What do journalists and bloggers write about during the week between Christmas and New Year’s? 1. What to wear on New Year’s Eve and 2. all the things that happened over the past year. Well, since I couldn’t tell you what to wear on NYE other than yoga pants and a sweater (I hate NYE), I’m hopping on the “a look back” train this morning with a round-up of all the books I read in 2012.
Disclaimer: all of the Amazon links below are affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and then buy the book, I get a (tiny) percentage of the sale.
Non-fiction
Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage
The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us
Beware Dangerism! (Kindle Single)
The Devil’s Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
The End of Men: And the Rise of Women
Female Chauvinist Pigs
The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage
Bright Side Up: 100 Ways to Be Happier Right Now
Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness
Memoir
Committed: A Love Story
How to Be a Woman
All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps
Wedding
Emotionally Engaged: A Bride’s Guide to Surviving the “Happiest” Time of Her Life
A Practical Wedding: Creative Ideas for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration
Fiction
(Sarah’s Key
Work
Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
What are the best books you read this year? Any recommendations?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Good list! If you need some major LOLs, read “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” by Jenny Lawson. Like ugly-laughing for real. The e-book versions had been on sale this week for about $2.
Sweet! I will grab it now!
It’s FANTASTIC. I was laughing so hard at parts it was obscene, and The Boy kept nabbing it from me to read.
deva by definition recently posted..That Odd Moment
I LOVED that book! So funny!
I also strongly disliked “Sarah’s Key” and was forced to read it for a book club. Ugh…and talk about burning at the stake, I almost lost my woman card during said book club for hating “Sarah’s Key” AND the movie “The Help”
Kelly recently posted..A few of my Favorite Things!
Sooooo glad to hear that some other people did not like Sarah’s Key. I read it because everyone I knew raved about it, but I thought it was just eh. People look at me as if I am crazy when I say I didn’t love it!
I totally second this choice! It is so funny and so real.
I was pretty proud of myself this year w/ my reading list, I got through a lot of books. Many of them relate to food, health & nutrition which was an interesting shift for me. Here are the ones that I most recommend:
Anatoly Without A Scapel – Dr. Lon Kilgore
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers – Robert M. Sapolsky
It Stars With Food: Discover The Whole30 – Melissa Hartwig & Dallas Hartwig
Six Weeks To OMG – Venice A. Fulton
Gluten-Free Comfort Food – Lara Ferroni & Susan O’Brien
Potatoes Not Prozac – Kathleen MesMaisons
Add More -Ing To Your Life: A Hip Guide To Happiness – Gabrielle Berstein
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think – Brian Wansink
Way of the Peaceful Warrior – Dan Millman
I was also thrilled that so many of the bloggers I follow came out with books this year, I ordered them all & loved them across the board!
Cupcakes & Cashmere – Emily Schuman
Very Classy – Derek Blasberg
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me – Mindy Kaling
Born To Be Brad – Brad Goreski
White Jacket Required – Jenna Weber
Caity @ Moi Contre La Vie recently posted..Styling 101: New Years Eve
Damn! How to Be a Woman was a Kindle Daily Deal yesterday and I passed it up!
There are so many books on this list I want to read! Particularly Why Have Kids?, Yoga Bitch, and Promises I Can Keep.
I didn’t read much this year. Sad but true. My youngest sister got me “The Joy of Less” for Christmas and I can’t wait to read it.
Jacki recently posted..Shabby Apple
“The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova was amazing. It put me back into preteen mode, where I became so engrossed in the novel that I didn’t want to put it down. I even bought it for my grandmother for Christmas.
Oooh OK, I’ll check it out!
Why don’t you recommend Sarah’ s key? Tragic book but I thought it was great. Thanks for sharing your list.
I just couldn’t get into the story at all. I actually read it with my book club and none of us ended up liking it. I don’t know, I just didn’t connect with the main character or her stories at all and so that detracted from the historical part (which I thought was much better).
Awesome list! I looooved Committed (I read it leading up to my wedding, and it was fantastic preparation), and I’ve been dying to read The Secret Life of Pronouns. Thanks for sharing this, and happy reading in 2013! :)
I rarely read chick-lit but I love historical fiction so I really enjoyed Sarah’s Key…and usually I’m the person who dislikes books that the book clubs love. Like Jane said, I recommend The Historian too. I read it a few years ago…I also liked Those Who Save Us. It’s another Nazi-era tale, but from a completely different perspective. Promises I Can Keep sounds really interesting…maybe it could explain a lot of what I see every day working in a school.
I’m rereading The Handmaid’s Tale right now for the first time since high school – it was my favorite book I read for class all four years!
I loved Never Let Me Go, as well – the movie is really great, too!
Kate recently posted..TV Shows You Know Every Word To