Best Books of 2012

Today is the last day of 2012 as I know it. So it's time to compile some of my favorite books of the year, and I'm simply going to make a list of ten. The list isn't going to be in any particular order, and the books are simply going to be the ones that I read this year; not the ones that were released this year. I'll only be numbering them to make sure I hit ten and no more. On a side note, I went back to my old posts and added pictures of the books to go with the post. YAY! On a sider side note, all of these books are in my personal collection.

ONWARD!

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? I simply loved the world building of Divergent, I loved the characters of Divergent, and I am still looking forward to reading the third one in the trilogy. I enjoyed the follow up sequel Insurgent (my book review found here) and was incredibly pleased with how all the concepts came together for a cohesive plot. I just really freaking want the third one!

The thing that has stayed with me from these books as I continue to read, is the haunting images of how far the city fell. The different and graphic details of the setting shows more than the characters can sometime, and I think the author did a great job of utilizing that tool.

2. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I read this book when it first came out which was long before I started this blog. I am a 'nerdfighter' of sorts in the sense that I watch all the vlogbrothers youtube videos and also love John Green's books. Because let's just face it, he's awesome. DFTBA.

Why did it make this list? For many, many reasons. John Green managed to capture a lot of intimate truths about his characters while they struggled with cancer. The story isn't about cancer, it's more of showing the world of a young girl where her 'lens' on the world is clouded a bit by cancer. We get to see her meaningful relationships, the horrors she faces as she braves every day, and Hazel's views on different aspects of life. The book is so raw, heart warming, and tear wrenching that I have reread it quite a few times and it sits proudly in my personal collection.

3. Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Again, these are not books that are found on my blog because I stumbled across them long before I made my blog and probably will not make a book review blog post about them because I'm just evil or something. I'm also cheating a little and lumping them all together because I love all of them equally.

Why did they make this list? If I've ever read an awful book (and you're probably aware of how many I've read recently) I consider each of these books very refreshing and a 'pallet' cleanser if you will. I will honestly say that I'm in love with Katsa, and I dearly wish she were a real person so we could be friends. Fire is a fierce female role model who has a different set of dilemmas, but forges her own way. Bitterblue has such an acute sense of having the world on her shoulders and yet having hardly any power to fix what is so terribly wrong. The world building through all three of these books is so descriptive, consistent, and I strongly wish to see more books take place in the Graceling realms.

4. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? Because it was a breath taking science fiction adventure that was relate-able, easily understood, and I'm still eagerly anticipating the sequel. I still find it stunning how seemingly easy it switched from a high-tech world to the very low-tech death shop. I loved the stunning contrast between 'sophistication' and 'savagery'.

The aspect of the book that has stayed with me the most, is the sense of emotional motivation that both Perry and Aria had. They were very driven characters by their emotions; Aria was driven by the love for her mother, and Perry was driven by the he had for his community and nephew, to see a better world for people.

5. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? This book haunts me a little bit. The gothic tones to it, the concept of Grisha with it's references to the culture of Russia, and the friendship that transpires between Alina and Mal. The settings of the little palace, the attitude of the royalty, the attitudes of the Grisha's towards each other, and most of all the creepy nature of the darkling.

There is still a lot of this book that remains in mystery when I look for the deeper concepts to it and I find myself picking it up every now and then just to reread bits of it. Then I sit and think for a while about how that could relate to other parts of the book and it just seems far too clever of a book if read only once.

6. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? I wish I could write songs that had musical value to them so I could LITERALLY sing this book's praises. I stated in my review that this book really revived my immense interest in the young adult literature that incorporates dragons into the stories. My interest had been mortally wounded by many books that seemed to simply have dragons in them because dragons were, well cool. This book set up the culture of dragons, the culture of humans in regards to dragons, and the world building was simply flawless. The characters in it were quirky but not over the top, and the book was very believable despite being about dragons. I want more of the series so badly and have the sincere hope that all sequels will maintain the high enthusiasm and quality that Seraphina possesses.

