Our Favorite Fiction of 2012
The staffers of Fiction, Movies and Music and Adult Reference read a lot of books in 2012, and we thought we would share our favorites. The list includes a wide variety of books because we all have different reading tastes. If you would like the entire list in booklet form, drop by the Reference Desk to pick up a copy. Because the list is long, I've broken down our choices by genres: fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, young adult, graphic novels and nonfiction. Happy reading!
Now for our favorite fiction titles of 2012:
“The Age of Miracles: a Novel’’ by Karen Thompson Walker
A coming-of-age story about Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth's rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life.
Recommended by Susie
"Afterwards: a Novel’’ by Rosamund Lupton
The school is on fire. Her children are inside. Grace runs toward the burning building, desperate to reach them. Learning that the fire was not an accident, Grace embarks on a mission to find the person responsible.
Recommended by Connie
“Beautiful Ruins: A Novel” by Jess Walter
An elderly Italian man shows up on a Hollywood movie studio's back lot, searching for the mysterious American starlet he last saw at his humble inn decades earlier.
Recommended by Jo, Jane, Haley, Susie and Connie
“The Beginner's Goodbye: a Novel’’ by Anne Tyler
When a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron is devastated. Only Dorothy's unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace.
Recommended by Ellen, Jo and Connie
“Calling Invisible Women: a Novel’’ by Jeanne Ray
Feeling unattractive and unappreciated as she enters her fifties, Clover wakes up one morning and discovers that she has actually become invisible, a condition that goes unnoticed by her family.
Recommended by Jane, Connie and Susie
“Canada’’ by Richard Ford
When Dell’s parents are arrested in the 1950s for robbing a bank in Montana, Dell takes off to Canada, and discovers he is not the only one whose past lies on the other side of a border.
Recommended by Connie
“A Dog’s Purpose’’ by W. Bruce Cameron
This is the remarkable story of one endearing dog's search for his purpose over the course of several lives. More than just another charming dog story, this touches on the universal quest for an answer to life's most basic question: Why are we here?
Recommended by Jenny B.
“Flight Behavior: a Novel’’ by Barbara Kingsolver
When an unhappy young woman discovers that Monarch butterflies have roosted in her rural Appalachia instead of Mexico, she becomes involved in confrontations with her family, her church, and her town.
Recommended by Jo, Connie and Haley
“The Forgotten Garden: a Novel’’ by Kate Morton
A novel that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through generations and across continents as two women try to uncover their family’s secret past.
Recommended by Mary Ann
“Friends Like Us’’ by Lauren Fox
Best friends Willa and Jane enjoy each other's company until an old high school buddy from Willa's past unexpectedly falls in love with Jane.
Recommended by Connie and Jo
“Gold’’ by Chris Cleave
Cyclists Zoe and Kate are friends and athletic rivals for Olympic gold, while Kate and her husband Jack, also a world-class cyclist, must contend with the recurrence of their young daughter's leukemia.
Recommended by Connie
“House of Velvet and Glass’’ by Katherine Howe
Shattered by the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl attempts to contact her departed loved ones at a medium's table before reconnecting with former flame Ben.
Recommended by Susie
“How It All Began: a Novel” by Penelope Lively
The mugging of a retired schoolteacher on a London street has unexpected repercussions for her friends and neighbors, and inadvertently reveals an illicit love affair, leads to a business partnership, and helps an immigrant reinvent his life.
Recommended by Jo
“I Married You for Happiness’’ by Lily Tuck
The tale unfolds over a single night as Nina sits at the bedside of her husband, whose sudden death is the reason for her lonely vigil. She takes the time to remember defining moments of their long union.
Recommended by Susie
“In One Person’’ by John Irving
A masterfully told story about Billy, a bisexual man who deals with identity, relationships, and the struggle that comes with living a life outside of the mainstream.
Recommended by Jo
“An Irish Country Wedding: a Novel’’ by Patrick Taylor
Resolving to handle his usual round of eccentric patients before marrying his sweetheart, Dr. O'Reilly helps clear the name of a pigeon-hunting cat and encourages a promising student while his assistant, Barry, considers a romance with a politically outspoken teacher.
Recommended by Jane
“The Lifeboat: a Novel’’ by Charlotte Rogan
Forced into an overcrowded lifeboat after a mysterious explosion on their trans-Atlantic ocean liner, newly widowed Grace Winter battles the elements and her fellow survivors.
Recommended by Haley
“The Middlesteins’’ by Jami Attenberg
Two siblings with very different personalities attempt to take control of their mother's food obsession and massive weight gain to save her life after their father walks out and leaves her reeling in the Chicago suburbs.
Recommended by Susie
“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore’’ by Robin Sloan
After a layoff during the Great Recession sidelines his tech career, Clay Jannon takes a job at the titular bookstore in San Francisco, and soon realizes that the establishment is a facade for a strange secret.
Recommended by Andrea and Jo
“Mrs. Queen Takes the Train: a Novel’’ by William Kuhn
The author imagines the kerfuffle that transpires when a bored Queen Elizabeth strolls out of the palace in search of a little fun, leaving behind a desperate team of courtiers who must find the missing Windsor before a national scandal erupts.
Recommended by Andrea
“Newlyweds’’ by Nell Freudenberger
A 24-year-old woman moves from Bangladesh to Rochester, New York, to marry a man after they meet online, in an arranged marriage for the twenty-first century.
Recommended by Haley
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared: a Novel’’ by Jonas Jonasson
Confined to a nursing home and about to turn 100, Allan Karlsson climbs out of the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected adventure.
Recommended by Andrea
“The Red Book’’ by Deborah Copaken Kogan
Centering around Harvard's Red Book, a collection of personal triumphs and failures from graduates, this novel follows a group of roommates as they prepare for their twentieth reunion.
Recommended by Connie
“Seating Arrangements: a Novel’’ by Maggie Shipstead
Winn Van Meter attends the wedding of his eldest daughter, which is marked by the bride's advancing pregnancy, her sister's broken heart, and the seductive machinations of wedding party members.
Recommended by Susie
“Tell the Wolves I’m Home’’ by Carol Rifka Brunt
When 14-year-old June’s world is upended by the death of a beloved artist uncle who was the only
person who understood her, she is mailed a teapot by her uncle's grieving friend, with whom June forges a poignant relationship.
Recommended by Haley
“This Must Be the Place: a Novel” by Kate Racculia
A quirky boarding house is home to Mona Jones and her daughter, Oneida, two loners and self-declared outcasts. But their small, quiet life is upended when Arthur Rook shows up in the middle of a nervous breakdown, devastated by the death of his wife.
Recommended by Connie
“Treasure Island!!!’’ by Sara Levine
When a college graduate reads Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, she redesigns her life according to its core values: boldness, resolution, independence, and horn-blowing.
Recommended by Connie
“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: a Novel’’ by Rachel Joyce
Harold Fry is convinced that he must deliver a letter to an old love in order to save her, meeting various characters along the way and reminiscing about the events of his past and people he has known.
Recommended by Haley
“The World Without You’’ by Joshua Henkin
The Frankels gather at their summer home to mourn the death of sibling and journalist adventurer Leo and endure shared grief and private challenges that shape their views about family.
Recommended by Andrea
“The Yellow Birds: a Novel’’ by Kevin Powers
In the midst of a bloody battle in the Iraq War, two soldiers, bound together since basic training, do everything to protect each other from both outside enemies and the internal struggles that come from constant danger.
Recommended by Susie and Connie
“When it Happens to You: A Novel in Stories’’ by Molly Ringwald
Writing with a deep compassion for human imperfection, Ringwald follows a family and their friends and neighbors while they negotiate the hazardous terrain of everyday life, revealing deceptions, heartbreak, and vulnerability.
Recommended by Sonia
“Where’d You Go, Bernadette: a Novel’’ by Maria Semple
When her notorious, hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled, and agoraphobic mother goes missing, teenage Bee begins a trip that takes her to the ends of the earth to find her.
Recommended by Jo and Jane
Zone One: a Novel by Colson Whitehead
Mark Spitz and his squad of three "sweepers" move through Zone One of lower Manhattan, a walled-off enclave scheduled for resettlement in the aftermath of a zombie plague. It falls to Spitz and his fellows to take care of the handful of undead that remain.
Recommended by Susie
--Jo Hansen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Add a commentOur Favorite Historical Fiction of 2012
The staffers of Fiction, Movies and Music and Adult Reference read a lot of books in 2012, and we thought we would share our favorites. Here are our picks for historical fiction:
“Bring Up the Bodies: a Novel’’ by Hilary Mantel
The sequel to award-winning Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history and follows the dramatic trial of the queen Anne Boleyn and her suitors for adultery and treason.
Recommended by Susie and Andrea
"The Cove: a Novel'' by Ron Rash
Living deep within a cove in the Appalachians of North Carolina during World War I, Laurel Shelton finally finds the happiness she deserves in Walter, a mysterious stranger who is mute. However, their love cannot protect them from a devastating secret.
