As I approach the half-way point (well ahead of schedule I might add, it is only April 13th), I thought I'd give a little update beyond just the number, plus we haven't posted in a bit. And, it may take me a it to get from 23 to 24 as I am currently taking on the second book in the epic Song of Fire & Ice series, A Clash of Kings. I have to get this finished before I start seeing the spoilers from season two of HBO's Game of Thrones, which I assume follows the story of this book. Anyhow, here are the 23 that have gotten me through the first few months of the year (in order read):
Already reviewed:
1) Game of Thrones
2) The Maze Runner
3) The Fault in our Stars
4) Franny & Zooey
Since then:
5) White Cat - Can't wait to read the rest of this Holly Black series, the final chapter of which just came out.
6) Clockwork Prince- I love this Cassandra Clare series about 1200 times more than the Mortal Instruments. So if a certain Star Wars/V.C. Andrews like twist in City of Bones wasn't your cup of tea, I recommend you abandon Clary, Jace, & Simon for Tessa, Will, & Jem.
7) Ready Player One - My 80s pop culture loving self absolutely loved this book.
8) The Descendants - Like the movie, I liked but did not love this dysfunctional family story.
9) The Baseball Codes - Great anecdotes, but really it's all about when you need to hit a guy.
10) Rebel Angels - Enjoyed this sequel even more than A Great & Terrible Beauty, and writing this out reminds me I need to pick up the 3rd book.
11) The Lathe of Heaven - I think I like Left Hand of Darkness better (the only Le Guin I have read and compare this to), but this was definitely a fascinating read.
12) The Handmaid's Tale - This was a re-read for book club, and probably our best discussion ever. And how very timely, with the current fascination with dystopian novels, plus all the crazy shit the GOP is trying to do to show they are anti-women. Oh, is that not what they are trying to do? Could have fooled me.
13) The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Picked this up in anticipation of the upcoming film, and now I can't wait. Teen angst in letter form, love it.
14) The Scorch Trials - The sequel to the Maze Runner, complete with a cliffhanger. I am noticing that I can get pretty close to my goal of 50 just by finishing up all the series that I have started/continued in 2012.
15) Chocolat - Another book club selection, although we haven't even had the meeting yet. A delightful book, even if we did pick it largely so that we could watch the movie w/Johnny Depp. Hey, no judgments. We have intellectual (often quite feminist) discussions all the time, and if we want to drool over Johnny Depp, then we will drool over Johnny Depp.
16) Bossypants - I loved this book so much I wrote a whole post on it.
17) The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo - It took me 400 pages to have any interest in reading the rest of this series, but I'm in now, so I'll definitely add those to the list.
18) One For the Money - My roommate absolutely loves this series, and after one book, I can definitely see the appeal. I can't say I'll read all 18, but you never know. Plus, Morelli can come hang out with me behind the counter anytime.
19) Beauty Queens - I think this is my new favorite Libba Bray book, which is no small praise as I love Going Bovine and the above noted Rebel Angels. But this book is incredibly witty and entertaining, not unlike Libba on twitter.
20) The Windup Girl - A fascinating world and an intriguing story. A little slow to start, but it was worth sticking with to see how all the layers evolved.
21) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Quirky, entertaining, & heartfelt, I can see why this has been camped out near the top of the NY Times bestseller list.
22) The Magicians - So what if Harry Potter took place in college and instead of saving the world from Voldemort they just hung out. It would be this. Sex, drugs, & magic (which is even harder than it seemed at Hogwarts). Oh, and the main character is obsessed with a Narnia-like book series, which is, of course, not quite as fictional as non-magic folks (or Muggles, as Potter fans may call them) may have suspected.
23) The Scorpio Races - 100 pages into this book about a small community's annual water horse races and I wasn't really sure I cared to finish. But Maggie Stiefvater's writing has this way of sneaking up on you and by the 200 page mark I couldn't have been more attached to the two main characters as I eagerly flipped the pages to discover their fate.
So far The Fault in Our Stars remains the favorite, but there are still many more to go. Second place is Bossypants, and third a three-way tie between Game of Thrones, Clockwork Prince, & Beauty Queens. I'll be continuing with kings and dragons for 800 more pages before moving on to Mike Doughty's The Book of Drugs, The Night Circus and the newest Stephen King 11/22/63. Then I guess I should wrap up all these series I keep starting. Oh, and maybe next year my goal will be 50 blog posts.
Coming Soon: Sarah critiques the various uses of the high school bathroom scene on TV, from a place to conduct important business (Veronica Mars), to a place to dispose of drugs (Saved by the Bell), to a place to find that talisman that is leading to the school being haunted (Buffy).
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