Spelling the Month in Books: December

Here we are at the end of this little project, I’ve spelled the year in books now. I’m glad that I pivoted early on to focus on books I haven’t blogged about here/read in years, revisiting these books has been a lot of fun.

	Demolition Angel This is Robert Crais’ second stand-alone, and it is just fantastic. From the concept to the central character to the story–he’s at his best here. Carol Starkey is a bomb tech and detective in the LAPD, scarred (physically and emotionally) from a detonation that killed a colleague/lover, she’s now on the hunt for a serial bomber. Thankfully, Crais was able to work Starkey into a couple of Elvis Cole novels–but in this introduction to the character, she really gets to shine brightly. I’m tempted to toss the rest of my plans for the year (including this post) to go re-read it.
	The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook Matt Dunn’s rom-com about a man with a goal–become the kind of guy his suddenly-ex-girlfriend wants. This means exercising, dressing better, showing sensitivity to other people’s wants and needs (and actually being sensitive to them), etc. This is a far cry from the lazy manchild he’d been over the last 10 years. But he’s determined. But once he arrives at the destination, does he want her back? I remember this being fairly predictable but so sweet and fun that I didn’t care.
	Coraline I’m sure everyone reading this post is familiar with Neil Gaiman’s classic creepy tale for children. I remember having a blast reading this with my kids (and look forward to trying to creep out their kids with the same story). It’s got all the typical Gaiman ideas scaled down and packaged for the audience. The illustrations are on par with–possibly superior to–the words on the page. For me to say that, especially about Gaiman, you know they’re great.
	The Eyre Affair This was my introduction to the, um…inventive and indescribably strange mind of Jasper Fforde. This book features alternate history, time travel, and cloning–and none of that really has to do with the story, it’s just a backdrop to the story about people going into literary classics to kidnap major characters and/or rewrite them entirely. Thankfully, our heroine, Thursday Next is on the job.
	The Magician’s I know there are people who have problems with Lev Grossman’s trilogy that started with this book, and I’m not saying they’re wrong. But I came across this book at just the right time for me–it’s one of those reads that hit allllllllll the right notes for me at the time. It’s the reason that I refuse to name my top book of the year until the end of the year (finished it on 12/30, I believe). This Harry Potter/Less Than Zero/C.S. Lewis/Narnia-mashup is a celebration/critique/play on those ideas, works, and people–and so much more. The latter books in the series weren’t as satisfying for me–but I still loved ’em.
	The Bridge of Sighs Richard Russo’s novel took just about everything from his other novels and squished them into one (without the humor of Straight Man). It’s the story of a friendship, of the growth of a town, of the development of a marriage/family, and what happens when an extraordinarily gifted person leaves a small town for international fame. To explain it better would take a full post or two, but that’ll do for here. It’s a beautiful work.
	Evel Knievel Days I’d completely forgotten Pauls Toutonghi’s novel existed until I was pouring over the E’s in my Goodreads history to come up with this last “E” title. That’s a shame, too. This novel is about a young man from Egypt being raised by a single mother in Butte, Montana. He can’t remember anything about his home country, but he wants to go back to somewhere he feels he belongs. Between his name, skin color, and religion–there’s nothing about Khosi that seems to fit in the city he finds himself in. On the spur of the moment, he travels to Cairo to track down his father and understand his roots. As you’d expect, he gets more than he anticipates.
	The Rook This is one of those books that brings nothing but warm fuzzies to my mind and heart when I think about it–it’s not flawless, but I can’t think of a problem with it. Daniel O’Malley’s debut is an Urban Fantasy Thriller with a touch of espionage. It’s like Harry Connelly and Mick Herron wrote a book together (I thought about saying Butcher or McGuire there, but the supernatural is more Connelly-esque). If you haven’t read it yet, you really should.