december ‘11 reading

—because I want to do one of those “year in reading” things by the end of next december, but if I don’t record this shit I’ll never remember what I read or exactly what I was thinking about it. 

• 12/3 - The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. a dog named Enzo narrates the slow collapse and gradual recovery of his master’s life. Plus, cars. Writing fiction from non-human POVs is always tenuous to me, but I think Stein makes it work. Lots of unabashed “life lessons,” very quotable. It’s a nice feel-good story. 
• 12/5 - The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman. I remember attempting, and not reading, GC/the rest of His Dark Materials in… elementary school or early middle school? as an alternative to Harry Potter, and being too dumb and impatient to stick with it. LOL. Picked it up again during finals week for study break unwindings. NO REGRETS, this shit is epic. Pullman knows how to world-build like nobody’s business.
• 12/7 - The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman. The second in Pullman’s fuck-you to religion. Haven’t got around to picking up the third, but I spoiled myself on wiki anyway so my motivation ain’t all there any more. :C
• !! 12/19 - This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper. Tried to acquire this months ago after CokeTalk recc’d it, failed to find a working copy, went to the library two weeks ago and came across it totally by accident. I hate using the word bittersweet because it doesn’t quite describe the quality of this novel—it’s more wounded, raw, exacting. Doesn’t hold back from the miseries or anger or awkwardness of life, aging, or sexuality, and for fuck’s sake it’s really nice to read a divorce/family story that deals with loss in a real, human way. 
• 12/21 - Dragon Keeper, by Robin Hobb. BECAUSE INSIDE I AM STILL TEN YEARS OLD and utterly in love with dragons… … is pretty much the only justification I have for wading through 300+ pages of very slow developing, fairly par-for-the-course fantasy. But I appreciate Hobb’s novel + the sequel anyway for dealing with dragons (as cripples and mutants) in a more refreshing way than the eight thousand rehashings of McCaffrey’s Pern. Incessantly repetitive in its detail and dialogue at times, but still pretty good. 
• 12/23 - Dragon Haven, by Robin Hobb. Alise’s rather uninspired romance finally stutters to a close, Sedric stops being a dick, and Rapskal/Heeby are still the most excellent characters despite being missing for half the fucking novel. Don’t know if I want to read the rest. But I probably will, because, dragons. 
• Currently reading: Looking for Alaska by John Green, On the Road by Kerouac. 

I always get caught between (A) feeling guilty for not reading more scholarly/academic literature and (B) dgafing because umm shit reading is for fun anyway. This december definitely reflects the second dgaf mode… lol. Also haven’t caught up much on reading the rec list I asked the Upsilons for besides currently reading Alaska… but I’m gonna get there… eventually (: