Last year, I was invited to contribute to the Law School Transplant's Literary Year in Review. Erin challenged her readers and friends to pick their top five reads from last year (they didn't have to be newly-published, simply read by the contributor during 2011).
I've just send my 2012 submissions to Erin, except that I only have three good ones to share (because, in case you missed it, 2012 was not a great year for me finishing things).
1) Blue Asylum
by Kathy Hepinstall - I don't usually "do" Civil
War fiction, so when this came up on the book club list, I was
nonplussed. But the characters and themes of this book transcend the
temporal setting - a wife committed to the asylum for disobeying her
husband, a soldier suffering from PTSD, a young boy looking for love and
affection anywhere he can get it - and drew me in. 2) The September Society
by Charles Finch - The second book in the Charles Lenox series (which I
discovered while vacationing last year), in which one finds the
Victorian Era amateur sleuth trolling the streets of Oxford in search of
the truth behind a student's death. Really, I've loved the whole
series so far (the first is A Beautiful Blue Death
; the third is The Fleet Street Murders
, which particularly kept me on the edge of my seat!).3) The Little Princesses
by Marion Crawford - This book,
written by Queen Elizabeth II's childhood nanny is a near and dear
favorite of mine. I re-read it in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
in 2012, and the glimpses into HM's upbringing (at the same time
revealing and respectful) never fail to endear me to her further.
Sadly, the author was ostricized from the Royal Family for what was seen
as a violation of their trust and invasion of their privacy. I would
venture to guess that HM views its publication much more kindly in light
of all the more negative intrusions the family have sustained during her reign. Also sadly,
the book is out of print, but you can find some serialized snippits
courtesy of the Daily Mail here, here, and here.Check out the 2012 Literary Challenge round-up for more great reading ideas!
What were your favorite reads of 2012?
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They sound like some good reads, thanks for sharing.
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