In January I read:
- A Reason for God (Timothy Keller)
- Physik (Angie Sage)
- Queste (Angie Sage)
- The Mysterious Benedict Society & the Perilous Journey (Trenton Lee Stewart)
- Your Child’s Growing Mind (Jane Healy)
- Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world (Mark Kurlansky)
- Mister Monday (Garth Nix)
- Grim Tuesday (Garth Nix)
Hmm, I think I know why I didn’t get much writing done this month. Granted, five of these books came from the children’s section of the library and were quick reads. I especially enjoyed the Garth Nix books, the first of The Keys of the Kingdom series. It looks like six out of the seven books have been published. Good. I hate having to wait a year or more between books. I wish publishers would wait until they have most of a series, then bring the books out at six-month intervals. It probably doesn’t work from a financial standpoint (authors like to be paid and publishers want to guage how a series will do before committing to it), but I wonder how many readers are lost because they won’t pick up a series unless it’s complete or forget about it altogether because it’s been too long between books?
Cod, I was predisposed to like because I enjoy books that trace the impact of a commodity on history and culture. Though short, it did drag towards the end, and I found the “fish that changed the world” epithet far too grandiose for the reality (I’m from Asia and I failed to glean how cod changed my corner of the world). What made the book fascinating for me were the details that I could see using in a novel; fishing techniques, or the use of clay/cod oil mixture to protect coastal buildings from the salt, or wars over fishing grounds. I also skipped the appendix of cod recipes. Just not a big fan of old-style European cookery.
I do plan to pick up the Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History.
What have you been reading?