KateKintail's October Reading Log

[katekintailbc]

This is a recap of my October reading, for a swap-bot swap I signed up for. I chose to post it here so that I can format it the way I want. See below for a very brief recap of what I thought of the books along with a link to read more about my thoughts, if you so desire.

Here's a list of books I read during the month but didn't finish (or haven't finished yet):

• Star Wars Jedi Apprentice: The Deadly Hunter by Jude Watson


• Redshirts by John Scalzi


• Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

Here are the books I finished this month:

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/152206.html
   While this fits a lot of forumlas for middle-grade or YA lit, I swear this book is meant for adults. It's a fairy tale for us, to not only entertain us but remind us of what we forget about when we become adults. This was a perfect October read; I was spooked a number of times!


2. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/151165.html
   Lincoln gets a job monitoring a newpaper's employee email accounts. He becomes interested in the email correspondance of several of the employees. And just as he realizes he knows too much and can never approach them, he also realizes he likes them. And he reads that one of the girls likes him as well. Awkward! The writing is magnificent and the characters are so real and likeable.


3. The Art of Reading by Reading is Fundamental:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/150936.html
   A beautiful collection of children's book illustrators paying tribute to books by discussing the books that made them fall in love with reading and creating accompanying tribute illustrations.


4. Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader edited by Cassandra Clare:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/149465.html
   A series of essays about lots of different elements in the Mortal Instruments series. A few were a little dry, but there was a lot of interesting analysis I hadn't thought of. I was most interested in what different things this YA authors focus on.


5. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/150189.html
   I thought I'd love this, but I just didn't. I'm a character person, and the characters fell flat to me. The concept was neat and there was an interesting story, but I just didn't care about the characters or what happened to them.


6. The Day of Reckoning (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice, Book 8) by Jude Watson:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/148557.html
   Finally, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are back together as apprentice and master, out to stop Xanatos at all cost. They just didn't count on Xanatos taking over an entire planet.


7. The Fight for Truth (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice, Book 9) by Jude Watson:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/151301.html
   Offworld with another Master & Apprentice team, the Jedi find themselves on a practically xenophobic planet that thinks the rest of the universe is dangerous... and makes sure everyone on their world doesn't question that.


8. The Shattered Peace (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice, Book 10) by Jude Watson:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/151706.html
   Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon work together to save two worlds from going back to war with each other. They try to help some of the future rulers in the meantime. I loved Obi-Wan trying to figure out what he thought about the situations.


9. Calvin Can't Fly by Jennifer Berne:
   http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/149148.html
   A great picture book about Calvin, a bookworm birdie. Calvin's bird friends mock him for reading so much. But one day, they need help that only he can provide, because he read the solution in a book. As a great twist, Calvin needs their help as well, because he's spent all his time reading and not learning how to fly. It's a good book to learn about balancing one's life.


10. Archie by Domenica More Gordon:
    http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/148870.html
    Full of lovely art, this picture book is about a dog who gets a sewing machine and starts making clothes... for his dog and other dogs. I couldn't get past the fact that the characters are dogs who are able to operate a small business but who also own dogs as pets who are just pets. It was very strange to me.


11. Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen:
    http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/149522.html
    A really neat concept. What if Brian hadn't been rescued at the end of Hatchet? This book keeps Brian in the book, on the island, having to adapt and survive as winter comes.


12. Brian's Return by Gary Paulsen:
    http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/150355.html
    The first two books in the Brian series were great. The third was an interesting twist. This one was kind of confused. Brian is suddenly not fitting back into the real world, getting into fights at school, etc. He decides to head back to the wilderness, with equipment this time, and deep down decides he's not going to return (even though he doesn't tell his parents this). So much of the book was him planning how to get back so that once he was there, it felt a bit anticlimactic.


13. Brian's Hunt by Gary Paulsen:
    http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/150635.html
    I'm glad to have read this, just so I can be done with the series. Brian seems to be a different character in it altogether. And while I liked these adventures of his more than the previous book, it just wasn't as interesting as the dynamic set up in Hatchet.

That's my October! I haven't been feeling well since late September, so I've had many chances to sit and read in hospital waiting rooms, which I hadn't counted on. But at least some good reading came out of it.

Happy reading, everyone!