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Best Books Of 2012
This show is a rebroadcast from December 6, 2012.
From the origins of the universe, to the Tudor age, to an Indian reservation in North Dakota, we look at the best books of the year.
It may not have a cover anymore. It may be pixels on a screen. But a book is still a book. Big, rich, deep - and, when it’s good, transporting. Transforming. The books of 2012 have ranged wide. From the slums of Mumbai to deep North Korea. From the court of Henry VIII to the ranch of LBJ.
From war to love, to family and clan, to mega-selling sex talk. Gone Girl. Round House. Dog Stars. Journeys. Richard Ford. Katherine Boo. Junot Diaz. Chris Ware.
This hour, On Point: we’re looking at the best books of 2012.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Lucas Wittmann, books editor for the Newsweek/Daily Beast.
Elizabeth Taylor, literary editor of the Chicago Tribune.
Richard Howorth, owner of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.
From Tom's Reading List
Best Books from Publishers Weekly
You can find the Daily Beast lists here
Your Best Books Lists
Here's a list of top books from our reviewers and you, our listeners. Please add your suggestions in the comments section.
Lucas Wittmann
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie
The Barbarous Years by Bernard Bailyn
Every Love Story is a Ghost Story by DT Max
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon
Richard Howorth
Swimming Studies by Leann Shapton
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
One Last Strike by Tony La Russa
My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk
A Mission From God: A Memoir and a Challenge for America by James Meredith
Pete the Cat Saves Christmas - by Eric Witlin
Elizabeth Taylor
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiousity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum
Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay by Christopher Benfey
Caller Picks
Who Is That Man?: In Search of the Real Bob Dylan
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden
Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows Diana Gabaldon
As the Shadows Fall by Mort Shahmir
Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars by Camille Paglia
Listeners' Picks
Alif the Unseen by G. Winslow Wilson
The World Without You by Joshua Henkins
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan
The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green-Young
The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall
Yellow Green Beret (Vol II and III) by Chester Wong
The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs by Tyler Hamilton
A Good American by Alex George
Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker
Hunger Mountain: A Field Guide to Mind and Landscape by David Hinton
This program aired on December 27, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.