January Reading Wrap Up




January seems to have passed much too fast.  I'm sure since February is a shorter month, we'll be meeting back here in 28 days saying where did it go.  However fast it went, I've enjoyed myself.


Reading wise, even with slowing down I read 11 books and still leaning heavily towards the paranormal.  I finished the last two books in Nalini Singh's guild hunter series, the last book in Marjorie Liu's Hunter's Kiss and the last book in Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. Lots of endings, but also began Keri Arthur's new Spook Squad series.  

For my 52 Books Author Flavor of the month challenge, ended up reading Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.  Murakami's books are admittedly strange and in this one he choose not to give any of the characters names. We have the narrator, plus grandfather, the librarian, the chubby girl and well you get the picture. It was definitely different and had me wondering for quite a while how the two different story lines were going to line up. He gives the reader plenty to think about regarding the mind, the conscious and subconscious.

  1. Archangel's Legion -  Nalini Singh (#6 Guild Hunter, 385 pp, paranormal, eb)
  2. Archangel's Shadows (#7 Guild Hunter, 384 pp, eb)
  3. Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury (158 pp, nonfiction) 
  4. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami (416 pp, Japan)
  5. Memory Zero - Keri Arthur (#1SpookSquad, 385pp, paranormal)
  6. Bristol House – Beverley Swerling (416 pp, London)
  7. Becoming a Writer - Dorothea Brand (non fiction) 
  8. Labyrinth of Stars - Marjorie Liu (290 pp, paranormal)
  9. The Hot Zone - Jayne Castle (338 pp, paranormal) 
  10. A Case of Two Cities - Qiu Xiaolong (307pp, China)
  11. Frankenstein: The Dead Town - Dean Koontz (#5 423 pp, US) 

I usually don't have a lot of books in progress at one time, especially fiction. But it is a different story with non fiction.  I'm currently reading History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer with my Well Trained Mind group.   With my writing group Method and Madness, we are studying The Making of a Story by Alice Le Plante and doing Chapter 7 for February.  For my own amusement and edification, I'm reading Michael Card's biblical imaginings books - Luke: Gospel of Amazement.

I probably shouldn't say anything and jinx myself, but for the A to Z challenge, decided to add in a third category of A to Z non fiction.  Going to try and keep it primarily centered around writing and faith, so we'll see how that goes.  

Next up on my plate for February is the dusty chunkster Taylor Caldwell's Dear and Glorious Physician.  I've been meaning to read it forever, plus it was written in 1959, my birth year and it's about Luke. So it applied to several categories.  Nothing like multitasking.   Plus I just pulled James Scott Bell's Conflict and Suspense off the shelves to dive into. 

James and I are off to Barnes and Noble today while the rest of the world is watching the Super Bowl.  I managed to be true to my buying ban for the whole month of January.  Yeah me!  I'm breaking my ban for February since several new books by author I love - Anne Bishop, J.D. Robb and Dean Koontz - are coming out.  I simply have to find out what happens to Odd Thomas.   *grin* 

What books are you looking forward to reading this month?