I swear this isn't just a book blog...

Since it's been a couple months since I posted any book reviews, and I don't have any coherent non-book-related thoughts to share at the moment, here's the latest batch of books. The first three of these were read last year. In fact, while other people were out at New Year's Eve parties, I was home finishing off A Tale of Two Cities. I came up four books short on the reading challenge for last year, but I've finished two of them so far this year, and started a third, so they'll get read eventually. And of the seven books I've read this year, only one has been from the library, so I'm doing well at reading from my own bookshelves.

From 2016, towards the reading challenge:

46. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson

(Read for the category "A book that scares you.") Confession: I don't like books that scare me. I prefer books that leave me feeling unsettled or disturbed, not actually frightened. The Haunting of Hill House sort of managed to achieve that; however, it fell just short of being truly disturbing. Perhaps it was because in the 50+ years since this book was written, variants of this story have been told so many times that everything feels cliched now, but I never really got the shivers down my spine or the sick feeling in my gut that a good bit of horror brings. That being said, this is on pretty much every best-of list for horror novels, and while I didn't find it as unsettling as I expected to, it was still a nicely creepy book.   My rating: 7/10

47. Orange Is the New Black, by Piper Kerman

(Read for the category "A book with a color in the title.") 1) No, I have not seen the show. 2) This book was recommended to me by a friend whose undergrad degree was in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy, and who's now in school for social work. 3) I've actually driven right near the Danbury prison several times - there are signs along I-84 there warning against picking up hitchhikers. 4) My biggest takeaway from this book: there has got to be a better way of handling both our justice and our prison systems.   My rating: 9/10

48. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

(Read for the category "A book your mom loves.") I can see why my mother loves this book so much. I hadn't read it since high school, so I had forgotten about the delightfully dry humor sprinkled liberally throughout this otherwise very serious tale. Also, the use of foreshadowing and imagery was lovely, and the scene with the echoing footsteps and the oncoming storm literally sent chills down my spine. And while I generally find Dickens' writing to be intolerably dull, this book was anything but. The pieces of the story were woven together masterfully, which was even more apparent on a reread, and the book picked up speed as it went, bringing all the separate threads together at last in the end.   My rating: 10/10

From 2017:

1. Finding Rokovoko, by prufrock's love

My first "book" of the year was actually a nicely creepy X-Files fanfic by one of my favorite authors, set during Season 4. It struck a good balance with MSR, early cancer arc angst, odd creatures, unexplained phenomena, and a very haunted asylum. Plus, there were nice tie-ins to various bits of X-Files mythology throughout.  My rating: 8/10

2. The Moon-Spinners, by Mary Stewart

(Read for the Read It Again, Sam challenge.) This was probably my fourth or fifth time reading this book, although I hadn't read it in at least ten years. Of all Mary Stewart's mystery novels, I like the ones set in the Mediterranean the best, since I love her descriptions of the islands and the sea. While the heroines in her books are fairly interchangeable, that doesn't detract from my enjoyment of her writing style, especially the way she phrases things. I know this isn't the best book ever, but reading it has always left me feeling happy, probably because it appeals to both my romantic side and my love of beautiful descriptions.  My rating: 8/10

3. Gardens of the Moon, by Steven Erikson

(Read for the Mount TBR challenge.) I've read a lot of epic fantasy, so I'm used to keeping track of a large cast of characters and complicated plots and subplots. That came in very handy with this book, as you're thrown into a rather complicated world without much in the way of background and expected to keep up as the plot plunges ahead. I actually found that storytelling style to be quite refreshing, and it kept me actively engaged in the book. Erikson is also brilliant at writing action scenes - the battle with the assassins was especially well handled, but all the action was excellent. I was expecting a bit more of an epic conclusion than actually occurred, but I was still quite satisfied. Plus, the climax of this book managed to sow some very interesting seeds that I'm sure will be developed in later books.  My rating: 8/10

4. In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick

(Read for last year's challenge, for the category "A book you started but never finished.") I started this book back in 2015, devoured the first half of it, and then got distracted and set it down for months. By the time I thought about picking it back up again, it had been long enough that I figured I should start over from the beginning, but I was never motivated enough to do that. Thus, it sat on my shelf for nearly two years, half read and never finished. Finally coming back to it now (including starting over), it was just as good as I remembered it being - and by "good" I mean well written, not an easy or fun story to read. To quote the epilogue, "The Essex disaster is not a tale of adventure. It is a tragedy that happens to be one of the greatest true stories ever told." The first third or so focuses on the history of Nantucket, the Essex, and the whaling industry, and then the rest of the book details what happened after the Essex was sunk by a whale. It's this section that I found both hardest to read, because of how awful the tale of survival was at times, and hardest to put down, because I needed to know how it all turned out.   My rating: 9/10

5. Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell

(Read for last year's challenge, for the category "A banned book.") As far as I could find, there are no currently banned books in the US, so I picked one that was banned in the Soviet Union for nearly fifty years. My thoughts upon reading it: Well, that was disturbing. I know Orwell wrote it in response to both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, but it's disconcertingly applicable to today's political climate as well. Also, there's no happy ending for this dystopian novel, and any shred of hope is systematically destroyed, which contributes to making it such an unsettling book. As to the writing itself, I thought the majority of the book was quite well written, excluding one chapter that's pretty much entirely exposition and felt rather out of place.   My rating: 8/10

6. Don't Waste Your Life, by John Piper

(Read for the Mount TBR challenge.) Like most books or sermons on this topic, this book does a really good job of driving home the point that your life needs to be lived for a greater purpose - namely, making known the wonders of God's glory. And like most books or sermons on this topic, it doesn't spend enough time on the part I'm most interested in - namely, what the heck does that actually look like in everyday life? I've already been convinced of the main point; that's why I'm reading the book in the first place, to figure out how to better accomplish that goal. I'd rather have some more in-depth material on application, and less time spent on proving the theological background. So while it's well-written, it's not really exactly what I was hoping for.   My rating: 7/10

7. A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin

(Read for the Read It Again, Sam challenge.) For a long time, this was the only Earthsea book I owned, so I've reread it a lot. There are scenes from this book that are so vividly imprinted on my brain that I've actually dreamed them more than once over the years. I always found the interaction between the shadow and Ged to be both fascinating and disturbing, and I love the end, where he chases the shadow across the vastness of the ocean.   My rating: 8/10