December Reading

I did it!! Over 100 books read in a single year (officially 106)!! According to Goodreads, I read 41,532 pages. I kind of can't believe it, but at the same time I definitely feel like I could have done more- there were months where I was barely above a book a week. Even this month my total was a less than stellar 8 (albeit some were 700 pagers). But I don't think I'm going to be setting any higher yearly goals- my husband would prefer if I didn't stop doing everything altogether in favor of just reading constantly. So moving forward, I'm going to focus on adding in some more non-fiction books into my regular reading. And I will keep up my monthly lists so you know what I've read, although it isn't particularly helpful for you if I never post reviews. Maybe that can be a goal as well?

My final list for 2014:
The First Rule- Robert Crais
The Watchman- Robert Crais
The Forgotton Man- Robert Crais
Chasing Darkness- Robert Crais
The Blade Itself- Joe Abercrombie
Before They Are Hanged- Joe Abercrombie
The Last Argument of Kings- Joe Abercrombie
Best Served Cold- Joe Abercrombie

So that's it. Another whole year on the books. Here's to a great 2015!!



The rest of my year:

November, October, September, July/August, June, May, April, March, February, January

November Reading

November was marginally successful in terms of total read - 8 books, but woefully unsatisfactory in terms of the books themselves. Loved Jack Reacher as usual, and I finished with an acceptable entry in bubbly chick lit, but the rest were Dullsville all the way. It was really a bummer. I definitely could have read another book this month timewise, but I just didn't know what to pick. My ability to pick winners has seriously eroded in the past few months- I hope I can finish the year strong with enjoyable books, rather than plodding through poorly executed junk. Only one more to go to reach 100!

What I read this month:

The Death Cure- James Dashner
Annihilation- Jeff VanderMeer
End of Secrets- Ryan Quinn
Hush- Kate White
The Fire Seekers- Richard Farr
Personal- Lee Child
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot- David Shafer
Accidental It a Girl- Libby Street

previous months:

October, September, July/August, June, May, April, March, February, January

October Reading

October got me back in the swing of reading again, with ten books added to my tally.  Which, if you are keeping track at home, currently stands at 92 books! I actually had to count twice to make sure- this is the most I've read in a single year, and I still have two months left! Probably going to jinx myself, but it's going to be pretty hard not to hit my goal of 100 books in a single year. Which is good, because I didn't come close to achieving a single other resolution this year. Here's what I read in October:

The Directive - Matthew Quirk

The Queen of the Tearling - Erika Johansen

Age of Opportunity - Laurence Steinberg

The Girl With All The Gifts - M.R. Carey

The Magician's Land - Lev Grossman

Shovel Ready - Adam Sternbergh

Dear Daughter - Elizabeth Little

Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King

The Scorch Trials - James Dashner

The Death Cure - James Dashner

September, July/August, June, May, April, March, February, January 

The Queen Of The Tearling

You guys, this book was SO TERRIBLE. I'm not sure where I heard about it, typically whenever I see something that interests me I slap it on my library hold list so I don't have to remember anything. But usually I get my book recommendations from reputable sources, and while there have certainly been books that I didn't like, they were always well written, decent books. 

Not this time. 

The basic story is fine: generic fantasy trope of the girl who was raised in hiding to protect her from evildoers until she could assume her role as queen when she came of age. Fine. Nothing wrong with clichéd plot lines. But seriously, maybe read a book or two in the genre before venturing in yourself. Or, you know, do some ACTUAL RESEARCH.  I know more about how to properly guard someone through the forest than this author, and I never go outside. I could also rattle off a decent list of names for pieces of armor, if not 100% match them to what they actually are. Here's a hint- there's more to it than just the breastplate. 

But even more than that are the glaring inconsistencies in almost every aspect of this book. The main character has been raised in isolation by two people- never exposed to anyone else or allowed to play with other children. And yet she is an excellent judge of character and can read body language and facial expressions like some street savvy con artist. Okaaaay. 

 They are rushing through the woods to get her to the castle to be crowned, fully aware that there are groups of the most dangerous assassins in the land searching for them, and yet the guards chatter and drink and play cards around the campfire. Professional. 

