What I Read: January

I read nine light and or easy reads this month, two of them rereads. I omitted a December post because I only read three books of less than stellar impact which were On Tyranny (least said soonest mended), We Have Always Lived in this Castle (disturbing because I wasn’t disturbed enough until the end and because I was fooled), and How to Think (I want to reread and will post more thoughts after that).

Rereads

Blue Castle. What a breath of fresh air.

The Scarlet Pimpernel. Classic story, terrible writing and character development.

Light Fiction

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Incredibly silly although rather funny in parts. I opted to skim (shouldn’t even have wasted that much time) on the last two (which were rather gross).

Miss Fortune and Miss Match. If I had known these were Christian fiction, I’d probably not have ordered them, I realized it after I started, but these aren’t that typical level of terrible (although quite silly still, but they are more interesting and probably more historically correct). You’ll definitely know they are Christian fiction when you get to the pukey romantic episodes, blegh. And the author leaves you hanging; there is no third novel. She devoted most of the second book to the less interesting couple, and the book ends with a tantalizing taste of a reunion for the cool couple.

Light Nonfiction

Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I thought he had very helpful, inspiring advice on investing and a few interesting points on personal finance. I thought he was a bit ignorant about basic economics and taxation (and some of his information is probably outdated), and I think anyone who reads or considers some of his advice should remember that just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0. I sped through this as I was out of renewals, and I intend to either borrow it again or buy it and possibly take the recommended test.

Decent Fiction

Calico Captive. I disliked every single main character. And the writing wasn’t good enough to cover up that. The Johnsons were flat, boring, goody-goodies, Mirriam was a flake, Phineas was a (probably boring) shadow, and Pierre was a absolute louse.

Once on this Island. A lovely quick historical fiction read. I quickly ordered the next two installments from the library.