52 books in 2012

 

I finally met my goal of reading 52 books in 1 year. I have been loftily, unofficially setting this goal for the past few years but have fallen short by 15-20 books.

This year, I made it a point to read more consistently, every single day. Either when I first woke up in the morning, or before I went to bed at night. 

Traveling also helped. Long plane and car rides are excellent times for me to get reading in.

I think one of the main contributing factors to my increase in reading was getting rid of cable TV in July. I was in Europe for 3 1/2 weeks throughout the month of June, and in that time, I watched virtually zero TV (except for the major futbol games in Eurocopa, ¡Viva Espana!). When we came back, we decided to do away with cable. It was a major time sucker, and it got us to involve in negative, dramatic, trashy reality TV, that added no real positive to our lives. 

This is the list of books I read in 2012:

1. She’s Come Undone-Wally Lamb

2. A Round Heeled Woman-June Juska

3. The Fault in our Stars-John Green

4. Over The Edge-Death in the Grand Canyon-Michael Ghigleri

5. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children-Ransom Riggs

6. Looking for Alaska-John Green

7. The Hour I First Believed-Wally Lamb

8. Franny and Zoey- J.D. Salniger

9. Is Everyone Hanging Out with Me?-Mindy Kaling

10. Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains-John Krakauer

11. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail-Cheryl Strayed

12. My Name is Not Easy-Deby Dhal Edwardson

13. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith-John Krauker

14. SpellBound (Hex Hall #3)-Rachel Hawkins

15. Bossypants-Tina Fey

16. Insurgent (Divergent #2)-Veronica Roth

17. The Perfect Nazi-Martin Davidson

18. Shanghai Girls-Lisa See

19. Lima Nights-Maria Arana

20. Losing Clementine: Ashley Ream

21. A History of Spain-Simon Barton

22. His Hands, His Tools, His Sex, His Dress: Lesbian Writers on their Fathers-Catherine Reed

23. 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days-Dean Karnazes

24. Dreams of Joy-Lisa See

25. Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution-Michelle Moran

26. Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man-Chaz Bono

27. Columbus: The Four Voyages-Lawrence Bergreen

28. Crazy Sexy Diet-Kris Carr

29. The Da Vinci Code-Dan Brown

30. Yoga and Vegetarianism-Sharon Gannon

31. Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America-Gustavo Arellano

32. Peony in Love-Lisa See

33. The Casual Vacancy-J.K. Rowling

34. The Handmaid’s Tale-Margaret Attwood

35. Crazy Sexy Kitchen-Kris Carr

36. Skinny Bitch-Rory Freedman (re-read)

37. Angels & Demons-Dan Brown

38. The Age of Miracles-Karen Thompson Walker

39. Little Bee-Chris Cleave

40. Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips-Kris Carr

41. Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor-Kris Carr

42. Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective: Mark Epstein

43. Run! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss-Dean Karnazes

44. Me Talk Pretty One Day-David Sedaris (listened to this on audiobook on the drive to Napa. If you are a Sedaris fan, I definitely recommend listening to one of his audiobooks. He reads the books and adds to the hilarity factor.)

45. The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins (re-read before movie)

46. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (re-read before movie)

47. The Kind Diet-Alicia Silverstone

48. The Happiness Project-Gretchen Rubin

49. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone-J.K. Rowling (re-read)

50. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-J.K. Rowling (re-read)

51. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-J.K. Rowling (re-read)

52. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-J.K. Rowling (re-read)