Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Midyear Recap: Favorite Reads January through June 2012

It is time for the midyear recap covering books read from January through June 2012. What's different? I gave out more A's than usual this first half of the year, so they are all included below. This year I've separated the titles by category and in no particular order of preference. I'm keeping it simple and will leave that chore for my end-of-year post. :) Let's look at my list:

2012 New Releases:


Contemporary Romance/Suspense: The Witness by Nora Roberts (Putnam, 2012): A
Historical Romance: Starlight (The Christies #2) by Carrie Lofty (Pocket, 2012): A-
Fantasy: Range of Ghosts (Eternal Sky#1) by Elizabeth Bear (Tor Books, 2012): A-


Gay Historical Romance: Purgatory: A Novel of the Civil War by Jeff Mann (Bear Bones Books, 2012): A-
Gay Fantasy: Point of Knives; A Novel of Aestreiant by Melissa Scott (Lethe Press, 2012) A-
Poetry: Slow Lightning by Eduardo C. Corral (Yale University Press, 2012): A
Poetry: He Will Laugh by Douglas Ray (Lethe Press, 2012): A-

Re-Released in 2012:


Historical Romance: The Temporary Wife by Mary Balogh (Dell, 2012): A
Historical Romance: The Rake by Mary Jo Putney (Kensington Books, 2012): A
Gay Historical Romance: It Takes Two by Elliott Mackle (Lethe Press, 2012): A

Released in 2011:


Gay Contemporary Romance: Split by Mel Bossa (Bold Strokes Books, 2011): A-


As always this is a frustrating process for me. Of course As should be on my top reads list, but there are so many books that I thoroughly enjoyed this first half of the year that it would be sad if some of those awesome, memorable Bs went unmentioned. So here are a few honorable mentions, some released in 2012 and others before, but all reviewed this year: We the Animals by Justin TorresThe Proposition by Judith IvoryDrown by Junot DiazOld Man's War by John ScalziShards of Honour by Lois McMaster BujoldHistory's Passion: Sex Before Stonewall edited by Richard LabonteThe Heart's History by Lewis DeSimoneHer Best Worst Mistake by Sarah MayberryTaxi Rojo by Erik Orrantia, and well... there are so many more my list could go on and on. :)
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NUMBERS:

Total books read as of June 2012: 95 

Grades (+/- included with numbers):
A = 11
B = 53
C = 29
DNF = 1 (exception - I don't really keep a running # of books I don't finish)
NG = 1

Interesting points? 3/11 A's allotted to previously published books, and 5/11 to LGBT books. I will break down my numbers by category on my year-end post. NOTE: These numbers do not include miscellaneous short stories read from anthologies or collections that were not completely read/finished, poetry, etc. I don't list those unless I finish the whole book.
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That's it for the first half of the year, it was a great one for me. Let's hope the second half is just as good or better!


9 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to try another Nora Roberts book, and Witness sounds good. I read one other a while back -- the one where she trains dogs? -- and it was pretty good. I don't usually read basic (as in, non-paranormal/fantasy/whatever) contemporaries on the het side, but I enjoyed the previous one enough to try another.

    Angie

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    1. Hi Angie!

      I know you don't read that many het books from the romance category, so I'm glad you're giving NR another shot. I think the book you really liked was The Search. That was a really good read. The Witness, I loved! Let's see what you think... ;P

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  2. So now I'm adding a bunch to my buy list?! OMG, my budget is blown to hell, although I REFUSE to pay $13 for NR books... it's just too much money.

    I'm addingL Purgatory, Split, Point of Knives and Range of Ghosts... should I just go ahead and add Mary Balogh's too?

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    1. LOL, Mariana! That budget... what budget? I cheat all the time on my #'s for that budget. ;P

      Well, you're choosing some awesome books to add to your TBR. Do you like Balogh? I loved The Temporary Wife... so of course I recommend it (*g) and the book includes two stories. But I have not read the second story yet, so I can't recommend that one... still it's a 2 fer for the price of one. :D

      RE: NR books. I also think that $13 for an NR ebook is way too steep, particularly when you can buy the mass market or paperback for less than that ($7.99). I don't understand the price point on those. :(

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    2. The prices are ridiculous and I'm going to start divorcing with a few authors because of it... it makes me sad to think of it. I just can't get how these publishers think they are going to keep consumers like me when they are trying to get over on us. 13 is just way too much.

      I've read and enjoyed a couple of MB books, but I'm not a humongous fan of Historicals, although I need to start reading more straight books :)

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    3. Mariana, I understand. I did that for a while too. What I do when I encounter that now (and I want to read the book) is just buy the paperback and not the ebook. I usually refuse to pay that price, with a few exceptions. :)

      These stories by Balogh are re-releases from her old Signet books, so they do represent her signature style. I also love Carrie Lofty, but her style is quite different... :D

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  3. So very many good ones! I see I need to do some catching up on my read. No surprise there! LOL

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    1. Leslie, I need to catch up too! There were some great releases during the first half of the year that I didn't read yet. So my second half of the year will carry those. *g* Not enough time to read everything. I wish!

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  4. 95 books in 6 months!! Truly impressive. I battle to get through 1 every fortnight. Last one I read was Nora Robert's The Witness. I see it was one of the books in the Book Report radio show's lineup last week. I was quite impressed by the narrator (not being a big fan of audio books), and would actually have considered this in audio format if I hadn't already started reading it.
    The Book Report is a weekly radio show for book-lovers. Author interviews, book reviews and so on. If you're interested in getting more ideas, you can go to their site -bookreportradio(.)com where you'll also find broadcasting details.

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