Because of Winn-Dixie

Because of Winn-Dixie

Kate DiCamillo, 2000

This was a cute story for young readers with interesting characters and a few good morals. I wanted to like it more, but of the small group of young reader books that I've read in the past year or so, this one just seemed the least fleshed out. Good characters, but I wanted a little more from all of it. Every minor character had one little bit of detail that made them interesting, but I think that the book could have been a little longer and given us a little more with the background characters. I don't think that would have been too much for the younger readers to handle. A good read, but I just feel that it could have been better.

Packing for Mars

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Mary Roach, 2010

This is the second of Mary Roach's books that I've read, and while I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (but to be fair, I absolutely LOVED Stiff), I found this book really interesting and entertaining. For anyone who has ever been remotely interested in how space travel works, this is a pretty cool read. I love how Roach infuses the real humor into the facts. I'm glad I finally got around to reading this one. 

Roach is one of my favorite science writers, and I can't wait to read more of her books.

Cold Days

Cold Days (The Dresden Files #14)

Jim Butcher, 2012

I absolutely love The Dresden Files. It's my favorite series of books and I really enjoyed this new addition. I loved seeing all the best characters back in action, with Dresden both causing and preventing lots of trouble. Fun all around. 

Holidays on Ice

Holidays on Ice

David Sedaris, 1997

I love David Sedaris. More than that, I love listening to David Sedaris read his own audiobooks. This collection of stories, however, was kind of hit or miss. I really enjoyed all of the true stories and found those really funny and/or interesting, but this is my first experience with his completely fictional stories, and those, while I did laugh a few times, I found in general to be a little more serious and, at times, downright depressing. The collection also included a few stories that I was already familiar with from Me Talk Pretty One Day, although these repeats included "Six to Eight Black Men", which is one of my favorites, so I can't really complain. 

As always, though, I recommend that if you're going to read Sedaris you should go with the audiobook. In this case, at the very least, to hear Sedaris sing Christmas carols in the style of Billie Holiday. Because it's awesome.

The Prisoner of Heaven

The Prisoner of Heaven (El cementerio de los libros olvidados #3)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 2011

In case you're wondering, the series name is "The Cemetery of Forgotten Books" in Spanish. It was originally published in Spanish.

This book was another excellent addition to the world introduced in Zafon's book The Shadow of the Wind. I kind of wish that I had read all three of them one after the other, because there were a lot of things in this book that referenced the other books, and even though I didn't read them all that long ago there were a few things that I had forgotten. My only complaint is that I wasn't thrilled with the way it ended, wanting one storyline to be wrapped up a little better than it was. If there is another book coming, I take back my complaint, but I thought that this was the last. Still an excellent read though. 

By the way, as a book nerd, I really wish that the Cemetery of Forgotten Books really existed, because I think that it would be an awesome place to see. Very vivid imagery there. 

Insurgent

Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Veronica Roth, 2012

Okay, I promise, once I get caught up I'll start actually writing good summaries along with the reviews. 

The sequel to Divergent, I actually liked this one a little better than the first one, although the first one was more action-packed. I think I just liked the characters a little more in this one - a little more grown-up, although they still sometimes make stupid decisions, of course. I liked the way it all played out, and the cliffhanger is pretty intense. Very curious to see how this story is wrapped up.

Young Adult dystopian fiction has become a major player in the past two years or so, ever since The Hunger Games came onto the scenes, really. It's obviously been around a lot longer than that, but The Hunger Games seemed to bring the genre into the main stream. If you like the genre, I think you'll like this series. Like a lot of YA dystopian stories, the reasons for why society is the way it is isn't exactly clear, and this society clearly has a lot to explain as far as "how the hell did they come up with this system?", but once you accept the way society is and let yourself just go along for the ride, it ends up being quite the enjoyable ride.

Locke and Key, Vol. 5: Clockworks

Locke and Key, Vol. 5: Clockworks

Joe Hill, 2012

The last of the published volumes of the Locke and Key comic series. I loved the earlier issues of the series, and this one is no exception. I can't wait for the 6th volume, "Omega", to be published. This one was more of a flashback volume, showing us what happened back with the Locke kids' father and Dodge and the rest of the group. So while a major cliffhanger from Vol. 4 wasn't resolved (damn him for making me wait!), it answered a lot of other questions about the keys and what Zack is up to. Another great entry in the series.

I'm a fan of comics, although I've really only dipped into the more recent series - Sandman, The Walking Dead - and only barely touched the older, classic stuff like Batman, Superman, etc. While I think Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is still my favorite, Hill's Locke and Key series has the potential to surpass even that fantastic series. I can't wait to see where he takes it. Anyone who enjoys the more recent, more horror-based comic series should pick this one up.

A Year in Books - 2013

For the past few years I've set a challenge for myself to read a certain amount of books each year. After reaching my goal of 50 books two years ago I've been challenging myself to more each time. This year - 75! Let's see how it goes.