12 in 2012 Series: Books

>> Sunday, January 8, 2012

 
And now for a new series we'd like to call 12 in 2012. Our top 12 books/music/movies/[insert other awesome thing] to look forward to in 2012.

First up: Books!

12. Arcadia by Lauren Groff (March 2012) {Fiction}
Groff's second book, this one about a 1960's Utopian commune struggle to survive.

11. Fairy Tale Interrupted: A Memoir of Life, Love and Loss by RoseMarie Terenzio (Jan 2012) {Non-Fiction}
Written by John F. Kennedy Jr's personal assistant, they're publicizing this book as an unlikely friendship by a girl from the Bronx and a "vertitable prince." I'm more intrigued by what it must have been like to work for the Kennedy family and the last year in JFK Jr's life.

10. The Gaggle: How the Guys You Know Will Help You Find the Love You Want by Jessica Massa (June 2012) {Non-Fiction}
A real girls guide to the post-dating world, Massa explores your gaggle; the guys in your life you may or may not be romantically linked to and how they can lead you to love. This is not so much self-help as it is the book-form of the all the talks you and your girls have over drinks every weekend.

9. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (April 2012) {Non-Fiction}
Self-proclaimed Bloggess Jenny Lawson recounts revealing and sometimes embarrassing moments from her life. I'm hoping this will be equal parts Chelsea Handler and David Sedaris.

8. The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings (Jan 2012- out now) {Non-Fiction}
I'm not usually a war genre reader in fiction or in non-fiction but this novel by the same author that wrote The Runaway General (published in Rolling Stone) was generating fan fare far before its release this week.

7. The Recognitions by William Gaddis (rerelease Feb 2012) {Fiction} Technically I cheated with this one. Previously published in the 50's Gaddis prophetically writes about our current reality in a startlingly correct way.

6. The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus (Jan 2012) {Fiction}
Language as a weapon becomes both metaphoric and literal in this Twilight Zone-esque novel about a family in upstate New York.

5. The Book of Drugs: A Memoir by Mike Doughty (Jan 2012) {Non-Fiction}
As a lover of both Soul Coughing and Doughty's solo works I'm psyched he wrote a novel that will let me in to what makes this guy tick.
4. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult (Feb 2012) {Fiction}
Those of you that keep up with me know that I've read nearly every Jodi Picoult book so it's only natural that I plod along on to the next one. Early reviews aren't stellar but I'm holding out that this will be a return to her early work.

3. No One Is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel (Feb 2012) {Fiction}
A small Romanian village attempts to imagine away the war... intriguing! Let's see how that works out for 'em.

2. Farther Away: Essays by Jonathan Franzen (April 2012) {Non-Fiction}
If you've read Franzen's "Freedom" then you'll understand why I'm anticipating his collection of essays and speeches on both personal and environmental concerns.

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth (May 2012) {Fiction}
I never thought I'd be enraptured with dystopian YA novels and yet here I am pining after the follow up to last years Divergent. Liked Hunger Games? This is next series to read.

Song of the Day: "Back To Where I Was (live)" by Eric Hutchinson

>> Friday, January 6, 2012

I think there is a mistake here. I distinctly remember sharing this guy on the blog here in the past. I think something has gone wrong here on the internets, because there is no other way to explain how I would have screwed up this badly.

I love me a singer songwriter, I have no shame in that. Hell, I wrote a whole blog about the 33 best John Mayer songs. And this lad has been one of my favorites since 2009. He is one damn good songwriter, check out the lyrics for songs like "Oh!" or "OK, It's Alright With Me" and you'll see. I especially love his live album "Sounds Like This Live" which is where this track comes from. I really hope you enjoy this one, it holds a close place in my heart.

"Back To Where I Was (live)" by Eric Hutchinson

Song of the Day: "Skin" by Zola Jesus

>> Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sorry for the late song of the day, or song of the night I guess, but I just finished watching Grey's Anatomy (episode 810) and it was one of the best musically infused episodes I can remember watching. Every song played off the moment in exactly the right way. It is something the show has always been great at, but this episode exceeded all others.

This song, from the end of the episode killed me. I will not spoil the episode for all you DVR'ers out there, but wow.

I have heard rumblings about Zola Jesus for a while, but I never took the time to delve, I regret that now. This is a great song off a special album.

"Skin" by Zola Jesus

Song of the Day: "A Lion's Roar" by First Aid Kit

>> Wednesday, January 4, 2012

There are always a couple albums that before the year starts I look forward to gleefully. Last year, I was ultra excited for the Slow Club, Summer Camp, The Civil Wars and the Manchester Orchestra records. This year, starts out much like that one. As there are several albums that are making me giddy before they are even released, including Chairlift, Right Away Great Captain!, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Pickwick (hopefully), Lemolo (hopefully), Choir Of Young Believers, and the featured band today, First Aid Kit.

This is a sister duo that I fell in love with back in 2009, and 2010. In fact, they landed themselves firmly on my best albums of 2010 list, and it was a well deserved spot. I still listen to that record frequently. They are playing a show in Seattle on my birthday this year, and you know I am going to be there, hoping to see another Faceplant Keyboard Solo. If this song is any indication of how good their upcoming album (Jan. 24th release) is going to be, it is going to be a hell of a 2012.

