Our Best Reads 2012

As this year draws to a close, what would you do without the annual Best Reads for the Year list from your RR Team!  So ... without further ado:

Monique: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
This Young Adult title is one I listened to as a Bolinda e-Audiobook and have really enjoyed the series (Wolves of Mercy Falls).  After a  close encounter with the wolves as a child,  Grace is obsessed with the wolves that are ever present in the forest near her house during winter. After discovering their secrets, she tries to find a way to keep her love, Sam, and her friends human for the winter and possibly forever.

Michelle couldn't split her top two:
Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan – because it was an intriguing light mystery, meshing technology and mysticism in a engaging manner.  And The Boy Who Fell to Earth by Kathy Lette – because of its humour which made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions, between all the insightful issues of life with someone with Asperger Syndrome.

A fiction and a non-fiction from Teresa:
Annabel by Kathleen Winter.  A truly poignant story of a hermaphrodite baby born in a remote coastal town of Labrador, Canada. This tale, told from the points of view of first the mother, then the father and finally of the child (by then a teenager) him/herself, is tragic, disturbing but ultimately liberating. The reader is challenged by themes of personal identity, sexuality, parenthood and the multitude of forms love can take. This book touched me in ways few others have for many years.

The Golden Door: letters to America, by A.A. Gill
Gill's wonderful book is a witty, non-judgmental celebration of the craziness of the American people today. Gill travelled for a year around the not so well known locations of the USA – small towns populated by “average” citizens of the nation which, despite all its present day problems, still occupies a position of great power and influence on the world stage. He highlights their bigotry, religious fanaticism and patriotism, along with their generosity, courage and spirit of optimism. A gem of a read.

Cenza:  My favourite book of 2013 is the Young Adult title, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. It's not often that you finish a book and have a feeling that you just had an amazing experience.  The main character, 16-year old Hazel, is living with terminal cancer and meets Augustus at the Kids with Cancer support group.  Having experienced life and death with a terminal cancer sufferer I found the characters to be so realistic - when facing death there is no right or wrong way to behave - and in this book the characters tackle life, death and love in differing ways. The title, taken from Shakespeare's  Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings" leads to the lifelong questions of  How will I be remembered? Does my life, and will my death, have meaning? These questions are all tackled by the characters in how they live and love, how they live in the shadow of death and how that shadow effects their relationships with their families and each other. I was deeply moved by this book, as was my teenage daughter.

Lisa:  I read so many wonderful novels in 2012 that I can't chose just one, so I'm choosing a non-fiction title instead - Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak. As a fan, I've read many other Stephen King biographies, but this was the most enjoyable. It was a comprehensive cataloguing of his life (as the title suggests) as well as an insight into the stories behind the stories.  As a writer, it's always fascinating to learn where the "seeds" of another writer's stories first germinated. This title is a must-read for every Stephen King fan.

Pru:  The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman.  This mesmerizing Australian novel has been a bestselling book around the world, and Hollywood movie rights were recently snapped up by Dreamworks, with David Heyman (Harry Potter) set to produce. A debut novel full of atmosphere - love can take you to strange places. A story of right and wrong and how sometimes they look the same.  This is an atmospheric debut novel steeped in history but one where love leaves the sting of the salt spray and lashes from the wind.

Deb also offers her best fiction and non-fiction:
Kindling by Darren Groth.  From the cover:  A father – Nate, doing the best he can to honour his wife’s memory and his child’s future.  An autistic son – Kieran, learning to make his way in a world he’d rather not engage with.  Two lives burned by the past and redefined on a smoke-filled summer afternoon when a young boy attempts to make amends.
Stock up on the tissues ... Kindling is the heart-wrenching attempts of grandfather, father and son to understand each other. It’s a poignant and achingly beautiful novel; it's Australian; and just pips The Light Between Oceans as my favourite read of the year.

For non-fiction, Harry Potter: Page to Screen - the complete filmmaking journey by Bob MCabe was brilliant! This huge book opens the doors to Hogwarts castle and the wizarding world of Harry Potter to reveal the complete behind-the-scenes secrets, techniques, and over-the-top artistry that brought J.K. Rowling's acclaimed novels to cinematic life. I made sure I read all the text, as it was too easy to wander aimlessly in the hundreds of stunning photos, some super-large fold out ones. A totally absorbing and dare I say it, magical book!

Happy Holiday Reading everyone!
Deb & The Team at RR.

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