Books Read in December

Here's my reading list from December:

1. LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King (495 p.) The most recent of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books, and my favorite of the later books. In this one, she and Holmes visit San Francisco for the first time since her family was killed a decade earlier, but someone seems to be trying to kill her--could her parents' deaths not have been an accident?

2. CAPRICE AND RONDO by Dorothy Dunnett (539 p.)House of Niccolo book 7. Having met with disaster at the end of book 6, Nicholas tries to make a new life in Poland and the Slavic states, travelling with his old friend Julius and his wife Anna . . . while back home, his estranged wife starts looking into his past....

3. PAT OF SILVER BUSH by L.M. Montgomery (278 p.)
4. MISTRESS PAT by L.M. Montgomery (277 p.) These two are a pair of books by the author of Anne of Green Gables and tells the story of Pat, who dearly loves her home and wants nothing more than to stay home forever and care for it.

5. JANE OF LANTERN HILL by L.M. Montgomery (217 p.) Jane is growing up miserably in Toronto with her mother and her cold grandmother, then one day, she gets a letter from her father, inviting her to Prince Edward Island for the summer, where suddenly, she blooms.... Sweet story.

6. CONRAD'S FATE by Diana Wynne Jones (375 p.)
7. PINHOE EGG by Diana Wynne Jones (515 p.) Two of her YA fantasy books in the Chrestomanci world. Light, fun, entertaining.

8. HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones (212 p.)
9. CASTLE IN THE AIR by Diana Wynne Jones (299 p.) Two more YA fantasy books, based on traditional fairy tales, kind of, but with her unique outlook and sense of fun.

10. PEGASUS IN FLIGHT by Anne McCaffrey (290 p.)
11. PEGASUS IN SPACE by Anne McCaffrey (373 p.) So, suppose it was the not-too-distant future, and futher suppose that psychic gifts like telepathy and telekinesis were real, measurable talents. Now, throw in a world-wide effort to build a space station, and a base on the moon, and a powerfully-motivated paraplegic.... I've always liked these books, precursors of her "Talent and Hive" series.

12. EXILE'S SONG by Marion Zimmer Bradley (493 p.)
13. SHADOW MATRIX by Marion Zimmer Bradley (556 p.)
14. TRAITOR'S SUN by Marion Zimmer Bradley (534 p.) A trilogy written by Deborah Ross and the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, taking place on her world of Darkover, a "backwards" planet with psychic gifts . . . a complete surprise to Margaret Alton when she returns to the world of her birth for the first time after spending most of her life at a Terran University.

15. GEMINI by Dorothy Dunnett (672 p.) The eighth and final book in the House of Niccolo Series. It's a huge book, both in pages and in scope. It ties up loose ends to the series that you didn't even realize were loose until you read them. A massive undertaking, and quite the cap to an amazing historical fiction series. I always say that nobody wrote historical fiction like Dorothy Dunnett.

16. RUN by Ann Patchett (295 p.) A Christmas-present book by an author that pretty much never disappoints. I very much enjoyed this. Two black boys were adopted by a well-off white family and have grown into handsome, intelligent young men. Then one snowy night, a car almost hits one of the boys, but he's pushed out of the way by a woman and, when she's when she's taken to the hospital, they step up to look after her daughter. Awful description of a really good book.

17. TALK TO THE HAND by Lynne Truss (202 p.) What has happened to manners these days? Respect and consideration for other people? Any semblance of civilized behavior? Well, here's your answer... Enjoyable and informative.

18. PERMISSION MARKETING by Seth Godin (240 p.) A discussion on the difference between traditional, "interruption marketing" where ads and marketing schemes try to distract your attention to make you buy something and "permission marketing," where you build a relationship with your potential buyers and never pressure them to buy.

19. KNITTER'S BOOK OF YARN by Clara Parkes (252 p.) Exactly what it sounds like--a discussion about yarn. Fibers, spinning methods, plies, and the characteristics of all of them. Good reference and some good patterns.

20. LEAVE ME ALONE, I'M READING by Maureen Corrigan (184 p.) A retrospective journey through books the author's read and loved over the years. Enjoyable tone, nicely written, and it doesn't really matter that I'd never read many of the books. Sometimes, in books like these, it matters a lot because the author will mention the title and then go on as if you've read the book as many times as she has . . . this author doesn't do that, so it's possible to read about her feelings on, say, Dashiell Hammett, without having ever read any of his books yourself. Good book.

Comments

[Alexis]

Oh, I love Jane of Lantern Hill. It's one of my favorite L.M. Montgomery books. I'm glad you loved it, too.

[amy]

Thanks for the bit about Run. I've been debating reading it. So many of the authors who take their time between books have been disappointing this year, and I've been nervous about picking this one up.

[Lazy Cow]

I own Jane of Lantern Hill, and cannot believe I haven't read it yet! Though the Anne series (particularly Anne of the Island) and The Blue Castle are my favourite Montgomery books.
Just could not get into Run. I don't know why, may try again another year!