Monthly Reading: December 2008 « Books Worth Reading

Monthly Reading: December 2008

December 29, 2008 at 12:15 pm | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | 4 Comments
Tags: Amitav Ghosh, Barbara Kingsolver, Children's literature, Food and cooking, Historical fiction, Horror, India, Memoir, Richard Matheson, Roald Dahl, Short stories, Yann Martel

: Cover of Sea of Poppies: A Novel

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh — Indian historical fiction

The Witches by Roald Dahl — children’s literature

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel — short stories

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver — food memoir

7 Steps to Midnight by Richard Matheson — horror

My rating scale:

1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.

Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.

Here are the posts on my blog that were getting the most reads this month:

Finally, here’s a little link love for other bloggers reviewing favorites of mine:

The Time Traveler’s Wife (The Book Lady’s Blog)
The Road (A Novel Menagerie)
Anansi Boys (Things Mean a Lot)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Rhapsodyinbook’s Weblog)
Sea of Poppies (Book Club Classics)
The Catcher in the Rye (Zawan’s Blog)
Never Let Me Go (Tuesday in Silhouette)
The Blind Assassin (Things Mean a Lot)

Wow, y’all have been reading some good books!

4 Comments »

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The Witches was really fun. I have used it in the children’s literature college courses I teach, but I left it off the syllabus for spring. It’ll probably be right back for fall.

Comment by Andi — December 29, 2008 #
thanks for the shout out! happy new year

Comment by Sheri — December 29, 2008 #
Hi, thanks for adding me to your post.
Looks like you organized your bookshelf (header).
I’ve always wanted to read Mystic River after watching the movie.
I read the first chapter at Barnes and NOble.
Have you read it?

Comment by zawan — December 31, 2008 #
Hi, Zawan: Yes, I have read Mystic River. It is one of my favorite books. The movie is very faithful, but I still think it’s worth reading.

Comment by Shannon — December 31, 2008 #