Favorite Books of 2012

Here is a synopsis of my favorite books of 2012.  If you are still hunting around for a gift or stocking stuffer for the readers among your friends and family, consider adding any of these books to your holiday shopping list.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.  I highly recommend this book.  Just as it's important to know where your food comes from, it's important to know where you're clothing comes from.  After reading this book, I've thought a lot about my own fashion consumption habits. Here is one  quote from the book that really sums up one of the major themes of the book:

"Clothing is not bad for the environment because it can be reused."  This is a common public perception.  A tremendous amount of clothing is in fact, not getting recycled but is getting trashed, and the environmental impact of making clothes is being entirely overlooked.

While the book was excellent at bringing the environmental impact of our fashion purchases to light, I hope more people bring solutions on how to balance eco-friendly practices into American shopping habits.

A Belle in Brooklyn.  I enjoyed this book though it was a bit different from what I expected.  I expected it to be another advice book on how to get young single ladies the man of their dreams.  Though there are lessons to learn from the book by the author from her life experiences, this book read more like a memoir than just another advice book.

Yes, Chef.  I love memoirs and reading about food, so when I learned that Chef Marcus Samuelson wrote a memoir, I immediately added it to one of my seasonal reading lists.  Though I had seen Chef Samuelson on Food Network shows, I didn't know much about him other than he was Ethiopian by birth but was raised in Sweden. But there is much more to Samuelson's story than his place of origin.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking.  I highly recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in personality styles, human behavior.  Many people may be familiar with the words introvert and extrovert because of the Meyers Briggs Personality Test, but do you really know the traits of introverts? I didn't realize until reading this book that one third to half of Americans are introverts.  Whether you are the most outgoing person in the room or the most quiet, check out Quiet to learn more about the strengths of introverts.

A Piece of Cake. I reviewed this book earlier this year, but since it was a favorite of the year, I will mention it again.  It's a compelling, sad, inspiring, ultimately triumphant memoir.

32 Candles. This is another book I reviewed earlier this year.   Months later, it's still a favorite among the books I've read this year.

What were your favorite books of 2012?