7. Wither by Lauren Destefano

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? I enjoy books where the world seems to end  because the humans tried to fix a major flaw with it. So by trying to fix themselves they've doomed themselves. I'm a little evil like that I suppose. This book stuck with me because it has such interwoven tragedy. The character Rhine is still very vivid to me, I can remember acute details about the world even though I've read many novels since Wither, and I really rooted for Rhine throughout the whole book.

I did read Fever, (review here) and enjoyed it and I really would love to read how the series ends in the third book.

8. Starters by Lissa Price

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? Because it's another end of the world book. Notice a theme here? I thought this book was particularly gripping because of the chilling premise, old people take over your body for a while for a large amount of money. Let's disregard everything else about the book and just let that concept sink in a little better. You submit yourself to being completely controlled for a certain amount of time for a lot of money.

I'm still fond of how the book kind of started to run away from the teenager problems and delved into the world's politics that contained a deep menace to it. The book was spine-chilling with just how far people were willing to go to satisfy their greed.

9. Shade's Children by Garth Nix

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? Because I love Garth Nix. Ever since he won my literary love with Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen I can't stop seeking his works out.

I loved this book because it was by Garth Nix which means the characters, world building, and story telling were right what I wanted them to be.

I acknowledge that I have shared this book with a few close reader friends of mine and they in general like it, but they admit it creeps them out a bit. I just want to say that I think it's an interesting interpretation of an alien invasion.

10. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

My book review is here.

Why did it make this list? Because this was the book that really got me back into reading. I said it in my post about this book, but it really captured my attention and rekindled my thirst for the inked word. It was also my inspiration to start this blog because if I was going to get back into reading, I wanted to share what I read in a very accessible way. It was also a fantastic book.

I suppose it just has a special place for me. I really enjoy reading books by Maureen Johnson and I hope to continue to read more books by her. I thought this was terrifically creepy, and I might reread it and write a more in depth blog post about it. I suppose it would be a nice way to say thanks. Or something.




So those are my top ten books from 2012. I hope 2013 will be full of more books to read!

Happy reading!

Lincoln's Grave Robbers

Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin

Amazon summary to get my bearings: "The action begins in October of 1875, as Secret Service agents raid the Fulton, Illinois, workshop of master counterfeiter Ben Boyd. Soon after Boyd is hauled off to prison, members of his counterfeiting ring gather in the back room of a smoky Chicago saloon to discuss how to spring their ringleader. Their plan: grab Lincoln's body from its Springfield tomb, stash it in the sand dunes near Lake Michigan, and demand, as a ransom, the release of Ben Boyd --and $200,000 in cash. From here, the action alternates between the conspirators, the Secret Service agents on their trail, and the undercover agent moving back and forth between the two groups. Along the way readers get glimpses into the inner workings of counterfeiting, grave robbing, detective work, and the early days of the Secret Service. The plot moves toward a wild climax as robbers and lawmen converge at Lincoln's tomb on election night: November 7, 1876." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

I'm not much of a person that has the patience for history as I find the writing of it to be dull, boring, and a bunch of facts. Usually when I've had to deal with history it has been in the classroom setting and only a handful of times have I picked up a historical fiction or non-fiction book.

Lincoln's Grave Robbers is a historical non-fiction book that portrays the events of men who make counterfeit money, specifically when their best engraver Ben Boyd is sent to jail. They hatch a plan to steal Abraham Lincoln's body and ransom it for the release of Ben Boyd and a fair amount of money.

It was amazing.

For the entire time I read the book, I did not want to put it down. The writing captures the moments with flourish, there are images scattered through out the book that only emphasizes the details, and the mettle of men are portrayed in subtle ways that still give a complete picture.

I learned about the secret service, the different ways that people used to get counterfeit money into circulation, and what they had to do to get detective work done.

I learned about history, AND I DIDN'T MIND.

Basically, because of this book I feel strongly encouraged to start trying more historical fiction/non-fiction books.

Maybe learning about history can be fun. Hmmm....

Happy reading!

Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

An amazon summary because I'm still not entirely sure what I read.
"After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

I aggressively fell asleep at this book for about the first quarter of it. I debated just putting it down and leaving it alone since it read a lot like a weird romance novel at first. Based on the writing and the details it offered, I wholly expected it to become a weird love triangle between the assassin, the captain of the guard, and the prince. I won't ruin it until later in SPOILER LAND.

After that, I started thinking about it as a comedy and it was just much easier to read.

I'm not going to dignify any of the characters with their actual names because I don't know how to pronounce half of them. So no one gets a name, they get titles though as their references.

The prince and the captain of the guards have an interest in the assassin in the lover's way. The back of the book really wants you to believe this is the main plot of the book, the writing of the book at first really wants you to believe that's the main plot of the book, but it's not. Oh, it's not.

So the story goes that the assassin was caught, sent to the salt mines to do hard labor (where people usually die within a month, but she lived for a year OH MAN BADASS OVER HERE) was recruited by the Prince to participate in a competition set forth by the King. The King's competition is designed to find the next King's champion; if you win the competition you're the champion, get lots of money, get lots of tasks, and eventually get your freedom. The freedom part is really intriguing to the assassin. So she goes, "Eh, I'll be the champion" but has a 'feisty' attitude about it which makes her 'appealing'. It turns out the Prince and the Captain of the Guard are friends but still have a professional relationship sometimes and they escort her back  to the glass kingdom. Oh, the king is crazy and had his castle forged out of glass. Because he's crazy. He's a crazy conqueror King. More on him later.

So they get to the castle and the assassin is all, 'Well crap, I'm horribly out of shape and thin as crap from working in the mines and not being fed well. Uh...I CAN WIN?'. The captain of the guard sets about training her and the Prince kind of dabbles in his attentions towards her.

The king abruptly leaves. No one knows why, there's only vague hints as to where, and the captain of the guard just shrugs about it a bit. Slight spoiler: The king is gone for basically the whole book and returns at the end only to see the last battle between the champions. He's also the only one to return. ...I found that I didn't care.

Then the champions start going through the tests and mysteriously winding up dead. But that's just the 'suspense' that's added to the story. It didn't truly seem like THAT big of a deal when it was happening. I was much more interested in the fact that the King outlawed magic in the Kingdom ten years ago. Then there are these symbols called Wrydmarks that may be used to open some sort of gate to let different beings through. MYSTERIOUS. Slight spoiler: Even at the end of the book we don't REALLY know what's going on with the Wrydmarks.

I got really annoyed with the assassin's attitude a lot. She claimed to be smart, appeared to be well read, yet it took her the longest time to figure out the simplest of clues. She didn't trust anyone (which makes sense because she's an assassin) but then a princess comes from a land the king terrorized and took over. The assassin is like 'Well, it'd be nice to be friends. ... ... ... FRIEND???' And they kind of mention like WHAT NEVER HAD A FRIEND THAT DIDN'T TRY TO KILL ME BEFORE. MEH I'LL BE FRIENDS ANYWAYS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. Like, what? Are you not supposed to be the deadliest assassin ever? What? ...WHAT?

I wasn't impressed with the book which is sad because it had a lot going for it. I think if the voices of the characters had been a little more distinct (It was written in third person and followed different characters around randomly but was mostly all about the assassin) and it was a little less like OOO LOOK AT THE PRINCE AND THE ASSASSIN FLIRT, AND MAYBE THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD? HELLO? I would have been more inclined to like it. There was a lot going on for the book that the addition of romance who simply unnecessary.

Plus I didn't like how the assassin tried to play the part of the tortured soul. She's the deadliest assassin; as such I expect her to be ruthless, mostly removed from emotional attachments, and unflinching about killing people. I didn't want this, "WELL, I MIGHT LIKE THE PRINCE. IS THIS LOVE?" crap in there. I just didn't. The prince wasn't even cool. He was just a smartass with a lot of anger and little direction.

I don't know what to say anymore. In general the book irked me with it's ambiguously vague answers about the Wrydmarks, the tyrannical kingdom, and the love triangle that never was.

