Skip to main content

Bibliofile - December



I normally would have summed up my month's reads sooner but I spent 2 weeks in Panama in late December/early January. So like they say better late than never.

My monthly average dipped somewhat in December to 7 books. But add that to the 101 volumes I'd already read this year and the year-end total climbs to 108 books for 2013.

Highlights this month include finally getting to Outliers an interesting take on how success is achieved. Read it. I'm not going to give it away.

I also enjoyed Inside the Dream Palace, a somewhat historical overview of New York's Chelsea Hotel. The book makes it clear it's famous - or infamous perhaps - for more than the one night fling Leonard Cohen sings about having with Janis Joplin.

And I really enjoyed He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond. Raymond's name came up in another book I read this month by one of my all time favourites Ken Bruen.  Raymond is a nom de plume for British crime writer Robert William Arthur Cook, known by many as being a founder of British noir.

Here's a list of the books I read in December, in the order in which I read them.

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
Purgatory - Ken Bruen
The Gods of Guilt - Michael Connelly
Inside The Dream Palace - Sherill Tippins
He Died With His Eyes Open - Derek Raymond
The Neon Rain - James Lee Burke
Cockroaches - Jo Nesbo

I wonder how many books I'll read in 2014.
Labels:

Comments

Quirky Quirkster said…
Cockroaches?


UGH.


I'm not sure I could muster up enough mojo to read any book with this title.


Heebeejeebies much?


UGH.


*smile*
13 January 2014 at 07:59
nonamedufus said…
Cockroaches is the 2nd Harry Hole novel in a series by crime writer Jo Nesbo. While written in 1998 it was only just translated last year. I like to read stuff sequentially, so I had ti wait a bit for this to come out. Next #3, The Redbreast.
13 January 2014 at 09:14
Bryan G. said…
I didn't even realize Cockroaches was out yet. We haven't gotten it yet at our library...well, now I know what I'll be letting our director know she can get. :) ...oh and I see you that you're reading them in the right order. I usually do but didn't know until I already had started and decided not to wait. Most of the time, though, I like to read series in order too and am quite a stickler about it otherwise.
14 January 2014 at 11:40
nonamedufus said…
I'm like you, Bryan. I like to read series in sequential order. I read Cockroaches on my iPad, which I'm finding I'm reading most of my books these days.. Speaking of books coming out I was pleased to read the latest Ken Bruen book Purgatory. He's quickly become my favourite private detective novelist.
14 January 2014 at 14:08
Paula Larew Wooters said…
You put me to shame, Dufus! Even with my Kindle fired up and a week off after my surgery, I can't seem to get through that many books these days. I'm hardly even keeping up with my favorite blogs, (obviously.) *sigh*
22 January 2014 at 06:37
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born.  That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network.  And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard.  But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door.  And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran.  The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993.  I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share.  The formula was pretty simple.  A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains.  The show opened as follows... Imagination Day!  Oh boy! ...
41 comments
Read more

Hello Goodbye

Today a bit of a reflective piece. Rather than being funny, this is  about the funny. It's a day of mixed emotion at nonamedufus . You see, after several months of inactivity I've dropped a couple of former blogger buddies off my blog roll. I kept hanging on and hanging on hoping they'd return to active blogging but, alas, after waiting in one case five months I've decided to let them go. I'm going to miss - going to? I have been missing - Margo at the Screaming Me-Me . She was one funny lady. From time to time she and I would engage in a feud or two for several days at a time but it was all in fun both for us and, I think, for our readers. And we'd leave each other funny comments, poking fun at each other. I miss her friendship and our humorous exchanges. The other blogger I'm letting go is Chelle, The Offended Blogger . Chelle was a special lady. In addition to her own blog she created and managed Humor Bloggers Dot Com where humour bloggers like m...
16 comments
Read more

The Dangling Conversation

There's a debate underway in my household between my wife and I. I say "underway" because it hasn't quite reached the "raging" stage. If you want raging, my wife (a Francophone) and I (an Anglophone) from time to time (usually in a weak moment of my own making) slip into our number one discussion around why we don't speak more French at home - ergo - when am I, a former public servant who learned French at the expense of our gracious taxpayers and was technically rated bilingual (even though I hardly used it), going to improve my use of Canada's other language? This one never gets resolved, hence it's ongoing nature. But the current debate is over a remark I casually made the other day. I'm no geek, but with a lot of time on my hands I surf the web, converse on Facebook and such and - I have to admit - "I'm nonamedufus and I'm a Twitterholic". In an epiphany-like moment I was struck by the apparent impact of social networkin...
15 comments
Read more