January reads

So last year I read fifty-four books, and the majority of them I didn't mention much on this blog. Why? Well, when I started the blog I wanted to do a lot of book reviews. So the first few posts were in-depth, enthusiastic reviews of what I had recently read. But soon I became a little uncomfortable, because some of the books I didn't rate very well. Which is fine, but it felt a little mean when it was a book by a living author who had a web presence. I mean, it felt weird to be criticizing a novel when the author—or anyone else—could easily use Google to look up reviews. So, like they teach you in elementary school, if I didn't have anything nice to say...

But I wasn't entirely happy with that either, because I read a lot of books and I love to talk about them.

So I've decided to start doing monthly updates of what I've been reading. Nothing too in depth, just a quick summary and some of my thoughts on the books.

Okay, here we go!

January Reads 2012

• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson—The third installment in the Millennium trilogy. Lisbeth Salander has been captured and must face the Swedish justice system, but she's got a corrupt police organization trying to bring her down. Luckily she's also got Mikael Blomkvist and a team of international hackers on her side. Thoughts: This book was way too long and way too slow. The only reason I stayed with it to the end was to find out what happened to Lisbeth, a character I really liked in the first two books.

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green—Sixteen-year-old Hazel loves to read, and attends a local community college, having already earned her GED. She also has stage four cancer. When she meets Augustus Waters at her cancer support group, she can't imagine the adventures they will have together. Thoughts: I may have mentioned, I love this book! I now own two copies: an e-book version and a signed copy that I found in Foyles book shop in London. But I think when I blogged about it before, I labeled it as a sad book, which doesn't really do it justice. It's also funny, honest, well written, and thought-provoking. Recommended, strongly, but be prepared to cry.

• The Marvelous Land of Oz by Frank L Baum and Eric Shanower—Tip has been raised by the sinister witch Mombi since he was a baby. But when Mombi plans to turn Tip into a statue, he decides to hit the road with his newly-made friend, Jack Pumpkinhead. Thoughts: As with The Wonderful World of Oz, I loved Skottie Young's artwork, but there was a significant amount of sexism in this story, which made it hard for me to enjoy.

• Look at Me by Jennifer Egan—New York model Charlotte gets into a terrible car accident that results in the drastic reconstruction of her face. Meanwhile, a plain teen girl in Rockford, Illinois, also named Charlotte, meets a mysterious older man. Thoughts: Meh. There are a lot of interesting ideas about identity and appearance, and the writing is good, but for me personally the book is a little long and the characters not quite sympathetic enough.

• Death Note, volumes three and four by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata—Intellectually gifted teenager Light Yagami finds a Shinagami's (god of death's) notebook and gains the power to kill anyone just by knowing their true name and face. He begins to use it to rid the world of evil, but genius detective L is hot on his trail. Thoughts: I like this manga series, and I was initially happy that volume four brought in a prominent female role. However, I still find the series very male dominated and wish the creators would include some actually competent women. Aside from this, the story is great.

• One Renegade Cell: The Quest for the Origins of Cancer by Robert Weinberg—Everything you wanted to know about the basic biology of cancer. Thoughts: It's a little outdated, having been written in 1998, but I still found it interesting and informative. Cancer has affected my family a lot over the past few years, and I found that this book answered a lot of the questions I had about it.

• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan—Two teenage boys—one gay, one straight, but both named Will Grayson—meet randomly on a Chicago street one cold night, setting off a string of events that culminate at a spectacular high school musical. Thoughts: At first I thought I would find the teen voices annoying, but after I got through the first two chapters I was hooked. This is a funny book, with a lot of good ideas about love, friendship, forgiveness, and loving one's friends.

So, there you have it! What have you been reading in 2012?