Five-Star Reads: 2012 Edition

A few stats on my reading in 2012, according to my GoodReads account.

  • Total books read: 122 (up 13 from 2011)
  • Books for Kids: 49 (down 13 from 2011), 40% of total
  • Books for Teens: 49 (up 18 from 2011), 40% of total
  • Books for Grown-Ups: 24 (up 11 from 2011), 20% of total
  • Library Books: 92 (up 15 from 2011), 75% of total
  • ARCs (including E-ARCs): 21 (up 5 from 2011), 17% of total
  • E-Books (including E-ARCs): 19 (up 5 from 2011), 16% of total

Just like in 2011, I’m resisting the urge to create a list of the Top 10 Books I Read in 2012 or somesuch thing. Instead, I give you the 26 books I gave 5 star ratings on GoodReads in 2012.

Books for Kids (15):

Storybound (Storybound #1) by Marissa Burt The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis Bink and Gollie, Two for One by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O'Connell Wonder by R.J. Palacio Above World (Above World, #1) by Jenn Reese Blackout by John Rocco May B. by Caroline Starr Rose Drawing from Memory by Allen Say The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #0.5) by Trenton Lee Stewart Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet Path of Beasts by Lian Tanner Diego Rivera: His World and Ours by Duncan Tonatiuh 8 Class Pets + 1 Squirrel [Divided By] 1 Dog = Chaos by Vivian Vande Velde

Books for Teens (8):

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, #1)by Robin LaFevers  (37 Things I Love (in no particular order) by Kekla Magoon Incarnate (Newsoul, #1) by Jodi Meadows A Million Suns (Across the Universe, #2) by Beth Revis Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, #1) by Veronica Rossi Past Perfect by Leila Sales Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Books For Grown-Ups (3):

Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

One More 5-Star Read

Welcome to Bordertown

Here’s the trouble with putting out that 5-Star List before the year actually ends. I should have known I’d end up adding one more!

Just as well, since I think Welcome to Bordertown deserves special attention, anyway.

The first three Bordertown anthologies – Borderland, Bordertown, and Life on the Border – came out in the mid-80s and very early 90s, just early enough to have passed out of print right at the time I would have loved them as a teen. (The Essential Bordertown came out later and is still in print, so I don’t really have any excuse for having missed it.) So, I’m a latecomer to the party. The one good thing about that is that I have some great books to track down and read now, and it looks like the editors are working on getting e-book editions out.

This is an absolutely fantastic collection. There’s a bit of everything: short stories, poems, a comic, even a faerie jump rope chant. My expectations were high going in, since the list of contributors includes some really big names, and I was not disappointed. My personal favorite was Tim Pratt‘s “Our Stars, Our Selves”. I love when an anthology introduces me to a great author I somehow missed. I love the whole world of Bordertown.