Top 10 Books I'm Excited To Read in 2012

Yay for a new year! Today's Top 10 Tuesday list is appropriately about the top ten books I'm excited to read in 2012. Thanks to The Broke and Bookish for hosting.

I spent most of 2011 on a LDS mission I did not get a lot of leisurely reading in the year, so I am very excited for 2012. My goal is to read as many books as possible. Anyone who knows me will tell you two things: I am pretty indecisive and I am always reading something. So as you can imagine, I always have a really long list of to-read books and it always takes me awhile to decide what to read next especially because I am usually reading three or four books at a time. This list is helpful because now I've made my decision ahead of time and can just refer to it. But I guess whether or not I read them in this exact order depends on the library...

10.  The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright
I admit that this does not seem literary, but as you can see from the link, Amazon claims it's "American storytelling at it's best" and it's an "instant classic". I am assuming The Red Tent will be intense and serious and so The Wednesday Letters will probably be an easy, fluffy read. Besides, I already own it which is a really good reason to read it.






9.  The Red Tent by Anita Diamant I have always heard good things about this book, but have never read it. Last year while I was reading the Old Testament I remembered that this book existed and wrote a note to my future self to read it.

8.  The One that I Want by Allison Winn Scotch. The author and I attended the same private high school (not at the same time) and there was an article in our school's magazine about her writing career. It made me really want to read her books. This one is actually her lowest rated book on goodreads, but the plot sounds so interesting to me that I'm still going to give it a try. From what I can gather from the summaries the main characters get a glimpse into the future and the opportunity to choose whether that future becomes a reality. And of course,I want to see how a fellow Lakesider writes.




7. Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett. This is one of the only non-fiction books on my list (well this list, I'll definitely read some non-fiction in 2012, but they're just not on the top of my list). I loved The Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and I remember reading a poem by Lucy Grealy in one of my classes (of course I can't remember which poem it was) so that made me curious about their personal lives. Upon further research I found out Grealy's family was actually opposed to the publishing of this, so course that makes me want to read it even more.




6. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I love the title and I love books that take place during WWII and I love books that reference Seattle.Yep, that's about all it takes to get me to want to read it.

5.  Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. Amazon's review it says "Where is the high life, the conspicuous waste, the violence, the kinky sex, the death wish? It's not here. What is here is just as fascinating, just as compelling, as touching, and as tragic." That seems like a pretty safe book to read for someone just coming back from a mission. I love the beautiful simplicity of ordinary lives.

4.  The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. For about five seconds in my life I thought it would be fun to be a journalist, but now I think it would be fun to read about journalists. This is written from the perspective of multiple characters which always makes a book more interesting. And of course I love the title and the cover. Notice a theme?







3.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Love the premise of this book and I am excited to see how the moral and ethical questions raised by the topic of cloning are handled. I also think it's neat that it appears to take place in the 1950's (not sure since I haven't read it yet) instead of the future. Two of my friends on goodreads said it was really well-written so I'm excited to dive in!

 2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. This was Ingrid's Christmas gift for me (thanks again!) and I've actually been wanting to read it for several year. I'm purposely avoiding giving a summary of these books because I hope to review them in the future and I don't want to repeat myself. I've heard nothing but good things about it and of course I want to read it before I see the movie adaptation.

1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon I appropriately bought this book at a small used bookstore in the Seattle area and the owner (literally) sold me on it based on the intriguing plot. Also, that cover is awesome and additionally, I love books about books! It seems right up my all. I'm most excited to read this one that's why it's first, obviously.

BONUS: I really want to re-read The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson the author is an acquaintance's father and I remember liking it when I first read it. I don't remember anything about it (not a reflection on the book, just a reflection on my memory) though, so it would be like a first reading.






I always try to read a variety of things and I think I picked a good selection. It looks like 2012 will be a good reading year for me!