100+ Books in 2025 discussion
2012 Lists
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Wils' 102 books in 2012
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5. I Run, Therefore I Am - Nuts - Bob Schwartz - 1/12I do enjoy reading and talking about running and of course getting out the door and running itself. But this was just too much for me even. I really wanted to like this book, especially a funny book about running but ended up not really enjoying it and just getting through. Each chapter seemed disconnected and more like a mini-article rather than flowing book. The hardest part to get through however was Schwartz's attempt to tie almost every sentence into a running theme which just ended up feeling like cliches, plus too many revised popular lyrics to be about running of course. Just too much which says a lot from someone who usually can't get enough.
6. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - 1/12
All I knew going into this was that the story is wrapped around vintage photos and that some people who reviewed this had found the story eerie. I didn't find it eerie, but what I did find is a brilliant scifi story which was very dark and had a creative tie in to fun vintage photos.
7. I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak - 1/12I really enjoyed this slacker turned hero story - great morals - we can all have very positive influences on others. Sometimes we decide to take initiative, or (as in this story) someone else takes the initiative for us.
8.Fred in Love - Felice Picano - 1/12
Was hoping for so much more but Picano didn't really seem sure what he wanted this book to be about.
9. Anna Dressed in Blood - Kendare Blake - 2/12
I loved this. Our hero kills ghosts and Anna is a ghost trapped in her own hell. Easy read with all the supernatural content I love!
10. The Kid - Sapphire - 2/12Sapphire continues her story where Push (the film Precious) left off. Her son is The Kid and it's the story of him growing up in Harlem after his mom dies of AIDS and everything that happens to him as he's pushed through the system and figuring out who he is.
11. Babbit - Sinclair Lewis - 2/12
Who knew this was so funny? Mr. Babbit just wants to be the ideal citizen and family. Then things go astray.
12. Zone One - Colson Whitehead - 3/12
Post apocalyptic NYC with maneating zombies? Sign me up! Plus, it's very well written. Whitehead never feels the need to over explain anything to the reader which is refreshing. He assumes his audience is intelligent and intelligenly written it is. And the ending does not disappoint!
13. 44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith - 3/12This was an enjoyable read made even more so by the fact that I had just been to Edinburgh the week before starting this so knew exactly where most of it was taking place. Centered around the characters living in the building at 44 Scotland Street, pretty fun.
14. Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris - David King - 3/12Fascinating true story of a serial killer posing to help people escape Nazi-occupied Paris to only lure them into his townhouse and kill them. There are so many twists to this story that I had to keep reminding myself it's true. Horrifying. Definitely for fans of Erik Larson!
15. Wigs on the Green - Nancy Mitford - 3/12
This was a great read, many laugh out loud moments at the absurdity of it all. A little off putting that much of the humor is around support for Hitler who is just rising into power in this story written in 1935, before he becomes the monster we learned about in history books. But knowing when it was written and keeping that in mind, it's a light hearted fun read.
16. Carrie - Stephen King - 3/12I loved the movie and now I love the book. As always the book is much more complex and told through flashbacks with a committee reviewing telekentics and the dangers of the power controlled by the mentally unstable - awesome! Time to go watch the movie again. Flashbacks reveal what happend to Carrie at school, at home with her mother, the committe review interviewing survivors, etc. Very interesting approach that worked well.
17. Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy - Irvin Yalom - 4/12My first time reading true psychotherapy patient stories and it was pretty fascinating. I'm always interested how therapists and doctors help people come to their own realization and resolutions, just guiding them along the way. I learned for the first time about countertransference - who knew!
18. Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival - Joe Simpson - 4/12
Non-fiction survival stories fascinate me! Wondering if should be alarmed that my running partner gave me a book in which two hiking partners find themselves in a horrible situation and the one cuts the rope connecting them, sending the other to his assumed death. I'll need to think on that, in the meantime, this is a truly inspiring story of survival.
19. Asterios Polyp - David Mazzucchelli - 4/12
A very intellectual graphic novel story about an architect's life, duality, design, etc. all told by his still-born twin brother. Interesting? Oh yes.
20. The Town Below the Ground: Edinburgh's Legendary Underground City - Jan-Andrew Henderson - 4/12
Having just been in Edinburgh, I picked this up in the gift shop after touring part of the underground city. The book is very interesting - the first half is history and the second is ghost stories. Can't wait to go back to Edinburgh and tour more the underground city. The ghost stories were so good one turned a dream quickly into a nightmare and left me afraid to leave my bedroom. Not kidding.
21. Again to Carthage - John L. Parker Jr. - 4/12The sequel to Once a Runner, the main character is now middle aged and wondering if he still has one more shot at the Olympic dream. I'm very glad I read a review that said the real running story starts half way through as I'm not sure I would have stuck with it otherwise.
22. Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art - Christopher Moore - 4/12
I love the silliness of Christopher Moore books. This story is a very complicated one to tell and definitely requires a bit of art history knowledge. It was a struggle at times to understand what was happening in the story. The ending tied it up and explained quite a bit but wish I knew more earlier.
23. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes - 5/12
I really enjoyed this story. The first part was told from the main character in his college years, the second part at the end of his life. All around the same story of what happened to a friend of his at the end of college.
24. Gregory - Marc Hempel - 5/12
The adventures of Gregory, our idiotic friend incarcerated in his cell with his reincarnated friend Herman Vermin.
25. City Island: Tales of the Clam Diggers - Alice Payne - 5/12
After visiting the island I thought I'd read a little about the history. This should really be a handbook for people moving to the island. Too much detail into every person that's lived there, what happened on west or east part of street, etc. Just too much.
26. Quarantine - Rahul Mehta - 5/12
Short stories all involving gay Indian men. Very interesting with each of their unique battles/interactions with lovers, family, etc. in America and back in India.
27. Diary - Chuck Palahniuk - 5/12
The beauty of this book is the story slowly unravels and you realize what you thought the story was about is not at all what it's about. A woman starts a diary so if her husband comes out of his coma he'll know what has happened in her life and the life of their daughter. Oh, and the husband is in a coma because he tried to kill himself after taking her from her artistic life and bringing her to a remote island where he as a contractor was sealing up rooms in vacation homes and covering them in graffiti'd messages.
28. The Inquisitor's Key (Body Farm #7) - Jefferson Bass - 5/12Guilty pleasure! I just like Bill Bass and the body farm. Not ashamed to admit it. This book from the series takes us on an adventure through time and to Italy! Corpses, murderous popes, Italians, it's all good!
29. Espresso Tales (44 Scotland Street, #2) - Alexander McCall Smith - 5/12
Book #2 in the series continues to follow the lives of everyone living at 44 Scotland Street. It's a fun diverse group of people brought together just because they live in the same building. The author was inspired by Tales of the City very much the same scenario in San Francisco and even wrote the story chapter by chapter for a publication as was done with Tales of the City. I think I like this because of the similarities plus having just been in Edinburgh it's fun to visualize everything.
30. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland - Brian Vaughan - 5/12
Vol #9 - I don't want it to end! The graphic novel series tells the story of a disease that wipes out all living males - except one. This volume had some good twists I didn't see coming.
31. The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson - 5/12
I really loved this book. Set in North Korea and told from the viewpoints of multiple characters - the orphan master's son, a famous movie star, the North Korean government, a biographer looking back on what happened to them all. I don't want to give any of the story away because not knowing the story going in made it so enjoyable for me.
32. The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides - 5/12
This got a lot of disappointed reactions in the press so I went in with low expectations and ended up really enjoying. The beginning had a bit of a literature show off feeling to it but it didn't last through the entire story. Some good twists and turns and plenty of love triangles if not squares.
33. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce - 6/12
This was such a sweet book! Harold Fry retires and finds there's really nothing to do. His wife is controlling and he feels lost. Until a letter arrives from an old colleague saying good bye because she has terminal cancer. Harold writes a return letter and on his way to post it wishes he could do more and ultimately decides if he can convince her to hold on he'll walk across England to see her. Through his unlikely pilgrimage he learns a lot about people around him and himself and grows in ways he never imagined. As does everyone else around him.
34. The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) - Suzanne Collins - 6/12
Preparing for a long flight with nothing to read I bought this and was immediately hooked. Set far in the future everyone is controlled by the government. There was an uprising but the government was not overthrown. To remind everyone that the government is in control, once a year it selects one boy and one girl between 12 and 17 from each district to battle to the death leaving just one winner in the hunger games.
35. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) - Suzanne Collins - 6/12
#2 in the hunger games. Just by trying to survive it turns out Katniss is becoming an inspiration to all citizens through the districts. That you can stand up against the cruel leaders.
36. Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) - Suzanne Collins - 6/12
#3 of the hunger games trilogy. Katniss has inspired revolution and become it's mascot - the mockingjay. The trilogy was great and I was very satisfied with the ending.
37. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores - Brian Vaughan - 6/11The final volume of the series - the last man on earth after a virus wipes out all male creatures in a gendercide. Very satisfying end, really like this series.
38. History of a Pleasure Seeker - Richard Mason - 6/11
Beautiful story of a man from humble beginnings going to live with a family as tutor for their son dealing with psychological issues. The man's ultimate plan is to learn how to be sophisticated and change his life. Great ending which leaves us hanging for the next book.
39. Setting the Lawn on Fire: A Novel - Mack Friedman - 6/11
Fun story - each chapter told from the main character's perspective at different stages through his life. Interesting as he gets older how he becomes more like the characters that are feared in his earlier life. So true.
40. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama - Alison Bechdel - 6/11
Once again Bechdel digs deep into her psyche this time examining the relationship with her mother, especially around release of the book about her father and then ultimately writing this one about her. Great story teller. Neuroses and all.
41. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery - 7/12I really liked this book. The story centers around everyone living in the same building - with every other chapter told from either the landlady's or a little girl's from one of the apartments perspective. Both come to find they have a lot in common and their characters develop very sweetly through the story.
42. The Empty Family - Colm Tóibín - 7/12
Toibin is a beautiful writer. I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but I loved them all in this collection. They're each pretty dark and focus on something missing within the family, whether it's after a death, death itself, divorce, etc.
43. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #1) - Laini Taylor - 7/12
I loved this YA book. A girl who's not entirely human has a secret from her friends. They think she's just drawing pictures of creatures but she's actually drawing pictures of the closest thing she has to family living in an alternate reality only accessible from the other side when they let you in. Overall the story is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with a big dose of fantasty. My inner goth girl loves this book!
44. Carry the One - Carol Anshaw - 7/12
Another great book. As a wonderful wedding day wraps up, the last carload of guests leave the party in the early morning and strike and kill a little girl. The story revolves around each person that was in the car and the newlyweds - focusing on how they carry on after the accident. From the newleyweds who notice only the fog lights were on and not the car's headlights, but weren't heard yelling after them, to the driver, the musician in the back seat that wanted to leave the scene, etc.
45. Name All the Animals: A Memoir - Alison Smith - 7/12
This was good but just felt like something was lacking from making it really good. Smith's memoir is about losing her older brother in a car accident when he was 18 and later about realizing her own homosexuality and falling for the girl (while in Catholic school) all while deep in the mourning process.
46. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 - Alan Moore - 8/12Finally got to reading the graphic novel after really enjoying the movie release a few years ago. Looking forward to reading more.
47. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Vols 1-7) - Philip K. Dick - 8/12
This was our bookclub selection and having already read the story and seen Bladerunner which is based off this story (but not really the same story), I decided to revisit the story through a different artistic interpretation - the graphic novel. It was really beautiful and the artist purposefully did not keep the aesthetic similar to the movie version. 6 volumes to tell the story. Every word from Philip K Dick's book is in the graphic series.
48. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness - Susannah Cahalan - 8/12
A journalist tells the story of what happens to her when suffering from a previously undiagnosed infection in which the body attacks the brain and leaves the victim thinking they're going mad!
49. Out of Egypt: A Memoir - Andre Aciman - 8/12I really enjoy Aciman's writing and have heard him speak publicly - and now after knowing his grandparents' and parents' life stories as well as his own early life story - I almost feel like I know him. It's a weird feeling to feel like you know someone you've never actually met. Great story of his family's migration from Turkey through to Egypt and beyond through many periods of war - country vs country and sometimes just family member vs family member.
50. The Spinsterlicious Life - Eleanor Wells - 8/12
Written by a friend from a previous ceramics studio - one who met her would never qualify her as a spinster - she's just too cool. Her life lessons and observations about being a woman beyond a certain age without husband nor child. Go Eleanore!
51. Life of Pi - Yann, Martel - 8/12
The question everyone threw at me after seeing the movie trailer recently - what do you mean you never read the book?! So, I read it and loved it. A real journey and not neatly wrapped up at the ending which is how I like my endings.
52. The Twelve (The Passage, #2) - Justin Cronin - 8/12
The long awaited sequel to The Passage, I didn't think I'd be able to wait until 2012 to read it after loving The Passage so much. It did not disappoint. I can't wait for the third book in the trilogy but don't really have a choice.
53. Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller - 8/12
I heard this getting a lot of press and finally my partner put the pressure on to read it after loving it so much himself. Wow! What a story - the story of Achilles from boyhood through the Troy war told by his lover. Beautiful and the ending almost made me cry. And...written by a woman from Philadelphia!
54. Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies - Ben Macintyre, John Lee - 9/12I liked it, a little dry at times but very interesting story of these real people that put their lives on the line to be double, sometimes triple and quadruple, agents. The lies they spread and convinced the German military leaders to believe had a strong direct influence on the success of D-Day.
55. Incendiary - Chris Cleave - 9/12
This is Cleave's second book and so vastly different from his first, Little Bee, but in some ways very similar. Both revolve around a woman going through a tramatic change and trying to survive while constantly reliving the moment of horror that changed their life.
56. The Yellow Birds - Kevin Powers - 9/12
Another true story - written by Powers who spent time in the Middle East - the story focuses on the close bond of teenage boys thrown into war and the harsh realities of how they survive and the complete shock of coming back to the states.
57. Drinking Water: A History - James Salzman - 10/12
I did enjoy this non-fiction but it was, pardon the pun, pretty dry. Very interesting that they focus on the NYC drinking water many times and especially as I was reading this as Superstorm Sandy was hitting NYC.
58. Gregory II: Herman Vermin's Very Own Best-Selling and Critically Acclaimed Book with Gregory in It - Marc Hempel - 10/12
These crack me up! I love Herman Vermin. Maybe more than Gregory, but don't tell Gregory.
59. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner - Alan Sillitoe - 10/12
Not at all what I was expecting. I thought this was novel about running. It's actually a collection of short stories with the central theme being loneliness. The title is taken from the title of the first short story. I really enjoyed this!
60. The Red House: A Novel - Mark Haddon - 10/12
This was a bookclub pick and I think for the most part we liked it but found it difficult to remember who was who until about halfway through the story. Lots of characters, extended family, arrive at the house for a week's vacation. Each chapter is told from a different perspective and constantly bounces around from perspective, sometimes without clearly defining whose perspective it is. I like this quality, really made you think, you had to be engaged to understand what was happening.
61. The Velvet Rage - Alan Downs - 11/12
When I first started this I hated it as I thought Downs was trying to shove all gay men into neat pigeon holes. Not the case at all. Very insightful and I think something all gay men should read. We definitely do share a very unique experience.
62. Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars - Scotty Bowers - 11/12
Well this was trashy gossip writing at its best. Sometimes Bowers just annoyed me as his writing seemed to overly fabilousize everything and his attitude towards women who married gay men and "put up with them and their roving life styles" (paraphrasing) was just gross.
63. Every Day - David Levithan - 11/12
I really liked this - great YA book. A person wakes up in a different body every day and quickly has to realize am I male or female, what color is my skin, etc. The ongoing story if very sweet of longing for a girl and every day trying to figure out how to get to her. The brilliant part for young adults though is that this tackles so many issue - we never know the gender of the narrator, I don't think the narrator even knows, the narrator just accepts being able to love every type of person whether male, female, etc. It also deals directly with gay issues, gender, abuse, and on and on. Really great.
64. Remembrance of Things I Forgot: A Novel - Bob Smith - 11/12
I never even knew a book like this existed - it's perfect for me! Gays and time travel - sign me up! Our narrator is in 2006 and his partner of 15 years who are just about to split from each other invents the time machine and then his boss (Dick Cheney) throws our narrator into the machine and back 20 years to 1986. As he tries to right some wrongs in 1986 along with his companions, the younger version of himself and his partner, they're chased by old 2006 Cheney and young 1986 Cheney, meet up with 1986 George W Bush (narrator is strongly anti-republican) and hilarity ensues around every corner. Loved it.
Boy did I miss the mark in 2012!65. Girl of Nightmares (Anna, #2) - Kendare Blake
66. Gold - Chris Cleave
67. The Ticking is the Bomb - Nick Flynn
68. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1) - Gregory Maguire
69. Love Over Scotland (44 Scotland Street, #3) - Alexander McCall Smith
70. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
71. The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls
I had no idea this book was so funny! My introduction to Voltaire and I'm ready for more.
2. Black Hole - Charles Burns - 1/12
A wonderfully twisted graphic novel about a bug that is spreading through the high school population turning kids into mutants! Awesome!
3. Tumble Home - Amy Hempel - 1/12
I am usually not a fan of short stories but Hempel is such a good writer that I wanted more! The main novella Tumble Home is wonderful. All of the stories in this collection touch on Home.
4. Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi - 1/12
What do Iranian women talk about behind closed doors and away from men? Find out! Satrapi's story telling through graphic novels is wonderful.