Recommended by Ellen
“The Dovekeepers: a Novel’’ by Alice Hoffman
A tale inspired by the tragic first-century massacre of hundreds of Jewish people at Masada presents the stories of a hated daughter, a baker's wife, a girl disguised as a warrior, and a medicine woman who keep doves and secrets while Roman soldiers draw near.
Recommended by Mary Ann and Susie
“The Flight of Gemma Hardy: a Novel’’ by Margot Livesey
After a difficult childhood, Gemma takes a job as an au pair for Mr. Sinclair's niece at Blackbird Hall, where she begins a journey of passion and betrayal, redemption and discovery.
Recommended by Susie and Jo
“The Good American’’ by Alex George
A story of immigrant hope, the German Meisenheimer family is caught up in the sweep of history over a hundred years as they find their place in the Midwest of America.
Recommended by Haley
“Home’’ by Toni Morrison
When Frank Money joined the Army, he left behind his cherished and fragile sister, Cee. After returning from the Korean War, his shattered life has no purpose until he hears that Cee is in danger.
Recommended by Jo
Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen by Mary Sharrartt
A novel based on the true story of a woman who was offered by her parents as a tithe to the Church as a young child and who triumphed to become a powerful abbess, composer, prophet and polymath.
Recommended by Sonia and Susie
“In Sunlight and in Shadow’’ by Mark Helprin
Returning home after serving in World War II to run his family business, paratrooper Harry Copeland falls in love with an heiress who risks everything to break off her engagement to another man.
Recommended by Andrea
The Light Between Oceans: a Novel by M.L. Stedman
A childless couple lives quietly running a lighthouse, until a boat carrying a dead man and a baby washes ashore. Tom wants to report the man and infant, but Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own.
Recommended by Connie
“Live by Night: a Novel’’ by Dennis Lehane
In 1926, Joe Coughlin defies his strict law-and-order upbringing by climbing a ladder of organized crime that takes him from Boston to Cuba where he encounters a dangerous cast of characters.
Recommended by Connie
“The Orchardist” by Amanda Coplin
When gunmen and two feral, pregnant teens show up on a gentle orchardist’s property in the Pacific Northwest, they set him on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect but to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.
Recommended by Connie
“Sandcastle Girls’’ by Chris Bohjalian
Parallel stories of a woman who falls in love with an Armenian soldier during the Armenian Genocide and a modern-day New Yorker prompted to rediscover her Armenian past and uncover a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.
Recommended by Jo
“Shame the Devil” by Debra Brenegan
A novel based on the remarkable and true story of the nineteenth-century novelist, journalist, and feminist Fanny Fern, described as the Oprah Winfrey of her time.
Recommended by Andrea and Connie
“The Shoemaker’s Wife: a Novel’’ by Adriana Trigiani
Two star-crossed lovers, Enzo and Ciro, meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love
changes both of their lives forever. Set during the years preceding and during World War I.
Recommended by Jo
“The Song of Achilles’’ by Madeline Miller
Patroclus, an awkward young prince, follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear.
Recommended by Connie and Susie
“The Snow Child: a Novel’’ by Eowyn Ivey
In a moment of levity, a childless couple on the Alaskan frontier build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone, but they glimpse a girl running through the trees.
Recommended by Jo
“Sutton: a Novel’’ by J.R. Moehringer
A fictionalized account of Willie Sutton, one of the most notorious criminals in American history, traces his life, his doomed romance with his first love, and his surprise pardon on Christmas Eve in 1969.
Recommended by Connie
“The Testament of Mary” by Colm Tóibín
A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt and anger.
Recommended by Ellen
--Jo Hansen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Add a commentOur Favorite Mysteries, Suspense and Thrillers of 2012
The staffers of Fiction, Movies and Music and Adult Reference read a lot of books in 2012, and we thought we would share our favorites. Here are our picks for mysteries, suspense and thrillers:
“The Absent One’’ by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Detective Carl Mørck investigates the twenty-year-old murders of a brother and sister whose confessed killer may actually be innocent, a case with ties to a homeless woman and powerful adversaries.
Recommended by Jo and Haley
“Anatomist’s Apprentice’’ by Tessa Harris
When Lady Lydia Farrell’s husband comes under suspicion of a murder in Oxfordshire, she seeks expert help from a young American anatomist whose unconventional methods only add to his outsider status.
Recommended by Thomas
“Available Dark: a Thriller” by Elizabeth Hand
Fleeing for her life after she is shown photographs of ritual killings during a mysterious job in Helsinki, Cass Neary encounters a former lover in Iceland only to be inundated by a series of unsolved murders.
Recommended by Susie
“The Beautiful Mystery” by Louise Penny
When a monastery is shattered by the murder of their renowned choir director, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec are challenged to find the killer in a cloistered community that has taken a vow of silence.
Recommended by Jo, Haley, Jane and Connie
“Before the Poison: a Novel’’ by Peter Robinson
A music composer becomes distracted when he finds out that his new house was the scene of a murder in the 1950s, and that the convicted murderer was one of the last women hanged in England.
Recommended by Jane
“Believing the Lie’’ by Elizabeth George
Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough.
Recommended by Jane
“Blessed Are the Dead: a Novel’’ by Malla Nunn
Emmanuel Cooper returns in this powerful novel about two communities forced to confront each other after a murder that exposes their secret ties and forbidden desires in apartheid South Africa.
Recommended by Susie
“The Boy in the Snow’’ by M.J. McGrath
Edie Kiglatuk finds herself in Alaska helping ex-husband Sammy in his bid to win the Iditarod dog sled race, which takes a grim turn when Edie stumbles upon a body left out in the forest.
Recommended by Susie
“Broken Harbor’’ by Tana French
In the aftermath of a brutal attack that left a husband and two children dead, brash cop Scorcher Kennedy struggles with perplexing clues and haunting memories of a shattering incident from his childhood.
Recommended by Haley and Connie
“The Cutting Season: a Novel’’ by Attica Locke
When the dead body of a young woman is found on the grounds of Belle Vie, the estate's manager, Caren Gray, launches her own investigation into Belle Vie's history.
Recommended by Connie and Susie
“Death Comes to Pemberley: a Novel’’ by P.D. James
Six years after Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Elizabeth's disgraced sister arrives and hysterically shrieks that her husband, Wickham, has been murdered.
Recommended by Sonia, Andrea
“Defending Jacob: a Novel’’ by William Landay
Andy Barber’s long-time respectability as a Massachusetts assistant district attorney is shattered when his 14-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.
Recommended by Mary Ann, Ellen and Andrea
“Elegy for Eddie’’ by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs takes on a twisting investigation into the brutal killing of a street peddler that will take her from the working-class neighborhoods of her childhood into London's highest circles of power.
Recommended by Sonia and Connie
“Don’t Ever Get Old’’ by Daniel Friedman
Death-camp survivor Buck is 87, abrasive, and has trouble remembering. But his cop's watchfulness is intact, and he keeps his .375 Magnum close by. When he learns that the sadistic guard who brutalized him is likely still alive, he goes on a quest.
Recommended by Jo
“The Expats: a Novel’’ by Chris Pavone
An international spy thriller about a former CIA agent who moves with her family to Luxembourg where everything is suspicious and nothing is as it seems.
Recommended by Andrea
“Extraordinary People’ by Peter May
A 10-year-old mystery inspires biologist and teacher Enzo MacLeod to go on a quest through French landmarks and Paris catacombs for answers, applying new science to a cold case.
Recommended by Mary Ann
“Gods of Gotham” by Lyndsay Faye
Timothy Wilde, a 27-year-old Irish immigrant, joins the newly formed New York Police Department in 1845 and investigates an infanticide and the body of a 12-year-old Irish boy whose spleen has been removed.
Recommended by Connie
“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn
On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. So what really happened to Amy?
Recommended by Ellen, Jane, Susie, and Jo
“The Invisible Ones: a Novel’’ by Stef Penney
Hovering between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed, private investigator Ray Lovell evaluates a case involving the missing wife of a traveling Gypsy whose hostile family is hiding a tragic secret.
Recommended by Connie
“Jack 1939: a Novel” by Francine Mathews
Tapped by President Franklin Roosevelt to travel to Europe and learn what the Nazis are planning, a young John F. Kennedy joins the president’s efforts to stop the flow of German money that is influencing the 1940 U.S. election.
Recommended by Connie
“A Killing in the Hills: a Novel’’ by Julia Keller
Three elderly men are gunned down at a local diner, and half the town witnesses the act. It happened so fast that no one seems to have gotten a good look at the shooter. Was it random? Was it connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing the country?
Recommended by Connie, Jane and Andrea
“No Mark Upon Her’’ by Deborah Crombie
Kincaid and James are embroiled in the case of the puzzling drowning of a rower, a Met detective, on the Thames. It is a twisting tale of psychological suspense, a story rich in deadly secrets, salacious lies and unexpected betrayals.
Recommended by Jane
“Revenger: a Novel of Tudor Intrigue’’ by Rory Clements
Chief Intelligencer John Shakespeare, the bard's younger brother, is summoned out of retirement when a plot against the aging Queen Elizabeth I causes her to be targeted by two of England's most powerful men. Recommended by Thomas
“Uninvited Guests: a Novel’’ by Sadie Jones
The frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises, where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety, and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.
Recommended by Susie
“A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel’’ by Lee Child
All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride. He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat to both sides at once.
Recommended by Connie
“White Heat’’ by M.J. McGrath
Investigating the murder of an adventurist under her watch, Arctic guide Edie Kiglatuk teams up with a police sergeant when she realizes that the victim's tour group was searching for something specific.
Recommended by Susie
“The Year of the Gadfly” by Jennifer Miller
A budding teen journalist and her enigmatic science teacher separately work to locate and infiltrate a secret society that threatens their elite prep school with a shady tragedy from the past.
Recommended by Jo
--Jo Hansen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Add a commentOur Favorite Young Adult Books of 2012
The staffers of Fiction, Movies and Music and Adult Reference read a lot of books in 2012, and we thought we would share our favorites. Here are our picks for young adult books:
“Across the Universe’’ by Beth Revis
Teenaged Amy, a cryogenically frozen passenger on the spaceship Godspeed, wakes up to discover that someone may have tried to murder her.
Recommended by Susie
“Every Day’’ by David Levithan
Every morning A wakes in a different person's body, in a different person's life, learning over the years to never get too attached, until he wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend.
Recommended by Ellen
“The Fault in Our Stars’’ by John Green
Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at a support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.
Recommended by Andrea, Ellen and Connie
“I'll Be There: a Novel’’ by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Raised by an unstable father, Sam Border has long been the voice of his silent younger brother, Riddle, but everything changes when Sam meets Emily Bell and is welcomed by her family.
Recommended by Ellen
“Jasper Jones: a Novel’’ by Craig Silvey
In small-town Australia, teens Jasper and Charlie form an unlikely friendship when one asks the other to help him cover up a murder until they can prove who is responsible.
Recommended by Ellen
“The Raven Boys’’ by Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Sargent is attracted to one of the Raven Boys from the expensive Aglionby Academy, and
discovers that together their supernatural talents are a dangerous mix.
Recommended by Jo and Ellen
“The Scorpio Races’’ by Maggie Stiefvater
Returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to get their dangerous water horses to the finish line.
Recommended by Andrea
“Shadow and Bone’’ by Leigh Bardugo
A girl is taken from obscurity to become the protégé of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold.
Recommended by Jo
“The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight’’ by Jennifer E. Smith
Hadley and Oliver fall in love on the flight from New York to London, but after a cinematic kiss they lose track of each other at the airport until fate brings them back together on a very momentous day.
Recommended by Andrea
Jo Hansen,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Our Favorite Graphic Novels of 2012
The staffers of Fiction, Movies and Music and Adult Reference read a lot of books in 2012, and we thought we would share our favorites. Here are our picks for graphic novels:
“Building Stories’’ by Chris Ware
Ware ingeniously resents an illustrated tale, told in various books and folded sheets, about the residents in a three-story Chicago apartment building, including a lonely single woman and an elderly landlady.
Recommended by Nate
“Economix: How Our Economy Works (And Doesn’t Work) in Words and Pictures’’ by Michael Goodwin
Everybody’s talking about the economy, but how can we, the people, understand what Wall Street or Washington know, or say they know? Read “Economix.’’
Recommended by Nate
“The Hypo: The Melancholic Young Lincoln’’ by Noah Van Sciver
This graphic novel follows a young Abraham Lincoln as he battles a dark cloud of depression, unknowingly laying the foundation of character he would use as one of America's greatest presidents.
Recommended by Nate
“My Friend, Dahmer: a Graphic Novel’’ by Derf Backderf
Writer-artist Backderf creates a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a disturbed young man struggling against the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche.
Recommended by Susie
“Underwater Welder’’ by Jeff Lemire
As an underwater welder on an oil rig, Jack Joseph is used to the immense pressures of deep-sea work. Nothing, however, could prepare him for the pressures of impending fatherhood.
Recommended by Nate
“Wizzywig: Portrait of a Serial Hacker’’ by Ed Piskor
Wizzygig is the thrilling tale of a master manipulator and his journey from precocious child scammer to
federally wanted fugitive, and beyond.
Recommended by Nate
--Jo Hansen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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