Ellington

One of my Wellness plans was to actually sit down and smell the coffee smell the roses read a book! Well, several books - reading is one of my favorite leisurely activities that I simply have not made time to do recently. I slowly have whittled through my mounting pile of bed stand stackers since May. Here's what I've been reading.

Books that I've actually managed to read since May:
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) by Rick Riodan. I watched the Percy Jackson movie in the theater last year and picked up the book on the suggestion of a helpful bookstore employee. The series is far more enjoyable than the CGI-driven flick and I'll keep reading the series until I finish it.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman was a re-read for me, picked up again by the suggestion of #1B1T AKA One Book, One Twitter. The idea was to get a whole lot of people reading the same book at the same time, then discuss each chapter as you went through it. Even the author pitched in on the twitter-based conversations. While I couldn't keep up with the online chatter I still enjoyed reading this book again. Sadly, books with big twists are a bit less surprising the second time around.

Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals, 1960-1964 by Joanne Kyger, a poet with a perchant for zen wandering and zen journalling. It was interesting to travel in her headspace through new countries during a new and sudden marriage.

Probability Moon (Probability, Book 1) by Nancy Kress was picked up after a suggestion by someone on io9. I was expecting something a little more grand from the field of sci-fi. Instead I got this book written in the 1970's throwback style with a interesting start and a stale ending. It was ok but I probably wouldn't read it a second time.

There are a few others that I've been juggling but haven't finished yet, including:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (hilarious but I can't take it seriously enough to finish yet)
Sir Thursday (The Keys to the Kingdom, #4) by Garth Nix (I was enjoying this YA series, but book 4 just isn't as strong as the first three)
The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, #3) by Neal Stephenson (I love it but have been struggling to finish the third book for 3 years now)
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov (I've read 2/3 of this book and find the last section to be disappointing.)

This doesn't count comics and manga, by the way. I've read a number of those but consider them fodder and not true nutritious brain-food.