My Favorite Reads of 2016 (Really, Really Late)

Since I wasn't blogging at the beginning of the year, I never got to do a recap of my favorite reads of 2016. I was just going to let it go, but I have decided that I really want one last chance to convince someone, anyone to read the books that I fell in love with last year. To make it easier, I'm only including books I reviewed, and only books that were not rereads. This is going to be a fairly short list, mainly because I didn't review the vast majority of books I read last year. 

So here are my favorites:

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Final Admission by Sue Brown

The Children's Home by Charles Lambert 

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom by Brian Olsen 

Manhattan Mayhem edited by Mary Higgins Clark

Frog by Mary Calmes

The Broken Hours by Jacqueline Baker 

My Favorite Books of 2014

I'm not trying to say that these were the ten best books from 2014, cause that's just silly.  Some of what I'm including on this list came out  before the year even started, and since I didn't read every book published in 2014, I will never call these books the best.  What I am saying, is that these are my ten favorite books that I read/reviewed during the year.

2014 saw a huge change in not just my reading habits, but in my reviewing habits as well.  For the last few years, I've reviewed every single book that I've read.  2014 was the first year that that became psychically impossible to do.  For whatever reason, I got hooked on romance novels last year, and read over 400 of them on my NOOK.    There is no way I could have reviewed them all, especially since a lot of them were read during my blogging hiatus.  I do occasionally, pick one at random and do a review of it, but that's about as far as I'm getting with those.  Chances are I will never review them all, and that's okay.

So with no further ado, here are my favorite reads of the last year, in order that I reviewed them.

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

A Farm Dies Once a Year by Arlo Crawford

The Tin Box by Kim Fielding

All I Know and Love by Judith Frank

World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters

Trapped Under the Sea by Neil Swidey

Horrostor by Grady Hendrix

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler

My 15 Favorite Reads of 2012

Another year of reading is over and it's time to some how narrow them all down to a Best of List.  It's always hard to narrow a list down in such a way that doesn't make me feel like I'm letting a book slip through the cracks, but keep the list from getting out of control.  I some how managed to get the list down to 15 this year, though there are another 10 or so that could have easily made the final cut.

This year, the list is a little more diverse and contains a lot more nonfiction than in the past.  As usual, these are all books that I read for the first time in 2012, so rereads didn't count.  The closest I got to breaking that rule was a collection of short stories, one of which I have read over and over again.  So with no further ado, I present my favorite books of 2012.

The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss

Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

The American Bible by Stephen Prothero

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Absolutist by John Boyne

The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart

The Gospel According to the Fix by Chris Cillizza

On a Farther Shore by Rachel Carson

The Black Count by Tom Reiss

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

In Memoriam, 2012

I know this happens every year, but 2012 seems like a year in which we lost a lot people who have been part of our lives for year.  Whether they were actors, singers, writers, politicians, scientists or public servants, 2012 seems to be a year in which a lot of those who have entertained or shaped our lives in some way, passed on.  

Throughout the year I try to remember those who had the biggest impact on my life in separate posts, though I know I miss a lot of them.  So for this year, I would like to take the time and thank those whose memory should never be forgotten and to those who touched my life or those around me, even in the smallest way.

Now I know I'm not going to be able to mention everyone we lost over this last year, and if I leave out anyone whose loss you felt, I apologize.  Also because of space restraints, I won't give a full bio, but I will list the years in which they were born along with a few details about their careers.  If I did my own tribute to them when they passed away, their name will link back to that post.

January 2012

Fred Milano, 1939-2012.  American Doo-Wop singer, Dion & The Belmonts; "I Wonder Why".

Etta James, 1938-2012.  American R&B singer; "At Last".

Ian Abercrombie, 1934-2012.  British born, American TV actor; Seinfeld, etc.

Dimitra Arliss, 1932-21012.  American actress; Xanadu and The Sting.

Robert Hegyes, 1951-21012.  American TV actor; Welcome Back, Kotter.

February 2012

Don Cornelius, 1936-2012.  American TV producer & host; Soul Train.

Ben Gazzara, 1930-2012.  American actor; Anatomy of a Murder.

