I Went to College (It's no Big Deal)

I'll be honest for a minute. I enjoy a larger share of low-brow entertainment than I care to admit. I'm a loyal partaker of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Mad Men, Hoarders, Grey's Anatomy, and as much as it makes me cringe to even type it, anything having to do with Real Housewives or the Kardashian sisters.

I know; I should just commit myself to Brainless Anonymous right now.

That's why I feel the need to document the fact that I actually do like to stimulate my brain now and then -- and not just during the hours of 8 to 5. So, in hopes that my future posterity thinks I'm smart, here are the books I read (and would recommend -- I'm super easy to please) in 2012:

Into Thin Air - John Krakauer (and we know where that got me)
We Die Alone - David Howarth
What is the What? - Dave Eggers
Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
Clash of Kings - George RR Martin
Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
Feast for Crows - George RR Martin
A Dance with Dragons - George RR Martin
Little Princes - Connor Grennan
Killing Kennedy - Bill O'Reilly
The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick
Buried in the Sky - Peter Zuckerman
Killing Lincoln - Bill O'Reilly
Endurance - Alfred Lansing
A Christmas Carol (for the 17th time) - Charles Dickens
In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson

Okay, so it may not look that impressive, but keep in mind that I work full time AND that each of those George RR Martin books is at least 1,000 pages (since they're also about dragons and knights, I'm not sure I'm doing myself any favors for clarifying that).

Here's to a new year of something more intellectual than Kim Kardashian -- like, for instance, Silly Putty.

Happy New (intellectually stimulating) Year!