Here's a list (via Bagcheck) of the books I read in 2012. For the most part, it was a great year. I had two stinkers (in a row unfortunately), but in general, there were some damn good books here. Some high level comments.
- "11/22/63" is easily the best time travel book I've read. If someone asked for an example of the genre, this is what I'd offer. It is light on the SciFi and heavy on the character drama, a bit unusual for King. (In comparison, "Under the Dome" was a good SciFi book with pretty shallow characters.)
- Speaking of King, his son, Joe Hill, is a damn good writer. I read two books by him this year and both were stellar.
- One of the stinkers, "The Witch of Hebron", was truly disappointing. The second in the series, it has a very detailed, very realistic view of a post-economic crash America. That aspect is very well done. But for some reason the author felt the need to include a bit of magic and to me, it ruins it.
- Speaking of apocalypse books, "The Last Policeman" was also a very well done book.
- I loved the Star Trek trilogy I read. I haven't read a Star Trek book since I was in high school and I forgot how much I enjoy it.
- Finally, the high point of my year, the books I devoured, were the Kingkiller books by Patrick Rothfuss. "The Name of the Wind" and "The Wise Man's Fear" are easily two of the best fantasy novels I read in my life.
