Twelve of '12 in Twelve or Less

Twelve books I loved in 2012, in the order that I read them, and why I loved them in twelve words or less:

1. The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje. The old story-telling Ondaatje returns.  
2. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, I didn’t.
3. Galore by Michael Crummey. One Hundred Years of Solitude in Newfoundland.
4. Just Kids by Patti Smith. Love, create, lose, create, love. Repeat.
5. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeannette Winterson. How literature can save your life.
6. Open City by Teju Cole. Long walks with unusually perceptive but ultimately unreliable narrator unnerve reader.
7. Ninety Days by Bill Clegg. Memoir of relapse and recovery, and what makes the difference.
8. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Waters. You'll need a Do Not Disturb sign: “I’m readin’ here.”
9. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz. This is how you win a MacArthur Genius Grant.
10. The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg. A different kind of addiction: can a person eat themselves to death?
11. Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Marie Semple. "I'm still readin' here."
12. Why Does the World Exist by Jim Holt. Great antidote to all the nonsense about world's demise on 21/12/2012.