Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 End of the Year Book Survey

best books read in 2012
IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR!  Whoa, 2012 just flew by in the blink of an eye.  It was a pretty bad year when considering the dedication to this blog.  I had like a 2 month hiatus?  3 months?  I also only read 60 books this year :(  I don't know if it'll get any easier, especially with graduation rolling around and then moving on to college.  All in one year.  2013 might just fly by even faster.  Anyhoo, let's get on with the annual survey started over at The Perpetual Page Turner!

1.  Best Book You Read In 2012?

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver.  It's practically a given.  That series in general is just an absolute favorite.  Runner ups include The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, and Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson.  Oh!  And Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, too.  January (when I read it) just seemed like a life time ago...


2.  Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Yep, sue me.  I was so excited because the movie looked great (I still haven't seen it) and the book sounded super intriguing, but I just didn't like it as much.  It just wasn't for me.  

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012? 
The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer!  I haven't read a middle grade book in about a thousand years, so I was kind of like iffy about reading it since I got it just because I was able to get it signed by Chris Colfer himself.  BUT IT WAS REALLY COOL!  It was such a cool twist on all the fairy tales that we grow up reading about!

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?
I think it was The Fault in our Stars because I actually gave that one as a present to one of my friends... And then told the rest of my friends to read it.  

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?
Definitely The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo (the first book is Shadow & Bone).  It was a super interesting first book so I definitely can't wait to see what will happen next!  The Lunar Chronicles by Marisa Meyer (the first book is Cinder) was also a really cool series that I started and I can't wait to read what will happen next in that series as well :)

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?
I think that this was the year when I read my first John Green book, so John Green is a new favorite author for sure.  I also really liked Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard, so she's a new author that I'm really looking forward to reading another book from.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I'm kind of like all of the place when it comes to genres so I can't really say that there was a book that was out of my comfort zone or was a new genre for me.  

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?
CLOCKWORK PRINCE!!! That love triangle just had me going through the book.  It was also super intriguing as well... But seeing what's going to happen next with Will, Jem, and Tess??  I was on the edge of my seat/bed/sofa/desk the whole entire time.  GO WILL! 

9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:
Second Chance Summer is a definite yes.  Does Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door count since I re-read them this year?

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?

The Disenchantments

Fever (The Chemical Garden, #2)

There had to be two.  And it had to be these two.  Just look at them!!  I love the bright colors in the cover for The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour and the mood that the cover for Fever by Lauren DeStefano sets with all the props and the model is really cool.

11. Most memorable character in 2012? 
Craig from It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini was a pretty cool character.  He was pretty funny and I loved reading his story about his time at the hospital.  

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?
I always described this book more of a "young adult picture book" because it pretty much is all pictures.  You could go through it in like 10 minutes.  Anyways, it's Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and I just loved it a lot and I wished that I could steal it from the library and never give it back.  It was just a really interesting concept and the whole story came through the pictures and very few words.  So, in a way, it was beautiful.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012? 
Second Chance Summer was a GREAT book and it actually kind of made me cry in the end.  It was mostly the whole situation with the father that really had an impact on me because it's always hard losing someone, especially when it's someone who's so close to you.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read? 
I guess Lies by Michael Grant would have to be the book because I keep waiting for them to come out in paperback so all of my books in the series would look consistent.  IT WAS AMAZING!  In terms of action and that stuff.  I need to get the next one...

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012? 
I have a few that I seem to have added on Goodreads so here they are:

"You can build a future out of nothing.  A scrap, a flicker.  The desire to go forward, slowly, one foot at a time."

--Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

"Love is wild and when it is cut returns again, stronger whether you want it to or not."

--Jessica Anthony, Chopsticks

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012? 
City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare was the longest book at 535 pages while The Perks of Being a Wallflower was the shortest at 213 pages.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
CLOCKWORK PRINCE!  I'm so glad that I had a friend who read it before I did so I could go to her during school and just rant about what happened.  SO MUCH HAPPENED!  And then I texted another one of my friends after I was done with the book to tell her to read it so that I can rant to her about it.  She did read it... Like several weeks after -_- But at least I got to talk to her about it :)

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
Of course Hazel and Gus from The Fault in Our Stars were pretty darn cute.  Evie and Lend from Endlessly by Kiersten White (IT WAS THE FINAL BOOK!) were adorable as well.  Lillia, Kat, and Mary from Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian were a pretty cool trio, even though they weren't really friends, but it's the bonding over revenge that counts ;)

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously:
Definitely Second Chance Summer if we're talking about standalone titles. 

20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:
My friends don't really ever recommend books to me, but one friend sort of indirectly recommended The Fault in Our Stars to me because she constantly talked about it and was always reading it, so I guess I read that one based solely on a recommendation.

If you've completed the survey, leave a link below & I'll check it out!


Cleo :)


*Covers from goodreads.com

1 comment:

  1. I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower years ago and wasn't much of a fan either. The movie, however, is fantastic so I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it!

    I'm so glad I read Shadow and Bone, too. Definitely a new favorite series of mine!

    Happy New Year!

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