LibrisNotes: The Best of 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

The Best of 2012

2012 was another year of mostly great reads in both young adult and adult fiction. There are so many great books it's hard to keep up! I was excited this year to discover several authors whose works I haven't read before including Julie Klassen, Amy Clipston and Penelope Delta, whom I will be reviewing in 2013. 2012 was the year that saw the publishing of many second and third installments in trilogies, some of which were decent, but most of which, disappointed. While the dystopian subgenre continues to be crowded with subpar books, there are young adult authors who are writing books that are exploring themes very relevant to the lives of teenagers.

This year saw the publication of several very good historical novels including The Wild Queen by Carolyn Meyer and Rachel's Secret by Shelly Sanders. In 2013, I'll be reading two reprints of Greek historical writer, Penelope Delta, whose books explore two very unique historical time periods.

So for better or worse here's my list for this past year:

Best Young Adult Books 2012:

1. Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab
2. Everything I Was by Corinne Dmas
3. The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots by Carolyn Meyer
4. The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi
5. Starters by Lissa Price
6. Reckless Heart by Amy Clipston
7. Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus
8. Miracle by Elizabeth Scott
9. Secrets of the Henna Girl by Sufiya Ahmed
10.While He Was Away by Karen Schrek
11.The Watch That Ends The Night by Alan Wolf
12.Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Honourable Mentions:

Capetown by Brenda Hammond
Waiting by Carol Lynch
Origin by Jessica Khoury

Worst Young Adult Book:

Adaptation by Malinda Lo (This wins hands down; so bad and weird I couldn't review it)

Best Adult Fiction

1. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

Best Picture Books

1. Zorro Gets and Outfit by Carter Goodrich
2. The Obstinate Pen by Frank Dormer

Best Movies 2012

1. Lincoln
2. Anna Karenina
3. Les Miserables (to be reviewed in 2013)
4. Brave

Best Documentaries

1. The War of 1812

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Quotables

"I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that every-thing will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more."
Anne Frank

"Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle."
Auggie Pullman in Wonder

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” he said. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be
ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

"I never look back darling. It distracts from the now."
Edna Mode, Incredibles

I once read in my physics book that the universe begs to be observed, that energy travels and transfers when people pay attention. Maybe that's what love really boils down to -- having someone who cares enough to pay attention so that you're encouraged to travel and transfer, to make your potential energy spark into kinetic energy. Maybe all anyone ever needs is for someone to notice them, to observe them."
-Aysel Seran in My Heart and Other Black Holes

“You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing...after all, what's a life anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die...By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” J.R. Tolkien

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. Harriet Tubman

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, Chapter III The Night Shadows

"A dead thing goes with the stream; only a living thing can go against it." G.K. Chesterton

“The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.” Blaise Pascal

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!
From Robert Bolt`s A Man For All Seasons.

My mind was a messy attic, with snippets of my interviews and different rumors jumbling in my head.
Tree Taylor from The Secrets of Tree Taylor by Dandi Daley Mackall.

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Monday, December 31, 2012

The Best of 2012

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