What's the first book you will read this year? Have you made any reading resolutions for 2012? Last year I promised myself I would catch up on all my favorite authors, I think I read about 60% of my authors' list. This year I've promised myself to use all the reading diaries I've received over the past several years. I think this will be an easier resolution to keep.

1861: the Civil War awakening by Adam Goodheart

Blood, bones, & butter: the inadvertent education of a reluctant chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue nights by Joan Didion

The Obama administration proposed regulations on Thursday, December 15 to give the nation’s nearly two million home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections. Those workers have long been exempted from coverage. According to the federal government, six million of the 40 million Americans older than 65 now need some form of daily assistance to live outside a nursing home. That number, government officials say, is expected to double to 12 million by 2030.

Bread and jam for Frances by Russell Hoban — Russell Conwell Hogan (February 4, 1925-December 13, 2011), author of a series of children's books featuring Frances, a badger and her family and friends which Mr. Hoban wrote and his wife, Lillian Hoban illustrated died on Tuesday, December 13 at his home in England. In addition to his children's books, Mr. Hogan was a well-known author of science fiction, poetry, fantasy, and fiction.

December 8 is National Brownie Day and one of my favorite bloggers, Janet Randolph of Dying for Chocolate, has rounded up dozens of recipes for brownies. (Photo: Ghirardelli: Gluten-Free Brownies)

If you have read Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, the 2011-2012 Great Michigan Read try David Halberstram or Branch Taylor or one of the many documentaries about Civil Rights in America produced over the years.

Faith in the city: preaching radical social change in Detroit by Angela D. Dillard; with a foreword by Charles G. Adams

Race and remembrance: a memoir by Arthur L. Johnson

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith — Fans of Alexander McCall Smith, author of several series, including The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, 44 Scotland Street, and Isabel Dalhousie's novels will enjoy this recent interview by Connie Fletcher in BookList Online (12/01/2011).