Beth Carswell's Top 25 Novel's for 2012

Who is Beth Carswell you may ask? I think it's just a selling ploy for Abe Books. Let's boost this woman as if she knows a lot about novels and then the gullible public will believe the expert and buy the books! Which makes it all the more interesting, in that, I hadn't heard of a lot of these books, and are there any you've read you hated or loved? I say hated, because are they just pushing stock they can't sell?


Here's The one and only *Beth Carswell's* Top 25 Novels for 2012!!!



  1. The Tiger
    by John Vaillant

  2. Little Bee
    by Chris Cleave

  3. Habibi
    by Craig Thompson

  4. State of Wonder
    by Ann Patchett

  5. Caleb's Crossing
    by Geraldine Brooks

  6. We the Animals
    by Justin Torres

  7. Bride of New France
    by Suzanne Desrochers

  8. The Paris Wife
    by Paula McLain

  9. The Host
    by Stephenie Meyer

  10. Brooklyn
    by Colm Toibin

  11. The Green River Killer
    by Jeff Jensen

  12. What is the What
    by Dave Eggers

  13. A Gate at the Stairs
    by Lorrie Moore

  14. The Russian Debutante's Handbook
    by Gary Shteyngart

  15. Something Fierce
    by Carmen Aguirre

  16. The Sense of an Ending
    by Julian Barnes

  17. Swamplandia!
    by Karen Russell

  18. Winter's Bone
    by Daniel Woodrell

  19. Tender at the Bone
    by Ruth Reichl

  20. Y
    by Marjorie Celona

  21. Year of Wonders
    by Geraldine Brooks

  22. The Uninvited Guests
    by Sadie Jones

  23. The Tiger's Wife
    by Tea Obreht

  24. One Day
    by David Nicholls

  25. Housekeeping
    by Marilynne Robinson

Good one! Congratulations on your find.

Thanks for the info Brian. Now I see why I didn't know what Abe books was. I'm not a book collecter only a book lover with a tiny house.

In Abe's terms because they resell used books, yes, but some have knocked around a while. Toibin's Brooklyn is three years old, Brooks' Year of Wonders back to around 2000 but others are this year's crop.

The only one I've read was Geraldine Brooke's Year of Wonders - which I thoroughly enjoyed but it was several years ago.

Is this supposed to be an up to date list do we know?

I saw the list and I thought it worth putting up here as I’d heard of so few of the books. I thought it may be an alternative to the usual ‘pop’ stuff. I look for topics that will provoke a discussion. It goes without saying that anyone can begin a discussion.
Abe books are an excellent and very interesting sellers of old books. I use it to value books I’ve bought that may be collectable. I bought Thackeray’s Vanity Fair today 1898 edition from a Christmas market for 50cents. Value on Abe books? £125. Won’t sell it though. It’ll sit on the shelves with collectable and signed first editions that I never even open.
Glyn

Totally agree, but also why are book lists as influential as they are? Call me paranoid, but they always seem to push sales rather than talent.

I certainly agree about personalised lists, but I would love to see annotated ones that in a sentence say why they are on the list and occupy a particular position. That would be fun given the possibilities.

Abe = Advanced Book Exchange, its old name. They are an online marketplace for books, most/many are used, some rare or out-of-print and others collectors' items. Ms Carswell appears to work for them

It's true that one persons good book can be another persons idea of a good door stop. I think that book lists are fun. Isn't it a little too easy to trash a list without jumping into the ring with your proper list?

P.S. I don't know who Beth Carswell is either & what are/is AbeBooks?

to Barnes, meant 'one race horse' and way back in 1989 at that!

avatar

About Beth Carswell

I've been reading, selling, researching, loving and writing about books with AbeBooks since 2000.

Some of the books on her list have been deliberately left at airports because by a chapter or two in I lost the will to live. Others are so pretentious that if I bought them after throwing a glance into reviews that gushingly like them I fear I might become bilious. As I have said before, worldwide there are so many excellent writers and yet there are still lists with the likes of Julian Barnes in them when he was a real one horse race and Colm Toibin who has gone, IMHO, very stale. bring on talent, create good lists and then we have something to get our teeth into and discuss.

The only one that I've read was "The Paris Wife " by Paula McLain and I loved it. I've always been more of a fan of Hemingway as a person then as a writer. I take that back....I love his short stories and the Old Man and the Sea. "The Paris Wife" is about Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson. It follows their childhood relations, Hemingway's first published book, Spain, Paris, Gertrude Stein, bull fighting, wild nights and much more. What's not to like?

The book "Little Bee" has been strongly recommended to me by one of my book buddies but I haven't read it yet.