Lady Demelza's Year in Books 2012

This year, for the first time since primary school when such lists were pretty much compulsory, I've kept a list of all the books I've read.

I was inspired by the various blogs I was reading. Many bloggers were publishing their reading lists, and I really loved seeing everyone's lists. In fact, I have found several amazing, gorgeous books that I would not have ever heard of but for a mention on a blog I was reading. I thought it was such a good idea that I tried it too, and I must say, it has been very enjoyable to keep this list throughout the year. I like that I can now place exactly when I read a book, and compare it to other events happening in my life at the time. When I started by typing in the first title here, Love Times Three by the Darger Family, I immediately remembered laying on my bed, reading this book and listening to the sounds of the New Year's Eve revellers lurching around the streets outside. I remember that New Year's Day was hot, so I stayed in bed in the cool room downstairs, reading the Dargers' story. I remember feeling outraged at the injustices these people face, and angry at the world for being the kind of place where prejudice and persecution are normal.

So, without futher ado- ta da! The complete Lady Demelza reading list for 2012.

1. Love Times Three by the Darger Family
2. Why be Happy When you Could be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
3. Gift of the Gob by Kate Burridge
4. The Green Wiccan Herbal by Silja
5. Blogging All-In-One for Dummies by Susan Gunelius
6. Mister God, This is Anna by Fynn
7. Dispatches from Blogistan by Suzanne Stefanac
8. Handmade Soap by Tatyana Hill
9. The Natural Soap Book by Susan Miller Cavitch
10. Made in France by Agnes Delage-Calvet et al
11.The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr - my review
12. Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy
13. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolley
14. How I Came Into My Inheritance and Other True Stories by Dorothy Gallagher
15. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith - my review
16. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
17. The Woman Who Lives in the Earth by Swain Wolfe
18. The Alchemist's Daughter by Katherine McMahon
19. The Forgotten Affairs of Youth by Alexander McCall Smith
20. Planted Junk by Adam Caplin
21. Adventures in Mosaics by Meera Lester & Marsha Janda-Rosenburg
22. The Dreamtime by Ainslie Roberts & Charles P. Mountford
23. Mutants: on the form, varieties & errors of the human body by Armand Marie Leroi - my review
24. The Cleverness of Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
25. Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara - my review
26. A Woman's Europe edited by Marybeth Bond
27. The Superior Person's Third Book of Words by Peter Bowler
28. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
29. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
30. The Etymologicon - A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language by Mark Forsyth (the Inky Fool)
31. Preincarnate by Shaun Micallef
32. Dingo - The Story of Our Mob by Sally Dingo
33. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
34. Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt
35. Magic and Witchcraft by Nevill Drury
36. Avalon Within by Jhenah Telyndru
37. Searching for Mary Magdalen by Jane Lahr
38. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
39. Daughter of Two Worlds by Audrey Oldfield
40. Notwithstanding by Louis de Bernieres
41. Old World Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi
42. Winter Hours by Mary Oliver
43. The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
44. Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
45. Edward Trencom's Nose by Giles Milton
46. The Amber Amulet by Craig Silvey
47. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
48. Hung Like an Argentine Duck: A Journey Back in Time to the Origins of Sexual Intimacy by John Long
49. Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a Hoarder by Corinne Grant
50. The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody
51. The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff
52. Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks

The award for THE most amazing book I have read all year would have to go to Mister God, This is Anna by Fynn . When I read this book I had to rush around telling everyone I know - "You HAVE to read this book before you die!"

The crappiest book I managed to get all the way through to the end of this year was The Superior Person's Third Book of Words by Peter Bowler, and that was only because I am so strongly attracted to big words. Given what Peter Bowler did with this book, I think it would be more appropriately titled The Complete Wanker's Third Book of Words.

I'm currently reading The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody, but seeing as I'm up to page 147 out of a total of 996 pages, I don't think I'll be adding this one to the list before midnight tonight.

If you know of a really amazing book out there that I should read, I'd love to hear from you.

*Linked in with Click Clack Gorilla's Book Lover Blog Hop.