04 January 2014

Last Month in Review: December 2013


Oh, December 2013. Even though you were here just a few days ago, you're mostly like a distant memory for me.  Despite working retail, I still managed to read a dozen books, albeit some were audio books and one was a re-read. In chronological order, here they are:

1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.  Technically this was the third time I read this book this year, so I reckon you could say I kinda liked it.  Full review here.

2. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding.  (audio read by Samantha Bond) Had some mixed feelings about this one.  It was hard to listen to Bridget talk about how hard her life is as single mum when she's well-off enough to own her home, send her two kids to private school (which they call public school, right?), employ a nanny and not have to work at all. Sure, she's sad and there's no statute of limitations on mourning a beloved spouse, but she really does come across as awfully spoiled.  Still, there are moments, and when they happen they're pretty great. Samantha Bond was a good choice for reader.

3. The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes. A young woman gets a mysteriously worded letter from her brother stationed on the Italian front during WWII, shortly before he disappears.  She becomes a nurse and requests a posting in Italy to track him down. Solidly written and a slightly different take on the traditional wartime relationship book.

4. Anything that Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of New American Food Culture by Dana Goodyear. Eh. Occasionally it was quite fascinating, but I was interested in having a more cohesive narrative. I think I wanted a combination of Andew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods show and a foodie memoir and didn't really get satisfaction from either component.

5. This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett.  Easily the best book I read in December and one of the best books I read this year.  I LOVED this collection of essays. So well written and intimate and insightful.  This may well end up being my favorite Ann Patchett book.

6. The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell.  (audio read by Brian Troxell)  Despite having a pretty good reader, this book was a little hard for me to follow on audio. Beyond my own seasonal distractions, there were so many random jumps in character POVs and timelines for this novel and I wasn't always able to keep up.  Beyond that, I mostly didn't care, so I wasn't especially invested in following it. There were, however, passages of such beauty that I regretted not having a physical book so I could underline them.

7. The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness. I can't pretend that I absolutely understood this book (I'm sometimes too literal a reader to appreciate the fabulistic), but I thought it was lovely and ethereal. I am, however, largely in love with the cover.

8. Long Man by Amy Greene.  A quiet novel set in a small town in eastern Tennessee, just days before it's scheduled to be flooded in order to bring electricity to the region. When a young girl goes missing, the few people who hadn't already evacuated help search for her while her mother accuses an itinerant ne'er do well of taking her--or worse. Very well written but not in any kind of showy way.

9. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. This YA book was WAY overhyped to me and thus I ended up picking it apart. I won't spoil the book for you, other than to say the ending was utterly ridiculous, but you can read what I said on Goodreads, if you like. Suffice it to say that it fulfills three readerly pet peeves of mine and there was a good chance that I was never going to like it, whether it had been hyped or not.

10. Thirty Girls by Susan Minot.  This is one of the most powerful stories I've read in a long time.  Dueling narratives of Jane, and American journalist in Kenya, and Esther, one of the thirty thousand Ugandan children who were stolen by the Lord's Resistance Army over the course of a decade and forced to do terrible, terrible things. Why, WHY had I not heard about these children before?

11. The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin. Ghost ships, 19th century spiritualism, nautical adventures, and Arthur Conan Doyle as a character?  Yes, please!  Great attention to period detail and well written.

12. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. (audio read by Rebecca Lowman and Maxwell Caulfield)  Okay, I read this one in book form many months ago and felt totally "eh" about it.  I mean, it was fine, it was a little cute, but more than a little annoying.  Then I listened to the audio because the publisher mailed one to me, and listening to it has VASTLY improved my opinion of this book.  I think this proves, more than anything else I could give as an example, that there is such a thing as the right book at the right time for the right reader. Now, however, these characters are my friends, and I feel things for them, and I may or may not be in love with Levi (I am). I wouldn't have said at first that Rebecca Lowman was a particularly good reader, because she sounds just like an 18-year-old college freshman talking about her life, but, well, that's kind of the point of the book.

And now I have so many books to look forward to in 2014.  I may take place in my FIRST EVER readathon, courtesy of Tika at Reading the Bricks and I'm pretty darn excited about it  Particularly the snacks. It will help assuage the deep sadness that I know many of us will be feeling when we recall the SIX MONTHS we spent reading Harry Potter together in 2013, picking it apart, falling in love with the series even more, and finding the perfect gifs to express our feelings. Alice, whatcha gonna do for an encore? 

13 comments:

  1. I just went back and read your review of The Rosie Project, and have now requested it from the library. I've also requested the Ann Patchett book. I still haven't read Fangirl, and now I'm thinking maybe I should get it on audio too. Hmm.

    Anyway, great list -- can't wait to see what I think of The Rosie Project! Maybe I'll read it for the mini-readathon, though I'm not sure how it would count as mini... Maybe because the main character works in genetics, and genes are basically as mini as you can get??

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  2. I think your justification for Rosie is perfect.Hard to get smaller than a gene, after all!

    I am ridiculously excited for this readathon. It will be the first one I've ever participated in!

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    1. HURRAH for the Minithon! Exactly a year ago today (being the first Saturday in January), we held the first one on the same day as the Classics Club held their 24-hour one. And it devolved (on our side) into laughing at them on Twitter and in blog comments for having to read for too long. "We read so fast, we're done in 8 hours!" etc.

      I'm kind of sad it's not happening again this year. That was fun, and we all love to hate Mabel.

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  3. The dialogue in Fangirl was perfection, so listening to it on audio would be so, so great. I'm glad it boosted your opinion of it. I think we're all in love with Levi. And of course Levi looks exactly like Tom Felton, in my head. (I had to imdb his name. He is, and forever will be, only "Draco.")

    I need to read more Ann Patchett! I read and really liked Bel Canto, and she gets so much love. More Patchett.

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    1. Levi = Tom Felton? Veddy, veddy interesting. I think I can see that, though I wouldn't have thought of that myself. Levi is THE BEST!

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  4. Every time I read your rants about first person I start to hyperventilate. YIKES. So of these I wrote down This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. I'm up for some good shorts.

    You amaze me with your omnivorous appetite.

    Happy 2014!

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    1. Sharon, I hope you're having a good New Year so far. I think the Patchett is a pretty fine read.

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  5. I just picked up a copy of The Rosie Project because look how many good things you have to say about it. I HAVE to read it.

    I'm so sad we're not doing the HP readalong now. Because man, that was so so so much fun.

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    1. Yay for Rosie! And I'm pretty sure you could justify a reason to read it for the minithon, too. :)

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  6. I still haven't read any Bridget Jones....I think I have to give in and at least read the first book!

    You read some great ones this month. I'm off to request the new Patrick Ness from the library - somehow I didn't know he had a new one coming out!

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    1. I read the first Bridget when it was published and at the time it felt fun and very fresh. I'm curious how well it holds up today.

      The Patrick Ness is already available in the UK and it pubs in the US near the end of this month.

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  7. READATHONNNN. And I have The Rosie Project on hold at the library. I'm pretty sure you've convinced us all to read it. ;)

    "Beyond that, I mostly didn't care, so I wasn't especially invested in following it." <== Yeah, this. But I'm still gonna read Winter's Bone, 'cause I suspect it's better.

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    1. I watched Winter's Bone and I think that was the first time I saw JLaw on screen. She was just terrific. You read it and then tell me if I still need to read it after having watched the film. 'Cause I'm lazy that way.

      Now I'm going to feel terrible if everybody reads The Rosie Project and nobody likes it. Thanks for the pressure, Alice.

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)