Book #25 & #26

A Dance with Dragons

George R.R. Martin

The Disenchantments

Nina LaCour

I read 26 books in 2013. Not one hundred, but not a terrible number. The next post will be labeled #1. Onwards and upwards, ya?

Book #24

Vampires in the Lemon Grove

Karen Russell

This book was a birthday present from my brother. He's 11 years older than me, and has had a profound impact on my love for reading. He read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to me when I was about 7, and through the years we've read "A Series of Unfortunate Events" together. He bought me the whole set, and he inscribed the last and final book in the series, aptly titled "The End", with a really nice message for little Ayelet. We're still reading together, and talking and sharing books. It's nice. Now that I am older, our reading relationship has become reciprocal, with me now contributing by lending him some of my books and suggesting some good ones that Ive read. Recently, he's been borrowing the "Game of Thrones" books, and we have had some really great discussions about those. He just finished the third, and its hard for me to hold all the spoilers in. Basically, he's an awesome older brother.

Karen Russell is a pretty big deal, from what I hear. "Swamplandia!", her other book, is critically acclaimed, and so is "Vampires in the Lemon Grove".

Well, I dont know why. The stories are good, but very creepy and I was almost scared to read them at night. "Proving Up", about a family working to secure land under the Homestead Act, is a predictable horror story that despite its predictability managed to scare me. "Reeling for the Empire" made me nauseous, with excellent story telling and interesting characters, but a mind-bending main theme. The last story was the best and the worst. "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" made me really think about the actions of the narrator, and kept me turning the pages at a far more rapid rate than the other stories, but again, the overall content was sad and hard to read.

I dont think I sound very coherent. Its a hard book to discuss and break down, because there are a bunch of stories with no major link. I guess my overall thought is that it is still making me think, and thats the true sign of a successful book. I dont know if I would recommend it to my friends, because I dont think they would enjoy it, but I definitely want my brother to read it and tell me what he thinks.

It says: "Its ben great sharing these books with you over the years. If weve learned anything from them, its to read everything, stay close to your siblings and keep a disguise handy" I told you he's the best.

Book #23

Persuasion

Jane Austin

It was excellent. I completely loved it. If I did not feel so committed to "Pride and Prejudice", this would be my favorite Austen novel. Loved it even more than this one. 

I now only have two more Austen books to go, "Emma" and "Mansfield Park", which I started and is frightfully boring. Let's see how long it takes to get through it.

23 books in a year is not too shabby. 

My 3 New Books

Super excited for all three of these. As I mentioned here, these are not the types of books that I usually walk out of a bookstore with, but I've gained a new appreciation for things that take me out of my comfort zone. I am going to start with Joseph Campbell's book first. After the last book I read, I am ready for something sort of dry and boring, yet interesting and about something I am intensely interested in.

Readership of five, have you read any of these?

Book #22

The Way of Kings

Brandon Sanderson

This was a very long book. At a hefty 1200 pages, this epic fantasy was super slow until the very last 200 pages. This was one of the five book club books for the summer and I am just glad to be done with it. I don't own a kindle or a nook, and carrying this thing around was hard. 

I didn't love it. Sanderson created an entire new world here, which is a remarkable feat, and in no way am I undermining the creativity and dedication that had to go into that. But there was just so much new information being thrown at you, it was hard to enjoy it. It got super good half-way in, and I didn't mind the weight of the book anymore and it was the only thing I was reading. So the question is, why am I left saying that I didn't love it? "The Way of Kings" is rumored to be one of ten books, a giant series, taking the place of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time", which Sanderson ended upon Jordan's death. Because of the story arc planned for "Kings", Sanderson left questions unanswered and dropped huge bombs at the very end that left me super excited but super annoyed. To sum up my feelings; I don't want to wade through another mediocre thousand page book for the really awesome part of the story.

Anyways, in celebration of my finishing "Kings", I bought three new books today! Three books that are not my usual genre or style, but this blog has made me really reconsider my usual reading pattern, and my tastes. Although I will not read 100 books in a year, I will have gained a new appreciation for all sorts of books, which in my opinion is an awesome lesson.

Housekeeping- #20 and #21

Freakonomics

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Stockholm Octavo

Karen Engelmann

Book #19

The History of Love

Nicole Krauss

A) This book is a piece of art. Really.

B) I loved it. I think it is one of my favorite books. 

C) It took my breath away. 

I google to find a picture of the cover of the books that I post about. This usually leads me to a whole bunch of other things and blogs, some interesting and some not. When I googled "The HIstory of Love", pictures of quotes from the book came up. There is one famous one, that is all over the internet that I'll post here, but really, the whole book is one beautiful quote. 

I forgot to mention, this is a book club book. We chose 5 books for the course of the summer, and this is the first that I have finished. The others are pretty lengthy, and Im about to go travelling abroad for a month. I don't think there will be much time for reading. When do you find time to read, readership of five?