Year-end book review 2012

1.  Best book(s) I read in 2012: "Cooking the Books" by Kerry Greenwood

2.  Most disappointing book of 2012: "The Bookshop" by Penelope Fitzgerald

3.  Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012: "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery.  I didn't expect it to be as fantastic as it was.  I was unexpectedly surprised by how much I loved it. 

4.  Books I recommended most to people in 2012: Big Girls Lovin' trilogy by Angela Verdenius 

5.  Best series I discovered in 2012: Big Girls Lovin' trilogy by Angela Verdenius 

6.  Favourite new author(s) of 2012: Angela Verdenius 

7.  Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2012: "Friday Society" by Adrienne Kress. It may be a young adult novel but it was great.  A steampunk novel with three strong female lead characters...love it.

8.  Book I most anticipated in 2012: "Triggers" by Robert J. Sawyer 

9.  Favourite cover of a book I read in 2012: "Year Zero" by Rob Reid...I love the alien version of the Napster logo.

10. Most memorable character in 2012: Alexia Tarabotti of the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger. 

11. Most beautifully written book of 2012: "The Dark Wife" by Sarah Diemer

12. Best book that was out of my comfort zone or was a new genre for me in 2012: "Luscious Love by Zach Sweets...m/m erotic romance.  I also read more erotica this year too.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on me in 2012: "Big Big Love: A Sourcebook on Sex for People of Size and Those Who Love Them" by Hanne Blank

14. Book I can't believe I waited until 2012 to FINALLY read: I probably would have enjoyed "Mary Poppins" by P.L. Travers and "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery much more had I read them when I was younger.

15. Book I read in 2012 that would most likely be reread in 2013: The Corinna Chapman series

16. Book that had a scene in it that had me reeling and dying to talk to someone about it? (A WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc.  No spoilers!): "Tempest's Fury" by Nicole Peeler.  The cliffhanger ending had me crying my eyes out...can't wait for the final book in the series next year.


Some fun stats:
Books completed: 227
Pages read: 40,937
Books by male authors: 37
Books by female authors: 190
Fiction: 210
Non-fiction: 17
Children's books: 3
YA books: 11
Big fat books (more than 500 pages): 4

Read on,
Paula

Books for christmas

A friend gave me the six books of the Corinna Chapman series by Kerry Greenwood (three for my birthday, three for christmas).  I love them so much that I may reread them during my 2013 "reading from home" project.

Today I received a book in the mail.  When I opened the package, I discovered the copy of Hanne Blank's "The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide To Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts".  I had pre-ordered it from Amazon months ago and completely forgotten about it.  It was a nice surprise and I'm eager to read it.

My "reading from home" project, where I only read books I own, starts in three days (and I just happened to be going to the mall anyway) so I stopped in at the book store and picked up "Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller and "Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read" by Stanislas Dehaene.  It wasn't until I got them home that I noticed that the gold leaf embossing on "Song of Achilles" is flaking off and getting itself all over my desk, hands, and anything else I touch.  I'm not happy about that.  I'll have to find some way to fix it, otherwise when I actually read it, it'll turn into an epidemic and I'll have gold leaf everywhere.

According to my LibraryThing account, I have 136 books that I haven't read yet.  And I've got a lot of ebooks I haven't read yet either.  I should probably have enough books to tide me over for the year.  Wish me luck!

Read on,
Paula

"Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery

Synopsis:
Twenty-nine years old and still a spinster, Valancy leads a cheerless existence, bullied by her emotionally distant mother and whiny Cousin Stickles. Hemmed in on all sides: by the poverty of her immediate family, by the restrictive social conventions governing the "respectable" middle class in early twentieth-century Canada, and by the horrible knowledge that she is unloved, unwanted, and unneeded, Valancy is near to the breaking point when fate steps in.
Diagnosed with an incurable and fatal heart illness, this quiet young woman decides to put aside fear, live life on her own terms, and seek - for the short time she has left - for her "Blue Castle." Leaving the confines of her mother's house, Valancy takes a job as housekeeper to Roaring Abel, the town drunk, shocking all of Deerwood by taking care of his dying daughter, Cissy Gay, whose unwed motherhood had made her the town pariah.
As Valancy steps out from the shadow cast by her unappreciative family, she slowly grows in confidence and sense of self. Her friendship with Barney Snaith - the disreputable young man who roars through town in his loud Grey Slosson, Lady Jane Grey - blossoms into love, and Valancy reaches for her Blue Castle, determined to be happy for at least one season.

