Favourite Books of 2012

The title of this post is a little misleading because the books I'm going to mention are some of those I read, or re-read, in 2012, even though many of them were published several years before. Also, to be perfectly frank, to have a top ten list while having only read twenty-four books this year (twenty-five, if I can finish Veronica Roth's Insurgent before 2013 arrives) seems a little silly but to fit in with the theme of my last post and of top ten lists that'll be coming up as 2013 gets closer, I figure I'll share mine anyway.

They're in order but not necessarily from the one I most liked to the one I least liked. I enjoyed them all, after all, otherwise they wouldn't be on this list. Really, I'm not sure how to describe the order I've put them in. It's not as if they're all the same kind of books either; all YA, all contemporary fiction, whatever. Nonetheless, here are ten of the twenty-plus books I read in 2012 that stood out for me.

So, here they are. Perhaps you've read some of them as well; liked them as I did or, yikes, maybe hated them. What's on your list?

1. Legend by Marie Lu (2011, Penguin) (Read my review at http://juanraderbas.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-review-legend-by-marie-lu.htm?m=1)

2. Running The Rift by Naomi Benaron (2012, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill) (Read my review at http://filamkickingscribe.com/4/post/2012/07/book-review-running-the-rift-by-naomi-benaron.html)

3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and Ellen Forney (illustrator) (2007, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

4. Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim (2011, First Second; originally self-published in 2003)

5. Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose, and Langdon Foss (illustrator) (2012, DC Comcis)

6. Divergent by Veronica Roth (2011, Harper Collins)

7. Age Is Just Number by Dara Torres and Elizabeth Weil (2009, Broadway Books)

8. Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (2012, Random House)

9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (2005, Random House)

10. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1998, reprint by Harper Collins; originally published in 1962).

P.S. If I can be so bold, in the nonexistent number 11/proverbial honourable mention position, I would put my own book, Back Kicks And Broken Promises. I think it's a good book and I know some people have loved it and others (thankfully fewer) not so much. I hope it breaks into the library of talked about Asian-American literature. I believe it's a good story and offers insights into being an Asian-American. It's a coming-of-ager that depicts its male Asian-Am protagonist in a non-stereotypical way and it offers much for Asians, Asian-Ams and non-Asians alike. All that said, however, I would include it in my list, not because I think it's so great or anything like that, but because it was my first published, albeit self-published, book. It had (has) meaning for me and it has made some sales. Even if my next book is picked up by a traditional publisher and I earn a significant advance package, I think Back Kicks will always be just a little bit more special. From its first seed to when I held the first copy hardcopy, almost ten years had passed and to see an idea come to fruition, truly has some kind of impact on a person; especially when the thing that has come to fruition is a book and you're its author.