January, Feburary, March 2013

I have been incredibly delinquent in updating this blog and for that I apologize, dear non-existent reader.

Here's what I've read recently:

Blackout, Connie Willis,
The Good Wife, Stewart O'Nan
The Traveler, John Twelve Hawks
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

Dear non-existent reader, I am ashamed to have read so few books in 2.5 months!  However I have been quite busy, yes, I am plotting to take over the world!  Actually no, but I am plotting to get my PhD and that has been draining.  The end is in sight though!

Comments on these books:
Count of Monte Cristo was good albeit slow.  It was an interesting look into a different time and place.  The Traveler was actually quite interesting and grabbing, although pretty far into the scifi realm.  The Good Wife reminded me of Room in the way I wanted to know how it ended but wasn't really interested in it.  And Blackout was interesting but excruciating in that the characters just seemed so dumb!  There is a sequel that I would have read, but I couldn't stand reading through an entire additional book of the characters being incredibly dimwitted. 
 
   

December

Here we go, the last bit of 2012!

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Pure by Julianna Baggott

Alright first of all, I think everyone would enjoy Name of the Wind.  It tilts towards fantasy, but the writing is so vividly luscious and the story is so pulling that I think almost anyone would enjoy it.  Its not a super fast read, but in this case that is a good thing.  You can luxuriate slowly in the masterpiece of a book.

The Wise Man's fear is similar, but its just a tad less well written, in my opinion.  Likely you will have been caught by Name of the Wind and that won't matter, but just a forewarning that the first book is better.

Elantris is a good book an interesting story, but seriously fantasy.  Don't pick it up if you don't like fantasy.  Its also not fantastically written, but if you enjoy good stories that are a little out of the ordinary, you'll probably like this book.

Pure is trash.  Futuristic fantasy that reminded me of Hunger Games trash, but YA trash all the same.  Get it for a plane ride or a beach trip, don't bother otherwise.  Its a trilogy and I'm not going to bother getting the other books, I'm just going to read the synopsis on Wikipedia to assuage my curiosity.  Also the pseudo-science just rubbed me the wrong way.  Overall, not a horrible book, but definitely not something I'll pick up again any time soon.


And now, invisible ladies and gentleman, what you have all been waiting for, the final 2012 tallies!

I read 32 books in 2012 (~60% of a book each week), putting me a solid 12 books behind last year's 44.  I embarked on several reading 'journeys' which took me far more time than I would have otherwise spent on books.  The longest was my expedition of re-reading Harry Potter.  I'm glad I did, but I won't be doing it again soon.  I also re-read many Ender's Game books, but looking back those actually didn't take much time.  I just read a lot of slow books, and read more slowly in general.  

I've already finished my first 2013 book and I have a slew more on the agenda, so stay tuned for more good books!

October, November

I'm not sure exactly when I finished all these books, but its been sometime over the past couple months.

Dawn - Octavia Butler
Adulthood Rites - Octavia Butler
Imago - Octavia Butler

Desperatly applying to grad school so I'll post reviews when all my apps are in.

MUCH LATER

These books were interesting.  Dawn was much more approachable than the others though.  Its the kind of book where halfway through you realize its serious scifi, but that there was a totally logical progression to get there.  (Reminded me of Stargate SG1 in that way, a great scifi TV series!)  The other two were a bit more far out and started exploring some more interpersonal types of topics.  I finished them because I wanted to know how the story ended, but I didn't think they were great.

Oh and grad school apps are done, woohoo!     

September

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So, sure, I haven't finished the last one yet, but I'm nearly there.  Its been a three month journey, and as I said in my previous post, I'm very glad I did it.  At the same time, I'm incredibly excited to be finished.  I've been getting book recommendations left and right and I can't wait to embark on some new reading adventures!  

August

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Fault in our Stars (John Green)
Ringworld (Larry Niven)

I'll post about these soon.  Clearly I've been far more productive lately in reading, which makes me incredibly happy! 

MUCH LATER:

Clearly I suck and never updated this.  Harry Potter was odd, just reading it as an adult instead of as a kid.  Its too bad I didn't post about each individual book as now I only have thoughts about re-reading the entire series.  I'm finding that I like each book more than the last (with the exception possibly of the 5th, mostly because of Harry's ridiculous 'teenageryness')   This could be because they get more adult as you go along, or it could be because the book # is inversely correlated with the number of times I've read the book.  Either way I'm glad I was able to do this, but I probably won't do it again for a while.  (I said the same after I read Catch-22 in 10th grade, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 7th grade, so I'm serious when I say 'A While') 

I remember having issues with The Fault in Our Stars.  Its very 'YA-lit-y'.  Meaning it overdoes the whole 'I am an angsty teen and therefore I have insights into life'  thing.  (What is it with me and the quotes today!?)  Granted the main character has cancer, but even so, having cancer and being a teenager (both separately and together) does not require you to be angsty and certainly doesn't give you sudden magical abilities of being sage-like.  Regardless of all that, it was an interesting and fairly fast read.

Ringworld was pretty cool.  Definitely hardcore scifi and a little bit wandering here and there, but I enjoyed it.  The idea of living on a world like that and the idea of a civilization being around for so long are compelling. 

June/July

Been reading VERY slowly lately, I hate it. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Perks was great as always, I'd recommend it for nearly anyone.  I hadn't read the first Harry Potter in ages and honestly didn't really enjoy it this time.  I remember how it used to make me feel, but that magic is totally gone... Her writing is transparent and awful now.  If its possible to over-read a book, I've definitely done it with HP1.  I'm moving on to the second one though and possibly will go through all 7, depending on how I feel.  I guess I've really moved into being a sci-fi/fiction person, and cut out fantasy from my list? 

May

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Red Shift by Alan Garner

I honestly don't know when I finished each of these books, I sort of lost track of the blog for a while.  Both of these books, especially Red Shift, took me a very long time as well.  Sometimes its nice to slow down and savor a book.  Thats not what happened with these books though.  

Red Shift sucked.  A lot.  I had no idea what was going on the whole time I was reading it.  I just read it because I didn't want to give up, and because the rest of my life was taking over my brain so I didn't have the space to focus on changing books.  When I finished I had to read the Wikipedia page to understand what I'd just read.

There's nothing in particular to say about Second Foundation other than to mention that its the 3rd in a trilogy, so if you liked the other two, try this one.  I thought it was OK but nothing special 

Definitely don't try Red Shift.  It was awful and I don't know why anyone likes it or would recommend it.  Again with Second Foundation, by the time you get along to reading it, you should be able to decide for yourself if you want to continue with the trilogy or not.