January Book List

And so it begins! My first month towards my "52 Book for the Year" goal has gone as well as expected. I got some books for Christmas that I was happy to dig in to, and I have been looking forward to doing some thrifting for some others!

Also...I got a library card this month!! Finally!

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
A Games of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Irma Voth by Miriam Toews (library)
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (library + YA)
In and Down by Brett Alexander Savory (library)

 

Recommended: I am well aware of the hype surrounding the Game of Thrones series, both on TV and in book form. I may have bought into this when selecting the first book to include on my Christmas list. But it was worth it. A great book, but lots of strange names to remember...which I kind of suck at! And some gross twin brother and sister action...yucky yuck yuck! I think I am going to try and find the rest of the series at the library.

The Gargoyle was pretty good! And by a Canadian author I think. It was a story about love stories. And if you can get through all the porno talk at the beginning (the lead is a former porn star...again with the yucky), it's worth it in the end.

I also really enjoyed In and Down. What a page turner. It's like, a metaphor in book form. And very spooky too.


Fail: My first library book with my new card was Irma Voth. I got it because I loved Miriam Toews' previous books. And also it was with the "Hits to Go" books, which usually means it's popular. I didn't like it. It was too...fast. She didn't use any quotation marks when people were speaking, so there were no natural pauses in the narrative. So I could just read and read and read without being forced to pause until the next chapter came. So I found it really hard to get "caught up" in the emotions that she was trying to convey and then I just found it annoying. It was supposed to be about loss and forgiveness, but I didn't see it. I'm glad it was just a library book.


I also started reading a novel that I borrowed purely because the main character and her friends are all scrapbookers. And man-oh-man, was it terrible. Like, really bad. I made it to page 90, I struggled to make it there, and then I just couldn't go on. Some of the scrapbooking references were sort-of funny (remember the Clikit?), but the plain language was unbearable, and the romantic undertones were so forced and unromantic. And the name of the book. Get ready to reel in your gag reflex. It's called Prints Charming. Yep. You read that right. I am obviously not counting that one towards my total!



I have also started "borrowing" magazines from work. We get loads and loads of subscriptions, and after awhile they start to pile up in all the operatories, and the lunch room, and then they get tossed. So I save them from the recycle and bring them home with me! My favourites are Macleans and Scientific American. Remember, they don't count towards my total, but I thought I would mention them here.