2013 Books #2-6

I'm making progress on my reading challenge for 2013.  I'm ahead of where I need to be to reach 25 new books by the end of the year, but I know from previous years that it is good to have some wiggle room towards the end.

#2 was The Confession, by Olen Steinhauer.  We borrowed this one from my mother-in-law.  It took me a bit to get into the story, but once I had a nice chance to sit and read for an extended period of time, I liked it very much.  I think I like his Milo Weaver series more, but this was a worthwhile read.

#3 was One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I loved it.  This was another from my list of books that every reasonably well read adult should read.  Marquez's language is beautiful.  I take back my previous comments regarding books without defined plots.  Good writing, beautiful language, and interesting people go a long way towards making me not miss a plot.

#4 was Young House Love, by Sherry and John Petersik.  I think this would have been a really fun book in the pre-Pinterest days.  It's a nice collection of fun ideas for your home, but doesn't really go into enough detail on any of them to really call them tutorials or how-tos.  I also think that the 243 ideas advertised on the front of the book is stretching the truth a bit.  I'd call it more like 175 ideas and some corollaries.

#5 was Before I Go to Sleep, by S.J. Watson.   I read this for a book club I joined, and was not very excited about it based on the book flap description.  The endorsement from Dennis Lehane intrigued me though (I refuse to read any more of his Patrick Kenzie series, but still think he is an excellent writer).  I was very pleasantly surprised.  I checked the book out of the library on Sunday, and had it finished by Tuesday night.  It is a great thriller, and kept me eager to read the next chapter all the way through to the end.

#6 was The Nearest Exit, by Olen Steinhauer. This is the second book in his Milo Weaver series.  I enjoyed it very much.  I thought it was odd that the wife's ex-boyfriend wasn't even mentioned in this time, when he seemed to play an important role in the previous book, but that is my only quibble with the story.  I've ordered the third book, and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

2012 Book 26; 2013 Book 1

I did not meet my goal of reading 30 new books in 2012; I made it only to 26.  I didn't want to read just to get to the goal though, and I finished the year on a book from a series that I really enjoy.  Book 26 was Cold Days, by Jim Butcher.  My father-in-law introduced me to this series several years ago, and I love it.  I also appreciate that the author releases new books in the series on a regular basis, but doesn't seem to rush so much that the quality of the story telling declines.  I did find the pop culture references and Harry's ha-ha, aren't I funny side comments to be a bit too much in this book though.  I think the editor should have reigned that in a bit.  

So, on to 2013.  The goal for this year is 25 new books.  Book 1 is A Memory of Light, by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan.  My husband introduced me to the Wheel of Time series right before our wedding ten years ago.  I think I reread the first 15 pages or so three or four times before finally sitting down to just read it.  I remember confronting him the next morning that he hadn't warned me about the trollocs, when he knew that I was going to just read a chapter or two before going to sleep.  Who can sleep in the middle of a trolloc attack?  I stayed up way too late reading that night.  I read through book 9, Winter's Heart, by that summer.  I then suffered through Crossroads of Twilight, and despaired of the series ever ending if this little plot advancement was going to happen.  But then Knife of Dreams was wonderful.  And then Robert Jordan died.  I always read for the story, and was excited when Brandon Sanderson was named to finish the series, as I though his Elantris was a wonderful work of story telling.  I suppose telling someone else's story takes a slightly different skill.  The characters weren't quite the same, the story wasn't quite the same.   But I'm glad it was finished anyway.  Even though when I finished, I put the book down, looked up at my husband (who hadn't finished reading it yet) and said "Lame."  I know Jordan wrote the epilogue, and Sanderson can't be blamed for it, but I can't help but wonder if the way Jordan would have written the final chapters before the epilogue would have made a difference.