Books I Read in 2012

Delicious, inspirational book. Collection of fun stories and recipes by men writers who cook for their families. Do men who cook have more and better sex?

Gripping, heart wrenching story of the New York subway tunnels: the men who dug them and the people who live in them today.

Incredible stuff.

Wonderful story from great new talent. 2011 Orange Prize winning first novel. Woven with great loving care and a tantalizing pinch of fantasy. A girl and her grandfather.

Respected professional investor and TV Fast Money panelist shares his successful experience.

We learn the story of our Japanese immigrants in the first half of last century. And we make the unusual first person plural work so well that we become them.

23 helpful parenting tools, well-explained with examples. (Online, paid course available at: positiveparentingsolutions.com.)

Collection of very good stories about Chinese immigrant troubles and transitions in America.

Very nice collection of super stories. Naked Woman Playing Chopin. Beauty Stolen from Another World.

Beautifully told. 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Feels at least as good as her earlier Eat the Document.

Interesting first novel. Philosophical observations of a knowledgeable new psychiatrist wandering Brussels briefly but mainly Manhattan. "The racist structure of this country is crazy-making."

Exquisite, sensitive, satirical study of the English upper class in the 1980s told especially through the eyes of a gay, young Oxford grad. Man Booker Prize Winner 2004.

Spell-binding page turner. 2011 Man Booker Prize winner.

Super first novel (2001). Likable, troubled LA ladies working, loving and searching for something uncertain.

Quite an adventure.

Super first book. Awesome piece of narrative journalism, an in-depth investigative report of the struggle to survive and the hope to do the impossible: live a decent life in a Mumbai slum. Katherine Boo speaks significant truths. Must read for anyone who wants to know India.

Gordon is an artist who takes us all around and inside the souls of several unique but totally real characters who chance to find themselves involved together at a low-stakes horse racing track near the Ohio-West Virginia border. Money, sex and violence of course, but also magic, love, insanity, risk and luck. A clear winner.

Solid first novel from award-winning playwright. Young adolescent Mathilda struggles to define herself one year after her older sister's suicide.

Trying to live an honorable life or just trying to survive under Communist oppression in the little town of Muddy River, China, in 1979, after the gruesome execution of a young woman protester.

Very good stuff. Intersecting stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a little known George. A life-saving intersection for both.

Good presentation and explanation of the principles and practice of the Montessori method.

Wow! Awesome collection of beautiful stories that fit together like stepping stones on an irresistible path. Pearlman is absolutely brilliant.

Psychology professor makes convincing case for the Montessori method of education for our children. For more info see http://www.montessori-science.org/

Mantel was just warming up when she wrote Wolf Hall, the Man Booker Prize winning prequel to this irresistible page-turner! Gripping portrayal of the downfall of Queen Anne Boleyn through the eyes of King Henry VIII's right-hand man, Secretary Thomas Cromwell.

Classic tale of the lives and loves of citizens of an English municipality circa 1830.

Short but very sweet and moving.

Nice collection of fine, modern, perceptive stories.

Super no-let-up adventure, introducing the unforgettable teen heroine, Katniss Everdeen. Couldn't put it down.

Fine piece of well-documented, convincing, investigative journalism. What Obama and his administrative team have done and continue to cover up is shocking and appalling!

Part two of the continuing adventures of Katniss Everdeen, bold new YA fiction heroine.

Fine and fitting finale to the trilogy.

Some excellent points, sometimes obfuscated by Conard's academic economy-speak. Talk plain, man! We all need to understand why investing in risky innovation clearly has been and should continue to be the key to our economic superiority. That Obama and his filibuster-proof congressional majority are moving us in the wrong direction! "Commerce is the salvation of the poor, not charity. Successful risk takers put Americans, immigrants and off-shore workers to work, not government handouts."

How to apply Montessori principles to our youngest.

Yea, I know, but I just had to check out the book that outsold the Bible and Harry Potter! I'd give it a solid 2 out of 10. Made me feel a bit of a voyeur. Would say don't waste your time, but I know most of you have already read it.

Classic tale. Would it be advantageous or terrible to be invisible?

Fathers and sons. Coming and going. Living and dying. Sensitive, ethereal, poetic.

The amazing Chabon has constructed a merciless masterpiece. A celebration of the golden age of comics shared by two irresistibly attractive artist sidekicks. Even after turning over 600 pages, you just don't want this story to end. And it doesn't.

Entertaining, hilarious page-turner.

Fine piece of investigative journalism. Engaging, inside study of how our food system really works. We have room for improvement.

Masterfully told story of two families who, in turn, were the sole residents of the island of San Miguel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Another unforgettable gem from one of our greatest writers.

Gripping page-turner. Detective story. Violent.

Effective, high protein, low carb diet variant.

Eloquent, disarmingly plangent gem of a tale. Man Booker Prize winner. "There are moments when the past has a force so strong it seems one might be annihilated by it."

Started the computer revolution in schools in the 1980s. Done right, learning to program computers can help children enjoy learning how to think about thinking!

Grouping children by age is arbitrary and often inappropriate, especially for our gifted children. Let's group by ability! Gifted children do BETTER when grouped together with others more closely matching their ability level, no matter that these are often older children or even college level young adults. More at GeniusDenied.com. See also The Davidson Institute.

More good story telling. With a sense of humor.

Banville is a storyteller of ineffable poetic elegance.

Gripping read, especially for another pilot. Gann artfully describes his experiences as a commercial pilot during aviation's learning years, the 1930's - 1950's, when survival seemed to depend less on skill and knowledge than on luck.

Good thinking. Good read. 42 Keys.

Super good stuff, Senor Diaz. Keep it coming, man.

Best of breed! How to use books to help gifted kids meet their emotional and intellectual needs. Great annotated bibliography of recommended books.

Great fun read! Wonderful non-stop adventure story. Midieval Mideast. Super characters. Loved the luscious language. Includes a delightful Afterword. (First intended title was "Jews with Swords"!)

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