Staff Raves: Our 10 Favorite Books of 2012

 
Carol’s Picks:
• Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
• A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel
• These Dreams of You, by Steve Erickson
• HHhH, by Laurent Binet
• The Seven Ages of Paris, by Alastair Horne
• Billy Lynn’s Long Half-Time Walk, by Ben Fountain
• The Last Witchfinder, by James Morrow
• Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
• The Sea, the Sea, by Iris Murdoch
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, by Jonathan Evison
 
Gretchen’s Picks:
• Joseph Anton, by Salman Rushdie
• Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, by Jeanette Winterston
• The Thousand Saints, by Eleanor Henderson
• The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst
• Crusoe’s Daughter, by Jane Gardam
• Kamchatka, by Marcelo Figueras
• Prague Winter, by Madeleine Albright
• The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obrecht
• Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, by Alexandra Fuller
• The Go-Between, by L.P. Hartley
 
Jeff’s Picks:
• The Blackhouse, by Peter May
• Prague Fatale, by Philip Kerr
• Moment in the Sun, by John Sayles
• The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, by Stephen L. Carter
• House of the Hunted, by Mark Mills
• The Gods of Gotham, by Lyndsay Faye
• The Paris Deadline, by Max Byrd
• The Yard, by Alex Grecian
• Fatal Voyage, Gilded Lives, by Hugh Brewster
• Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, by Timothy Egan
 
Liz’s Picks:
• Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman, by Friedrich Christian Delius
• Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
• The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Patrick Melrose Novels, by Edward St. Aubyn
• Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy
• You Are Not Like Other Mothers, by Angelika Schrobsdorff
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo
• Call the Midwife, by Jennifer Worth
• Popular Crime, by Bill James
• People Who Eat Darkness, by Richard Lloyd Parry
 
Marla’s Picks:
• The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
• The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng
• Rysard Kapuscinski: A Life, by Artur Domoslawski
• The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obrecht
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, by Jonathan Evison
• Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
• The Beauty and the Sorrow, by Peter Englund
• The Nine, by Jeffrey Toobin
• The Last Gunfight, by Jeff Guinn
• The Last Crossing, by Guy Vanderhaeghe
 
Stephanie’s Picks (children’s books):
• Big Mean Mike, by Michelle Knudsen
• Kel Gilligan’s Daredevil Stunt Show, by Michael Buckley
• The Duckling Wants a Cookie, by Mo Willems
• Those Darn Squirrels Fly South, by Adam Rubin
• Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet, by Jane O’Conner
• I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen
• The Cloud Spinner, by Michael Catchpool
• Oscar and the Very Hungry Dragon, by Ute Krause
• Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett
• Chicken Butt, by Erica S. Perl
 
(Friend of the Store) Don’s Picks:
• These Dreams of You, by Steve Erickson
• Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon
• Time Done Won’t Be No More, by William Gay
• This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Díaz
• Home, by Toni Morrison
• The Map and the Territory, by Michel Houellebecq
• Almost Never, by Daniel Sada
• Varamo and The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira, by Cesar Aira (two, but they’re short!)
• Lionel Asbo: State of England, by Martin Amis
• Mountains of the Moon, by I.J. Kay