Read Your Library Challenge: My First Batch

Are you joining in on the Read Your Library challenge ? I started doing this reading challenge a few days ago, so I have already checked out my first batch of books towards reading my local library, the Barkman branch library in Pueblo, Colorado. I checked out 3 books from the first shelf of the adult fiction section, and I’ve read 2 of them so far. I already have a lot of other books checked out, so I’m starting a bit slow with only 3 books, but next trip to the library I will be turning in a bunch of books and checking out enough to bring my total back up to 12 checked-out books.

The Books:

Unsaid, by Neil Abramson (unread)

White Horse, by Alex Adams (read) – Post-Apocalyptic/Apocalyptic sci-fi. A mysterious sealed jar appears in a woman’s apartment, cats start disappearing, and people start dying of a strange, contagious disease no one can identify. Wars break out, and the world quickly begins to unravel. There was maybe a bit too much happening in this apocalypse- less would still have been disaster enough to bring down mankind, and might be easier to fit into one narrative comfortably. Still, this was a fun book. I had issues with some of the gender stuff in this book, but not to the point where I disliked the story. I also found the storytelling a bit too choppy. Adams chops up his story into lots of short bits, past and present, and these bits are often too short to allow the reader to be really immersed in the book. 3.75 Stars out of 5.

The Ghost of Christmas Present: a Novel, by Scott Abbott (read) – It’s a bit early to be reading Christmas books, though actually as a book blogger maybe this is just about the right time to start checking out Christmas books so I can write articles about them before Christmas. This book was actually not too overtly Christmassy anyway. If you are familiar with Sharlock Holmes stories, you’ll recognize the plot structure in this one. A man finds himself desperate to make money fast so he can avoid losing custody of his son. He loses his job as a drama teacher and can barely make enough money to support himself at the pizza place where he find work. He winds up standing on a street corner in costume, as a beggar, and starts making some serious money. Of course Social Services won’t be thrilled about his new ‘job’, and might still take away his son, but what else is he to do? I enjoyed this book. It is light and a quick read, not too mushy or sappy, but definitely a heartwarming story. The ending is awfully abrupt, with no real conclusion, as if the publisher gave the author a page limit or something, but you can easily imagine the happily ever after concluding scene. 4.5 Stars out of 5.

I’ll post another update once I’ve been to the library again. Are you participating in the Read Your Library reading challenge? What books have you checked out? Any good ones?

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About Ravenmount

Independent science nerd/writer/music blogger/arts enthusiast/theorist currently in Colorado.
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