"A Lion's Roar" by First Aid Kit

Song of the Day: "Once and For All" by Clock Opera

>> Tuesday, January 3, 2012

This is just one of the several amazing new tracks that are giving me hope for 2012. I have a few more that I am hoping to share tomorrow. If I can get over this little blogging dryspell. I don't know what brought on this little, no-blog-mood, but I'm getting out of this funk if it kills me. There is just too much good music to share.

"Once and For All" by Clock Opera

Banned Books: A Book Club

>> Monday, January 2, 2012

I've wanted to start a banned books book club for a long time now. Maybe it's the educator in me that appreciates a persons choice to read what they want. Perhaps it's the writer in me that believes that a writer has the choice to express themselves in ways that others might not find appropriate. Or maybe it's that I've always had it in me to challenge the system (insert evil villainous laugh here). Either way I decided to do some research...


Did you know that 48% of challenges sent in to American Library Association for banning books is done by parents? Most of these are due to a sexual nature of a book followed up by offensive language. Other topics that might find a book on the chopping block are violence, being too religious OR not enough ("anti-family"), and not being appropriate for the age group of readers. Fascinating! Now I'm inspired to read them even more! Moving on...
So I looked up the top books that have been Banned or Challenged in this decade (thanks Office for Intellectual Freedom!) and here are the Top 10 contenders for 2010:


1. And Tango Makes Three by Richardson and Parnell
















2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian




















3. Brave New World




















4. Crank




















5. The Hunger Games



















6. Lush















7. What My Mother Doesn't Know



















8. Nickel and Dimed





















9. Revolutionary Voices




















10. Twilight




















Kind of surprising? I thought so too. Other notable banned books from this decades list: The Color Purple, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, My Sister's Keeper, Harry Potter, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

So a few of these I've already read (Twilight/Hunger Games) and a few I find less interesting so I took a few from this decades other banned books list and created my own Banned Books Book Club To-Read List or the BBBCTRL, hmmm.... maybe I'll need to give that some thought. Here goes:

Banned Books Book Club To Read List
AKA The Listologies Let's Read Banned Books List

And Tango Makes Three
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Brave New World
Crank
Nickle and Dimed
Revolutionary Voices
Olive's Ocean
Go Ask Alice
The Chocolate War
The Kite Runner

Want to join? Email me at listologies@gmail.com and I'll send you the info. Here's to a fight the man kind of 2012.




Up and Coming Book List 2012

>> Sunday, January 1, 2012

Can I give my first confession of 2012? As a reader I was a total fail for 2011. I committed to reading something like 30 books which at the time seemed really tame for me and it worked out to be that I read like half that. Now to be fair, as a teacher I actually read a bazillion books a year however they're mostly made up of titles such as "Knuffle Bunny" and "Messy Bessy" and not so much the latest Haruki Murakami novel. So without including the countless childrens books I read and professional texts my pleasure reading total came down to something closer to 15. With that being said I've now entered the Good Reads 2012 Reading Challenge with a more realistic goal of... 15. Yes the same number I read this year. Now I hope that when I redo this list next year I will be happy to state that I exceeded this total. Then again, I could start including the many blogs I read everyday as part of my reading time right??

Those of you that haven't read it before here is my former column on The Up and Coming Book list and here

The 2011 List included...

Buddha: A Story of Enlightment – Deepak Chopra
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier – Ann Packer
Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
Open House – Elizabeth Berg
The Liar’s Club: A Memoir – Mary Karr *read a different Mary Karr book instead
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
The Friday Knight Knitting Club – Kate Jacobs
The Life Before Her Eyes – Laura Kasischke
The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
Go Ask Alice – anonymous
Life is a Mixtape: Life and Loss, One song at a time – Rob Sheffield
Life is So Good – George Dawson
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
Flower Children – Maxine Swann
The Bright Forever – Lee Martin
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life – Steve Martin
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen *read it*
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain
Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *read it and the sequels*
One Day by David Nicholls
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Room by Emma Donoghue
What Alice Forgot by Loriane Moriarty

Hmmm... clearly I didn't get to a lot of these books but I did read the following as well: Where She Went by Gayle Forman, Flying Changes by Sara Gruen, How To Train Your Dragon (not my usual kids stuff so I'm including it as I did read it outside of my classroom), Lit by Mary Karr, Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro Kazuo, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, and Vampire Academy (I know, I know, for shame) #2-4.

2012 List now includes...

Divergent by Veronica Roth *read it today- I'm off to a good start*
The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
Add More ~ing by Gabrielle Bernstein
Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein
This World Needs Your Kid by Craig Keilburger
Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie
Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Carrier by Bonnie Rough
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Fraud: Essays by David Rakoff
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Loving Che: A Novel by Ana Menendez
Always Looking Up by Michael J Fox
Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robinson
Matched by Ally Condie
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
The Gaggle by Jessica Massa

Yes I realize this list has more than 15 books but I like to give myself options. See something I really should be reading? Comment! I love a great book suggestion!

Here's to not failing your New Years Resolutions right out the gate!