December Round-Up
Here are the reviews posted during December. Please note, this is not a comprehensive list of books I read in December, but rather the books I had the time to review before month's end.
1) Ransom Riggs: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: Couldn't Put It Down
2) Catherynne M. Valente: Silently and Very Fast: Excellent
3) Susan Cooper: Over Sea, Under Stone: Worth Reading, with Reservations
4) Karen Traviss: Ally: Good Read
5) Nalo Hopkinson: The New Moon's Arms: Good Read
6) Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising: Worth Reading, with Reservations
7) Karen Traviss: Judge: Worth Reading, with Reservations
8) Lee Bermejo: Batman: Noel: Good Read
9) Amanda Hocking: Switched: It's a Gamble
10) Susan Cooper: Greenwitch: Good Read
Total Number of Books Reviewed: 10
Total Number of Books Read: 10.5
It's good to see that I pretty much reviewed as many books as I read for the month of December! I tried hard to pay attention to getting those reviews up and out since I was reading serial installments, and I don't like starting the next installment until I've reviewed the previous one!
Favorite: Catherynne M. Valente's Silently and Very Fast; it's Valente doing SF, and it's a gem of a book.
Most surprisingly enjoyable: Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children; I'm always suspicious of any YA or children's lit book I pick up nowadays, but I was pleased with how quickly I was sucked into this story and world.
Biggest disappointment: None really. Everything met or exceeded my expectations (Hocking definitely exceeded, because I had LOW expectations for that one), so it's nice not to have any negative surprises this go around.
Books added to the FOR SALE pile:
Nalo Hopkinson's The New Moon's Arms ($5.00 plus shipping, hardcover)
Sale prices are still in effect (unless otherwise noted)! The full sale list is here and if you're interested in any of the titles, please comment here or email me.
So what were YOUR favorite reads from December? Which books did you love most? Which books, if any, were huge disappointments? Got a review list? Lay it all on me! :)So December wasn't a bad month, especially considering most of the books received were gifts. Here's how I did:
1) This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (Kindle)
2) Myths of Origin by Catherynne M. Valente (gift from Book Geeks!)
3) The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (gift from Book Geeks!)
4) The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells (Kindle)
5) Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (Christmas Gift)
6) The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (Christmas Gift) **
7) The Folded World by Catherynne M. Valente (Christmas Gift)
8) Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews (Kindle)
9) Archon by Sabrina Benulis (Hastings)
** = Already read, review forthcoming
Five of the nine books I received in December were actually gifts, which meant I only spent money on four of them, which isn't bad. And technically, Oppel, Wells, and Andrews were either free or super-duper cheap, so I definitely behaved spending-wise. The only reason I picked up Benulis' book was because the author and I both attended Seton Hill's Writing Popular Fiction Program back when it was an MA instead of an MFA. If I recall, she was a semester ahead of me, and since she's released her debut novel (which started as her thesis project as SHU), I couldn't resist picking it up to support her.
So that's my December. How'd you all do?
1) Ransom Riggs: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: Couldn't Put It Down
2) Catherynne M. Valente: Silently and Very Fast: Excellent
3) Susan Cooper: Over Sea, Under Stone: Worth Reading, with Reservations
4) Karen Traviss: Ally: Good Read
5) Nalo Hopkinson: The New Moon's Arms: Good Read
6) Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising: Worth Reading, with Reservations
7) Karen Traviss: Judge: Worth Reading, with Reservations
8) Lee Bermejo: Batman: Noel: Good Read
9) Amanda Hocking: Switched: It's a Gamble
10) Susan Cooper: Greenwitch: Good Read
Total Number of Books Reviewed: 10
Total Number of Books Read: 10.5
It's good to see that I pretty much reviewed as many books as I read for the month of December! I tried hard to pay attention to getting those reviews up and out since I was reading serial installments, and I don't like starting the next installment until I've reviewed the previous one!
Favorite: Catherynne M. Valente's Silently and Very Fast; it's Valente doing SF, and it's a gem of a book.
Most surprisingly enjoyable: Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children; I'm always suspicious of any YA or children's lit book I pick up nowadays, but I was pleased with how quickly I was sucked into this story and world.
Biggest disappointment: None really. Everything met or exceeded my expectations (Hocking definitely exceeded, because I had LOW expectations for that one), so it's nice not to have any negative surprises this go around.
Books added to the FOR SALE pile:
Nalo Hopkinson's The New Moon's Arms ($5.00 plus shipping, hardcover)
Sale prices are still in effect (unless otherwise noted)! The full sale list is here and if you're interested in any of the titles, please comment here or email me.
So what were YOUR favorite reads from December? Which books did you love most? Which books, if any, were huge disappointments? Got a review list? Lay it all on me! :)So December wasn't a bad month, especially considering most of the books received were gifts. Here's how I did:
1) This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (Kindle)
2) Myths of Origin by Catherynne M. Valente (gift from Book Geeks!)
3) The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (gift from Book Geeks!)
4) The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells (Kindle)
5) Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (Christmas Gift)
6) The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (Christmas Gift) **
7) The Folded World by Catherynne M. Valente (Christmas Gift)
8) Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews (Kindle)
9) Archon by Sabrina Benulis (Hastings)
** = Already read, review forthcoming
Five of the nine books I received in December were actually gifts, which meant I only spent money on four of them, which isn't bad. And technically, Oppel, Wells, and Andrews were either free or super-duper cheap, so I definitely behaved spending-wise. The only reason I picked up Benulis' book was because the author and I both attended Seton Hill's Writing Popular Fiction Program back when it was an MA instead of an MFA. If I recall, she was a semester ahead of me, and since she's released her debut novel (which started as her thesis project as SHU), I couldn't resist picking it up to support her.
So that's my December. How'd you all do?