Every wound she gets involves drastic blood loss leading to loss of consciousness and near fatality, but she gets stitched up and is back at it the next day. Realistic. 

The queens guard are all sworn to protect her, but they're also apparently sworn to secrecy and can't tell her anything about her mother the previous queen (who she never knew), or the kingdom, or the current state of affairs anywhere , or any actual useful information related to actually ruling a country. Oh, and we never get an explanation on why they are sworn to secrecy, or to whom, or just what topics can't be mentioned. It's more like "you better be a great queen, but we can't give you any help, or teach you anything at all about how to do the job. Don't mess up!" Yeah, seems logical.

A respectable portion of any fantasy novel is the world building. Some authors are incredible at this (Brandon Sanderson I'm looking at you!), and some are less so. That's why so many inhabit that familiar, vaguely middle age Europe-land. No big deal. As long as it hangs together realistically and we can understand the basic rules of magic and what not, proceed. But this book is apparently taking place in OUR universe, some indeterminate length of time in the future, after the British and the Americans have sailed off (somewhere) and formed a new land. With no technology. And swords. And magic. Totally plausible, right? I mean, sure. That could totally happen. But here's the catch: if you are making up a world from scratch, have at it. Do whatever you want, the readers are just along for the ride. But if you are going to set it in the world we live in EVERY SINGLE DAY, then you best out on your thinking cap 'cuz you have some 'splaining to do. You need to know WHY these people set off to found a completely new land with multiple countries. You need to know HOW they planned to establish the rule of government, and WHAT the basic tenets of their founding fathers were. (Also helpful, what happened to the rest of the world? Is regular America still there?). The suggestion in the book is that they were trying to create some kind of utopia, but no mention is given to what kind of utopia. Socialist? Extreme doomsday prepper utopia where the zombies can't get us? I can't think of anyone who would decide to start a new colony without any basic political goals, not to mention with no real attempt at bringing along basic fundamentals of modern life. They did say there was an effort to bring along modern medicine, but that every single doctor and piece of medical equipment was on the same ship and it sank. So no more doctors of people who know anything about medicine, and I guess unlike the first time through history we are unable to re-discover any of it? I don't know. Suffice to say, the success of fantasy books set in our universe (hunger games, divergent) lies in the fact that while the circumstances that led to those realities are implausible, they are still imaginable. There is an underlying foundation to rest the story on, whether or not the source of the implied apocalypse is ever explained. In this instance it seems more like "hey, won't it be fun to base my novel her on Earth? That way I can pepper it with references to Harry Potter and The Hobbit."

Speaking of Harry Potter, the main character is a fan of reading, and basically grew up with the only books left in the entire country. She is aghast at the scarcity of books, and at how most people seem to not even miss having access to them. There hasn't been mandatory schooling for children in over 20 years. And yet literally everyone she comes across, including the young children of a peasant woman she rescued and takes into service, can read. Seriously. And it's shocking when they discover one of the characters can't read. Over a century of no one reading and yet no one is illiterate? I feel like you have to actually TRY to be this incompetent. 

In all fairness, I don't completely blame the author. After all, there are plenty of idiots out there stringing words together into sentences (welcome to my blog). But the editor, who presumably checked this for errors (no way this shit didn't have typos EVERYWHERE), didn't find any flaws in the logic? And the publisher, who read this even BEFORE editing, still decided it was worth the time and money to actually print? Insane. 

Not only that, but apparently this is not only going to be a SERIES a of (stupid) books, but also a movie. With Emma Watson, who is about the most darling thing ever and who I'm struggling to retain my respect for after hearing she was linked to this crap. Given the basic plotline I'm sure it could make a decent movie, provided they don't let the author within a hot like of the script. But I don't think I'll be able to stomach shelling out money for anything in anyway associated with such lazy, inept storytelling. 

