This is the first time I had to rate a book from the 1001 list only one star.
A Gate at the Stairs is entirely senseless and completely pseudo-intelectual - the latter one being something I absolutely despise. Before reading this book I had of course seen that it had received very mixed reviews. But I always try to not think of those when reading a book and be open-minded. Unfortunately it turned out that all those negative reviews were right.
The book tries to address several critical topics such as adoption, racism or attitudes towards Muslims. The porblem was the way these topics are treated: very superficial, in a pseudo-ironic way and never to the end. Whenever one topic could have been brought to a different pahse it is simply dropped.
The main character is also very naive. I always have my problems with this type of character but here it was absolutely unbearable: when Tassie's brother tells her that he is thinking of joining the army (the year is 2002), she isnt't really worried but just wonders whether there is still a war going on in Afghanistan. She also never considers the way Sarah and Edward behave as odd.
I could still have lived with that. But then there was her boyfriend who suddenly turns out to be a would-be terrorist. Tassie is not worried about that but just heart-broken when he's gone.
The discussion of the self-help group were maddening and as pointless as the rest of the book.
And then there was the point that nade me want to throw my copy out of the window: Sarah's story of her former life. How can anybody leave their own child all alone at a rest stop at a freeway? This is completely insane! And how could this fact have slipped the adoption agency? I'm not very familiar with their processes but from what one always hears they do very thorough research on people and the fact that someone had changed their name and had previously been convicted of a crime against a child definitely wouldn't escape their notice!

With this novel, I found all of my preconceived notions about Abraham and Mary Lincoln turned squarely on their heads and forcing me into thinking about them in a very different way. Once again Barbara Hambly is able to recreate a world that we think we know, and instead one that we really don't. Along the way, there are plenty of controversies about slavery, racism, the Civil War, women's rights, and mental illness. I found Mary's story is a tragic one and one that I found very absorbing all the way to the end. Very well researched and written. Four stars overall and a recommendation. For the longer review, please go here: http://www.bubblews.com/news/3672931-the-emancipator039s-wife-a-slightly-different-direction-from-barbara-hambly-and-it-works-very-well

Discover Best Books of 2012 on BookLikes bookshelf and read about some notable reads of 2012 that were widely talked about. 

 

In 2012 Oprah’s Book Club got CPR and that’s how Oprah Book Club 2.0 was born. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, much more than just a story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike, was a first book pick for Book Club 2.0. by Oprah, a woman with immense influence on world’s trends, including reading ones.

Most recent choice for Club is Ayana Mathis’s The Twelve Tribes of Hattie with recommendation of Oprah’s quote: Not since Toni Morrison have I read a writer whose words have moved me this way.

 

The Casual Vacancy was anticipated by both those who loved and hardly enjoyed Harry Potter. All people wanted to see how J.K. Rowling will find herself in adult fiction. The book is out and reviews mainly positive, both in UK and USA:

• Rowling knows how to write a twisty, involving plot....She is clearly a skilled writer (The Huffington Post );
• Rowling has written a grand novel...a very brave book. (The Bookseller (UK) ).

 

Erotic shock with Fifty Shades Trilogy still lasts. “Mummy porn” got popular not only among mums but women of all age and even some man (approximately 30% according to Bowker research). What’s interesting Fifty Shades books have a grand impact on social life too, surveys revealed that they were bought not only for reading pleasure but also as a reference, study and self-help.

 

Salman Rushdie and Joseph Anton is the same person - the story of how one became the other can be read in Rushdie’s this year biography titled Joseph Anton, a nickname that he has chosen when he was ‘sentenced to death’ because of The Satanic Verses. The book, as the author, have many faces. From development and collapse of personal relationships, through political and cultural background, to portrait of artist and writer.

 

This year was full of amazing literary awards winners and nominees. Both finalists of National Book Award: This Is How You Lose Her by Pulitzer prize winner Junot Diaz and The Yellow Birds, debut novel by Kevin Powers, didn’t win the prize but already won in literary world where they are named as magnificent and brilliant. Althought Pulitzer judges haven’t awarded any book, the choice of appreciated reads in great. Let’s just mention National Award winner The Round House by Louise Erdrich, Man Booker prize winner Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel , Hugo Award winner Among Others by John H. Walton, or Gone by Mo Hayder, Edgar Winner (read about more awarded reads here).

 

YA readers have been offereed a relly great literary feast with John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (the story of Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters, two Indianapolis teenagers who meet at a Cancer Kid Support Group) which was named damn near genius by The Times Magazine and Rick Riordan's latest adventures of his most famous character, Percy Jackson, and his friends in The Mark of Athena. 

Nonfiction in 2012 was also widely talked about: No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by former member of US special forces brought storm in military and political grounds and People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry is a compelling account of the story of a young British woman who was killed and dismembered in Japan in 2000 and ten-year long trial. The Guardian praised the book for being rich in intelligence and insight.

 

Read about other great books here: Awarded Books for Everyone and discover more Best Books of 2012 on BookLikes Bookshelf.