12 for 7: Best Books I've Read in 2012 So Far

Come on, did you think I'd really forgotten?

Published in 2012 
Gillian Flynn, GONE GIRL
Heidi Julavits, THE VANISHERS
Katharine Boo, BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS
Jeanette Winterson, WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU CAN BE NORMAL?
Richard Ford, CANADA
Adam Levin, HOT PINK

Published previously 
Dana Spiotta, STONE ARABIA 
Richard Ford, THE LAY OF THE LAND
Martin Amis, THE INFORMATION
Chris Lear, RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES
Lionel Shriver, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, I WANT MY MTV

Summer Reading 2012

Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, I WANT MY MTV
Gretchen Rubin, FORTY WAYS TO LOOK AT WINSTON CHURCHILL
Cari Beauchamp, JOSEPH P. KENNEDY PRESENTS
Francine Prose, READ LIKE A WRITER
Jonathan Franzen, THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CITY
James Wood, HOW FICTION WORKS
Nick Hornby, MORE BATHS, LESS TALKING (pub. August) 

Robert Moses, THE POWER BROKER
Richard Yates, COLLECTED STORIES
Katharine Graham, PERSONAL HISTORY

2012 Resolutions for Reading

For once, setting realistic resolutions really paid off in 2011:

• Read 2666. Yes! I started it in July and read it on and off till November, but I finally did it. 
• Knock 3 books off the Modern Library list.  How about four?! And two of them were books I would gladly recommend to others (CATCH-22, A BEND IN THE RIVER).
  
• Read the 3 David Foster Wallace short-story collections. All right, I didn't do this. I didn't even read one, although I now own one. Maybe I'll do this this year, but I won't resolve to do it, because I don't know if short-story collections are my favorite thing in general. (That awkward moment when!)

Here's what I will resolve to do in 2012: 

• Read more nonfiction. I own plenty and I'm interested in it, but it wasn't until looking through my entire list of books in 2011 that I found a hole there. Most of the nonfiction I did read, although I enjoyed it, was fairly niche. I think this one will complete itself without a problem. 
• Knock 6 books off the Modern Library list. Aiming higher. 
• Continue to strive to actually read the books I own. Not surprisingly, there are still a lot! Christmas was really good to me in this regard, not that I'm complaining, but now I'm going to read those books. 
• Change my blogging process a little. Just going to leave this here since I'm sure the minutiae will just put to sleep. But, see if you notice anything!