I haven't thought about my dream of being a writer in a long time, having turned my attention elsewhere, to yoga and my kids. But seriously, if this is the kind of quality hitting shelves nowadays, then maybe I should get back to it. Hell, my NaNoWriMo novel from 4 years ago is still on my hard drive. It has more logical coherence than this drivel and it doesn't even have an ending. 

ps: I kind of want to recommend to everyone I know that they read it just so I can shout "I KNOW, RIGHT?" when they point out how awful it is. I also kind of want to personally punch everyone in Amazon who gave it a 5 star review because, really? Did you READ the book? No way they read the book. 

pps: here's a link to my Amazon review.  In case you still aren't sure how I feel about this book 

September Reading List

On first glance, my September reading list seems a little paltry at only 6 books. But two of those books are 1000 pages long, so in that light it's not too shabby. What I read:

The Magician King- Lev Grossman

Codex- Lev Grossman 

The Broken Window- Jeffrey Deaver

Fatal Error- J.A. Jance

The Way of Kings- Brandon Sanderson (1001 pages)

Words of Radiance- Brandon Sanderson (1080 pages)

July/August, June, May, April, March, February, January 

July And August Reading List

August was shameful on the reading front. Only 5 books! And July was barely any better at 7. So I guess it is good I forgot to post July and combine them into one post with the appearance of decent reading accomplishments. We're getting to the home stretch here, can't go dropping the ball now! For the record, my year-to-date measures as 76 books read. 

July:

The Bhagavad Gita- by Stephen Mitchell (translation)

The Hot Zone- Richard Preston 

Missing You- Harlan Coben

The Divorce Papers- Susan Rieger

Killing Floor- Lee Child

The Silkworm- Robert Galbraith

Gone Tomorrow- Lee Child

Aug:

Supreme Justice- Max Allan Collins

Persuader- Lee Child

One Shot- Lee Child

Season To Taste- Natalie Young

The Magicians- Lev Grossman

 June, May, April, March, February, January 

June Reads

Well, I sure dropped the ball in June. Only 9 books read. NINE. And none of them were long, or hard. Hell, two of them I'd read before, and another one I read in a single day. Pathetic. I suppose it's possible I read some that I forgot to write down, but that's just pathetic in a whole different way. Behold my anemic accomplishment:

Dreams of Gods and Monsters- Laini taylor

Worth Dying For- Lee Child

Before We Met- Lucie Whitehouse

The Hit- David Baldacci

Wolf- Mo Hayder

Until You're Mine- Samantha Hayes

Bossypants- Tina Fey

The Bricklayer- Noah Boyd

Agent X- Noah Boyd

 May, April, March, February, January 

Letter To Jeff Bezos

Dear Mr. Bezos:

I have an idea that I think you should seriously consider. I think that the purchase of any book through your site should include a code for the Kindle version. Now, this code would not necessarily have to mean a FREE download- perhaps simply a discounted rate for anyone who wants to add the digital version to their book purchase (higher % discount for hardcover purchases than paperbacks). You could even only offer this service to Prime members. 

I am an avid reader, and I vastly prefer actual books to reading digitally. However, while I prefer to purchase the physical book, there are many circumstances that require the ease and portability of an ereader. Traveling, for example. I also re-read my favorites quite often, and having an option of how I can consume material I've already paid full price for would be appreciated. I'm a big fantasy fan, and sometimes there are years in between sequels (ahem, George RR Martin)- not to mention they can be 1000s of pages and very heavy in a purse or briefcase! But I would never give up adding the book to my bookshelf. 

Anytime I purchase a book through Amazon, I would love to see an option at check out: add the Kindle version for $5? I can tell you that I personally would click 'yes' pretty much every time, and I think other customers would too. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this- I hope you think this idea is a great as I do!

Kate Johnson

May Reading List

I'm not sure what I did with the month of May, but it apparently wasn't read.  A respectable yet somewhat anemic 10 books passed my eyeballs this month. June and July are shaping up to be fairly busy too, so my efforts in the next few months may be severely lacking.  I'm up to 56 books this year so far (I think? Not like I'm actually going to take the time to count right at this moment), so I'm on pace to hit 100 assuming I don't get too far behind in the next 2 months.  I have several yoga textbooks on my slate which are probably not edge of your seat page turners but are required reading before July.  I also have a GIANT fantasy sequel waiting on deck, and it's equally giant predecessor that I want to re-read to remind myself what is going on.  I'm not complaining when short books bolster my count, but when a 1000 page behemoth still only gets ranked as one I totally call unfair.

