Reading List 2012

2012 was an interesting year for reading – for many reasons.  According to my notes (which are not exhaustive), I read over 250 books.  However, roughly 215 of that count were children’s literature, which I don’t count on my yearly “Reading List.”  (Of course, some of that children’s literature was exemplary and worth mentioning, including The Handmade Alphabet by Laura Rankin, Chalk by Bill Thomson, and Machines at Work by Byron Barton.)  But in addition to the plethora of children’s literature that dominated whatever time I spent reading, the time frame spent on reading “grown-up people” books was oddly allocated this year.  Of the titles below, I read 20 between May and the first week of August.  (That’s almost 60% of the total titles.)  And 8 of the titles (about 25%) were read between December 14 and December 26.  (This dichotomy is the direct result of my job.  From August to December, I had no time to breathe, let alone read.  And by the time I did have time to read “grown-up people” books, I was ravenous to do so.  One cannot live on children’s literature alone...)

All that said, below is the list of books I read in 2012.  Per usual, the books are divided into the categories of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; the books are listed in chronological order, with the books I read earlier in the year listed first; and in the situations in which I wrote a review over at GoodReads, I have included the links.

Wishing you all the best for 2013.  Happy reading!

Fiction

1. 1.  Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
2. 2.  Inexcusable by Chris Lynch
3. 3.  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
4. 4.  The Arrival by Shaun Tan (graphic novel)
5. 5.  The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
6. 6.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
7. 7.  Yummy:  The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke (graphic novel, fiction based on real events)
8. 8.  Habibi by Craig Thompson (graphic novel)
9. 9.  Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
10. 10.  Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
11. 11.  The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
12. 12.  Holes by Louis Sachar
13. 13.  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson
14. 14.  Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks (graphic novel)
15. 15.  Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore
16. 16.  Local by Brian Wood (graphic novel)
17. 17.  Ash by Malinda Lo
18. 18.  If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman
19. 19.  Luna: A Novel by Julie Anne Peters
20. 20.  Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (short stories)
21. 21.  Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman
22. 22.  Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker, #1) by Paolo Bacigalupi
23. 23.  City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1) by Cassandra Clare

Non-fiction

1. 1.  The Ramayana for Young Readers by Milly Acharya (Are texts belonging to religious cannons considered non-fiction?)
2. 2.  Foreign to Familiar:  A Guide to Understanding Hot- and Cold-Climate Cultures by Sarah A. Lanier
3. 3.  Half the Sky:  Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof
4. 4.  Not Much Just Chillin':  The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers by Linda Perlstein
5. 5.  Stitches by David Small (graphic novel memoir)
6. 6.  To Teach: The Journey, In Comics by William Ayers and illustrated by Ryan Alexander-Tanner (graphic novel)
7. 7.  Teach Your Child: How to Discover and Enhance your Child's Potential by Miriam Stoppard (reread)
8. 8.  Queen Bees and Wannabes:  Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence by Rosalind Wiseman
9. 9.  To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel (graphic novel memoir)

Poetry

1. 1.  Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States edited by Lori Marie Carlson