books i read in 2012.

sadly i did not reach my goal of reading 100 books in 2012. i was on track in june but the second half of the year just didn't happen. any hoot, as of right now i have read 77 books this year. i am currently reading junot diaz's latest book so it might be 78, if i finished by midnight. but technically it should be like 87 books considering how long tolstoy's novels are!

here is what i learned from this year of reading:

-i was born in the wrong era. i should have been an ex-pat in paris with the lost generation (yes this is also the plot for woody allen's "midnight in paris").

-if you aren't reading a work in its original language, research about the translation! and most of the big publishers often use outdated translation. (ie the barnes and noble classics, the prices for the classics are good but you are kinda of getting what you paid for.)

-ray bradbury is a poet and not a sci-fi writer and his books are filled with great gems about life.

-don't forget children's classics. when i read "the borrower" i listed out all the childern's books rebecca makkai alluded to in the novel, so i could read them now. i am disappointed i didn't read them but i'm getting caught up. and i have to add, i should have read "the hobbit" when i was younger. why did i wait so long?

-reading the books that were assigned in high school would have my helped SAT verbal. because those vocab words everyone thinks that no one ever uses, are actually being used.

-ereaders are overhyped. i won one this year and sadly have only read 2 books on it. i need a physical book, my eyes scan too quickly on a screen. oddly enough i buy ebooks just in case the future world is more reliant on ereaders.

-i have a book addiction. i love roaming $1 bookstores and goodwills for books and can not resist a bargain. seriously the amount of books i have purchased this year is prolly equivalent to how many i have read, luckily for me they were only a dollar! lol

books of 2012
1. "dream school" blake nelson
2. "the sun also rises" ernest hemingway
3. "for whom the bell toll" ernest hemingway*
4. "save me the waltz" zelda fitzgerald
5. "tender is the night" f. scott fitzgerald*
6. "the beautiful and the damned" f. scott fitzgerald
7. "the family fang" kevin wilson*
8. "a farewell to arms" ernest hemingway
9. "the old man and the sea" ernest
hemingway
10. "three lives" gertrude stein
11. "the autobiography of alice b. toklas" gertrude stein
12. "ten thousand saints" eleanor henderson
13. "the borrower" rebecca makkai*
14. "the search for delicious" natalie babbitt*
15. "friends like us" lauren fox
16. "the day of the locust" nathanael west
17. "miss lonelyhearts" nathanael west
18. "madame bovary" gustave flaubert
19. "bossypants" tina fey
20. "james and the giant peach" rolad dahl
21. "love with tear us apart" sarah rainone
22. "guns, germs, and steel" jared diamond*
23. "the bfg" rolad dahl
24. "is everyone hanging out without me? (and other concerns)" mindy kaling*
25. "the lover's dictionary" david levithan*
26. "tuck everlasting" natalie babbitt
27. "leaving the atocha station" ben lerner
28. "to kill a mockingbird" harper lee**
29. "the fault in our stars" john green*
30. "everything is illuminated" jonathan safran foer**
31. "dash & lily's book of dares" rachel cohn & david levithan
32. "charlotte's web" e.b. white
33. "steve jobs" walter isaacson
34. "an object of beauty" steve martin
35. "stuart little" e.b. white
36. "from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler" e.l. konigsburg
37. "franny and zooey" j.d. salinger
38. "we the animals" justin torres*
39. "extremely loud & incredibly close" jonathan safran foer
40. "paul's boutique" dan leroy (331/3 series)
41. "defiance" nechama tec
42. "eeeee eee eeee" tao lin
43. "no one belongs here more than you" miranda july*
44. "wonder" r.j. palacio
45. "raise high the roof beams, carpenters and seymour-an introduction" j.d. salinger
46. "fahrenheit 451" ray bradbury
47. "dandelion wine" ray bradbury*
48. "richard yates" tao lin
49. "pride and prejudice" jane austen
50. "pride and prejudice and zombies" jane austen and seth grahame-smith
51. "lord of the flies" william golding
52. "romeo and juliet" william shakespeare
53. "their eyes were watching god" zora neale hurston
54. "the martian chronicles" ray bradbury
55. "the emperor's children" claire messud
56. "you don't love me yet" jonathan lethem
57. "howl and other poems" allen ginsberg
58. "anna karenina" leo tolstoy
59. "most talkative: stories from the front lines" andy cohen
60. "to the lighthouse" virginia woolf
61. "the magicians" lev grossman
62. "eat pray love" elizabeth gilbert
63. "paris, i love you but you're bringing me down" rosecrans baldwin
64. "nw" zadie smith
65. "mr. penumbra's 24 hour bookstore" robin sloan*
66. "the witches" roald dahl
67. "something wicked this way come" ray bradbury
68. "the house on mango street" sandra cisneros**
69. "caramelo" sandra cisneros
70. "you lost me there" rosecrans baldwin
71. "have you seen marie?" sandra cisneros
72. "war and peace" leo tolstoy
73. "the secret book of frida kahlo" f.h. haghenbeck
74. "two from galilee" marjorie holmes
75. "the perks of being a wallflower" stephen chbosky**
76. "a christmas carol" by charles dickens
77. "the hobbit" j. r r tolkien*

*my favorites this year
**my favorite re-reads/i will love forever

friends please comment any books you suggest i should read in 2013 or your favorite books of 2012!