Anyway, here's what went down in May:


The Blinding Knife - Brent Weeks
The Troop - Nick Cutter
The Prince of Risk - Christopher Reich
The Expats - Chris Pavone
Ripper - Isabel Allende
Yes Mommy - Amy Sprenger*
Moving Day - Jonathan Stone
Tampa - Alissa Nutting
The Accident - Chris Pavone
Hollow City - Ransom Riggs


 April, March, February, January 






*I actually know her - we're friends, even! She's super funny, and her books are too.  Go buy them!

April In Books

April was a crackerjack month, with 12 books read. I'm thinking the secret to hitting my 100 book goal is more YA novels that are so super easy to read. But still totally count; it's not like I'm putting Pinkalicious on the list. But in the interest of perhaps a wee bit of personal growth, I am going to try and add in some non-fiction, mind-broadening selections. I have tons of parenting and other books on my to read list, but I never get to them because cheap thrillers  and dystopian YA are more fun. They also keep me up reading until 2 am, so from now on I'm going to only let myself read the non-fiction stuff in bed so I'll go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Which means I have to read the good stuff during the day, which of course means I have to cut back on other activities like cleaning. But hey, we all have to make sacrifices sometimes.

What I read in April:

'Til Death Do Us Part- Katie White

Vampire Academy- Richelle Mead 

Deadly Heat- Richard Castle

Once Upon A Lie- Maggie Barbieri

Frostbite- Richelle Mead

Shadow Kiss- Richelle Mead

Blood Promise- Richelle Mead

Sprit Bound- Richelle Mead

Last Sacrifice- Richelle Mead

Mickey Outside - David Lender

Fear Nothing- Lisa Gardner

The Black Prism- Brent Weeks

 

March, February, January 

March Reading

Let's do away with any pretense that I'm keeping up with my New Years resolutions, shall we? March was characterized by a complete abandonment of any attempts at self improvement, and I have the messy house and belly blubber to prove it.  But I'm still plugging away at my reading, so let's keep hope alive that I might get to check one thing off as accomplished this year.

Books I read in March:

Gone- Lisa Gardner

Say Goodbye- Lisa Gardner

Birdman- Mo Hayder

The Treatment- Mo Hayder

Ritual- Mo Hayder

Gone- Mo Hayder

Champion- Marie Lu

Serena- Ron Rash

This Is Where I Leave You- Jonathan Tropper

Frozen Heat- Richard Castle

February, January

February Reading List

I managed 12 books in this, the shortest month of the year, putting me at 23 so far and right on pace to swing 100 this year.  I'm sure my momentum is going to drop when I run up against the yoga texts I have to tackle for my teacher training, but I'm going to ride this binge as long as I can. Plus, I haven't read every single Lisa Gardner book yet, although by the end of the week, I will I have read every single one my library has.

What I read this month:

Days of Blood and Starlight - Laini Taylor

The Maze Runner - James Dashner

He's Gone - Deb Caletti

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty

Alone - Lisa Gardner

Hide - Lisa Gardner

The Neighbor - Lisa Gardner

Live to Tell - Lisa Gardner

Love You More - Lisa Gardner

Catch Me - Lisa Gardner

The Killing Hour - Lisa Gardner

 January

January Book Review

I managed to read 11 books this month, and so what if they were all chick lit and YA that took three seconds to read and therefore padded my average? I may not have achieved a single one of my other New Year's resolutions, but at least I've made a respectable beginning towards reading 100 books in 2014.

Books read in January:

Double Cross: the true story of the D-day spies - Ben Macintyre

The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

 Unbreakable Bond - Gemma Halliday

White Girl Problems - Babe Walker

Queen of Babble - Meg Cabot

Matched - Ally Condie

Crossed - Ally Condie

Reached - Ally Condie

Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Taylor

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs