Culture

The best books we read in 2012.

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In the creative department at DWR, we love books as much as we love modern design. Looking back at the page turners that kept us up until 2AM, we've compiled a list of our favorite reads in 2012. Feel free to share your own best books in our comments field.

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EMILY: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

MARK: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes was an excellently written journey into memory and imagination, and eventually a surprising sadness.

MICHAEL: It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels by Robert Penn

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KIM: Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls. Absolutely fantastic but for context you should definitely read The Glass Castle first. 

ADRIAN: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

ALAIN: Nana by Émile Zola, (no kidding) — trashy, wrenching and modern (ca. 1880).

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MATT: Fäviken by Magnus Nilsson. An exclusive insight into one of the world’s most interesting restaurants, Fäviken Magasinet, and its remarkable head chef Magnus Nilsson. 

RICH: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. I'm an apple guy — but I'm only a third of the way through so it may not count as my "best read" in 2012.

BRENNAN: The Small Stakes: Music Posters by Jason Munn. Editor's note: Click on Jason's name for his blog — lovely.

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LAUREN: Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

GWENDOLYN: Writings from The New Yorker: 1927—1976 by E.B. White, edited by Rebecca M. Dale. White is perhaps best known for his children's books, but he was primarily a writer for The New Yorker. In these short pieces, White writes about everything from Thoreau to hyphens. His wise and witty style is a pleasure to read, study, think about, and read again.

MARK: Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield is a intro into the characters of typographical history and something to argue about for typophiles. 

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One last note, the New York Times included House by Diane Keaton in their 2012: Best in Books list. Congrats to Ms. Keaton, who we had the pleasure of meeting at a book signing in our Beverly Boulevard Studio. 

What was the best book you read in 2012?