Read 50 Books in 2012

Another Lemony Snickett book. This is the third book in the series and was better than number two. I was feeling pretty proud that I’ve already read 30! books so far. Then I realized it was June and I was slightly ahead of the curve.

What I’ve enjoyed the most is choosing books from a variety of genres – science fiction, teen fiction, memoir, literature, kids books. I’ve also enjoyed reading a number of series, but not back to back. The eBook availability from the library means that I can read and access a whole lot of books with very little expense.

Yay me! Keep it up!

The second book in the Lemony Snickett books about the Baudelaire orphans. It was another fun story, though it was a bit heavy on “defining words.” By defining I mean using a big word and then explaining what it meant so your readers understand the story. Otherwise it was a short fun read, a welcome relief after some of the bigger books I’ve read in the past month.

Argh! I like Christopher Hitchens. I like listening to him talk on the radio. I liked the interview for this book. I struggled to get through this book. It had no “golden thread” tying everything together. It was like he dumped his brain on the floor and just spent chapters explaining what he saw. It was so hard. It wasn’t quite an autobiography – it wasn’t told in chronological sequence. But it wasn’t told in themed sequence. This book was such a struggle I had to renew it three times from the library (at 21 days each). I’m so glad I finished.

OK, Sookie Stackhouse… I`m getting tired of your story. This was possibly the slowest book in the series. It was a bit of a `mystery` story, but the good thing about mystery stories is that you feel like you might have been able to solve the case, if only you were as smart as the detective. This wasn`t like that. I found it very hard to get through… but it’s done and I’m taking a Sookie break for a few weeks!

The fourth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. This was my favourite of the stories so far. I enjoy the way the secondary characters come in and play bigger roles in each of the books. There’s also a good twist. OK, I’ve got three days to read four more books!

Book three in the series. Fun, but because I’m reading them back to back, I’m getting a bit tired of the retelling of the backstory…

Fun! I’ve got the eight book boxed set from the library so I’m reading one after the other.

Book four of the Twilight series. Again, a fun read. I was a bit disappointed with the way the conflicts were resolved. The series is a fun read.

So, I love garlic. Mmmm.. the taste, the smell, the crinkly paper. I like it all. But this book just felt like the garlic on toast at some cheap mid-range chain restaurant.

It was as if someone asked her to write a book about garlic and she said “Oh, that’d be fun” and then forgot about the deadline. There were some great ‘garlic’ quotes but there wasn’t any substance. I wanted it to be like Margaret Visser’s Much Depends on Dinner but instead it was like a collection of half-thunk thoughts.

That said, it was less than 200 pages. But I wish the author had taken the time to give me the stories and the substance to make this worth a longer read.

The third book in the “Song of Ice and Fire” series. I found this book a bit harder than the previous two – it was wrapping up a bunch of loose ends and sometimes I didn’t enjoy where the story went. Some of my favourite characters had storylines that literally made me throw me eReader across the room (then meekly go pick it up again)

That said, I finished it and am eager to read book four in the series.