Supposedly there are a few e-publications about what happens before this book and what led to her being in the salt mines. As a reader? WAY TOO MUCH EFFORT TO GET THE BACK STORY. I wasn't overtly curious about it either. It was more obnoxious that there were tiny tidbits hinted every few pages about how awesome she was and then she spent the rest of the time being totally dumb. It got to the point where I just wanted the book to shut up or tell me. Seriously. That's cool that you're trying to create an elaborate story, but I really don't care. If you want it to be a part of the series then you should try including it in your first PUBLISHED book. HERRO LOGIC. I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE. HURK.

...

I was kind of all over the place on this one. So overall reaction: Kind of bored. Not a memorable experience.

Happy reading!

The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken


So, my first encounter with this book was it being deposited neatly in front of me by someone whom I trust dearly to give me excellent books.

I saw the cover, had a slight tremor of fear, read the back, and grew a little suspicious.

But I trusted them, so I took the plunge and read it.

...I REGRET NOTHING.

I'm going to say it right now and predict that this should easily be as popular and awesome as Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. If it doesn't reach that point, I weep and throw things at the literary community. Mostly throw things.

Anyways.

So the amazon summary of the book so you can properly embark on the journey with me, "When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.
When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp.  Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.
When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living."
AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Again, one of the horrible things about the summary is that it hints at East River which we manage to stumble in near the halfway mark. I will forever hate it when book summaries reveal more than a quarter of the book's plot. Forever hate.

Here's my summary. Ruby wakes up on her tenth birthday, expecting a birthday celebration but is instead carted off to a camp for children. The other children in her class at school have begun to die from a disease referred to as IAAN which is lethal once puberty begins. Some kids manage to survive the disease, but they're forever changed. They develop abilities that put them into different color groups; Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, and Green. Each color refers to a different talent that develops; red is never explicitly explained but are hinted at to have something to do with fire, orange centers around affecting other's minds, yellow has to deal with electricity, blue has to deal with telekinesis, and green has to deal with the inner working of the mind such as logic puzzles and photographic memories.
Ruby has survived the disease so far and is carted off to camp to be sorted into one of these colors. It is hinted that she can see other's memories in the beginning and she manages to convince the sorter that she is a green since greens appear harmless. She doesn't know what she is and doesn't want to explore her abilities to figure it out for fear of punishment.
The camp itself kept reminding me of the holocaust camps, but a little more humane. They were separated by colors, gender, and age group; kept on a strict routine schedule; given meaningless tasks to perform; had different procedures performed on some of them in search of a cure; but they were fed, clothed, allowed three minute showers, and had bunk beds to sleep in. The camp is just described as very inhumane and almost as if the children are animals. Oh yeah, all of the camps residents are children except for the adults who police them. The adults carry guns and a device that emits a frequency that causes extreme pain to their mutated brains.
Ruby has a friend, Sam, whom after an incident, Ruby accidentally erases every memory Sam has of her from her mind. Ruby also has a terrible side effect of headaches whenever she accidentally uses her ability.
Luckily, Ruby is noticed by an anti-government force that gets her out; but once she's out Ruby notices that everything isn't quite as it seems and escapes from them. In her escape, she stumbles across Liam, Zu, and Chubs; children who have escaped from another camp.

I'm going to stop there simply because it was a lot of summary.

Here's what I need to discuss.

The characters were lively, believable, distinctive, and downright creepy sometimes. The world building was astounding as it takes place in the USA and shows how the society slowly decomposes when it starts to lose it's children. I find it slightly annoying that it was stated at one point that Mexico and Canada had built walls in an attempt to keep the disease out, but I wanted to see the disease happen in other parts of the world as well. There were a lot of specific details worked out so that I wasn't curious about anything that I shouldn't have been curious about while I was reading it.

There were some very specific details about different locations in the West Virginia, Virginia areas that I have no way of knowing are accurate barring visiting the places. But as a resident of Michigan, the story felt realistic in the details it provided of the settings.

