Favorite Books of 2012

A few of my favorite reads of 2012

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

The City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell

Peace Like A River by Leif Enger

The Fiddler’s Green by A.S. Peterson (sequel to The Fiddler’s Gun)

I read around 60 books in 2012.  These six novels were my favorites.

The first two books are set during World War II, one in Hungary and the other in Russia.  I think I will never get tired of reading books about this time period. These stories remind me that though the world is fraught with evil, people still shine light in the darkness.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is also filled with this same kind of hope inside a darker story.  Foer captured me with a highly intelligent young protagonist who is trying to make sense of the world in his own special way.  (I also enjoyed the movie version of this book.)

The last three books fed my soul as much as my mind.  A precious missionary couple, a miracle-working single father and his three children, and an orphan girl masquerading as a pirate boy are the characters of these three novels that became friends I would be sad to leave when these books were done.  They are books I have given and will give again as gifts.  They are stories as rich in faith as they are in characters, plots and settings.

I read The Fiddler’s Green on a boat in September, which was perfectly magical since it is set mostly on a pirate ship during the American Revolutionary War.  I loved being out on the sea while reading about Fin’s sea adventures.  I plan to read both The Fiddler’s Gun and The Fiddler’s Green out loud this year to the children who still listen at the Chino House.

 

And here is the bonus round of 2012.

 

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren Winner

Seven: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess  by Jen Hatmaker

I could not leave out these two books to which I have already returned in 2013.  Still is just full of the kind of wisdom and empathy that one wants to revisit and Seven is forming the basis for a movement of women at my church that I am looking forward to.

Our Greatest Gift by Henri Nouwen

Also, I read Henri Nouwen’s book on dying while my grandmother was sick this fall.  I just mention it because it was hugely helpful to me in preparing for her death and I am certain I will return to it again and again.

Chicken Boy by Frances O’Roark Dowell

I always read a lot of children’s novels and this one was by far my favorite this year, recommended to me by a very beloved teacher.

I’m already happy with the reading that 2013 is bringing my way, but I always keep my eyes and ears open for the next book in line.

What are your favorite reads from the last year?