I participate in the Around the World in 80 Books group on Goodreads. Last year I managed to get 47 unique countries and 39 states. I’m excited to get to start over because now I can feel a sense of accomplishment when I get one of the common places again!

Cold Days: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden used to make a living as a wizard for hire in Chicago helping the police deal with supernatural threats. That was before he was forced into a deal with Mab, the Winter Queen of Faerie, to be her knight. Now it is time for her to collect her debt. Her first request? Kill her immortal daughter, Maeve.

I love this series. I listened to this book on audio so I wouldn’t sit down and read the book in one day. I also stretched out the audio as long as possible. One thing that I love about this series is that choices that are made in the books have consequences for the rest of the series. There is no deus ex machina that fixes everything and returns everything to normal in time for the next book – even if I would want it to happen. The series has evolved from simple crime stories into a complex character-driven saga. It has also retained the irreverent, geeky aspects to the characters that I love. They are prone to breaking out in movie quotes and in this book magically hidden reinforcements to a fight announced their presence by playing the opening of “We Will Rock You” before appearing.

I realized how involved I get in these stories when I was having a rough day and was listening to this at lunch. A character I like was in a fight and losing. Characters do get killed in this series and I had to turn it off because I realized that emotionally I could not handle it if he got killed. I had to wait and listen another day.

James Marsters narrates this series and he is wonderful. I’m using my next Audible credit on a book I’ve never heard of just because he’s the narrator.
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I forgot to report this one last week.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Clay recently lost his job designing the website for a bagel company. With no other job prospects he decides to take a job as the night clerk at a small bookstore. But Mr. Penumbra’s isn’t an ordinary bookstore. There is a section in the back not open to the public where a small group of eccentric people come to check out very old books. Clay has to give them their books and then record every detail of their appearance. He is also forbidden to ever look at the books. Soon he is on a quest to find out who these people are and what they are trying to find in the books.

This book blends an old book store with Google and cutting edge ebook technology. It is hard to talk about without giving away plot points that reveal themselves slowly in this book. I loved the first half of the book but felt that the ending didn’t really hold up to the rest. However, all the characters, even the minor ones, were so unique that it was worth it just to meet them.

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I actually had 5 more finishes this week but I’ve been internet-less all day so i don’t have time to write them up like they deserve.  Stay tuned for next week!

 

Since we didn’t link up last week, here’s my 2012 Reading Wrap-up.