January 2011 Reading Round-Up
Posted 1st February 2011
Category: Round-Ups Genres: N/A
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Please note that I am still looking for guest posters. See this post for details.
Considering the fact that this month has been quite eventful, I’m surprised I got so many books read. In fact New Year feels 6 months away, I have written three essays for university, spent half a week traipsing round London, went on a few impromptu days out, spent far too many additional study hours playing with my nephew whilst yet spending a lot of time studying, and just generally didn’t give as much time to reading as usual. Maybe my reading speed has increased.
All books are works of fiction.
The Books
Alex Bell: Lex Trent Fighting With Fire – Lex is chosen to participate in the next game by the Gods and this time it may be more deadly than the last. A worthy follow-up to Lex Trent Versus The Gods.
Ally Condie: Matched – Cassia has never questioned her world, but a botch in the system that shows teenagers who they will marry introduces her to the idea that everything may not be a perfect as it seems. Brilliant.
Cat Clarke: Entangled – Grace knows that she is being held captive by Ethan in a white room but knows no more than that. It appears Ethan wants her to write, but why? As Grace begins to spill out the details of her life things start to become clear and in writing she discovers what’s happened. A very good book that takes a different angle on an established idea.
Julia Strachey: Cheerful Weather For The Wedding – A short story about the goings on of a family on the day of the daughter’s wedding. Very funny with a poigniant ending.
Lauren Kate: Torment – Luce goes to a different school while Daniel and Cam fight to protect her. But she’s unlikely to stay put when there’s the chance to find out about her past lives and as it turns out there is more than just one faction after her. Not great, but an improvement on Fallen.
This month saw me reading two of my most-awaited books of this year, as well as two other well-known books – in the case of keeping up to date, this is perhaps my best month so far. I also started Villette but, as I discussed earlier in the month when I talked of reading two books at a time, I’ve found it a difficult and monotonous read and have only just started the third volume. Hopefully I’ll have finished it by the end of February, university work permitting.
My favourite book was definitely Matched, and I was so pleased as it was my first book of the year. I was surprised to find Torment not as shabby as Fallen and although my review of the former, which I will be posting soon, is rather negative, I was happy to be able to discuss some true positives, which is something I wasn’t able to do for Fallen. And my high expectations for Cheerful Weather For The Wedding were duly met.
Quotation Report
In Lex Trent Fighting With Fire, something is obviously going on, but then something generally is. And in Cheerful Weather For The Wedding, Tom reminds us that emerald green socks are most certainly not appropriate attire for a marriage ceremony, while his aunt learns that if you assign the same bedroom to a number of people, somewhere down the vicar is going to see the school-teacher’s folded underwear.
January hasn’t been a bad month for reading, and I have loved almost all that I’ve read. Bring it on, February!
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February 1, 2011, 11:05 am
I have not read Cheerful Weather For The Wedding yet, but it’s hard to go wrong with Persephones! Happy reading in February :)
Charlie: I’m glad to hear that because I’ve another one that I’m keeping for the Persephone weekend. And they are so beautiful, the books, it’s brilliant to find that the whole thing is so good.