Tuesday, January 1, 2013

For the Record: December 2012

Happy New Year, all!  I'll be posting my full-year stats & list shortly, but wanted to reflect on December by itself also.  While my reading hasn't made a full comeback, it's getting there.  I'm pretty happy with the lack of reading-obligation-stress at least!

5 Books Read in December: (95 total)
1 for Obligation:
  - The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien (4) (Read for my 13 year-old who read Watership Down for me.  It was better than when I tried to read it in high school.  Thank goodness.)

4 Just Because:
  - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce (5) (wonderful story! great audio selection.)
  - Rules of Civility, Amor Towles (3.5) (a lot of little things bugged me here. meh.)
  - The Colour of Milk, Nell Leyshon (4.5) (sad topic, but gorgeous and perfect all the same)
  - Up From the Blue, Susan Henderson (3.5) (would have been better but for the narrator on the audio version.  Should have read the print copy, but that's not how this month worked.)

    


3 Current Reads:
  - The Famine Plot, Tim Pat Coogan.  Received from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers and really enjoying it so far  Love nonfiction! Love Ireland!
  - Persuasion, Jane Austen.  Love this book, and super excited to be reading it along with a great group over at Unputdownables.
  - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski.  Book club book, currently listening to the audio version and not likely to get done in time!

  

On My Nightstand:
Most likely contenders for what I want to read next are Two Guys Read Jane Austen and Running the Rift.  I also have to obtain Flight Behavior for one of my book group reads.

  

7 comments:

  1. I've wanted to read Rules of Civility for some time now, but if you say it was kind of "meh" I'll give it a thought.

    Happy New Year, Melody!

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    1. I listened to the audio version, so it is possible I would have had better luck with the print copy. Excessive metaphor usage was one of the main things that bugged me...the writing was unpolished and I didn't connect with the story or characters. Disappointing, since I enjoy the time period. I know many people that enjoyed it, though.

      Hope your reading year gets off to a good start!

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  2. Just today I added Running the Rift to my TBR list. I read a great review on another blog. I'll be glad to hear what you think of it. I've put The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry on hold at the library.

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  3. I hope you like Harold Fry. Did I give you my disclaimer yet? There were a couple of parts that I was worried would get too detailed, but they didn't...ended up being an interesting comparison between generations. There was so much to like though...it was cozy and sweet while at the same time contemplative and heartbreaking.

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    1. That's helpful. I've been looking at it for a while now. I'm hoping to get some great fiction ideas from all the end of the year posts. I'm looking forward to more in 2013. I'm looking forward to reading this!

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  4. I am sort of reading Rules of Civility right now because my club is discussing it tomorrow but it's not pulling me in. The writing is lovely but the story is not compelling. At least not early on.

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    Replies
    1. The whole story was rather detached, in my opinion. Did the others your book group end up enjoying it?

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