December Round-Up

[calico_reaction]

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) Carolyn Crane: Mind Games: 5 - It's a Gamble
2) Bill Willingham: Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland: 5 - It's a Gamble
3) Cherie Priest: The Inexplicables: 7

Comments

[stfg]

I had a busy reading month.

New books:
1. Love and Romanpunk, by Tansy Rayner Roberts. 4.5 stars. This is a novella-length collection of five interlocking short stories. It's roman history with lamia and manticores. Roberts has a PhD in roman history, and it shows. This book, especially the first story, reminds me of Catherynne Valente, both in subject matter and general tone. I specifically recommend this to you, Shara. Roberts is a new australian author and does not have a US publisher, so the physical book is expensive in the US. The e-book is cheap though.
2. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. 4 stars. For my local bookclub.
3. The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. 4.5 stars. Non-fiction book 5/4 for the year. A history of cancer and cancer treatments with autobiographical vignettes from the author, who was an oncology fellow and is now a cancer researcher.
4. The Christmas Sweater, by Glenn Beck. 1 star. For my local book club. Not my cup of tea, at all.
5. Deathless, by Catherynne Valente. 5 stars.
6. Cast in Peril, by Michelle Sagara. 4 stars.
7. The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe. 3.5 stars.
8. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. 4 stars.

Re-reads:

1. Pride and Predjudice, by Jane Austen. 5 stars.
2. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 4 stars.
3. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 4 stars.
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. 5 stars.
5. The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 5 stars.

Goals:
Mount TBR - 16/12.
Non-fiction books - 5/4.
In 2012, I read 66 new books and re-read 56 books. My goal was 50 new books.

[calico_reaction]

Wow, you were very busy! Go you!

How did you like Gone Girl? I hear constant praise for that book.

I'm also interested in your thoughts on The Hum and the Shiver. :) I read that one in 2011, and my rating pretty much fell where yours did.

[stfg]

Gone Girl: I was not really enjoying it at first. It was mostly a portrait of an increasingly dysfunctional marriage as described in alternating chapters by Nick and Amy. But THEN, there is a major plot twist at the halfway point of the book, and it becomes a really cool study of social pathology. I do recommend it.

The Hum and the Shiver: I read your review when you wrote it and was mildly interested, but not enough to go out and buy it. But then I was listening to Lynn Thomas and Seanan McGuire on Squeecast and they both highly recommended it. Seanan was excited that the lyrics of the music the characters sang actually scanned properly and were singable. I thought the book was enjoyable and a fast read, but I did not find much in the plot or the characters or the writing that grabbed me or made the book better than any other run-of-the-mill book. I did enjoy the setting, even though I'm a four or five hour drive north of Appalacia and don't have that much personal experience with it. I liked the magic system too, but neither the setting or the magic were enough by themselves to make this a really good book for me.

[calico_reaction]

Thanks for sharing. :)