I still have this idea of myself that I voraciously devour books. But to be quite honest, while I’m still a great book lover, I’m reading fewer and fewer each year. This has everything to do with the long hours I’m putting in at work, more time spent on running and fitness related activities, and the fact that my books are split between my nightstands in Bremen and Berlin.
Read in 2012
In any case, I read six books in 2012 (as compared to eight in 2011). But given that one of them took me half a year to finish, it doesn’t really bother me My favorites out of this bunch were When They Come For Us, We’ll Be Gone and Cloud Atlas.
- Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster by Bill Pierce — My Review
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami — My Review
- The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone by Gal Beckerman — My Review
- The End of Illness by David B. Agus — My Review
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell — My Review
To Read in 2013
As far as 2013 goes, I have an impossibly long list of books I’d love to read, but these nine are at the very top. (Two were on last year‘s list too.) I’m really excited about all of them, so it’ll be hard to choose where to start first!
- Eine Frau in Berlin by Anonyma (currently reading)
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Silent House by Orhan Pamuk
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- The Emperor of All Maladies: The Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie
- In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
- Pox: An American History by Michael Willrich
- Desdemona by Toni Morrison
What were your favorite books this year? Do you have any must-reads for the coming year?
Update! For more great books from this past year, check out Click Clack Gorilla‘s Year in Books 2012 and her Book Lover Blog Hop!
I really want to read Emperor of All Maladies and Pox too! Maybe we should start a transcontinental disease book reading group?
Omg, I LOVE that idea!
I still like to think I read a lot, but in reality, I’m in the same boat and read fewer and fewer books each year. I’ve got Gone Girl on my list for next year as well. I just finished reading The Kommandant’s Girl, which I enjoyed, partly because it took place in Krakow and I recognized the areas and street names from my visit there.
I read the Checklist Manifesto after seeing the author interviewed on something. (The Daily Show maybe?) I quite liked it, and I think that anyone who is part of a team should read it.
Yeah, I really like Atul Gawande too. He’s written some great pieces on the US health system for the New Yorker. His book “Complication” is also fantastic, if you have a thing for medical horror stories. :)
So what did you think of Cloud Atlas? I have that sitting on my shelf, but the moment has yet to come when I pick it up and get started. Thanks for joining the link party! (If anyone else is doing book lists online, you can link up to a bunch of other book lovers list links here: http://www.clickclackgorilla.com/2012/12/28/the-year-in-books-2012-and-a-book-lover-blog-hop/)
I really enjoyed Cloud Atlas. It was a bit like six different stories in one, but still somehow all linked together. And each story hit such a different genre of writing that I was impressed that they were all written by one author. Definitely worth the read!
Oooh, yet more ideas for books to read. Eine Frau in Berlin sounds interesting – good candidate for my attempt to read more German next year, too.