Monday, December 30, 2013

A year of reading, part two

Here we are, back again for round two of my 2013 reading wrap-up.  May through August!  I'm rather enjoying looking back at what I read through the year - I've got such a crummy memory I've forgotten half of it already!

Or maybe they just weren't memorable books...


May - 6
  • Them: Adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson
  • Black Helicopters - Blythe Woolston
  • Game Changer - Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • Midwinterblood - Marcus Sedgwick
  • Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature's Undead - Rebecca L. Johnson
  • A Red Sun Also Rises - Mark Hodder
June - 8
  • Virtual Light - William Gibson
  • Will & Whit - Laura Lee Gulledge
  • Page by Paige - Laure Lee Gulledge
  • A Matter of Days - Amber Kizer
  • Scowler - Daniel Kraus
  • Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping - Melanie Watt
  • Scrivener's Moon - Philip Reeve
  • Scaredy Squirrel - Melanie Watt
July - 6
  • Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
  • Islands in the Net - Bruce Sterling
  • Singularity - William Sleator
  • Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires, and Tales from the Road - Irene Rawlings
  • You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack - Tom Gauld
  • My Cool Caravan: An Inspirational Guide to Retro-Style Caravans - Jane Field-Lewis
August - 4
  • Little Century - Anna Keesey
  • Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories - Kelly Link, ed.
  • The Freddie Stories - Lynda Barry
  • Trailerama - Phil Noyes
4 Graphic Novel/Comics
5 Fiction
4 Non-fiction
8 YA Fiction
1 YA Non-fiction
2 Picture books
(2 Audiobooks)

Okay then!  My reading habits really smoothed out in the spring, but fizzled out later in the summer.  No surprise!  It was very wet and rainy early on, and the sun finally came out and there were other things to do with my time.

Highlights.  Hmmm...

I decided to get back into audiobooks, seeing as our car has a CD player and radio stations either suck or have dodgy reception.  Great decision!  I started off with Scrivener's Moon, the third in a YA series by Philip Reeve that I really enjoy (and that's saying something - I usually only read the first book a series but can't be bothered to go back for the rest).  Anyhow, the reader was fantastic.  I looked for more by her, and that led me to my second audiobook of the year - another YA selection.



Steampunk! was a fun collection of short stories by well known YA authors - Cory Doctorow and Libba Bray included.


I can't go on without mentioning Scowler, by Daniel Kraus.  I'm not generally a reader of horror, but after reading Rotters and declaring it the BEST book I read in 2011, I couldn't wait to read Scowler.  It was not an easy read, that's for sure.  It was truly and completely horrifying.  And so well written.    In a sea of YA first-person narratives (I I I, me me me), it was so refreshing to read a book that not only had a story line with depth, but also had such well-crafted prose.  I cannot wait until his next book comes out, just for the sheer pleasure of enjoying his skill at putting words together.




I don't have much else to say about this lot, other than a few quick bits.

Them: Adventures with Extremists - despite the fact it was written a decade ago, Ronson's tales of his encounters with the fringe elements of society was highly entertaining - and still very relevant.

Cloud Atlas - a good read, I've heard the movie doesn't cut it  Stick with the book.

Zombie Makers - GROSS!  And so fascinating.  We need more books like this!



I think that's enough for now.  Stay tuned for part three tomorrow.  Lots of great books to talk about.

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