What I’m Reading {150 Books in 2012}

As I’ve said before, for the last five years I’ve set a goal to read 100 books a year, exceeding it each year by at least a dozen. (See the “top” 100 books I read in 2011 here.)

In 2012, I’m making it more fun, and upping the number to 150.

Here’s my 2012 list — and this year I’ll be making the (big! bold! alert!) change of actually rating some of the books I read. I will not rate every book, because sometimes I forget. Yes. And also because I read such niche books sometimes that my ratings may not be relevant and/or helpful.

Ratings will go like this:

* {eh.}

** {useful information, but likely not something the general masses will fawn over.}

*** {good, but with the caveat that I read (and enjoy) weird books}

**** {darn good. worth buying a hard copy of to put on a nice shelf.}

***** {love! top-10 placement! life-changing! gold stars 4eva!}

Books Read in 2012:

  1. The Message (Every year, I read through Peterson’s The Message.)
  2. The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin. ****
  3. Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found my Faith, Martha Beck. ****
  4. Frozen Assets, Quentin Bates ***
  5. The Money Saving Mom’s Budget, Crystal Paine. ****
  6. Jesus Freaks
  7. {health book}
  8. Large Family Logistics
    *
  9. Empire of Sand**
  10. All the Money in the World
    Laura Vanderkam.****
  11. My Life in Doha
  12. Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, Conor Grennan.*****
  13. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Paul Torday.****
  14. Lone Traveller
    Anne Mustoe.***
  15. Holy Cow
  16. Saving Savvy
    Kelly Hancock.
  17. Choosing to SEE
    Mary Beth Chapman.
  18. Hiding from Reality
    Taylor Armstrong.
  19. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
    ***
  20. The Barefoot Executive
    Carrie Wilkerson****
  21. {health}
  22. {health}
  23. 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess
    ***
  24. Instant Speaking Success
    Paul Evans.
  25. Same Kind of Different As Me
  26. {health}
  27. Cold Comfort
  28. Radical
    -David Platt.***
  29. Quiet****
  30. Possum Living
  31. {health}
  32. 7 Money Rules for Life
    -Mary Hunt.
  33. The Possibility of You
    -Pamela Redmond Satran.
  34. In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor’s Journey in the Saudi Kingdom
  35. A Mother’s Rule of Life
    ***
  36. The Dip
    -Seth Godin.
  37. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
  38. Friendraising
  39. God’s Spy
  40. All the Pope’s Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks
  41. Un Amico Italiano
  42. Pajama School
  43. {health}
  44. Swahili for the Broken Hearted
  45. The Peace “Corpse”
  46. The Power of Giving: How Giving Back Enriches Us All
  47. {health}
  48. {health}
  49. Wrecked
    -Jeff Goins.
  50. Lady’s Hands, Lion’s Heart
  51. Turn Right at Machu Picchu
    -Mark Adams.
  52. Platform, Michael Hyatt. ***** (see my glowing review here)
  53. Borrow
  54. Making Ideas Happen
    -Scott Belsky.
  55. The Mesh
  56. Planting Dandelions
  57. Apples Are from Kazakhstan
  58. Confessions of a Public Speaker
    ****
  59. So Many Books
  60. The Year of Living Biblically
    -A.J. Jacobs.
  61. The Element
  62. Write It Down, Make It Happen
  63. {health}
  64. {health}
  65. Good Idea. Now What?
    -Charles T. Lee.
  66. Death by Meeting
  67. Finding Shangri-La
  68. The 00 Startup00 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
    (    here’s my take on this great book)
  69. Life Your Way
  70. The Power of a Positive No
  71. Dancing with the Witchdoctor
  72. Time Management from the Inside Out
  73. The Education of Millionaires
  74. {health}
  75. {health}
  76. {health}
  77. The Dirty Life
  78. What Successful People Do Before Breakfast
  79. State of Wonder
  80. Unbroken
  81. What Remains
  82. Anything
  83. Empty Promises
  84. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
    *****
  85. Bringing Up Bébé
    ****
  86. Fifty Days of Solitude
  87. Love from Paris
  88. The Paris Wife
  89. Postcards from Delaplane
  90. Book Lust To Go
  91. In the Land of No Right Angles
  92. The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince
  93. Wild
  94. Dinner with Persephone
  95. La Bella Lingua
  96. The Writing Life
  97. {health}
  98. {health}
  99. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World
  100. My First Coup d’Etat
  101. The Power of Habit
  102. Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t
  103. Steve Jobs
  104. The Joy Diet
  105. Running With Scissors
  106. Yemen
  107. No Reservations
  108. Backpacked
  109. Learning to Breathe
  110. Twichiker
  111. Never Say Never
  112. Onward
  113. Traveling with Pomegranates
  114. The Fourth Instinct
  115. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
  116. The Table Comes First
  117. {health}
  118. Some Assembly Required
  119. The Paleo Lifestyle
  120. {health}
  121. The Paleo Diet
  122. Wheat Belly
  123. {health}
  124. The 816 to Baghdad
  125. Against the Grain
  126. From Blog to Book
  127. Under the Tuscan Sun (yes, finally)
  128. The Secret Daughter
  129. The Night Strangers
  130. The Rushing Woman’s Syndrome
  131. The 100-year Old Man Who Jumped Out the Window
  132. 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life (an ebook by my friend Crystal Paine)
  133. Community Wins (an ebook by my bud Bryan Allain)
  134. {health}
  135. White Rhino Hotel
  136. Skios
  137. All Roads Lead to Austen
  138. My Father’s Island
  139. Almost Amish
  140. The Good Girl’s Guide to Style
  141. {health}
  142. You Can Buy Happiness – and it’s Cheap!
  143. The Big Short
  144. Under the Afghan Sun
  145. As the Romans Do
  146. Do it Anyway
  147. The Taliban Cricket Club
  148. One for the Books
  149. Curtain
  150. Four Seasons in Rome

