Books and Authors I loved/discovered in 2012: Part Two

 
PART TWO

Authors I discovered and loved/series I devoured

1. Ally Carter. Oh man, how did I not read anything by Ally Carter before?! It was one of those cases where I was following the person on twitter long before I read anything by them, and when I found one in the library (the library has given me so many gems!) I devoured it. I adore the Gallagher Girls. So much. I love the characters. The setting. The humour. The plots. The writing. Ally Carter is just magical. I would have put this in the series section, but then I loved The Heist Society novels too. How could I not?

2. Stella Gibbons. Cold Comfort Farm had been on my to be read list for a LONG time. I finally read it last Christmas, and fell in love with this author. Over this year I have read many more of her novels, and I just love her humour and style.

3. Morgan Matson. I loved reading Amy and Rodger's Epic Detour earlier in the year, having heard a lot about it, it was great to finally read it, but Second Chance Summer which I read over the summer cemented Morgan Matson as one of my (many) new favourite authors. The prose and plot were beautiful and haunting, the characters I grew so attached to... just everything about this book was wonderful. I think I've raved about it before so I'll leave it there....

4. Diana Wynne Jones. I discovered Wynne Jones because of my children's literature course earlier in the year and it made me wonder why I'd never picked up one of her books before. Her books are magical and are just enchanting. I've devoured many of hers this year, and loved in particular Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life.


Series I devoured

1.Joss Stirling. Joss' books all fit together in the same story world so I figured it was a series. I love these books and these characters, and have eagerly read each one this year.I love the world she creates and the characters and these perfect little stories, that are kind of paranormal, but not quite, and it's so different and unusual I loved it.

2. Garth Nix. I read the Sabriel Triology over Easter when I should have been writing my dissertation and I loved them. I had heard of them before but never read them, and I stole them from my brother's bookcase. They were awesome!

3. Veronica Roth. The first two books in the Divergent series. These were books I heard a lot about, and so I read the first one, which was awesome and preordered the second I loved them so much. Awesome series!

4. Lauren Oliver. The Delirium series. I devoured the first two of this series in about 24 hours... seriously I found the first one in the library, thought I'd give it a go, and I was hooked. I couldn't put it down and unable to wait to get the next one, bought it for my kindle and read that one too... I can't wait for the last in the series. So good... and such horrible cliffhangers!


Books I should have read before and only did this year

1. The Hobbit. J R R Tolkein. I know, I know. Well, I finally read it in honour of the film coming out. And I loved it.

2. LOTR. J R R Tolkein. This is another of those epic books I have always thought I wanted to and should read, and it was only this summer I finally restarted it again and committed myself. I've never even seen the films (I've seen bits... I know....) so it really was an epic adventure for me. And it was awesome!

Rereads of the Year 

1. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. My favourite all time book. I reread this a month or so ago, having not done so for ages and I reread loads of du Maurier's for my dissertation but it was nice to return to this one. Haunting and beautiful as always.

2. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. You may remember me raving about this earlier in the year when I got to do a presentation on it. Well I loved rereading it as ever. Magical book.

 3. Anna And The French Kiss and Lola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.These two books, especially Anna, have fast become some of my comfort reads and there's a very good reason why. I love revisiting these characters and their worlds, and it's so easy to become immeresed in that world. And I can't wait for the next one... which brings me onto my next blog post.

4. But first one last reread - Harry Potter. No year is complete without rereading a Harry Potter or two. Ultimate comfort reading when I'm down or need something familiar and comforting.

Phew!

That's it for now.

Planning to do a 'books I'm looking forward to in 2013' post, maybe in the week after Christmas.