Books I Read in January

Please keep in mind that school didn't start until late in January and I was in Michigan for a good chunk of it, so I had lots and lots (and lots and lots) of time to read.

Shatter (The Children of Man) by Elizabeth C. Mock - Free fantasy download for my Kindle. This was a perfectly palatable novel and I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I don't feel at all tempted to purchase any more novels from the series.

Watchlist edited by Jeffrey Deaver - So this is an interesting idea. It's a thriller novel with each chapter written by a different author. And. Um. It was fine. Not particularly brilliant, but I kind of like how disorienting it was when the tone would change with each chapter. It kept me on my toes. Again, it was a free download. I'm not sure I would have paid for it.

Don't Die, Dragonfly by Linda Joy Singleton and Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson - More free downloads! I think there were a lot of free books in January to try and attract all those new Christmas gift receiving Kindle owners into buying more novels. Unfortunately, I remember absolutely nothing about either of these books, so I'm going to go ahead and say there were probably fine, but obviously not memorable.

The Justice Game by Randy Singer - This was a fascinating little read about a fictional court case revolving around gun laws. It did a great job of explaining some of the intricacies of case law. I found it to be really revelatory and I appreciate that I still don't know the author's opinion on the whole thing. Just really good. (Also: free download.)

The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde - I loved this. It's a strange world in which Thursday Next lives and that's all I can really say. I just loved it and want to read all the rest of the Thursday Next books, but I'm afraid they won't be as good, so somebody who has read more than the first one needs to give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down. (Yes, fine, I paid for this one.)

En Route: A Paramedic's Stories of Life, Death, and Everything in Between by Steven "Kelly" Grayson and Unbillable Hours: A True Story by Ian Graham - (Free!) Do you want to read memoirs from bitter men who hated their jobs? Then read these. If you prefer your world cheerier and less anguished, just ignore the temptation of reading these. Free or not.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - So this was on everybody's list of must reads from 2010. I heard Skloot on NPR about half a dozen times before I was finally convinced that it was worth my time. And it totally was. I have some beefs with the book (mostly chronologically - she nearly killed me with the back and forth and back and forth in time), but it was worth it. I'm fascinated by the fact that this story, so big, so huge, is so unknown. I'm even more fascinated by the complications of it all. I started off my undergrad class this semester by explaining how everything involving human beings is complicated and I used the idea of HeLa cells to talk about what I meant by complicated. There's a reason it was on all those lists.

Always the Baker, Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker - (Free!) Perfectly serviceable chick lit. I read this on the flight back from Michigan and it served its duty of rendering me unable to remember takeoff, landing, or anything in between.

Deadly Sanctuary by Sylvia Nobel - (Free!) I don't remember this book. That can't be good.

Tough Customer by Sandra Brown - You can't go wrong with Brown. I love the main character in this book (a character from a previous book) and so I will continue with my Sandra Brown, trashy novel loving ways.

Dog on It and Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn - Detective novels told from the perspective of the detective's dog. That's all you need to know about these books. Apparently (according to my husband) this is a trite premise (he reminds me every day that I need to read Call of the Wild, but I gotta say, I just don't see it happening), but I'd never read a book told in this perspective and it's freaking hilarious and awesome and I love Spencer Quinn. I'm currently reading To Fetch a Thief, the third book in the Bernie and Chet series and I'm enjoying it. More when I finish it.

Lives in the Balance e: Nurses' Stories from the ICU edited by Tilda Shalof - (Free!) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...This almost bored me to death. It's a series of short essays written by ICU nurses and it should be sexy and interesting and instead it read like a series of poorly written blog entries. No.

Septimus Heap Books One, Two, and Three by Angie Sage - The first book was free and I paid for the next two. The first two books were delightful and I loved every single bloody word. And the third book almost killed me with boredom. So. I think I'm quite finished with Septimus Heap, although I've heard the audiobooks are superbly well done, so if I'm ever going on a long car trip by myself, I will likely download them from the library. (Dr. BB doesn't like to listen to books on tape and on long car trips with him, I wonder why we I allowed myself to be married to a man such as that.)

Any book recommendations for me?