My review:I absolutely loved this book and it is now on my wishlist to own.

"Deerwood and the Stirlings had long since relegated Valancy to hopeless old maidenhood.  But Valancy herself had never quite relinquished a certain pitiful, shamed, little hope that romance would come her way yet -- never, until this wet, horrible morning, when she wakened to the fact that she was twenty-nine and unsought by any man.
Ay, there lay the sting.  Valancy did not mind so much being an old maid.  After all, she thought, being an old maid couldn't possibly be as dreadful as being married to an Uncle Wellington or an Uncle Benjamin, or even an Uncle Herbert.  What hurt her was that she had never had a chance to be anything but an old maid.  No man had ever desired her."

Yeah, that accurately describes my situation.  Except I'm a 37-year-old spinster who has never been desired by a man.  Or a woman for that matter, in this pan-sexuality-minded age.  Right from the first page, I sympathized and connected with the main character.
I loved Montgomery's descriptions and turns of phrase.  There were zingers of humour that are meaningless without the context of the rest of the story.

The book is set in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.  I have family and friends that live there so I personally loved that there was no mention of mosquitoes in the summer.  But they were mentioned in January because of the lack of them.

The plot and action were quick paced until Valancy's biggest life change and then everything slowed down to describe the peaceful serenity of her living on the island.  Despite this major change in pace, I still loved the story.  Montgomery managed to keep the descriptions and the story captivating enough that it didn't bother me at all.

I loved this book so much that I read it in one sitting.

I have not read any other L.M. Montgomery books and I'm undecided as to whether I will or not.  I've seen the movie of "Anne of Green Gables" and liked it enough when I was young, mostly because I am a redhead.  But I don't know if I want to read it.  Since "The Blue Castle" was written for adults, I'm not sure I would like/appreciate "Anne of Green Gables" as much.  "The Blue Castle" is actually quite witty and I worry that any other of Montgomery's works would pale in comparison.

You can read "The Blue Castle" online thanks to Project Gutenberg.

Read on,
Paula

Guilty pleasures

My Goodreads and Shelfari lists tell me I've read just over 200 titles.  But if I were to add all my guilty pleasures titles, it would probably be closer to 250.  Part of this is because of the erotic short stories that Amazon offers for free.  A single girl needs a little fluffy romance/hot sexy erotic story every now and then but I admit I've been overindulging in the last month or two.  But I'm grateful for it because it has lead me to a genre I never tried before and have since discovered how much I love it.  Male-male romance.  There, I said it.  I'm not male so this truly is a "guilty" pleasure.  But I'm drawn to it because of two things: (1) being female, I am not trying to see myself in any of the characters and (2) they're not as cheesy as male-female romance.  Sure, some of the more erotic ones have proved to be a little heartless and cold (aka fuck 'em and forget 'em).  But the romantic ones make me happy in a way a male-female romance never has.  I feel genuinely happy for the happily-ever-after couple(s) in a platonic way.  Usually the male-female romances involve marriage and babies (neither of which are for me).

So far, these are my favourites:
*Luscious Love - Zach Sweets
*First Impressions - Josephine Myles
*Chalk Butterfly: The Complete Trilogy - Audra Red

I read the Fifty Shades of Grey series and they were okay.  Even before I heard it to be true, I was comparing them to Twilight.  But I am not a submissive female and I have a hard time enjoying books about male domination.  However, the same is not true of gay male domination.  Without the female gender involved, my feminist side relaxes.  I am not emotionally involved and find it easier to see how some people can enjoy being dominated.  Any male commandingly telling a female what to do raises my hackles; not so when he does it to another male.  But please don't get the opinion that I have no sympathy for submissive men.  I have a lot of it.  I wouldn't mind being in a relationship with one myself.  I have had gay male friends in the past (there aren't any to be had in my current tiny town) and believe that homosexuality is not the aberration that others would have you believe.

