Karen's 2012 review

What is your favourite read of 2012?
There have been so many books that I have enjoyed this year, that whittling down to just one seems like such a disservice to all the rest! I’ll therefore slightly cheat and say that my favourite children’s book was Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls. Young Adult – a tie between the Infernal Devices’ series (Cassandra Clare) and The Enemy (Charlie Higson) series and for adult, I really enjoyed Them or Us the final instalment in the Hater’ series by David Moody.
Which book have you most enjoyed reading with your children in 2012?
I think I have made it very clear on this blog how much my husband and I adored reading, A fearsome Beastie by Giles Paley Phillips to the kidlets. In particular because it was the first book that made my then 1 year old son so enthusiastic to listen to a story all the way through without the help of tactile/noisy features.
What have you enjoyed most about book reviewing/blogging in 2012?
The fact that blogging allows you to pick up and read any book you like the look of without prejudice. In particular, children’s and young adult books. Blogging also insists that no matter how busy my life is, I need to set time aside for reading. This is something which I really appreciate as reading does give me such a chance of escaping the daily pressures of life.
What book are you most looking forward to reading in 2013?
I’m impatiently waiting for Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare to come out as I have adored the series so far.
Other blogging thoughts:
In 2012 I read a number of books that are the inspiration for movies playing in cinemas in 2013.
Whilst it’s been a while since I last read the book, The Hobbit it needs to be mentioned as it will still be watched in the cinemas come January. Having seen the movie adaptation, I’m curious enough to reread the book to work out which bits were added in to fill out the first part of the trilogy. It’ll also give me a chance to sigh ‘Ohh Kili’ every time that sexy little dwarf gets a mention 🙂
I think I’ll save my pennies and wait for Jack Reacher to come out on rental release, just because I can’t get over the fact that Tom Cruise is playing Jack. In the books he is described as being very tall, literally 6ft+ and some. He uses his height to his advantage in fights and to intimidate and in general is very ‘rough and ready’. I worry that whilst it will probably be a good action movie, what made Jack Reacher such a fascinating and iconic character will be lost in the process.
Whilst randomly exploring You Tube I came across the trailer for Warm Bodies which in turn encouraged me to read the book. Previous headlines based around having a zombie boyfriend had put me off the book thinking that this was one step too far, but I found this an interesting twist on the zombie genre. This book is on my to do list to write a review so I will leave it at that for now!
Still on the zombie genre, World War Z as a film really interests me. Looking at the trailer it looks like the focus is on Brad Pitt’s character and his family. The book’s genius and originality is that it’s made up of different survivors’ accounts of how they endured a zombie apocalypse across the world so it will be interesting to see what aspects of the book the movie has tried to recreate.
Then there is of course,The Mortal Instruments with one of my favourite actors, Robert Sheehan playing Simon. Is it bad though that I am already hoping that this means that the Infernal Devices series will be made into a movie?!
Karen’s Favourite books of 2012 (Click on the title below to learn more)
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay
The Fearsome Beastie by Giles Payley-Phillips
Post by Karen