Monthly Reading Roundup Post

I haven't been writing a formal monthly wrap-up post, although I did write a year-end post.  I thought this would be a good time to start doing this.  I don't participate in the Sunday Salon, which is good since they're closed to participants, so I'll do this in an informal way that works for me.  I haven't participated in the Sunday Salon because I work full-time and am also working on my MBA in Health Care Management and Sundays are pretty much sacrosanct for paper writing.  I am a paper writing machine!  No paper this week so I get to carve out a little more bloging time.

Winters are difficult for me.  I have some chronic health problems that make me susceptible to sinus infections and the flu and any other virus that's floating around out there and this winter has been no exception.  Work has also been extra stressful so on a personal note lots of 2010 has been kind of crappy.  The positive side to all of this, however, is that when life is like this I tend to escape into whatever books I have on hand so I've gotten a lot of reading done and I have read some amazing books so far this year (also some stinkers).

January Books Read

Here's a list of  the books I read in January with links to the reviews:

1. The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
2. The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell
3. Jericho's Fall by Stephen Carter
4. Dune by Frank Herbert
5. The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
6. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
7. Blackwater:  The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill
8. In the Dark by Mark Billingham
9. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
10. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
11. Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
12. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
13. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

13 books completed and reviewed in the month of January.

Books that stand out for the month are The Children's Book and Homer & Langley - these were both amazing reading experiences and I highly recommend them.

February Books Read

Here's a list of  the books I read in February with links to the reviews:

1. Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
2. Exposure by Kathryn Harrison
3. Crime Beat by Michael Connelly
4. Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball
5. Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes
6. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni
7. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
8. An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
9. Bloods by Wallace Terry
10. Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt
11. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
12. Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
13. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
14. World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow
15. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

I've actually read more books in February than I have reviewed, but I'll count the reviews that are scheduled for the coming week in March just to make it easier for me to wrap things up.

So 15 books read and reviewed in February for a total of 28 books for the year.

Books that stand out in February are Wolf Hall and World's Fair.  Again, two amazing reading experiences with Wolf Hall probably the best thing I've read so far this year.

It looks like we're heading into spring in California, finally.  It's a beautiful day here and we have the sliding glass door open to let the breezes in.  I hope the rest of you dig out from under the snow and wake up to daffodils!