Best Books in 2012: A Review

Another year has come and gone! My book amount definitely shot up in 2012: I read 34 books in 2011 and 55 this year! My goal this year was only 40, so I went above and beyond what I had planned. I call that a great success, and next year’s goal is going to be upped to 70 books :)

Just like last year, The Perpetual Page-Turner has released an end of the year survey for all of us book bloggers, so I might as well jump right into it:

1. Best Book You Read In 2012? (You can break it down by genre if you want)

Novel: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, or, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
Graphic Novel/ Comic book: Saga (volume #1), written by Brian K. Vaughan

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Probably The Difference Between You and Me by Madeline George. Oh well, you win some, you lose some, huh? The good thing about it is that it's another LGBTQ novel in the young adult market, which is always a plus in my book!

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012?

Looking for Alaska by John Green. I don’t usually like contemporary fiction, nor do I usually cry at books, but this won was definitely a winner and a tear-jerker.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. It was so great I really couldn't gush more about it! I read all three books in the series about a month, which never happens to me, and it makes me sad that I didn't get into them sooner.

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?

Leviathan still takes the cake, but I've gushed enough about that. Y: The Last Man was a big winner too, and that was ten comic books in the span of a summer. They were all very much worth my time, and I’ll totally read them again.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?

Brian K. Vaughan, Scott Westerfeld, and John Green

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. My first book by both of these authors and a new foray into adult fiction, it was so worth it! This book is hilarious, so seriously, go read it.

 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

A three-way tie between Legend by Marie Lu (dystopian? yes please!), The Maze Runner by James Dashner (I listened to the audiobook, but it still counts! And the mix of mystery and sci-fi was perfect), and I Hunt Killers (so scary I should have put it down but couldn't get myself to).

 9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:

Re-Read ALL of the Leviathan books!

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

The Boy Recession by Flynn Meaney

11. Most memorable character in 2012?

Deryn/ Dylan Sharp (smart, quick-witted, hard-working) from the Leviathan series, who is probably one of my favorite characters of all time, or Sam from Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride (funny, caring, heart always in the right place), both were oh-so lovable!

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?

Looking for Alaska by John Green. There were so many memorable quotes, and the inclusion of the famous last words tied in perfectly with the theme. All of the characters were great and the ending was so perfect, I really can’t say anything bad about this book.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?

The Y: The Last Man series, which made me realize that I wanted something more in my dystopian novels. As sad as it sounds, I’d much rather my dystopian novels have sad endings than the romantic, feel-good ones that have been published recently, as a reminder for the reader to keep fighting for freedom no matter what. The Y: The Last Man series was amazing, and is really worth reading.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read?

Either Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, which I had been sitting on for months before getting off my butt to go and read it, and the fact that it took me so long to read (really, listen to the audiobook) and then re-read The Atlantis Complex (Artemis Fowl #7) this summer disgusted me... And I'm still not through the eighth one...

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?

The "We are all going," quote, the last words of President William McKinley, was one of two lines in books I read this year that made me want to cry, even though I stopped myself from doing so because I was working and that would look strange, to just burst out sobbing while shelving children’s books. The other one was, "You need to find yourself a new hero," and the short spoiler-y exchange beforehand, From Death Bringer (Skulduggery Pleasant #6), but fewer people have read that one. It was especially powerful when paired with the context of the scene, so it sounds a little strange to those that aren't familiar with the books.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012?

Shortest: Medea by Euripides. A school requirement, roughly 120 pages, probably less with endnotes and whatnot.

Longest: Death Bringer (Skulduggery Pleasant #6), clocking in at 603 pages, making it the longest book I've ever read (and also one of the quickest too, but that’s what one of your favorite series will do to you).

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!

I wish I had somebody to talk about Death Bringer (and Kingdom of the Wicked when I finish it) with in person, but *sigh* that's the price for being an American fan in a series that only gained footing overseas... But trust me, when I find that person I will interrogate them mercilessly.

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

Jazz Dent and his father, Billy Dent, from I Hunt Killers. We meet Billy, a notorious serial killer, for only about a chapter but his deeds have affected Jazz so much that you really can’t ignore the relationship between the two of them unless you want to neglect the whole book.

