Top Ten reads this year (2012)

[iansales]

I usually only do a top five, but I do it for books, films and albums. And I write it up on my blog - see here.

For the record, the books were:

1 Girl Reading, Katie Ward
2 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson
3 The Universe of Things, Gwyneth Jones
4 Intrusion, Ken MacLeod
5 The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles

[Fried Egg]

Ian, are you including only books released in 2012?

[iansales]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

Ian, are you including only books released in 2012?

No, I do books I read during the year. I don't read enough books published in the year in question to pick the best five. For example, I still have a couple on the TBR that were published in 2012, and there are books published during the year that I've heard are very good but I've yet to buy or read.

[elvet]

Originally Posted by elvet

My 2012 five star books on Goodreads:
Hydrogen Sonata by Ian M. Banks
The Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson
Sharps by K.J. Parker
Skirmish by Michelle Sagara West
King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Caliban's War by James Corey
Long Price Quartet (4 book series) by Daniel Abraham

I've got to amend this list somehow because I'm reading Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, and it's a winner for me this year.

[J-Sun]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

My top 8 (I hope to read another great one or two this month)...

I read six books in December and two of those were probably at least as good as other options so I'll add Greg Bear's The Forge of God (1987 novel)/Anvil of Stars (1992 novel) to round out my top 10.

Oh yeah:

Originally Posted by J-Sun

Bruce Sterling - The Zenith Angle (2009 novel)

I goofed on the date - it was 2004.

[Timba]

This is tough, I never spend much time thinking about rating the books I read because I am too busy moving on to the next book, still here is what comes to mind in no particular order.

Lord of Mountains by S.M. Stirling
Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber
Exiled: Clan of the Claw by multiple authors, very entertaining. Short stories or novellas I guess would be the classification.
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Fire Season by David Weber
1635: The Papal Stakes by Eric Flint
All 16 Liaden Universe novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I suppose this is cheating but I thoroughly enjoyed all 16 books and they provided a wonderful month of reading. Could not pick out a favorite.
The entire Honor Harrington Series by David Weber as a reread. How do you pick out a favorite?
Virals by Kathy Reich
Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle

Sadly this leaves out so many more that I truly enjoyed but I guess I have to stop somewhere, not at all certain these are the 10+ best though, just the ones that come to mind probably because they happened to be read more recently than others.

[Vertigo]

I rate my reads up to 5 stars. So here are my 5 stars for the year and my top 4 stars:

5 Star:
Neal Asher - The Skinner
Neal Asher - The Voyage of the Sable Keech
Conan Doyle - A Study in Scarlet
Peter Hamilton - The Evolutionary Void
Philip Pullman - Nothern Lights (note the 2nd book only just got 4 stars)
P G Wodehouse - My Man Jeeves

Top 4 Star:
Neal Asher - Orbus
The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
Tony Ballantyne - Recursion
Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory
Stephen Baxter - Raft
Greg Bear - Eon
Philip K Dick - Martian Time-slip
Philip K Dick - Ubik
Homer - The Iliad
Cordwainer Smith - The Rediscovery of Man
Jules Verne - A Journey to the Centre of the Earth

I would include Roberto Bolano - 2666 but as I've not yet finished it I guess it doesn't count!