2012 -- The Year-End Book Review

Hey,

So it's a little late, but here's the stack I read through this year (not including comic books and a few other miscellaneous bits):

1. Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse (vol. 1 &2) by Floyd Gottfredson
   
2. Seven Princes by John R. Fultz
   
3. Faith by John Love
   
4. Riddley Walker by Russell Hobarn
   
5. The Highway War by Maj. Seth Folsom
   
6. In the Lion's Mouth by Michael Flynn
   
7. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
   
8. Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
   
9. The Jester at Scar by E.C. Tubb
   
10. King Maker: The Knights of Breton Court by Maurice Broaddus
    
11. Ashes of Candesce by Karl Schroeder
    
12. Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay's Dance Clubs by Sonia Faleiro
    
13. Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber
    
14. The Steel Seraglio by Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey
    
15. Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
    
16. Free Will by Sam Harris
    
17. Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery
    
18. Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller
    
19. Not A Good Day To Die by Sean Naylor
    
20. Lallia by E.C. Tubb
    
21. A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 by Frederic Morton
    
22. A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
    
23. Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow
    
24. The Hunt for Pancho Villa - The Columbus Raid and Pershing's Punitive Expedition 1916-17 by Alejandro Quesada
    
25. The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII South, Big Planet by Jack Vance
    
26. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and translated by Olena Bormashenko
    
27. Harmony (alt.Human) by Keith Brooke
    
28. The Accord by Keith Brooke
    
29. Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams
    
30. House to House by David Bellavia
    
31. Triton by Samuel R. Delany
    
32. Why Love Hurts by Eva Illouz
    
33. Celebrant by Michael Cisco
    
34. This Dark Earth by John Hornor Jacobs
    
35. Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
    
36. Spin the Sky by Katy Stauber
    
37. On the Run in Siberia by Rene Willerslev
    
38. The Last Legends of Earth by A. A. Attanasio
    
39. vN by Madeline Ashby
    
40. The Not Yet by Moira Crone
    
41. The Score: A Parker Novel by Richard Stark
    
42. Technos: The Dumarest Saga Book 8 by E. C. Tubb
    
43. The Corpse-Rat King by Lee Battersby
    
44. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
    
45. Nova by Samuel R. Delany
    
46. Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games By Lizzie Stark
    
47. Eaarth by Bill McKibben
    
48. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
    
49. The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks
    
50. Summer 2012 (Magic) edition of Lapham's Quarterly
    
51. A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin
    
52. Fall 2012 (Politics) edition of Lapham's Quarterly
    
53. Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity by Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor
    
54. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
    
55. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
    
56. Sex and Violence in Zero-G: The Complete "Near Space" Stories by Allen Steele
    

So that's one less book than last year, but at least I'm averaging better than a book a week.

But now it's time to judge harshly and hand out the prizes.

Top Sci-Fi of 2012

• The Last Legends of Earth by A. A. Attanasio
  
• A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and translated by Olena Bormashenko
  
• Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
  

Top Fantasy of 2012

• Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
  
• Celebrant by Michael Cisco
  
• The Steel Seraglio by Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey
  

Top Non-Fiction of 2012

• Why Love Hurts by Eva Illouz
  
• Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber
  
• Free Will by Sam Harris
  
• Not A Good Day To Die by Sean Naylor
  

Top Apocalypse Fiction of 2012

• Riddley Walker by Russell Hobarn
  
• Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery
  
• The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
  

There were some real stinkers this year, but maybe that's because there was so much good stuff to make it look worse by comparison. Anyway, lots of fun stuff if you're making out your reading list for the next year.

later
Tom