What I Have Read in 2012

Yeah. Tahun 2010 40 buku, tahun 2011 ada105 buku, dan tahun ini, cuma 72 buku. Not so happy about it. Pertama, reading speed saya memang menurun. Kedua, well, things happened. Ada beberapa hal yang memang harus saya lakukan di tahun ini yang membuat saya jadi punya lebih sedikit waktu untuk membaca. But to my defense, at least I managed to read the number of books I pledged to read in 2012. That’s one of my 2012’s resolution that I actually managed to comply.

So, here’s my list in alphabetical order.

1.        Alien on Vacation – Clete Barrett Smith (2/5)

2.        Bagaimana Caranya Bicara Bahasa Naga – Cressida Cowell (3/5)

3.        Blue Remembered Heels – Nell Dixon (2/5)

4.        Charlotte’s Web* - E.B. White (3/5)

5.        Confessions of A Teenage Drama Queen* – Dyan Sheldon (3/5)

6.        Cum Laude – Cecily von Ziegesar (1/5)

7.        Darkfever(Fever #1)* – Karen Marie Moning (3,5/5)

8.        Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) – Charlaine Harris (3/5)

9.        Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1) – Charlaine Harris (3/5)

10.     Definitely Cool – Brenda Scott Wilkinson (3/5)

11.     Di Tepi Sungai Kecil (Rose Wilder Series #7) – Roger Lea MacBride (3/5)

12.     Diary of A Wimpy Vampire: Prince of Dorkness – Tim Collins (3/5)

13.     Fairy Bad Day – Amanda Ashby (3/5)

14.     Fly by Night – Frances Hardings (3,5/5)

15.     Gadis Mandiri (RoseWilder Series #8) – Roger Lea MacBride (1/5)

16.     Goddess Boot Camp – Tera Lynn Childs (3,5/5)

17.     Gossip from theGirls’ Room – Rose Cooper (3/5)

18.     Hell’s Bell: SamuelJohnson vs the Devil, Round II – John Connolly (4/5)

19.     Idol Gagal – Indra Widjaya (2,5/5)

20.     Impossible (Glam Girl series) – Nina Ardianti (3/5)

21.     Jump – Rizal Moemoe (4/5)

22.     Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling (2/5)

