First things first--favorite reads of 2012!
This is tricky--I have two entries on the list that I literally finished yesterday, along with one I finished a year ago today. It's always hard to tell what will stay with you on the one hand, and on the other hand you can forget how a book made you feel right when you finished it. But I think this is a fairly accurate list:
#10 Cinder by Marissa Meyer
(My review)
#9 My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
(My review)
#8How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
(My review)
#7 Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers
(My review)
#6The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
(My review)
#5Ask The Passengers by A.S. King
(My review)
#4Fire by Kristin Cashore
(My review)
AND
#3 The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
(My review)
#2 The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
(My review)
#1 Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
(My review)
That's right--the book I called last January 1st as my book of the year wound up coming in at #2. It still might be my favorite. But there's no doubt in my mind that Code Name Verity was the best book I read in 2012!
Goals for 2013:
I have a plethora of goals--I'm calling them goals, not resolutions--so I'll share a few of them here:
- Finish writing my very first YA MS. I made HUGE progress in November, and actually got a bit more done in December before the holidays came along. I'm not sure this writing project is THE ONE--but I'm gonna see it through to the end, even if it's just for the sake of learning the process.
- Revise said MS. I'm actually really looking forward to this part, which should help with my resolve to actually finish the thing!
- Read six different books on writing. The first one will be Bird by Bird, as I've mentioned here before--some of us will be reading that this month if you want to read along! On deck: On Writing.
- Read at least one book a week outside of professional reading. In other words, anything other than writing books or teaching books. A much lower bar than last year, but I'll think of it as a minimum.
- Start every weekday with a walk. I started doing this on and off before the holidays. I got fantastic new boots from my MIL for Christmas so this is do-able even in the Buffalo winter. It makes me feel better in just about every possible way. And if I make myself do it early, it prevents that early-morning internet time suck for turning into all-morning internet time suck.
- Bake bread and breakfast foods (whole-wheat applesauce cakes! Pumpkin bread!) on a regular basis. Delicious, and I love baking with half-whole wheat flour!
- Learn. To. Drive. I live in Buffalo. My in-laws bought me driving lessons for Christmas. This one is no longer negotiable. Game on, cars!
Oh YAY! Cannot wait to read your MS, Jess! The revising part is indeed fun...it´s tough but definitely worth seeing the story becomes so much more fleshed out and even up some of the stakes...
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite read of the year was JELLICOE ROAD. I loved loved loved that book!
And yum for homemade bread and breakfast foods, any chances that you could send me some to Germany :D :D :D
Happy New Year Jess and wishing you lots of happiness, smiles, success and health :D
(and as I was telling Jaime earlier during the year, we need to make a google video chat happen at some point in 2013!) :D
Yes! That would be a blast! Just have to figure out the timing of it.
DeleteAnd man alive, I need to get my hands on JELLICOE ROAD!
These are great goals! There needs to be more walking and baking in my 2013 as well, some things to keep me balanced and pull me out of the writing vortex that was 2012. Nice to know that Code Name Verity was top of your book list, seeing as that's one of the books I got Jaime for Christmas. Now I need to sit down and read it myself. :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely good to have some active things to keep you sane...although at the moment, I'm trying to get back in to the "writing vortex", or at least, like...near it.
DeleteHappy New Year! These are great goals. I'm planning on doing a post pretty soon on all the writing craft books I read in the last year, if you're looking for some recommendations. I love BIRD BY BIRD and think I might re-read it this month in preparation for starting my second book. It's so inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI still need to read CODE NAME VERITY! I've heard so many good things about it.
Awesome! I will definitely be bookmarking your craft book post :) I'm excited about actually putting in the time and the work and seeing how far I can push myself as a writer.
DeleteGreat list of favourite reads! As Erin mentioned, they gave me a copy of CODE NAME VERITY for Christmas, so I'll probably be digging into it right away. I'm really looking forward to doing our BIRD BY BIRD read this month. It's sitting here on my desk just waiting.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, a lot of your goals are very similar to mine right down to the driving thing. I did driver's ed about ten years ago, failed my in-car test, and then never went back to do it again. It's high time I got around to doing it now because it's really getting inconvenient not having a license. We'll maybe have to keep each other accountable. :)
I so wish I had learned to drive at sixteen like normal kids...but somehow, NONE of my girlfriends who were my age learned to drive in high school either! We made our guy friends drive us around, like it was the '50s or something. Since then most of them have learned--I think our last holdout will be my friend who still lives in NYC, because having a car there is usually more trouble than it's worth anyway. But I'm glad I'm not the only one in this boat!
DeleteWe share a few 2012 favorites, and I definitely still need to read ASK THE PASSENGERS and CODE NAME VERITY. I've heard such fantastic things about both! And I think one of my goals should be to KEEP baking, but cut back on all the snacking. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's why I love baking heartier things--anything I can get whole wheat flour into, really. That way, I can eat what I bake as a meal. (As opposed to Christmas cookies...turns out, when you have a bunch of cookies for lunch, you don't feel great for the rest of the day. WHO KNEW? I am not sorry to say goodbye to that part of the Christmas season.
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