Books Read in 2012

This is the list of the 94 books I read in 2012, in the order that I read them, with links to the 52 reviews I wrote.

2012 was the first year in quite a while that I didn't read at least 100 books. I blame Whittaker Chambers, whose dense, 800+ page Witness sucked up a lot of reading time.  But the lower total was also intentional.  I made a reading resolution to concentrate on Witness and some other longer books and not pay attention to the number of books I read.

There is not much rhyme or reason to whether I review a book or not. Some of my favorite books go without a review.

I rate a book a 3 if I liked it but wouldn't think of recommending it and a 4 if I would recommend it to anyone. Lots of books get 3.5, which means that I liked it and would recommend it to people who like that genre or type of book.  For a full explanation of my rating system, see here.

If you have reviewed any of the books I reviewed, and you would like your review listed on mine, please leave a comment on my review post for that book with a link to your review and I will add it.

2012 BOOKS

The Coffee Trader by David Liss (3.5/5)

Tinkers by Paul Hardin (2.5/5) (reviewed here)

High Stakes by Dick Francis (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (4/5) (reviewed here)

A Case of Need by Michael Crichton (3/5)

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (4/5) (reviewed here)

Dracula by Bram Stoker (4/5) (reviewed here)

The Rubber Band by Rex Stout (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas (3.5/5)

Shroud for a Nightingale by P. D. James (3.5/5)

Living by Henry Green (2.5/5) (reviewed here)

Blood Sport by Dick Francis (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré (3/5) (reviewed here)

The Innocents Abroad, Volume I, by Mark Twain (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Serenissima by Erica Jong (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (3.5/5)

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (3.5/5)

The Pothunters by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5) (reviewed here)

What's So Great about Christianity by Dinesh D’Souza (4/5)

A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Murder in Belleville by Cara Black (3/5) (reviewed here)

The Black Tower by P. D. James (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Driving Force by Dick Francis (3.5/5)

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (3.5/5)

World Without End by Ken Follett (3/5) (reviewed here)

The World of Herb Caen: San Francisco 1938-1997 by Barnaby Conrad (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

The Black Book by Ian Rankin (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

A Month of Sundays by John Updike (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope (4/5) (reviewed here)

Dressed for Death by Donna Leon (3.5/5)

Vie De France: Sharing Food, Friendship and a Kitchen in the Lorie Valley by James Haller (3/5) (reviewed here)

Out Stealing Horses by Per Patterson (3/5)

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (4/5) (reviewed here)

On the Town in New York: The Landmark History of Eating, Drinking, and Entertainments from the American Revolution to the Food Revolution by Michael Ariane Batterberry (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

A Time of Hope by C. P. Snow (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (3.5/5)

Home Truths by David Lodge (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Other People's Children by Joanna Trollope (3.5/5)

Glittering Images by Susan Howatch (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

The Hapless Valet by Lenhardt Stevens (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman (3/5)

Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst (3.5/5)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Trespass by Rose Tremain (3.5/5)

Greene on Capri: A Memoir by Shirley Hazzard (3/5) (reviewed here)

The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (4.5/5) (reviewed here)

Starvation Lake by Brian Gruley (3/5)

Paradise Postponed by John Mortimer (3/5) (reviewed here)

Silver Swan by Benjamin Black (3.5/5)

The Gate House by Nelson DeMille (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

The Edge by Dick Francis (3.5/5)

Writing Places: The Life Journey of a Writer and Teacher by William Zinsser (3.5/5)

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (3.5/5)

Witness by Whittaker Chambers (3/5) (reviewed here)

Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (3/5) (reviewed here)

Brother and Sister by Joanna Trollope (3/5)

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke (3.5/5) (reviewed here)


The Comedians by Graham Greene (3.5/5) (reviewed here)
 
Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom (2.5/5) (reviewed here)

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morely (3/5)

Ring for Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (3.5/5)

The Folks That Live on the Hill by Kingsley Amis (3.5/5)

Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh (3.5/5)

Venetian Mask by Mickey Friedman (3/5)

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Monsieur Pamplemousse Investigates by Michael Bond (3/5) (reviewed here)

The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (3/5) (reviewed here)

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler (3/5)

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester (3.5/5)

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (3/5) (reviewed here)

The Imperfectionists by Tm Rachman (3.5/5)

The General's Daughter by Nelson DeMille (3.5/5)

Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership: The Missing Link in Your Organizational Chart by Carmen E Voillequé and Randy Harrington (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (3/5) (reviewed here)

Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes (3.5/5)

May We Borrow Your Husband? & Other Comedies of the Sexual Life by Graham Greene (4/5) (reviewed here)

Fortune's Deadly Descent by Audrey Braun (3.5/5) (reviewed here)

Death of an Expert Witness by P. D. James (3.5/5)

Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott (3.5/5)

The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré (4/5) (reviewed here)

The Book & the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch (4/5) (reviewed here)

A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell (3.5/5)

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni (3.5/5)

The Children of Men by P. D. James (3.5/5)

About Face by Donna Leon (3/5)

Lift by Kelly Corrigan (3/5)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)

Friends and Lovers by Helen MacInnes (3/5)

See's Famous Old Time Candies: A Sweet Story by Margaret Moos Pick (3/5)