23.     Klik! – Eoin Colfer et al (3/5)

24.     Klub Film – David Gilmour (1/5)

25.     Kota Kecil di Lereng Bukit (Rose Wilder Series #5) – Roger Lea MacBride (3/5)

26.     Kristy and the Mother’s Day Surprise – Ann M. Martin (3/5)

27.     Lagi-lagi, GraceAja – Charise Maricle Harper (3/5)

28.     Mallory and the Mystery Diary – Ann M. mArtin (3/5)

29.     Mencoba Sukses – Adhitya Mulya (3/5)

30.     Menjelajah ke Seberang Bukit (Rose Wilder Serie #4) – 3/5

31.     Mockingjay (TheHunger Games #3) – Suzanne Collins (3/5)

32.     Name of the Game – Fidriwida (2/5)

33.     Negeri Apel Merah Besar (Rose Wilder Series #2) – 4 /5

34.     Only in Your Dreams (Gossip Girl #9) – Cecily von Ziegesar (3/5)

35.     Orang-orang Mati –Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker #1) – John Connolly (2/5)

36.     Pretties (Uglies#2) – Scott Westerfeld (2/5)

37.     Real LiveBoyfriends (Ruby Oliver #4) – E. Lockhart (3,5/5)

38.     Reckless – Cornelia Funke (2/5)

39.     Room – Emma Donoghue (4/5)

40.     Rumah Kecil di Lereng Bukit (Rose Wilder Series #1) – Roger Lea MacBride (3/5)

41.     Saya CintaIndonesia (Isman H. Suryaman dkk (3/5)

42.     School of Fear #2:Class is Not Dismissed – Gitty Daneshvari (3/5)

43.     Stardust – Neil Gaiman (4/5)

44.     Stories – edited by Neil Gaiman (3/5)

45.     Stormchaser (EdgeChronicles #2) – Paul Stewart (4/5)

46.     Teror di Sarang Vampir (Sookie Stackhouse #7) – Charlaine Harris (3/5)

47.     The Boybook (Ruby Oliver #2) – E. Lockhart (3/5)

48.     The Boyfriend List (Ruby Oliver #1) – E. Lockhart (2/5)

49.     The Death Cure (MazeRunner #3) – James Dashner (3,5/5)

50.     The Gates – John Connolly (4/5)

51.     The Hundred-Towered City – Garry Kilworth (2/5)

52.     The Icarus Girl – Helen Oyayemi (3/5)

53.     The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick (4/5)

54.     The Journal of CuriousLetters (13th Reality #1) – James Dashner (4/5)

55.     The Little Prince:Pangeran Kecil – Antoine de Saint-Exupery (4/5)

56.     The Lying Game – Sara Shepard (3/5)

57.     The Map of Time – Felix J. Palma (2,5/5)

58.     The Maze Runner (Maze Runner #1) – James Dashner (3/5)

59.     The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (4/5)

60.     The Not So Amazing Life of Amrazing – Alexander Thian (3/5)

61.     The PhantomTollbooth – Norton Juster (5/5)

62.     The Queen ofAttolia – Megan Whale Turner (1/5)

63.     The Scorch Trials(Maze Runner #2) – James Dashner (3/5)

64.     The Selection (TheSelection #1) – Kiera Cass (4/5)

65.     The Serpent’sShadow (Kane Chronicles #3) – Rick Riordan (3/5)

66.     The Son of Neptune – Rick Riordan (5/5)

67.     The Throne of Fire(Kane Chronicles #2) – Rick Riordan (3,5/5)

68.     The Treasure Map ofBoys (Ruby Oliver #3) – E. Lockhart (3/5)

69.     The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children – Keith McGowan (2/5)

70.     Uglies (Uglies #1) – Scott  Westerfeld (2/5)

71.     When Patty Went toCollege – Jean Webster (2/5)

72.     Zombies vs Unicorn – Holly Black et al (3/5)

Best book that I read this year? The Son of Neptune! Mind you, Greek and Roman mythology have always been a great interest of me. And as always, Riordan nails it. And…PERCYYYYY! If only I were a teenager and Percy is a real character alive, I would surely falling in love head over heels to this green-eyes boy. To be honest, compared to the first book in the series, this one is so much better. Look, it’s a 500-page book, and this year I read it and re-read it twice. So I read it for three times. That’s how much I like the book. Another one is a book that has been published a long time ago, but I just had the chance to read it this year: The Phantom Toll Booth. This is the book that’s not just interesting for its story, but for the lesson from the story itself. Tipe buku yang membuat saya tiba-tiba mikir, “Astaga. Iya…bener…”. Semacam buku yang entah kenapa bagi saya adalah buku Philosophy of Life for Dummies. Highly recommended. For the children, the fantasy world is fascinating. For adults, you can dwell yourself in the philosophy. It is delivered in a humorous way, really.

(some of) my favorite reading in 2012

Oh oh oh… And Night Circus also comes as my favorite for this year. The magical world here was depicted so beautiful. A love story that is just so unique and beautiful. I usually loathe romance books for being cheesy and stuffs, but this one…it’s just beautiful. Some of the love scene are even breathe-taking.

Dan seperti biasa, tentunya list saya di atas itu isinya genre fantasi. Just can’t help it, really. Maybe it’s because deep down inside, I always want to have some sort of magical ability. You know, flying, being invisible, turning things into something else, those kind of stuff… So it was not a surprise that other books that I really like are also come from this genre. I really like The Gates and its sequel, Hell’s Bell by John Connolly. Tapi kalo harus milih di antara buku non-fantasi, yang saya suka adalaaaahh.. Room by Emma Donoghue. A very fascinating book with lots of emotions in it.

Anyway, tahun ini selain buku-buku fiksi, ada beberapa buku non-fiksi yang saya baca. Yah, walopun juga genrenya masih semacam pengalaman atau blog yang dibukukan. Yang saya suka, tentu saja adalah Aku Cinta Indonesia. Yep, dengan 4 penulis disana, yang paling saya sukai tentu saja adalah tulisan dari Isman H. Suryaman.  And reading his writings, fix deh, dia lebih lucu secara tertulis dibandingkan kalo tampil live sebagai stand-up comedian. Kemudian, saya sempat baca buku Shitlicious. Tolong digarisbawahi bahwa terminology yang saya gunakan adalah sempat membaca. Karena setelah membaca 20 halaman pertama, I found my self regretting my self for spending some money to buy a book I realized I would never finish anyway. Just so not my kind of book. Yeah, I know. Penulis buku ini adalah salah satu seleb di twitter. Tapi tetep aja, bukunya tidak membuat saya tertarik untuk menyelesaikannya. Kasus yang berbeda untuk the Not So Amazing Life of Amrazing, a book by another twitter celebrity. Mungkin karena buku ini tidak memaksakan diri untuk menjadi lucu, bagi saya justru bukunya jadi jauh lebih bisa dinikmati. 

Kemudian, dalam rangka agak bernostalgia dengan masa lalu dimana saya berulang-ulang membaca Little House of The Prairies, saya juga membaca serial Rose. Rose ini anaknya Laura Ingalls Wilder. Oh well, lebih fiksi daripada Little House of the Prairies. And to be honest, I was not really sa tisfied about the book and the character. Laura used to be my childhood heroine, someone I adored. I wish that I were her, sometimes. But Rose became some sort of an annoying character for me. Oh well, she’s not Laura anyway.  

Some of the books that I read are great, some of them are okay, and some others were disappointing. Klub Film, for example. It took me ages to finish it. Dan saya gak bisa menangkap pesan moral apapun dari buku ini (there should be some! Or maybe it was just me being so thick K ). And Cum Laude. Ugh. I love the Gossip Girl, so I picked the book as it was written by the same author, expecting to read something like The Gossip Girl. But it turned out to be one of the most disappointing book I read for this year. Now I can’t even remember who the characters are!

Oh yeah, talking about Riordan, I finished his trilogy on Egyptian Mythology: The Kane Chronicles. Last year I read the first book. This year I read the second and the third one. And it is kind of sad for me to say that it’s not that brilliant. *shrugging shoulders*. Maybe because Egyptian mythology involves a lot of animals, and I am not so very fond of animals. And the concept of the mythology came into real in this book was harder to digest. Although I have to say that I really like Sadie. Almost as much as I like Annabeth. Almost.

(some of) to-read-books for 2013

I still have a pile of books that I haven’t finished yet. Oh, okay, have not finished is an under statement. The books are even still plastic-wrapped! But really, I am looking forward to read them. Right now I am readi ng the new series from Ally Carter, The Heist Society. And also Every Day by David Levithan. Oh, I just read a few first chapters of Every Day, and I barely can take my hands off it! But of course, Mark of Athena would be like, my first priority for the first days of 2013.

How about you? What books have you read in 2012? Any particular to-read on your 2013 reading list?

Ready, get set, READ!!!