Post Punk Kitchen Forum

The Art of the Con by Gary F. Cornelius
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
The Little Black Book of Violence by Kane and Wilder
Meditations on Violence by Sgt. Rory Miller

Not exactly cheerful books, but they're helpful in my current line of work (taxi driver). The last three, especially, are particularly useful for women (of which I am one). The Gift of Fear is about how to recognize that little voice telling you something is wrong and why you should never ignore it even if not ignoring it means being less than "nice" to get out of a situation. The last two contain a lot of information about how to recognize the signs when someone is about to try beating the snot out of you and how to avoid those situations in the first place. It's a lot of information that American men seem to just soak up from our culture, but that American women are less encouraged to learn.

Ha ha, I said "extrememely".

I only read 39 books. All year. Including 6 nonfiction books and 2 YA novels.

That's better than I managed in 2011, hence the challenge! I'm including 6 graphic novels and 3 YA novels.

My 2012 total was worse than 2011's, which was worse than 2010's.

I didn't hit my goal either, but I read 34 books! I'm taking it as a win.

Not sure what the best ones were, but here are three.

Cutting for Stone
I Am the Messenger
Divergent

I missed my goal by 4! I was over by one last year (the first year I tried to do 52 in 52). I'm setting myself the same goal this year, and I'm gonna try to set a goal of one hour of reading per night, no matter how much reading I get done throughout the rest of the day. I should definitely hit my goal by the end of 2013.

My top three, in no particular order:
Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R R Martin (I couldn't pick just one)

I almost bought the Cadbury book the other day and changed it out for something else. I kinda wish I'd bought it now! I might get the Kindle version because it looks really interesting.

According to Goodreads, I read 47 books in 2012- but I also re-read stuff a lot and don't record that there.

I really liked, off the top of my head:

Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience by Gitta Sereny
One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season by Chris Ballard
The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook

Into that Darkness is so very good.

I read more Ursula Le Guin and it was hard not to put all of it Le Guin! Its funny because I read Wizard Of Earthsea in highschool and didn't like it, and it took me a long time to get around to reading anything else by her. Now she's easily one of my favourite authors.

I love Octavia Butler too, I almost put Parable Of The Sower on the list. Just three is hard! I didn't read much this year that I didn't enjoy, aside from some dry text books.

Gitta Sereny is the most intelligent and incisive writer I've discovered this year. I also loved her two books about Mary Bell.

Those were amazing as well. Did you read her book about Albert Speer?

How did I not know that Ruth Rendell has a pen name?!

Nope, but it's on my to-read list! I am a sucker for any book (or podcast episode or documentary) about polar exploration.

Ha! If you have not read any of her Barbara Vine books, I would highly recommend them. They are generally quite dark and of a very different "flavour" to the others.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
1984 by George Orwell

Runner up: Bad Science by Ben Goldacre



Nothing to Envy was one of my favorite reads last year, and Middlesex is one of my favorite of all time. Something tells me I'd enjoy checking out your bookcase.

I've been a less than voracious reader the last few years, which is sad considering I work in a bookstore. I'm doing the Goodreads reading challenge for 2013, setting a very modest goal of 20 books, just to get my asparagus back into gear.

Reviewing my Kindle account, I can see that I read loads of pure fluff this year, most of which I can't recall when I read the titles...oh well. I read during my weekday commutes, so I try not to read things that will make me cry in public.... But I did like

The Round House by Louise Erdrich (She's one of my fav authors, period.)
The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey (Ok, a little trashy, but all the Sandman Slim novels are just hilarious)

I re-read all of George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice novels, and well, they just made me mad. George, wrap it up already!! Wasn't the series supposed to be 3, 4 books? Can't an editor rein him in, or are they just laughing all the way to the bank? He had better deliver one stunning finale.

Richard Kadrey is awesome! I love the Sandman Slim books. You might want to check out the graphic novels Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. They have a similar vibe.

Also, never apologize for what your reading taste!

This year I read a lot of romance books because I was not familiar with the genre. I found more than a handful of really great authors. E.J.James was not among them.

For 2013, I am going to read more sci-fi and fantasy.

No, I haven't read that one- I will put it on my list, thank you!



Seriously, I read all kinds of stuff. I think half my time is in fact taken up by reading Archie digests in bed.

I was really happy with the quality of the books I read in '12 (not so much with the quantity), so this is hard.
But these stick out:

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Look me up on goodreads! Same user name. Perhaps I will also set a 20 book goal for 2013!

Oh cool, I'll check that out!

Vantine, any recommendations for good new romance authors?