Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Top Ten Books I Read In 2012


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish. The idea is to put up a top ten list and share it with other bloggers. This week's list topic is:


Top Ten Books I Read in 2012


(in no particular order)


1. Divergent by Veronica Roth - A must-read for anyone who's a fan of high-velocity action-adventure. This is dystopia on a whole new level.


2. Insurgent by Veronica Roth - Lots of second books in a trilogy tend to drag or are just not up to par with the first installment. Not so for Roth. Insurgent does what a second book is supposed to do: make the reader fall in love with the characters and the overarching storyline even more.


3. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - Beautifully told and richly woven, this is story-telling at its best. Plus, the end is a real shocker, too!


4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - The way this woman strings words... I don't know how she does it. Karou and her story was so beautiful, it hurt.


5. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - An epic fantasy set in an AU Tsarist Russia? Yes, please!! SO creative, and I love love LOVE Alina. She was a spunky yet likable heroine.


6. Graceling by Kristin Cashore - Another spunky heroine! Katsa is DA BOMB--no, literally, she can probably kill as many people as a bomb can.


7. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen - I love Sarah Dessen. I do. Somehow, her books have never, ever failed to make me cry. This book in particular has got so much heart; Auden is truly the most socially awkward yet incredibly sympathetic heroine.


8. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - For those who will dismiss this as mere "fluff," think again. The Shopaholic novels never ever fail to keep me up late into the night solely on the basis of voice. Becky Bloomwood's voice to be exact. She's the friend you want to have, and sometimes the girl you hate to love, but I don't know how Kinsella does it--Becky and her problems suck you in from start to finish.


9. Bumped by Megan McCafferty - Two words: Jessica Darling. Jess Darling (and Marcus Flutie) from the Sloppy Firsts series won me over. I must've read those books like fifteen times EACH; they were that good. Unlike Sarah Dessen, another awesome contemporary YA writer, McCafferty's writing has bite, and it's precisely this snarky voice that makes Bumped an enticing read. Oh, and the unique premise helps, too, of course--imagine Atwood's Handmaid's Tale (one of my fave books of all time) for teens!


10. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson - This book was not what I expected at all. I mean that in the best way possible. I'd expected an epic fantasy about a girl who's Chosen One status takes her on an adventure to save her people. Which it was. But ooohhh... it was also SO much more. The way Carson depicts faith and prayer in this book is simply marvelous; it's true and poignant without being preachy and also incredibly heartening at the same time.




Your turn! What are some of your top picks for 2012?

2 comments:

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love to hear back from you, so please feel free to leave a comment. By leaving a comment, you're also giving me the chance to visit your blog and discover new books, so YAY to win-win situations! (And if you chose to follow me, then it's safe to say that I am doing a spirited jig in your honor right now<3)