It’s the end of the year, so we’re asking the Confabulators what their favorites of 2012 are. This week, they tell us what their favorite book of 2012 was. For this question, some interpreted as best book published in 2012, others answered it as their favorite book they read in 2012. We accepted either version.
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks, Wool (Omnibus) by Hugh Howey, and Among Others by Jo Walton (don’t ask writers to pick ONE favorite book!)
I’m going to be honest here. My favorite book of 2012 has been Monster in My Closet, by R.L. Naquin. I’m not just saying that because she’s in our group. She’d forgive me if I picked something else. The truth is, of the few NEW books I did read this year, it was the only one that left me feeling I could read the sequel immediately.
It’s a tie between The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Both very different. Both fantastic.
Broken Harbor by Tana French. Every book she has written has broken my heart in some way, and I love her for that.
Hugh Howey’s Wool. I don’t read many new books. I don’t like to pay inflated prices for new releases, and there are only one or two authors that I can’t wait long enough to find their book on a used shelf somewhere. I certainly don’t read as much science fiction as I used to. Enter Hugh Howey and Wool. Howey wrote Wool as a short story and released it directly through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing System. Howey’s silo world became an overnight success, leading to the release of parts two, three, four, and five of Wool, and their release as a single omnibus edition. Since then, it has been followed by the prequels First Shift and Second Shift. If you like dystopian science fiction, Wool is waiting for you. Ridley Scottbought the film rights. Yes, that Ridley Scott. The original short story is free on Kindle, but you can pick up the omnibus (stories one
through five) for $5.99.
I’m a few years behind on most new releases – there were several 2012 books I wanted to read but didn’t get to – so pickings are slim. Luckily, I think I probably read the two best books of the year. The first one being our very own R.L. Naquin’s Monster in My Closet. Of course I am obligated to mention it because she’s my fellow Confabulator and friend, but in all honesty, it was the best book I read all year. It helps that I’ve watched her series evolve over the past three years, so it was incredibly rewarding to be able to read the finish product. A close second, though, was the third book in another one of my favorite series: Grave Memory by Kalayna Price. It’s in the same genre – urban fantasy – which I just can’t get enough of these days. Honorable Mention goes to the anthology that my own story was published in, Shadows of the Mind. Lots of good tales of horror in there. That was it for 2012 for me.
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