December Reads

Well, a little bout with a stomach virus actually allowed me to get a bit more reading done than previous months.  Who says being sick doesn't have it's advantages.

 Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - The second novel from the author of the Time Traveler's Wife (read with caution), suited me a bit better.  A bit of a ghost story, involving twins and a historical cemetery housing the likes of Karl Mark and Christian Rosetti....how can that not be good???  But I love ghost stories as long as they aren't psychotic, nightmarish ghosts - and this isn't one of those.  Twin sisters with a secret, one of whom has twin girls herself, living in Chicago - the other living in London, dies of cancer and leaves her twin nieces her flat on the condition that they live in it for a year before they could consider selling it - and their parents are not allowed to visit them in the flat for that entire year.  Hmmmm....throw in an OCD neighbor, the other neighbor being their aunt's lover, and the fact that the flat is situated right next to the cemetery - some interesting elements that made for a decent story.  6.5

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks - this was recommended to me by a friend because I had mentioned that I love novels that take you back and forth through different historical time periods while having a continuing link to those time periods which ties all of the characters together in some deep way.  And while this is one of those novels, centering on an old, and very valuable Jewish Haggadah found in Sarejevo, I couldn't get into the story very well.  I found it actually a bit boring - but that's just me.  I'm sure given the elements it could have been better and more engaging.  And that from a Pulitzer Prize winner to boot.  Alas.  5

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - Well, any disappointment with the previous read was quickly relieved with this beauty.  Kate Morton is my new favorite contemporary author - everything I have read I have loved and really, each book I read of hers I love even more then the one before.  I started this book one afternoon in bed during the plague and finished it the next evening - over 600 pages - couldn't put it down.  Encompassing elements of a gothic novel and heavily eluding to my cherished Jane Eyre, I don't even want to say anything more because I don't want to give anything away, but it was amazing and wonderful and has earned a spot as one of my favorite books. 10

Which leads me to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - One of my all time favorite books, it is our book club's January read, but I just couldn't wait to get my hands back on it after The Distant Hours.  I love the Bronte's and all their dark gothic-ness (is that a word?)  The story is told from Jane's perspective and voice, so the reader is invited not just into the plot, but the inner workings of Jane's heart as she understands it.  I just love this book and I can't wait to talk with my ladies about it! 10

66 Love Letters by Larry Crab - I have been working through this one over this past year, finishing it up over the next couple of days.  Crabb has worked through each and every book of the Bible asking God to show him, tell him what each book is saying.  This book is Crabb's imaginary, but biblically based, conversations with God over each book of the Bible.  He takes the perspective of each book as a love letter from God to us, and Crabb's insights and questions are penetrating, honest, and so easy to relate to.  I highly recommend this as a tool for reading through the entire Bible.  I used it by first reading Crabb's chapter on the book I was on, then reading the corresponding Bible book and worked through the Scripture that way.  9