What I read: January

Rather than updating my Year in Books page every time I read something, I thought I would try something new and just recap what I read each month. That way, you don't have to read an uber long list at the end of the year AND you know what I think about each one. It also means that I can save my longer reviews for books I feel strongly about, either way!

Without further ado, here's what I read in January:

1. The Vampire Lestat; Anne Rice: I just generally love Anne Rice. Engaging, a good sequel to Interview with a Vampire.

2. Dreams of Joy; Lisa See: I liked this, but I think one of the major reasons for that is because I was invested in the characters from Shanghai Girls. This one was a bit dreary and moved a bit slowly.


3, 4, 5. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire & The Mockingjay; Suzanne Collins; Yes, these are as good as everyone says. The first and second were totally engrossing. The third? Still good but I could put it down without feeling like my Kindle was clawing it's way through my bag. The ending also wasn't as satisfying as I would have hoped.

6. The 10 Women You'll be Before You're 25; Allison James; I finished it, which I consider an accomplishment. It was awful. Read like a magazine and perpetuated all kinds of stereotypes and nonsense. Don't recommend.

7. The Life of Pi; Yan Martel: A good story to be sure. I particularly liked the ending which threw the whole plot into doubt. A quick read {I finished it in a single babysitting night} and fairly well-written.

8. Girl in Translation; Jean Kwok: A fun little memoir, reminiscent of Lisa See. It was a bit more bland than that, although the story is a classic American pull yourself up by your bootstraps kind of novel.  

9. The Second Objective; Mark Frost {audiobook}: I loved this. The narrator was wonderful, and I was sucked in. SUCKED IN, I tell you. It made me think about what I would do in that situation, and the ending was quite satisfying.

10. The Book Thief; Markus Zusak: I've read almost all of the Holocaust books out there and this one was good. Anne Frank and Devil's Arithmetic good. I cried.

11.  The Stone Light;  Kai Meyer:  It's quick and the second book in a series. I'm going to finish the series because I can't NOT, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if nobody else read it. Good, Young Adult, but I've read much better.





What did you read this month? Anything you couldn't put down?