In the hopes of updating the blog more frequently I've been trying to think of things I can write about. I have hermit like tendencies and am way too good at keeping to myself. Not the best for blogging.
Anyways I really like to read. I read a lot. I almost always have 3 books going at a time. I usually have a book I'm reading, an audio book I'm listening to when I'm working, and the audio book Jason and I listen to when we're both at home working on Squshie things.
I thought it might be fun to share some of the books I'm reading throughout the year, and maybe some of the ones I didn't like so much. Not big long in depth book reviews, just quick thoughts about them. I figured I'd start off with my books from 2013. Let's start with the ones I liked. Click on the title and author for the Goodreads page.
My friend Kelly at Reading with Analysis recommended this book. I read this book near the beginning of the year so I don't remember it the best. I do remember really enjoying how the story unfolded and learning about the main character.
I'm a John Green fan. In 2012, I read his other books over the course of a few days. I'd been waiting to read this one for a while and finally got my hands on the audio book. Just like all of his other books I really enjoyed it. I love a book that can make me emotional and wow this one did. I spent the whole last disc of this book with that choked up I'm gonna start bawling any second now feeling. That makes the book sound super sad, which it is, but it so many other wonderful things too.
I love books told from a new or interesting perspective or written in an unconventional way. I also like animal books. This book follows the story of a man and his family through the point of view of his dog. Once again I read this book at the beginning of the year so I'm fuzzy on the details but I really enjoyed it. One of my favorites of the year.
I'd been meaning to read this book for a while and I finally did. I love a good heart warming animal story even though they often leave me in tears, since they so often end in sadness. I don't like it when I read a story about an animal's life but it misses the mark with the emotion. Well that was definitely not the case with this book. This book found all the emotions and hit them real hard.
The Dresden Files is a book series Jason and I started listening to on audio book in 2013. They're about a wizard detective living in Chicago. The audio books are read by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Series) and they are just so much fun. I can't imagine reading them instead of listening too them because the narration is just fantastic. We'll be starting book 9 of 15 this year.
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
This year we also listened to the entire Harry Potter series. Always fun . I've read all the books multiple times, but never listened to them. Jason hadn't read any of the books before so we thought it would be a fun thing to listen to together while we worked. I love these books and it was fun to re-visit them all again.
Jason and I listened to this book and we both didn't like it. It was just very negative. The characters were all horrible people and by the end of the book they some how became even more horrible. We only finished it because I have a problem with not finishing books.
I was super exited to read a book about an elephant. This is supposedly a true story but I really doubt that claim. I don't pick up things when I read or watch movies but I couldn't help but notice inconsistencies. For a real story why were there no dates mentioned? How could all of these things have happened to one elephant? The book also kept mentioning distinctive features of the elephant but none of the pictures showed them. Once I finished the book I did some googling and found that quite a few other people didn't find this book to be true like it claims to be. Very disappointing.
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
A book about an alligator wrestling theme park...sounds fun right? That's what I thought. Not so much. Very little about alligator wrestling. That would have been ok but the book got rather weird and near the end a very horrible thing happens. Quite unexpectedly. The book just kind of moves on. Doesn't really address it again or deal with the horrible. I finished this book confused and wondering what the heck did I just read and rather wishing I hadn't.
So what were your favorite books of 2013? Least favorites? I love finding new things to read so I'd love to hear about your favorite reads of 2013.
While we speaking of books any interest in reading a book together? Since Reginald and Beauregard are in a book club I thought it might be something fun to do, sort of a Squshies book club. Maybe read some classic adventure books? Let me know if this is something you might be interested in.