December Booklist

We've reached the end of the year and the final tally was 107 books.  I added only 6 books to the total this month and I think the reasons for this were: (a) I got some kind of weird knee injury that put a hold on my running; (b) the holidays meant there were other distractions going on; and (c) there was a pressing work need forcing me to work longer hours than I normally would.  But all in all I am very happy with meeting my goal this year.  The 6 books I completed in December were:

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K Rowling
2. 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson
3. Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz
4. Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
5. Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Now that I have caught up in books where I'd gotten to with the films I am very excited to complete the Harry Potter series!  And it all makes so much more sense to me now!

22 Britannia Road is a good read about a Polish couple who come together after again in 1946 after being split apart by the events of WWII.  Their different experiences of survival are what get in the way of picking up where they left off.  Well written story but just a little predictable.

I've been following along the Odd Thomas series from the beginning and Apocalypse is the 5th in the series (there's #6 out already).  I am getting a bit tired of the formula though.  Odd's narrative is always amusing and entertaining but unless events are going to come to some kind of completion in #6 I won't bother going any further.

I loved Await Your Reply.  Such an interesting topic to select to write about.  The book explores the psychological impact on different personalities as they undergo a conscious decision to reinvent themselves (or the impact of knowing someone who has disappeared in this way).  Not until the end do we learn how three seemingly different stories are linked together.  Great book that I would recommend.

Same too with Too Bright (i.e. I loved it).  I kept thinking about this story long after I completed it.  We follow the narrator's experience with his descent into and out of a severe bipolar disorder.  The way the story unfolds is every bit as fragmented as his loss and recovery of memories as treatment for the disorder ensues.

My daughter had to read Watching God for high school.  I picked it up this month out of curiosity.  Although the story is straightforward as events unfold I loved the parts of the story where the dialog has stopped and the characters contemplate.  The prose is just beautiful as the name of the book suggests.  I enjoyed stopping and thinking about the imagery of those words when the book was in this mode.

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I've decided to continue keeping a monthly summary of my readings going forward -- even though I have no set goal in mind for 2014.  If nothing else, its a record of what I've read and impressions that I have.  Some friends ask for recommendations on what to read based on my thoughts so if nothing else this blog might help others.