Through 'The Readers' podcast, I found out about the Green Carnation Prize, a prize in the UK celebrating LGBT literature.  Thanks to their lists and 'The Best of Gay Romance' list on Goodreads, I've found a few more titles I'm interested in reading.

Here are a few titles I'm eager to read:
*There But For The - Ali Smith
*Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
*Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge - Patricia Duncker

This is one guilty pleasure I don't ever plan to give up.  I'm grateful to find there is so much more LGBT fiction out there than I thought.  I look forward to reading more and more of it!

Read on,
Paula

Reading goal for 2013

Considering how many books I own (239) and how many of them I have yet to read (102), I've decided to read my own books in 2013.  My original goal was to read only books I own in 2013.  But then I actually counted how many I had and realized that it's not enough to sustain a full year's worth of reading.  As of the beginning of December of this year, I've read 203 books and the year isn't over yet.  So I will dedicate as much of 2013 as it takes to read all of the unread books I own and then I will continue on with books from my to-read list.  Looking through my bookshelves, I've already identified a few I want to read first...I just have to figure out the actual order by January 1, 2013.  In case you are interested to know, the titles I'm most eager to read are:

*People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks

*Iterations - Robert J. Sawyer

*100 Cupboards - N.D. Wilson

*Musicophilia - Oliver Sacks

*Inseparable - Emma Donoghue

*Ruined By Reading - Lynne Sharon Schwartz

I've also decided that I will also read any unread ebooks that I've already downloaded.  Any ebooks I download in 2013 will be filed away into a 2013 file until I've finished reading what I already own.  Some of the ebook titles I'm eager to read are:

*Rebellion (Matthew Hawkwood #4) - James McGee

*Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebeccca Skloot

*Bachelor Girl - Betsy Israel

*most of the Rogue Angel series - Alex Archer

*Nature Principle - Richard Louv

I don't usually set myself any reading challenges but I got this idea from an episode of The Readers podcast.  I'll let you know how it works out.

Read on,

Paula

"Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan

Synopsis: 'A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore'

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone—and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.

My review: I loved how nerdy this book was.  It blends old world book printing with modern computer technology.  I'm not much of a techie so some of the descriptions were a bit over my head but that didn't stop me from enjoying the book.  I was surprised by how short each chapter was (varying from 5 to 15 pages) but that made it easier to finish a chapter when I had to stop.

This book is told in the first-person narrative by the main character, Clay Jannon.  I quickly came to like him.  I liked the voice the author used for him but I'm not able to describe exactly why I like it.  Perhaps because it is accessible/easy to read but not dumb.

Clay is a resourceful guy who is able to find the help he needs when he needs it.  Although he relies mainly on the intelligence, finances, and resources of others, I liked that the actual mystery solving is done by Clay himself.  He is the true hero in the story and I would have been vastly disappointed if the case were cracked by someone (or something) else.  Throughout the book, I got the feeling that Clay was a bit of a bumbling character (smart but with no sense of direction).  That he ultimately solves the riddle proves that Clay does have brains of his own.

There were moments in the book that I want to remember because of the emotional reaction I had to them.  There is a scene when Clay has found the punches and doesn't want to put the box down.  I could totally understand how he felt and I found the scene funny even though it isn't funny within the story.  And I love the scene when Clay is listening to the audiobook on his drive back to San Francisco because it was a moment that caught me by surprise where something clicks/makes sense in a dramatic way.

I like my books to have happy endings and this one has an epilogue that wraps everything up nicely...just the way I like it.

This was an intellectual mystery that included a secret passage hidden behind a bookshelf.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who likes reading books about books.

Read on,
Paula