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously

Wow, looking over my list a lot of the books I read were from new authors... The ending to the Percy Jackson series was as fantastic as the beginning, which I read in late 2011, so I guess that counts? Barry Lyga’s books have been a love of mine ever since Boy Toy, so it’s no surprise that I fell for his writing all over again with I Hunt Killers.

20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

My friends have been telling me to read John Green's books, but honestly I don't think I would have picked them up if not for finding the audiobook on my library's website, so... none? My bookish friends don't suggest books to me enough :(

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2012 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2013?

I'll read the Harry Potter series. Someday. At one point. Before I die. I started it, so does that count?

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2013?

I'm not in the loop with upcoming books, so that will have to change next year! I think I'm going to just cruise through blogs and on Goodreads and Amazon and see what piques my interest and go from there! I'm always on the lookout for new dystopian books though, so that's a guarantee.

3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2013?

Ooh, I've got several!

a) Update my blog's look, try and clean it up a little bit more, and maybe learn enough coding/ website design to not rely solely on other people. Basically, put a little more effort into my appearance!

b) Read 70+ books next year. Take advantage of my breaks and the fact that I have only one class on M/W/F next semester!

c) Write more honest blog posts. Do not get caught up in the idea that every blog has to be the same to be successful. Keep writing what I want and need to write, rather than trying to mimic other styles.

2012 has definitely blown my mind book-wise, and hopefully I can get at least a few followers in the new year to fall for comic books and graphic novels as I have. Have a safe and happy new year everybody, and see you in 2013!

An Open Letter About Divergent

From Goodreads

Divergent, by Veronica Roth, is really where Brave New Shelf started. It was the first ARC that I had received, and I had know idea what to expect or even how to go about this review-writing business. All I knew is when Divergent arrived in the mail were the things I read about it from a blurb in Seventeen magazine beforehand.

But I loved it. So I wrote another review, then another, then another.

Getting Divergent into my hands and a deadline in front of me to write for got me back into reading. As embarrassing to say as it is, my reading schedule had pretty much dissolved to nothing before Divergent. And it's not like I was busy either, I was just being lazy.

That's not all of it though. I read more and more, set goals for myself, wrote more than I had before, and started buying books with every dollar I could get my hands on. Heck, I took a job at the public library September of that year! I now own so many books that I had to shift everything around in the top drawer of my dresser to fit more of them in.

But this isn't a post about buying Divergent, or Insurgent, or even reading either of them (but it would be super-cool-awesome if you did both.) This post is about finding the one book that changes everything for you, that one book that either sets something right, like it did for me, or puts you on a different, better path.

Veronica Roth, looking back, receiving Divergent as my first ARC was an honor that I'm still not sure if I deserved, but your book has not only given me the short-run joy that came with the act of reading it, but the long-run happiness that followed by inspiring me to start reading again. You should be very proud of all of the work that you've done, and I cannot help but feel that the Divergent series is only the tip of the iceberg for you.

-Emily @ Brave New Shelf

End of the Year Book Survey

Courtesy of Rabid Reads.

Last year was one of my best in terms of reading, but not so good in terms of blogging. Ever since school began in the fall I've been reading just as much, but my blogging has gotten so far behind that I need to get back in the swing!

1. Best Book You Read In 2011? 
Wow, this is hard, because I read so many books that were "best" in their own right. For YA fiction, definitly Death Watch by Ari Berk. I read and reviewed this one for Figment, and I'm so glad that I did. There was no talk about it on other book blogs, and I wish that more word had gotten out about it. I loved the imagry, the main character, Silas, the entire plot, the concepts woven in, everything.

The other best book that I read (or rather, listened to) was probably Winters Bone by Daniel Woodrell. It was so raw and powerful, and the ending was a grisly wrap-up for a novel that was just as so. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I would love to pick up another one of Woodrell's "country noir" books in 2012.

(More under the cut.)

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! A List of my Favorite Female Characters.

