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell Reviewed 5/12/13
30.  We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
31.  The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
32.  The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
33.  The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman  Reviewed 6/29/13
34.  The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
35.  At Last by Edward St. Aubyn Reviewed 8/22/13
36.  The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn Reviewed 8/6/13
37.  The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine Reviewed 8/22/13
38.  The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve Reviewed 9/11/13
39.  Brooklyn by Colm Toibin Reviewed 9/26/13
40.  War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
41.  A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Reviewed 1/19/13
42.  Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
43.  Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

There are a lot of great books on this list, and I can't wait to get started!  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

For now, I am

Still Reading:  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  I am LOVING this book so far!

Still Listening to:  Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison