So far, 2013 has started off strong in the reading department. I fell behind my desired pace in the last week or so, but as of now I’ve already read a few books for the year, and a couple of them have been fantastic.
Here are the books I’ve read so far in 2013:
Writing Irresistible Kidlit, by Mary Kole
I met Mary Kole at Writer’s Digest West in Los Angeles this year. She was one of the conference’s presenters and also happened to be one of the agents that I presented The Collector’s Legacy to. In Kidlit, Kole tackles writing for a young adult audience, piece by piece, from the mindset of young adults to main characters, villains, story structure and more. And it just happens to be one of the most informative, practical pieces on writing I’ve ever read.
The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling
So nice to see “by J.K. Rowling” on the front cover of a book again, isn’t it? As I’ve written about before, The Casual Vacancy floored me with its exploration of community and poverty. I was most astonished by how Rowling still has a nose for a teenage voice, and just how beautiful her writing can be, in ways that touch deeper than you expected.
The Walking Dead, Volume 2: Miles Behind Us, by Robert Kirkman
In volume 2 of The Walking Dead, Grimes and company venture away from Atlanta and stumble upon Tyreese (who just recently appeared in the show) and Hershel’s farm. It was interesting to see the differences between the show’s approach of the farm with the book’s, and I can’t help but wonder if the show would have been better for dealing with these issues as swiftly.
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
I’m not sure Neil Gaiman is the author for me. While The Graveyard Book ended much better than it started — the climax was a fun romp of morbid graveyard trickery — it was a slow kind of burn that moved with all the speed of a snail. This surprised me in particular because it’s a children’s book. But like Rowling, Gaiman can bust out some straight up poetry when he wants, and knows how to make his reader laugh.
The Rook, by Daniel O’Malley
This is sort of cheating because I didn’t technically finish The Rook in January, but I’m almost there as of now. Jason Bourne meets X-Men meets X-Files, The Rook has a brilliant hook when main character Myfawwy Thomas wakes up surrounded by dead bodies and a letter explaining that all of her memories have been taken. It only gets better and more supernatural from there. Highly recommended if you love anything magical, crazy and fun.
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And there’s the Booket List for January 2013. In February I hope to be covering The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Night Circus and Behemoth, for starters.
Have any of you read these books? What are your thoughts? And feel free to give me some recommendations!
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