Fluff, Fluff, Deep, Fluff, Fluff - 2012 In Review

The lack of a functioning computer has obviously inhibited my ability to blog or keep up with much on Goodreads, but one 2013 resolution is to fix that calamity!

Despite my ever present goal/desire to put quality over quantity, I was sorely unsuccesful this year - there were a few solid pieces in there but a pretty sizable chunk of the 2012 reading fell into my "Guilty Pleasures" category.

The actual books  fell into a surprisingly broad spectrum, but with the very distinct pattern of succumbing to a "one track mind"!

Clive Cussler - During a 6-week of stint of very low activity while the BF recovered from surgery last winter, he somehow convinced me to read one of the Dirk Pitt books...and I proceeded to read about 15 of them! These books are great for me because I do actually feel like I'm learning something (I know a whole lot more about marine sciences than I ever thought I could, and my bucket list of exotic locales to visit increases with each book). However, the overall cookie cutter plots do get to me sometimes, so I've learned to space them out a bit.

Sookie Stackhouse - I have been a fan of True Blood since the beginning, but it never crossed my mind to read the books until a friend dropped of the first 9 of them in mid-October....I finished those, as well as the 10th, 11th and 12th books on the Kindle, by mid-December. These are so easy to read, (and I think more enjoyable to me because I picture the TV show characters in my mind and Eric is oh so yummy to think about!) but I think they did get weaker as the story went along. I'm very curious to see how the series concludes with the 13th/final book in the spring. My biggest qualm with these books though, is that the earlier ones were written in a way that made me feel like I was reading a YA novel with some sex thrown in. Don't get me wrong, I like YA and read it all the time, but these earlier books seemed like they couldn't make up their mind. It also seems like Charlaine Harris realized this, because the vocabulary, dialogue style and situations became more adult as they went along. That said, there were also definitely some instances where there were so many "big words" that it almost seemed like overcompensation...."I can't seem to fully write like an adult, so I'll thrown in a bunch of words that kids will never understand and that will make it better".

The Hunger Games - Yes, I succumbed. Primarily because Dad found the first 2 books a yard sale and dropped them off for me to borrow. This is one trilogy that I LOVED....and then the love waned. All 3 books were entertaining, but by the time I got around to Mockingjay I just did not appreciate it as much as the first 2, which were relatively equal though I enjoyed The Hunger Games a bit more than Catching Fire. My issue with Mockingjay was that it was just too simplistic - convince girl to be symbol of rebellion, send girl into ONE firefight and tides change, throw in a few other not-so-memorable things, send her to the capitol, tell her to kill the president, end of story. Nothing was in depth at all with this book, so I felt more like I was reading cliff notes instead of the novel itself. And as Stephen King said....the name Katniss really is stupid :)

When all was said and done though, I did meet my 50 book challenge for year.....56 and counting!