January Reading

Here we are again with another month gone.  I did a good amount of reading this month (this week especially because I couldn't put the 771 page Goldfinch book down).  I read five books this month.  The one on the bottom of the picture is a representation of a different book that I had to return because someone had a hold on it.  So here's what I read:

1. My Story by Elizabeth Smart - This is a true story of a girl who was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City when she was 14.  We were living in North Carolina at the time, and this was news from "back home" - we're within 4 hours of SLC, but not in Utah.  So I paid fairly close attention to her then.  I will say it was a horrible story and I kind of wish I hadn't read it.  Not that it was poorly written, but you can't unsee what you've seen and she went through a living hell.  I can't even imagine.

2. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty - This one has been on my list to read for a few months and two of my four book clubs chose it for the January read, so I finally read it.  I had high expectations for it because it had so many good reviews, but I didn't think it lived up to all the hype.  It was interesting, but not amazing.  The best part for me was the epilogue, where she told you all the things that each character didn't know.  I LOVED that - wish more books would do that because it just finished off the story perfectly.

3. The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa - This was a pick for one of my local book clubs, and it was a very interesting story about the Dominican Republic - specifically the dictator Trujillo.  But I hated the language in the book and a lot of the content was much too graphic for me.  I absolutely do NOT recommend this book.

4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - was another book on my long time "to read" list.  It was very well written and kept me hanging.  But I didn't love the ending.  I didn't mind the events at the end, just didn't care for where she stopped writing.  I've heard this is being made into a movie with possibly a different ending.  It won't matter to me. I don't go to movies, and I absolutely HATE movies based on books because they never make them true to the book, which in my opinion is always better. But I'd be curious to know how they change this one.

5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  This was a very lengthy book - 771 pages.  I couldn't put it down.  Very good book.  I agree with a lot of the people who didn't care for the book, who said it could have been edited down much more.  There were scenes that went on in too much detail.  But the story line was great and she is a very talented writer.  I think I'll have to read her other two books.

So here's where we stand with the stats -
Total books - 5
Total inches - 7.75
Total pages - 2,298

I'm ahead of last year's pages per day average (74 pages per day this year not factoring in my Bible reading, compared to 61/day last year), but I'm going to have to slow down. I'm not getting much else done. :)  Until next month, happy reading!