Monday, January 1, 2018

The RAHM Report for 1/1/18

After adding in all the new books my kids got for Christmas that I have read with them this week, the final count of books I read in 2017 is 824. Here are the books I read during these last two weeks of the year.

Finished Reading



  • Waylon! Even More Awesome by Sara Pennypacker
    I liked this about as well as the first Waylon book, but I was puzzled as to why the dog described as ugly in the text looks so generically cute in the illustrations. I enjoyed the cameo appearances by Clementine, even though they were not all necessary to the plot.  
  • Far Out the Long Canal by Meindert DeJong
    This was lovely. I posted my review on Thursday.
  • Absolutely Alfie and the Furry, Purry Secret by Sally Warner
  • Absolutely Alfie and the First Week Friends by Sally Warner
    These two books are well-written, just like the Ellray Jakes series, but I did not care for the artwork. I'm also kind of sick of the "kid wants pet, parent says no, kid secretly houses pet" storyline even if the story surrounding it was written in an engaging way.
  • Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin
    I zipped through this one pretty quickly and have decided to put it on my read-aloud list for the girls this winter. The language is lovely and will be a pleasure to read aloud.
  • The Greatest Gift by Kallie George
    This second book of the Heartwood Hotel series is every bit as sweet and gentle as the first. I especially love the way the hotel handles hibernation. I'm reminded a lot of Rabbit Hill when I read these books, except that there are no humans in George's books. 

  • Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand
  • Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand
    This series is not even that good, but I can't seem to quit the Quinn family. The second book (Stroll) was a lot better than the third (Storms), but both had a lot of melodrama in them, and both have some inaccuracies about Catholicism that irritated me. There is a fourth book, but I'm not sure yet whether I will jump right into it. I reviewed Winter Stroll on Goodreads.
  • Killer Jam by Karen MacInerney
    It took me forever to actually find a copy of this book, and I was worried it wouldn't be worth the wait, but it really was! Great characters, interesting setting, complex mystery. I'll be reading the rest of the Dewberry Farm series for sure.
  • Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris
    I am not crazy about Roe's new love interest in this book (I was all about the crime writer, Robin Crusoe), but the mystery was decent. I look forward to the next one, about the old house Roe is interested in buying.
  • A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
    I feel like this series really hit its stride in this fourth book, set away from Three Pines, but involving certain favorite residents. This was my last 2017 read and I went out on a high note.


Currently Reading 


  • The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
    My book club is discussing this in mid-January, but my copy is due at the library at the end of this week, so I'm going to have to finish it. I have only read the Introduction, and I already want to highlight every other line!
  • The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
    I decided spur-of-the-moment to start reading this for #TheDarkisReading on Twitter. I'm a bit behind where the group is right now, but will catch up by Wednesday when they reconvene.  
I'll be linking up today with Unleashing Readers/Teach Mentor Texts and Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


7 comments:

  1. Wow so many books read! Hope you have a very Happy New Year!

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  2. Wow, 800 + books. Congratulations! The CS Lewis book is new to me, will look for it! I love the Susan Cooper series, hope you enjoy it, too! Happy New Year!

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  3. So many books! Congratulations! I loved the Dark Is Rising series. I remember reading it when I was in college and haunting the Duluth Public Library until I could get the last book. Come see my week here. Happy New Year and happy reading!

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  4. Oh, Catwings! I haven't thought about those books in years, but I was absolutely obsessed as a girl!

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  5. You have read so much over the last two weeks of 2017. Been meaning to read The Dark is Rising series for a looooong while now. Hopefully, this year, I can get to it. :)

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  6. Catwings — I read that about a decade ago. Great series. Happy New Year. Come see what I'm reading.

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  7. We read the Catwings books, possibly because my oldest is named Alexander. And we are huge LeGuin fans. Hope you and your family have a good reading year!

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