My Top 12 Books of 2012 in 12 Words

Do you sense a theme here? I hope so. I'm not normally this obsessed with the number 12.

Now, not all of these books were exactly published in 2012, but I discovered/read/became obsessed with them in 2012. Good enough, yes? Let's begin.

12. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
By Mindy Kaling
Crown Archetype - 2011
After reading this, I want Mindy Kaling to be my new BFF.

11. The entire Stephanie Plum series
By Janet Evanovich
Various publishers, most recently Headline Book Publishing - 2012
Nineteen crime-solving, bounty-hunting books with one intensely hot love triangle.

10. I've Got Your Number
By Sophie Kinsella
The Dial Press - 2012
Girl finds boy's phone. Boy wants phone back. Guess what happens next.

9. The Next Best Thing
By Jennifer Weiner
Atria Books - 2012
TV writer Ruth learns that Hollywood's lights are more glaring than bright.

8. Size 12 and Ready to Rock
By Meg Cabot
William Morrow Paperbacks - 2012
Newly-engaged Heather must catch a killer because this time, it's personal.

7. Imperfect Bliss
By Susan Fales-Hill
Atria Books - 2012
Can reality TV inspire real feelings in a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet?

6. Destined (Wings #4)
By Aprilynne Pike
HarperTeen - 2012
With Avalon under attack, Laurel must embrace her destiny or destroy it.

5. Beautiful Redemption (Beautiful Creatures #4)
By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - 2012
Trapped between worlds, Ethan must risk everything to return home to Lena.

4. The Probability of Miracles
By Wendy Wunder
Razorbill - 2011
Cancer-striken Cam moves to Promise, where miracles are more than rumors.

3. The Art of Fielding
By Chad Harbach
Little, Brown and Company - 2011
One catastrophic mistake forever changes the once-inevitable course of several lives.

2. The Way We Fall
By Megan Crewe
Disney-Hyperion - 2012
Love struggles to survive an epidemic that destroys everything worth living for.

1. The Fault in Our Stars
By John Green
Dutton Books - 2012
A story about how deeply you love, not how long you live.

So there you have it, fellow bookaholics. Do you agree with any of my choices? Was there an awesomeamazing book that I missed and should become obsessed with in 2013? Are you as impressed as I am that I managed to summarize all 12 books in just 12 words? Discuss!

Photos courtesy of Goodreads.com

The Fault in Our Stars

Written by John Green

Goodreads Synopsis: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs...for now. 
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too: post-high school, post-friends, and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

My Confession: Every so often, I come across a book that gets me really excited. Really excited about the fact that I can stumble across something that causes me to miss valuable hours of sleep because I've become physically incapable of putting the book down. Really excited about the idea that one person could make up a story so enthralling, so emotional, and so enchanting that it reminds me once again why I am a writer, and why I spend countless hours reading other people's words.

This is one of those books.

It's hard to put into words everything this book will make you feel. It is one of the most beautiful, well-crafted stories I've ever read. It's stunning and heartbreaking, and the raw honesty and bare reality literally took my breath away at times.

I had a moment with this book. I connected with this book. I have never felt quite so gutted, quite so drained after finishing a book, and then immediately felt the urge to pick it back up and read it all over again.

Augustus and Hazel have a connection that doesn't need glitz, glamour, or paranormal activity to portray the strength of true love. Their interactions are specific and intellectual, their banter witty and humerous. The added notion that they both battle(d) cancer adds a note of irony and maturity to their relationship, but you never forget that these are kids, kids who just happen to see the world a whole lot differently than most people do.

This is not a story about cancer and what it takes away. This is a story about finding love and transcending both time and circumstance. It's a story about life and what you do with it; love and whether you choose to believe it; hope and how you dare to feel it.

Recommendation: If you call yourself a book lover, or like myself, a bookaholic, then you cannot--cannot--miss this book. It is one of the most powerful things I've ever read. Everyone should feel the simultaneous, beautiful confliction of bone-rattling, earth-shaking love and knee-breaking, heart-wrenching sorrow that The Fault in Our Stars makes you experience in its breathtaking 300 pages. Read it. It's a rollercoaster worth riding.

Again and again.

Rating: 5/5

318 pages, published by Dutton Juvenile (Jan. 10, 2012)

Quote of the Day

"Neither novels nor their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species."

The Fault in Our Stars