1. Diary of a Mad Fat Girl, by Stephanie McAfee. This is a fun and funny book, and so is the author, whom I met at the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends’ Weekend. She first self-pubbed it as an e-book, where it landed on the NY Times Bestseller list! And now it’s at Costco and all the bookstores.
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera.
3. Moonface, by Angela Balcita
This is a memoir of a young woman whose kidneys fail in college. She gets a transplant from her brother, then her boyfriend, who later marries her.
4. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. Really enjoyed this one. Thanks for living up to the hype, Harbach!
5. Ivan and Misha, by Michael Alenyikov. Interconnected short stories about gay twin immigrant Russian brothers and the people around them.
6. The Angel Esmerelda, by Don DeLillo. A new collection of short stories.
7. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I thought this would be a ghost story, but it’s a time traveling fantasy, featuring some real-life creepy old photography.
8. A Guitar and a Pen, edited by Robert Hicks, John Bohlinger, and Justin Stelter. These are short stories by country music songwriters and singers. My favorite is, “How I Stayed a Boy,” by Tia Sellers. I also met Robert Hicks at Pulpwood and I must say, if you are ever bored at a party you should just go stand within earshot of him, because that man has a lot of stories. A lot.
9. I read a fair number of picture books every month, which I usually don’t count toward my book total; but I super love this book. It is fun to read aloud (so many are drags and you’re sick of them before the end of the first read-through!) and I teared up at the end. Basically, it’s about a tractor and a calf. I like the muted color palette of the illustrations and the strong black lines; it reminds me of an old old book, though this pubbed in 2009.
Movies
Somehow, the only movie I saw all month was this one, unless you count the kids’ movies I was technically in the room for (which I don’t).
Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part I
I plan to watch Rifftrax’s version next. They’re kind of like Mystery Science Theater 3000.
So that’s 9 books for this month, 1 movie.
Total for 2012 so far: 17 books, 5 movies.
MARGARET DILLOWAY 
Thanks for this list of books. I am out of books to read. Just saw one online that sounded interesting.
“Whistling in the Dark.” Don’t remember who it was by but plan to order it.
Again thanks for the list.
Barb
How do you read books so quickly? Do you carve out time during the day to read?