Comments

  1. Liz Gebhardt says:
    January 19, 2012 at 3:28 am

    A couple of recommendations to consider for your list. BTW – I also recommend Gretchen Rubin’s book as well — and her daily newsletter/quote is good too.

    (1) Marc Ian Barasch’s “Compassionate Life” at http://www.amazon.com/Compassionate-Life-Walking-Path-Kindness/dp/1576757560/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326943259&sr=1-2)

    (2) “Emotional Equations” by @chipconley at http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Equations-Creating-Happiness-Success/dp/1451607253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326943546&sr=1-1

    (3) “The Venice Chronicles” by Pixar short film (La Luna) director @sketchcrawl at http://www.amazon.com/Venice-Chronicles-Enrico-Casarosa/dp/0981845509/ref=tsm_1_tp_un_it

    Reply
    • ClaireD says:
      January 22, 2012 at 1:19 am

      Oh! These look AWESOME!! Checking out now! (and hi!!)

      Reply
      • Joel Lagan says:
        June 4, 2012 at 2:11 pm

        Hi Claire, How in the world do you have time to read 100 books in one year? Do you skim or actually plough straight through them? I’m incredibly impressed by readers of any stripe but especially those able to remain so consistently voracious.

        Do you have a time management strategy? I’m 25, I have a 11 month old a full-time job and own a social enterprise doing various projects in Zimbabwe… so that’s part of why I’m not reading that much but I’d love to hear if you have specific pointers.

        Reply
  2. Adrienne says:
    May 30, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Why don’t you list the names of the health books you are reading?

    Reply
  3. Liz Gebhardt says:
    June 8, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    Claire – Another book to consider for your list – Kind of like Twitter today, MTV changed the nature of TV, production, promotion, the relationships between artists and fans, deep reintegration of causes within pop culture and more –

    “I WANT MY MTV: THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE MUSIC VIDEO REVOLUTION”
    By Craig Marks & Rob Tannenbaum
    They interviewed more than 400 people — artists, network and music industry execs etc– for this oral history of the cable network.

    Reply
  4. Elena says:
    June 18, 2012 at 12:35 pm

    What did you think of Quiet? I really want to get around to reading that book.

    Reply
  5. Kathy says:
    July 4, 2012 at 3:30 pm

    Thanks Claire! I have read some of the books on your list. I also love to read and find that God shows me something about myself, Him or an area where I can change to become more like Him through a variety of books. I have some of my favorites listed on my blog if you’re interested in some more recommendations :)

    Reply
  6. Joyce says:
    July 4, 2012 at 11:38 pm

    Stopping by from Sarah Mae’s link up.

    That’s a lot of books!! I wish I could just read all day long…major bookworm. So happy that my girls love to read too.

    Reply
  7. saltna says:
    July 10, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    All the Money in the World, Laura Vanderkam.****

    Reply
  8. Rebecca Lim says:
    December 26, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    Wow, Claire! 100 books in a single year? That’s truly amazing. How did you manage to even find time in the midst of being a techno-preneur, a speaker, author and advisor etc? Salute! :)

    By the way, you might want to add God’s word, the Holy Bible, to your list. It always give me an inner comfort and peace that I cannot find elsewhere in the world. Bless you.

    Reply
    • Paul says:
      February 7, 2013 at 4:51 am

      Hi Rebecca, Actually ‘The Message” is a paraphrase of the Bible which Claire reads annually. I’d recommend it too!

      Reply
  9. Elena says:
    January 31, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    What a great list! There’s some titles there I’d like to read myself: Quiet, The Power of Habit, The Year of Living Biblically. You have no ratings for the non-fiction though – any particular books you’d strongly recommend? The titles sound intriguing :)

    Reply

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