Books of 2012

Just adding this here more for posterity than any other reason since I haven't been blogging in the last few months.  An asterisk denotes my favorites of the last year.

The Enemy by Lee Child
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
*All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Faded Coat of Blue by Owen Parry
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
61 Hours by Lee Child
Under the Dome by Stephen King
Worth Dying For by Lee Child
Bite Me by Christopher Moore
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
The Whisperers by John Connolly
The Bone Yard by Jefferson Bass
Boys Like Us edited by Patrick Merla
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Duma Key by Stephen King
Persuader by Lee Child
Everything's Eventual by Stephen King
Insomnia by Stephen King
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Desperation by Stephen King
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
The Poet by Michael Connelly
The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
Hannibal by Thomas Harris
*House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Affair by Lee Child
*The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
Killing Floor by Lee Child
Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Forgotten Many by Robert Crais
The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais
Surviver by J. F. Gonzalez
Alice in Zombieland by Nickloas Cook
*The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Front Porch Prophet by Raymond L. Atkins
Hell's Corner by David Baldacci
Night of the Living Trekkies by David Anderson
Tripwire by Lee Child
Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End:  The Story of a Crime by Leif G. W. Persson
A Wanted Man by Lee Child
Lullaby Town by Robert Crais
Red Seas Under Read Skies by Scott Lynch
Protector by Laurel Dewey
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

While I read a little bit more than usual last year, I didn't read as many books that I would consider "five star" reads.  Looking back I read a lot of Stephen King novels for some reason, mostly due to already owning a large number of his books with them being on hand.  I also started to get into some new series as well by Robert Crais (the Elvis Cole series) and Michael Connelly (the Harry Bosch series), both good authors if you're into mysteries or police procedural stories. 

Finally, I crossed over to the dark side and started using a Nook e-Reader my mom got me.  Surprisingly I've found that I really enjoy using the Nook and the convenience of being able to download virtually anything at any time, though I still purchase a lot of books at Barnes and Noble as well as at the local used book store.  A couple of books on the list above were part of Free Book Friday offered by Nook.  Reads that I'm interested in are few and far between but I appreciate the free book I can snag every now and then.

My goal for this year is to read at least 100 books, a daunting task, or so I thought, but I'm actually ahead of schedule so far.