Books

My list of books for my RYOB (Read Your Own Books) Challenge is over HERE.

In addition to those books, I am sure there will be plenty of new books, as well as some re-reads this year.  Here I will attempt to keep up with the books.

January

1. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger.  Good, but can’t compare to Time Traveler’s Wife. 6 out of 10
2. Fables, Volume 12, The Dark Ages by Bill Willingham.  After the war with The Adversary, a new darkness challenges the fables.  Awesome as always.   8 out of 10
3. The Secrets of Pistoulet by Jana Kolpen (The illustrations were better than the story and they are sweet watercolor-like drawings and old-timey pictures.  Story is a little thin.  6 out of 10  RYOB CHALLENGE, BOOK 1
4. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman.  Short little tale based on Norse mythology. Not as quirky as Gaiman’s usual, but a good read.  7 out of 10
5. Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan.  I started off liking this book a lot. My sister said it was too sad and I didn’t agree.  Until I got about 4/5s of the way through.  I can handle sad in a book but the characters didn’t seem to learn much or develop much.  I wish Bibi had been more of a character and less of just an omnipresent observer.  6 out of 10

February  (It was a short month and full of house guests.  I’m reading 3 books at once and almost done with all of them but for the month – finished just one.)

6.   Red Dwarf: Better Than Life by Grant Naylor.   I think this is the sequel to a previous Red Dwarf book but the story seems to be pretty independent.  Run of the mill sci-fi story.  Characters pulled out of a virtual reality who need to deal with a crisis in real reality.  There were a few quirky ideas but it’s not humourous like Hitchhiker’s or thought-provoking like…..well, like a lot of other sci fi.  A good distraction but not very memorable.  5 out of 10.  RYOB CHALLENGE, BOOK 2

March

7.   The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion by Joseph Campbell.  The best thing I can say about finishing the book is – I don’t have to keep reading this book! Sorry Joseph Campbell, I like your work, but this book is too dense without making clear sense.  Out of hundreds and hundreds of spiritual rituals and ideas, Campbell seems to have glommed on to a few similarities between Native American, Christian, and Indian traditions to prove (?) –I’m not sure – I think to prove there is something in our Jungian subconscious that creates the same myths across the world. I didn’t quite buy it.  3 out of 10.  RYOB CHALLENGE, BOOK 3.