Bookseller Top Tens! Part Two

You thought I forgot, didn't you.  It's okay, I would have thought that too.  I was just waiting until you were no longer burnt out from end-of-the-year, top-ten lists.  Clever, aren't I?  After great delay, here is the much hankered after, second edition of Bookseller Top Tens (Part One, here).  As a reminder, these lists are top ten books read in 2012, no matter when they were published.  Here goes!

Terry at Lake Forest Park
Despite instruction that the lists didn't need to be in any kind of order, Terry has labeled his number ones...what's more, he even separated his lists into fiction and non-fiction.  So organized!

Fiction

• #1 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
• The Detour by Andromeda Romano-Lax
• May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes
• The Sea of Tears by Nani Power
• The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
• We Sinners by Hanna Pylvainen

Non-Ficton

• #1 My Poets by Maureen M. McLane
• Empire of Liberty by Gordon Wood
• Never Say Die: The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age by Susan Jacoby
• The Unknown Night: The Genius and Madness of R.A. Blakelock, an American Painter by Glyn Vincent 

Andrew at Ravenna
In one last brave, bookseller act before he heads off into the sunset, here is Andrew's top ten.  Happy trails, Andrew, we'll miss you!

1. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
2. Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
3. City of Thieves by David Benioff 
4. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
5. Bender by Dean Young
6. The Puppet and The Dwarf by Slavoj Zizek
7. Love : An Index by Rebecca Lindberg 
8. Lamberto Lamberto Lamberto by Gianni Rodari
9. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain 
10. Guide to Getting It On by Paul Joannides

Adam at Lake Forest Park

Adam is one of my all-time favorite book recommend-ers (he's great for movies too).  His tastes are unusual, eclectic, often unknown, but always interesting.  It's a good idea to pay attention to what Adam is reading.

• The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas 
• The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture by David Mamet
• On the Overgrown Path by David Herter
• The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell 
• Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloane 
• The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
• The Public Image by Muriel Spark
• Cardboard by Doug TenNapel 
• All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills
• My Kind of Girl by Buddhadeva Bose

Emily M. at Ravenna

We got ourselves another Top Eleven...wouldn't you know it, the other person who picked eleven; also named Emily (Check out Top Tens Part One).  Cheaters!  I wonder if all Emilys are cheaters.  Well, I suppose they are forgiven, but I've got my eye on them.

• Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin
• Finally by Wendy Mass
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier
• Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd
• Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
• Family of Poems edited by Caroline Kennedy
• Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead
• Lessons From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
• A Year of Mornings by Marie Vettese
• Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Jessica B. at Lake Forest Park
One of the great things about the top ten lists is finding out who has similar tastes.  Turns out, I should probably read some of Jessica's picks, because there are quite a few on her list that I have loved.  Also, I think she has the best title...The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? Question Mark!

• And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? by Padgett Powell
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
• Glaciers by Alexis Smith
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Owen at Ravenna
Owen says that his number one for the year is How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti.  I don't know, Owen.  You tell me.  How should a person be?

• Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
• Another Country by James Baldwin
• Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater
• Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
• How Should a Person Be?: A Novel from Life by Sheila Heti
• City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
• Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine Saint-Exupery
• King City by Brandon Graham
• The Carter Family: Don't Forget this Song by David Lasley and Frank Young
• Sea Runners by Ivan Doig

Jane at Lake Forest Park
Jane is another bookseller who had trouble narrowing her favorites down.  But she says that her #1 of 2012 is Leon and Louise, but that is subject to fluctuation...depending on the day...and the weather.

• Life : An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet
• Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
• Papa Hemingway by A.E. Hotchner
• The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig
• The Orchardist by Amanda Copland
• Leon and Louise by Alex Capus
• Grace by T. Greenwood
• Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
• Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar
• House Girl by Tara Conklin

Annie at Lake Forest Park
Annie says that Garth Nix is her second favorite author after Michael Ende.  Well, Garth Nix is pretty awesome, so maybe we should check out this Michael Ende character.

1. A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix
2. Hold Me Closer Necromancer/Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
4. Heir to the Empire: The 20th Anniversary Edition by Timothy Zahn
5. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
6. Passion Play by Beth Bernobich
7. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente
8. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
9. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen
10. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Erin B. at Ravenna

Hey!  That's me!  Saved the best for last...am I right?

• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
• America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't (the audiobook) by Stephen T. Colbert 
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
• Just Kids by Patti Smith
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
• Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson
• The Terror by Dan Simmons
• Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence 
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente
• Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

So that's it.  A great sampling of what we loved last year.  And already we are hard at work on our 2013 lists.

Bookseller Top Tens! Part One

So, it's a little late in the countdown list game, but here are our bookseller top ten lists for books read in 2012.  There are very few rules for this...books listed can be published this year, or not; they can be in English, or not; they can be old favorites, or new; the lists can be ordered, or not...really anything goes, as long as they're books, and even that's negotiable.  I'm breaking this into two posts, because I got so many responses from both our Lake Forest Park and Ravenna booksellers.  Without further ado...

Robert at Lake Forest Park

Robert says that all these were published this year except for Williams 1965 neglected classic Stoner – a beautiful and sad book that he would recommend to anyone who loves literature.

• 1. May We Be Forgiven by A M Homes 
• 2. Stoner by John Edward Williams 
• 3. The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson 
• 4. Lazarus is Dead by James Beard 
• 5. These Dreams of You by Steve Erickson 
• 6. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain 
• 7. A Million Heavens by John Brandon 
• 8. By Blood by Ellen Ullman 
• 9. Mr Penubra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 
• 10. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Michael at Ravenna
Michael says he doesn't really have a favorite, but if forced...he would pick The Life of Objects

• Canada by Richard Ford 
• The Life of Objects by Susanna Moore 
• The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin 
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison 
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter 
• Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd 
• Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill 
• Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
• Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz 
• Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst

Emily A. at Lake Forest Park

Emily cheated and picked 11- although I did say there were few rules...well played, Emily.

• Alif The Unseen by G Willow Wilson 
• The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin 
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison 
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce 
• Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn 
• A Very Minor Prophet by James Bernard Frost
• Leon and Louise by Alex Capus 
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich 
• Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson 
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey 
• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Ami at Ravenna

Ami is super stoked to see what everyone else picked for their top tens!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 1. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 
• 2. Almost No Memory by Lydia Davis 
• 3. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 
• 4. Pan by Knut Hamsun 
• 5. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin 
• 6. Songs of the Dragon Flying to Heaven by Young Jean Lee 
• 7. Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace 
• 8. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov 
• 9. All the Days and Nights by William Maxwell 
• 10. Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha

Stan at Lake Forest Park

Stan's top ten is titled, Untitled...edgy, Stan!

• 38 nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End by Scott W. Berg
• Mrs.Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn
• On the Overgrown Path by David Herter
• The Luminous Depths by David Herter
• Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age by Bohumil Hrabal
• Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbott
• Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
• Better Off Without 'em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession by Chuck Thompson
• The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung
• Mission to Paris by Alan Furst

Mark B. at Ravenna
I've never heard someone praise a book as much as Mark praised Gone Girl.

• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 
• Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes 
• Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen 
• Far North by Marcel Theroux 
• The Odds by Stewart O'Nan 
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes 
• Immobility by Brian Evenson 
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Patti H. at Ravenna
Patti makes a bold move and says that Icefall, is not only her number one for the year, but maybe one of her most favorite books...EVER!

• Icefall by Mathew Kirby 
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore 
• Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron 
• Across the Universe by Beth Revis 
• Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 
• Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood 
• Books of Elsewhere (series) by Jacqueline West 
• Every Day by David Levithan 
• Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost 
• The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Erin J. at Lake Forest Park
Erin finds the task of whittling her list to only ten books particularly daunting.  Agreed!

• Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman 
• Glaciers by Alexis Smith 
• You Are Not Like Other Mothers by Angelika Schrobsdorff 
• Radio Iris by Anne-Marie Kinney 
• The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson 
• The Widows Children by Paula Fox 
• Under the Glacier by Halldor Laxness 
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey 
• Steps and Exes by Laura Kalpakian 
• Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link

That's it for Part One.  Stay tuned for the sequel, chock full of even more, awesome books!