Friday, February 03, 2006

A Bookworm's Progress: January

I'm an insatiable reader and read quickly and in large quantity. Just for the hell of it, I thought I would keep track of all the books I read in 2006. So here's January's tally:

1. The Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde. Hard to describe this book, but it's essentially a mystery set in an alternate version of our world, without being science fiction-y at all. If you are a bibliophile, take my word on this series; try the first book, The Eyre Affair, and see what you think.

2. Ordinary Heroes, by Scott Turow. A Christmas gift. Lots of plot, which makes the story fly so fast you don't have time to get irked at how improbable the whole thing is.

3. Self-Made Man, by Norah Vincent. Um, we already talked about this one.

4. The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Another Christmas gift (from my crazy MIL even. She buys really good presents when she's manic). I'm only about one-third of the way through it, but it's a retelling of the Dracula story placed in contemporary times.

5. The Knitting Curmudgeon's book, by Marilyn Roberts. I've only read two chapters but let me just say they are kick-ass. You will want to buy this book. I'm really leery of stealing Marilyn's thunder so I won't say any more right now.

Believe it or not, this was kind of a slow month for me. I'll update this every month so that fellow book-lovers can compare notes and perhaps discover a new title or two they'd like to check out.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, impressive. full time work and graduate school have slowed me down, but I too am a big reader. Right now I am reading 'the age of innocence' (I try to do one classic a quarter because my school was progressive and I haven't read many of the things most people have). I look forward to 'Self Made Man'.

Anonymous said...

The Thursday Next series are such a hoot. It's great fun trying to keep up with all of the literary references. Not to mention the over the top puns.

Kirsti said...

I also love the Fforde books - though I thought that Well was probably the weakest of the three so far. The spin off "Nursery Crimes" series is also great fun.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I'm reading The Historian right now as well.
Should we have a twee fey read-along?
Is her dad somehow Dracula?
Nah, that would be too too..

Unknown said...

I loved The Dress Lodger, the one you sent me. And I can't say enough good things about Self-Made Man.

My book's title--Shut Up, I'm Counting: Commonsense Knitting for Uncommon Knitters. Thanks for the plug, dear. I'm chuggin' away. And so is Franklin.

Valerie said...

The Historian...I was kind of disappointed. It started to feel like she was imitating Dan Brown, when I thought she might be more true to historical fact considering the author's links to academia.

Anonymous said...

Love reading, love lists of books to check out. Thanks, Carol. Are those your Rowan books in the header image on your Blog? Tabitha (nee Evelyn)

Anonymous said...

Taking a stab at the first Fforde book (I hate starting a series in the middle!), so far pretty good. Thanks for sharing!

Carol said...

Brava, Tabitha Champagne King!
Someone finally noticed my Rowan books!

the hanged man said...

Jesus! I can't even finish Blood Meridian and you've read all of those!

Oy. I'm practically illiterate.