The new year is coming in faster than we can believe. Before we start anew with everything, let’s take a look back at the best book titles and their authors for the year of 2012. The Guardian gives us a list of the top titles, from Pulitzer Prize-winning authors to the most fun reads of the year. Read on to see the best of the best from the different genres and categories.

There are two ends to this debate: some think that Americans are not reading enough books (an average American reads about four books in a year), while still others believe that we have quite the passionate bookworms throughout the country. Heller McAlpin tells us more about this, together with the so-called print novel demise and the recent rise of book sales.

Books are great lifesavers for giving gifts because there is one for virtually all interests and topics out there. Also, a book can range from a few bucks to more than you would want to spend. Here is a helpful gift guide from Mary Ann Gwinn that can help you choose from the best titles to fit whatever budget you have.

We are fully booked this week with our page-turner of stories. From celebrities to comic books to two years back, you are in for a treat with our featured topics for you:

• It may be 2012, but good books are timeless. Check out the top 15 titles you should have read in 2010, as complied by John Edwards.
• A book’s title is its selling point. For the most part, it is the determinant whether one will buy the book or not. Take a look at the original title ideas of some of the biggest classic books that we know today.
• Some say that acting is all about the looks. Andrew McCarthy proves the tale wrong. See how he has had success both in writing and acting, with his new book and future starring roles from this USA Today report.
• If you are looking for the next big book-to-movie trend, you may want to consider Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook, which has been the People’s Choice Award recipient in the recent Toronto Film Festival. Susan Carpenter gives the complete dish for the LA Times.
• Tracy Grant shares with us what could probably be the right balance of fun and learning for children. Parents are likely to approve of these comic books and graphic novels which have high educational value.
• We conclude this week’s run with the timeliness and impact of book titles. Can a title make or break a book’s marketability to the reading audience? Read more on this from our commentary, ‘The Impact of First Impressions.’

First impressions last. That’s what most people say, although perhaps this would not apply to all aspects of life. Sometimes things change – for better or for worse – and we just forget how they were initially. In the arts, this may be an entirely different concept. For instance, the title of a song, a TV show, a poem, a novel, or a movie would definitely create a cloud of ideas for the reader or audience. How a title is worded can reflect directly (or indirectly) how creative the people behind the book, movie, or song are.

When a person goes to a bookstore to browse through the shelves, the title is of course the first thing that he/she would notice. For those who are buying books without a list in mind, the title of a book can become one of the biggest factors when deciding on making a purchase or not. Surely, if the title is interesting, creative, or intriguing enough, most people will take time to read the description at the back cover of the book for more information. If a title is not striking enough, it is likely that the person would not even lift the book off the shelves.

In the past (and the present) authors of books have had more than one idea for their stories’ titles. It takes a lot of thought and consideration when choosing which title to go for. Sometimes, the advice of other people in the process is heeded – such as the help or opinion of editors or fellow writers. Ultimately, it will go down to the preference of the writer to choose whatever title he/she feels gives the best shout-out for the whole book.

Check out what Harper Lee almost called To Kill A Mockingbird, and what F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was almost titled. These and more classic books were almost titled differently from what we have come to know today. Read more on these from a MentalFloss archived post by Stacy Condradt.

More often than not, parents often don’t approve of their children’s fascination with comic books or graphic novels because of the lack of actual content. They feel like all that there is to it is drawings and more drawings instead of words. Good news is here: In a recent turn of events, there are now graphic novels and comic books which mom would surely say OK to. Sounds too good to be true? Check out the scoop from this Washington Post article from Tracy Grant.

Hollywood has been fond of films based on books and novels for quite some time now. A recent title making buzz at the Toronto Film Festival is Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook. The movie adaptation will star big names, including Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, with David Russell as the director. Read more from Susan Carpenter’s L.A. Times Q&A with Mr. Quick himself.

Once a matinee idol and TV star, Andrew McCarthy is now married (again) and almost 50 years old. He is preparing for the launch of his first book The Long Way Home: One Man’s Quest for the Courage to Settle Down, which of course, is about traveling and marriage. The book talks about the actor slash writer’s own experiences in life leading to his second marriage. Read more about McCarthy and his book here.

Some of the most popular books that we have come to know weren’t titled the way we know them to be. These include classics like The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, etc. Stacy Condradt shares these and seven other great classic books in her MentalFloss post, in regards to how they were originally titled.