Sometimes, sometimes I found Ruby to be a little obnoxious with how petrified she was of herself; but based on the beginning of the book this was well-founded ingrained fear. She had six years in that camp to become so scared.

There were also a lot of little details put into place in the early stages that came back into play later on. I appreciate that immensely.

The violence and precise language of the book portrayed a grim picture of what Ruby's life had become. I found it very fitting considering her situation and her experiences, but this would make me much more hesitant to recommend it to younger readers; say 12 or younger. There are some uncomfortable parts, some gruesome parts, and some stuff that should probably be left for high schoolers.

Now I'm going to make a brief visit to SPOILER LAND as there's something that's nagging me about this story. Don't read the following if you don't want the end of the book ruined for you. I MEAN IT.

So at the end of the story, Liam, Chubbs, and Ruby manage to escape the East River camp and track down Jake's father (Jake took a bullet protecting Chubbs so Chubbs could escape). Chubbs goes up to the father's door step armed with Jake's letter that Liam asked him to write just in case. Jake's father answers the door, goes into a fit of rage, and shoots Chubbs. This spirals into Ruby signaling the anti-terrorist organization for help and hoping to get Chubbs to safety. THEN EVERYTHING ESCALATES EVEN QUICKER.

Once Chubbs, Liam, and Ruby are taken away, Ruby wakes up in a room to find that she's been isolated from the others and Cate (the woman who originally saved her from camp) comes in and seems to gloat slightly about helping her and how Ruby will be a great asset to them, blah blah blah. Ruby is all ON ONE CONDITION LET MY PEOPLE GO (LOL, not really), she really goes, LET LIAM GO. Cate begins to get all flustered like LIAM WILL COMPROMISE US. HE KNOWS WHERE WE ARE NOW. BLEH. So Ruby goes a little bonkers and removes every memory that Liam has of her so that he can go free and she'll stay.

Now what drives me up the wall about crap like this, UP THE FREAKING WALL. Ruby removed all of Liam's memories about her. WHY DIDN'T SHE FREAKING REMOVE CATE'S MEMORIES OF HER. Why didn't she just make Liam, who is a blue, help her escape? There is a vague notion that she'll stay to free Chubbs, but really? I was pretty damn convinced he was dead before he was carted away. Ruby fell into the "I'M TRAPPED IN A CORNER, BUT I'LL MAKE THE BEST OF IT; AREN'T I CLEVER? *DOES SOMETHING DUMB*" syndrome. I SHAKE MY FIST. SHAKE IT.

Despite this weird, seemingly slap-happy-I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing-anymore-please-just-end-book-one-so-I-can-get-to-book-two end of the book; there is still so much going on in the world that I really want to see what happens. She's nicely set up a weird government plot on top of strange disease plot on top of romance plot on top of finding Zu one day plot on top of other things I'm probably failing to mention plot.

I believe this is the first one in a series, and I am eager to read any following books.

Happy reading!

Cheesy Potatoes

So, I made a batch of really good cheesy potatoes and am going to share the recipe.


The recipe:

-2 lbs frozen hash browns (I use the diced kind)
-1/4 cup butter
-1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
-1 cup sour cream
-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
-1/4 cup diced onion
-2 teaspoons of crushed garlic cloves (Alternatively, garlic salt/powder could work as well, I just like fresh garlic)
-1/2 teaspoon of Ms. Dash Garlic and Herb (If you don't have this, you can use an Italian herb blend instead, or a combination of parsley and oregano.)


Directions:
1. Defrost potatoes, melt butter, and mix together all ingredients, except for 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
2. Spread evenly in a 9x13 baking dish.
3. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese on top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.



I also put aluminum foil on top of mine for the first half hour to prevent the cheese from getting weird. Sometimes I leave it in the oven a little longer if the potatoes weren't quite defrosted all the way.

In the picture is actually a double batch of this recipe. That's what happens when you take it to a Holiday party. You need to make a lot! The potatoes were a hit as I didn't take any home.

Happy holidays and happy reading! :)

Baking in the oven. Like a beast of delicious.