A late Ada Lovelace Day post is better than no Ada Lovelace post at all! Ada Lovelace Day is in dedication to all of the lovely ladies out there in science/ mathematics/ technology/ engineering, and is named for who is considered by many to have been the first computer programmer. Yeah, so chances are I wouldn't be writing/ typing this if it wasn't for Ms. Lovelace, so no doubt I should write a post in her honor.

Seeing as this is a book blog, I'm putting a different spin on things though, and instead of listing actual ladies here's a list of my top five favorite (in no particular order):

5) Clove (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)
Her part was incredibly short, but Clove is still one of my favorite characters in the series. What really struck a chord for me with Clove was her brutality, namely in her scene attacking Katniss. It really defined, at least to me, what the Hunger Games was all about. Collins didn't want us forgetting that love doesn't fuel the hunger games, pain and anger does, and Clove defines that perfectly. Katniss and Peeta weren't the rule, they were the exception.

4) Offred (The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood)
Offred's narration of the life of a handmaid, flashing back now and again to her former life as a wife, mother, and working woman, is cold, tragic, and haunting. I think that almost every woman can see at least a little of themselves in Offred, whether we've been in a place similar to hers or not. She has a very observant and intelligent nature, something that is a crime for women in her world, and her thoughts on her new everyday life demonstrate that. She shows that you don't have to kick doors down, guns a'blazing to be a strong female protagonist.

3) Georgia Nicholson (Series of the same name by Louise Rennison)
Has she saved babies from a burning building? No. Has she jumped from helicopters or lead nations to revolution? No. Has she stalked boys at the local grocers with her best friends and stuffed lunch foods in her beret just to mess with her teachers? Yes, and that's why I love her. Rennison's books never fail to make me laugh out loud, and the snarky, teenage voice of her protagonist is spot-on and hilarious.

2) Holly Short (Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer)
One of the few women in her line of work, fearless, has a good head on her shoulders, strong, along with a bajillion other reasons are why Holly is always at the top of my favorite character lists. Her being an elf is irrelevant to me; she's a woman who I'd love to grow up to be like. Juliet Butler (same series) is in my top ten, for a lot of the same reasons as Holly combined with the witty teen girl quality that makes me wish she had shown up in the series more often.

1) Stephanie Edgley (Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy)
I hope that I'm not getting ahead of myself, seeing as I'm in the middle of book two of six, but I have a strong feeling that I'm not. I listened to the first SP book on my iPod while at work and loved it (along with the fact that the male narrator did three different voices for the three female characters, and did a pretty good job), and since I'm only through the first that's the one I'll be referring to.
The reason she makes number one sounds surprising, but I mean it in an honest and respectful way: I like her because she needed to be saved throughout the book. Before you flip tables in a Mary-Sue induced rage, I'll explain. The first book takes place over just a few days, where Stephanie goes from twelve-year-old, average, Irish schoolgirl to being thrust into a strange, magical world that she doesn't understand, full of things that can/ want to kill her. Instead of taking the route that many books seem to follow nowadays, and dumping a crazy-ton of magical powers in her lap and telling her to go to town, Landy sat down and thought for a moment: "Hmm. You know, granting a twelve-year-old supreme, ultimate power in two days is almost as unrealistic as my talking skeleton. Better scrap that idea." Stephanie needs saving, on more than one occasion, because she's a normal girl (well, mostly), and only after time and training does she hone her abilities.
Don't get me wrong, she has her time to shine (and definitely does, more than once), is witty, quick, caring, eager to help out where and when she can (despite her very-human setbacks compared to her magical counterparts), and has a thirst for knowledge relating to the new world that she's found herself in. Having been an average, magical-world-loving twelve-year-old myself, well, it's been a while since I've been able to relate to a character like I can Stephanie. As the books progress, so do any abilities of Stephanie's, so in a way the reader grows along with her, and it feels good knowing that I've only scratched the surface of the series.
*It's worth noting that, though they didn't make the list so that it didn't become clogged with characters from the same books, China Sorrows and Tanith Low of the SP series are two very powerful, important characters who've put years into their training and are respected in their world. Just because Stephanie is a fledgling to magic doesn't mean that the series lacks in ladies who can save themselves.

I hope that your Ada Lovelace day was a good one, and that soon I'll stumble across more great ladies to fill blog posts with!