Mike deGruy, 1951-2012.  American documentary filmmaker; The Blue Planet.

Bill Hinzman, 1936-2012.  American actor; best know as the cemetery zombie in Night of the Living Dead.

Peter Breck, 1929-2012.  American actor; The Big Valley.

Laurie Main, 1922-2012.  Australian actor; best know in the US as the host of Disney's Welcome to Pooh Corner.

Whitney Houston, 1963-2012.  American R&B/Pop singer; "I'm Your Baby Tonight".

Elyse Knox, 1917-2012.  American actress; The Mummy's Tomb.

Anthony Shadid, 1968-2012.  American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist; The Washington Post.

Sullivan Walker, 1946-2012.  Trinidadian/American actor; The Cosby Show & Earth 2.

Marie Colvin, 1956-2012.  American journalist; The Sunday Times.

Davy Jones, 1945-2012.  British actor and recording artist with The Monkees; "I'm a Believer".

March 2012

Leonardo Cimino, 1917-2012.  American actor; Dune & The Monster Squad.

Jim Duffy, 1937-2012.  American animator; The Smurfs & Super Friends.

Warren Stevens, 1919-2012.  American actor; Forbidden Planet.

Gary Walberg, 1921-2012.  American actor; Quincy, M.E.

April 2012 

Thomas Kinkade, 1958-2012.  American artist.

Mike Wallace, 1918-2012.  American Journalist; 60 Minutes.

Jonathan Frid, 1924-2012.  Canadian actor; Dark Shadows.

Dick Clark, 1929-2012.  American disc jockey and TV host; American Bandstand.

Greg Ham, 1953-2012.  Australian musician, Men At Work; "Down Under".

George Murdock, 1930-2012.  American TV actor; Gunsmoke, etc. 

May 2012

Bob Stewart, 1920-2012.  American TV producer; The Price is Right & The $10,000 Pyramid.

Adam Yauch, 1964-2012.  American musician, The Beastie Boys; "Sabotage"

George Lindsey, 1928-2012.  American actor; The Andy Griffith Show.

Maurice Sendak, 1928-2012.  American author and illustrator; Where the Wild Things Are.

Vidal Sassoon, 1928-2012.  British hairstylist and business mogul.

Sam Porcello, 1935-2012.  American food scientist who invented the stuffing for the Oreo cookie.

Donna Summer, 1948-2012.  American singer; "Last Dance".

Robin Gibb, 1949-2012.  British singer, Bee Gees; "How Deep Is Your Love".

Eugene Polley, 1915-2012.  American engineer who invented the wireless remote control for TV.

Janet Carroll, 1940-2012.  American actress; Risky Business & Murphy Brown.

Lee Rich, 1918-2012.  American TV producer & Co founder of Lorimar Television; The Waltons & Dallas.

June 2012

Richard Dawson, 1932-2012.  British born American actor and game show host; Hogan's Heroes & The Family Feud.

Kathryn Jootsen, 1939-2012.  American actress; Desperate Housewives.

Herb Reed, 1928-2012.  American singer, The Platters; "The Great Pretender".

Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012.  American author; Fahrenheit 451 & Dandelion Wine. 

F. Herbert Bormann, 1922-2012.  American ecologist who helped discover the threat of Acid Rain.

Bob Welch, 1945-2012.  American musician with Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist; "Sentimental Lady".

Frank Cady, 1915-2012.  American actor who played the same character on three TV shows;  Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies.

Judy Freudberg, 1949-2012.  American TV/movie writer; Sesame Street & The Land Before Time.

Richard Lynch, 1940-2012.  American actor; Battlestar Galactica.

Nora Ephron, 1941-2012.  American journalist/screenwriter/novelist/playwright; When Harry Met Sally.... & Sleepless in Seattle.

July 2012

Andy Griffith, 1926-2012.  American actor; The Andy Griffith Show & Matlock.

Ernest Borgnine, 1917-2012.  American actor; Ice Station Zebra, The Black Hole, The Poseidon Adventure & the TV show Airwolf.

Donald J. Sobol, 1924-2012.  American children's book author of the Encylopedia Brown series.

Celeste Holm, 1917-2012.  American actress; All About Eve & Gentleman's Agreement.

Antonin Holy, 1936-2012.  Czech scientist who pinoneered and developed antiretroviral drugs used in the treatment of Heptatis and HIV, including Vistide, Viread, Hepsera, and Truvada.

William Asher, 1921-2012.  American TV producer, director, and screenwriter; Our Miss Brooks & Bewitched.

Chad Everett, 1936-2012.  American actor; Medical Center.

Sherman Hemsley, 1938-2012.  American actor; The Jeffersons & Amen.

Larry Hoppen, 1951-2012.  American musicain, Orleans; "Still the One".

Robert Ledley, 1926-2012.  American scientist who invented the full body CT Scanner.

Sally Ride, 1951-2012.  American astronaut.

Lupe Ontiveros, 1942-2012.  American actress; Selena & Desperate Housewives.

R.G. Armstrong, 1917-2012.  American actor; Dick Tracy & Friday the 13th: The Series. 

Jonathan Hardy, 1940-2012.  New Zealand actor; Farscape.

August 2012

Jimmy Jones, 1937-2012.  American pop singer; "Handyman" & "Good Timin'".

Marvin Hamlisch, 1944-2012.  American composer; The Way We Were & A Chorus Line.

Ron Palillo, 1949-2012.  American actor; Welcome Back, Kotter.

Phyllis Thaxter, 1919-2012.  American actress; Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo & Superman.

William Windom, 1923-2012.  American actor; Murder, She Wrote.

Tony Scott, 1944-2012.  British director; The Hunger, Top Gun, & Crimson Tide.

Helen Gurley Brown, 1922-2012.  American author, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan.

Phyllis Diller, 1917-2012.  American comedian and actress; Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! & Mad Monster Party.

Jeffrey Stone, 1926-2012.  American novelist and actor, was the model for Prince Charming in Cinderella.

Jerry Nelson, 1934-2012.  American puppeteer; Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, & Fraggle Rock.

Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012.  American astronaut; first man to walk on the moon.

September 2012

Michael Clark Duncan, 1957-2010.  American actor; The Green Mile & The Finder.

Dorothy McGuire, 1928-2012.  American singer, The McGuire Sisters; "Sugartime"

Lance LeGault, 1935-2012.  American actor; A-Team.

John Ingle, 1928-2012.  American actor; General Hospital.

Andy Williams, 1927-2012.  American singer; "Moon River".

R.B. Greaves, 1943-2012.  American singer; "Take a Letter Maria".

Michael O'Hare, 1952-2012.  American actor; Babylon 5.

Tuhran Bey, 1922-2012.  Austrian-born American actor; Footsteps in the Dark.

October 2012

Gary Collins, 1938-2012.  American actor, talk show host, and host of the Miss America Pageant.

Arlen Specter, 1930-2012.  American politicain, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.

Alex Karras, 1935-2012.  American pro football player with the Detroit Lions and actor; Webster.

Sylvia Kristel, 1952-2012.  Dutch actress: Emmanuel.

George McGovern, 1922-2012.  American author, historian, and politician; U.S. Rep. and Sen. from South Dakota, Democratic nominee for President in 1972.

Peggy Ahren, 1917-2012.  American actress; eight Little Rascals movies.

Natina Reed, 1979-2012.  American actress and singer, Blaque; "808".

November 2012

Bonnie Lynn Fields, 1944-2012.  American actress and Mousketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club.

Mel Shaw, 1914-2012.  American design artist; Bambi & Fantasia.

Larry Hagman, 1931-2012.  American actor; I Dream of Jeannie & Dallas.

December 2012

Norman Joseph Woodland, 1921-2012.  American inventor; co-creator of the bar code.

Daniel Inouye, 1924-2012.  Medal of Honor recipient and American politician; U.S. Senator from Hawaii.

Jack Klugman, 1922-2012.  American actor; The Odd Couple, Quincy, M.E., & 12 Angry Men.

Charles Durning, 1923-2012.  American actor; The Sting & The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Fontella Bass, 1940-2012.  American Singer; "Rescue Me"

Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., 1934-2012.  American Army General.