This year's books

Last year I didn’t keep track of the books I read and partway through the year realized that was a mistake. I missed having a list I could look at and say, “Hey, this is how I’ve been spending my time. I’m not just playing solitaire on the computer or watching old movies on Netflix!”

So this year I’ve decided to take that up again and make note of the books I read. I’m off to an admittedly slow start, having completed only four books since January first and partly finished another.

When my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas I told him a new fantasy series to read. Fantasy is my first love as a genre and I’ve been through all the classics and a bunch of others. He took my wish to heart and got me all the Recluce novels by L.E. Modesett, Jr. All 24 of them. J

I decided to read them in the order in which Modesett wrote them and so started with The Magic of Recluce. Towers of the Sunset is the second and I’ve also finished that one. I liked the first one better only because of his use of the present verb tense in TofS. Didn’t know how much I liked past tense in storytelling until I read Towers of the Sunset. The verb tense kept pulling me out of the story. And that's too bad, because the stories themselves are compelling. The other issue I had (have?) is that there is no indication within the book of WHEN in the timeline of the overall story each novel takes place. Only after I'd read nearly a third of TofS did I realize that it took place in the far distant past to what had occurred in MofR. Confused? So was I.

Several of us at my day job formed a book club this year. The first book we chose to read was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Wow. THAT is an incredible story about an event that still pisses me off. Henrietta’s cancerous cells were taken from her uterus and sent to a lab without her knowledge. I won't say much more or this entire post could be about just this one book and me on my soapbox. I have but four words on the subject: go buy it now!

Our second book, TheLincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelley is the one I didn’t finish. I bought the book late (ebook, read on my Cruz), but found the noir style a little hard to get into. Interesting, but didn’t really engage me. Thus, I did something I haven’t done since I had to read sixteen novels in sixteen weeks for a marathon lit class in college: I read half the book then skipped to the end and read the last three chapters.

The last book I read was Homeplace by Anne Rivers Siddons. I’d never read her work before and found this one when I browsed the stacks at my local library (three cheers for browsing!). The blurb led me to believe the story was a romance, but once inside its far more a story about going home and coming to a fullness of understanding than it is a romance. I enjoyed it and will look for other books by Ms. Siddons. 

That’s it so far. Will group the books I read into a post periodically just for record-keeping’s sake. If you’ve read any of these books, what did you think of them?

Addendum: I’ve been ill the past few days and didn’t post this when I intended. As a result, I read another book, For the Earl’sPleasure by Anne Mallory. Interesting plot twist for a Regency. Won’t give it away as it’s a cute and easy read. I found it difficult to attend to at times, but I suspect that was my illness and not the book’s fault.

Addendum the second: I was REALLY sick this week and ended up curled in a chair for another 2 days after I wrote the last addendum. All I did was read. It was wonderful :). So adding two more to the total for the year. Have now read two-thirds of the Nora Roberts trilogy, Sign of the Seven: Blood Brothers and The Hollow. As a rule, I don't go in for spooky stuff, but these are REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good!

Okay, with four REALLYs in one paragraph, I think it's time to call it quits!

Play safe, everyone :)

Diana