Books I Read and LOVED in 2012

I LOVE best books lists.  Especially, those where I feel I can trust the person making the recommendations.  I usually put myself in the hands of someone who has at least one book on their list that I agree, is fabulous.  Recommendation lists are scrumptious because they are like boxes of chocolates - so yummy and so full of possibilities!  Each book offers the chance to live another life, travel, fall in love or learn something wise.  So here is a list of cream-filled morsels for you to sample.  Trust me, these are delicious!

1. The Jessica Darling Series:  Fun, flirty and full of sarcasm.  This is a main character who will make you laugh and that is a present for the new year!

2. The Future of Us: Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler write a love story?  Nuf said.

3. Please Ignore Vera Dietz: Oh, this book is so good!  I loved every morsel of this tale of girlhood, grief and healing.

4. The Diviners: This author (Libba Bray) is quirky.  You might be turned off by her u-turns and disappearing acts but hang in there, she can construct a story so layered that a second read is often better than the first.

5. Dark Places:  I loved Gillian Flynn's much lauded Gone Girl too, but this one was a bit less maudlin regarding marriage's dismal possibilities.  This writer is twisted and very fun to read.

6. The Dead Lie Down: I whole heartedly recommend anything by this Sophie Hannah.  She writes mysteries with main characters both devious and brilliant!

7. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky: This such a wonderful book by an author (Heidi Durrow) whose sweetness is only matched by her flawless taste in clothes!

8. Bossypants: Tina Fey actually worked at my local YMCA.  My husband walked by her regularly while she, half-asleep, worked a mundane desk job.  One of his friends had told him she was "so funny."  My husband doubted that.  But as it turns out, sometimes, the seemingly average exterior of another human being masks something entirely brilliant.  Funny doesn't cover it.  These essays and musings are a joy to read.  And if, like me, you've been somewhat turned off by 30 Rock's post sexist/racist leanings in the last two seasons, no worries, there is none of that in this fabulous book.

9. The Fault in Our Stars:  John Green is just so perfect in his humility.  Every one of his main characters, in every one of his books, is flawed, funny and irresistible.  This book, above all the others (and Looking for Alaska was amazing) moves the reader to smiling tears.

10. The Language of Flowers:  I didn't put these in any sort of order but if I had, this would be number one.  This is one of those books that is so lovely, there is nothing to compare it to.  When a young woman ages out of foster care with not one loving person in her life, her journey to create her own future is both heartbreaking and soaringly hopeful.  This is a story to savor.