January 2008 books recap.

lauren — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:34:48 +0000

Books I read in January 2008!

Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change, by S. M. Stirling

At the recommendation of John Glover, I believe. Apocalypse in Oregon! Pagans! Survivalism! Farming! Hooray! The writing kind of bugged me, but along with Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents (both by Octavia E. Butler and highly recommended), this felt like a very true version of what would (will) happen when Western civilization falls apart.

Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

The third of the Dexter series. Not nearly as good as the first two, which I quite enjoyed.

The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally

Really nice summary of the research to date about evolution & language development, especially re: what is it that makes only humans have language like we have it, when so many other species have several of the qualifications, but none has all? Recommended.

In the Woods by Tana French

An engrossing book that I only took about two days to read. I cried, but then, I always cry at books. It reminded me, somehow, of The Black Dahlia, which I read in December. Semi-mystery, semi-cop-story, semi-drama, semi-totally-depressing-story-about-humanity-being-lame. Recommended.

The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson

Not that good. Non-fiction story of a group of students at the California Sushi Academy, but the author is not present in the book — he writes as an omniscient narrator, rather than a participant; there is no “I.” Which for some reason kind of drove me crazy. Interesting historical bits about sushi though.

laurenisms » 2008

January 2008 books recap.