Books read in 2012

After Borders closed in September of 2011, I spent the rest of the year trying to find a job. When not toiling with that, I read. For the first time in a while, I was able to put a small dent in my unread book collection. When 2012 began, I kinda of thought that I would not repeat the book count (33) of what I read in the previous year because…well, because I thought I would have a job by now.

But as this year comes to close, I’m still jobless and quickly running out of money. Perhaps that is why in the last six months I read less than the previous six, well, three books less. Depression has hit with like a ton of bricks, and I’m feeling hopeless and unsure about where I sit now. There are many time, days, nights and months where I ponder if I have outlived my usefulness.

But I digress. I could have, I guess, reached 46 completed books, but I spent about 2 ½ months not reading –and to be honest, I don’t know how that happened. Well, that might be a lie. Dark thoughts have kept me from really hunkering down, I guess. While I’ve certainly watched less TV - I try to keep it off until 4 or 5-, I’ve spent too much time on Facebook –especially during the last few months of the election, prattling on like I knew what I was talking about. And I’ve become restless. You would think that this forced me into activities such as jogging or bike riding. But it more or less made me want to stay in the house, hoping no one could see that I was being lazy, not trying real hard to find a job. Though I did try.

As for 2013, well…who the hell knows.

01.   A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (969 pages)

02.   Something Like Summer by Jay Bell (279 pages)

03.   The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (309 pages)

04.   A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (1128 pages)

05.   Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson (334 pages)

06.   How Evan Broke His Head and Other Stories by Garth Stein (359 pages)

07.   Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby (386 pages)

08.   The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (201 pages)

09.   The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (531 pages)

10.   Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan (231 pages)

11.   To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (376 pages)

12.   Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore (394 pages)

13.   The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (487 pages)

14.   Star Trek: DTI: Forgotten History by  Christopher L. Bennett (346 pages)

15.   The Wind Through the Keyhold by Stephen King (309 pages)

16.   The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins (374 pages)

17.   The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (450 pages)

18.   Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (184 pages)

19.   Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus (337 pages)

20.   Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (850 pages)

21.   Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (947 pages)

22.   The World According to Garp by John Irving (609 pages)

23.   Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi (385 pages) 

6/30/12- 10, 775 pages.

24.   The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (1,250 pages)

25.   Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts (376 pages)

26.   Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (240 pages) Re-read

27.   The Alchemyst: The Secret Life of Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott (369 pages)

28.   Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan (279 pages)

29.   Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving (554 pages)

30.   The Shining by Stephen King (683 pages) re-read

31.   One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper (324 pages)

32.   The Pirates! In an Adventure with Romantics by Gideon Defoe (301 pages)

33.   Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon (465 pages)

34.   The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (503 pages)

35.   Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (509 pages)

36.   The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde (287 pages)

37.   The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde (363 pages)

38.   Let Nothing You Dismay by Mark O’Donnell (193 pages)

39.   Life of Pi by Yann Martel (319 pages)

40.   Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (372 pages)

41.   The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (485 pages)

42.   Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski (349 pages)

8, 221 pages read

Total for 2012: 18,996 pages