Books I read in December …

 

1. Buried Fire by Jonathan Stroud  

 

I started reading this one in November on the way to Dubai. I did some Airport reading and a little bit of flight reading before I got distracted by the Angelina Jolie's Hollywood flick 'Salt' playing on the in-flight entertainment system. Could not read much but just got started. Continued reading in Dubai but the reading was rather slow since the initial days were busy and travel time was short & busy. Hence I was not able to complete the book in November and it overflowed into December.

It was an interesting read no doubt but not something that I couldn't put down. It was not something that I could read in spite of distractions. I was easily distracted and it did not really hold my attention. For almost half the book, the story did not seem to move at all at times. It is like a very slow narration of events unfolding over a span of a few days. The story moved slowly and I had trouble completing the book. This book does not encourage me to pick up another one by the same author. But I will follow my rule of reading at least 2 books from an (otherwise well known) author before giving up on them.

 

2. The Three Investigators & the Secret of the Terror Castle by Robert Arthur

 

I am going to read a 'Three Investigators' (3I) novella every month and might even read 2 of them for that matter. There are after all 30+ to read and I intend to complete all of them in 2011 itself. They are pretty interesting and I have always loved mystery and deduction involving novels.

This one was the first of the 3I novellas. I read one of the 3I's last month but now I will follow the order in which they were released / published. Terror Castle introduces the 3 I's and establishing their characters, their style and also highlights the fact that they are but intelligent boys and not super detectives.

 

3. The Three Investigators & the Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur

 

Well, I thought of taking up another of the 3I series this month. Being the last month of the year, I did not want to start reading a new series of stories which I will do next month which is actually next year.

This one was a pretty good story of the 3I's chasing a stuttering parrot  leading to the realization that there is not one but seven parrots to locate and a mystery deepens when they realized that the parrots are but clues to a hidden treasure of sorts.

 

4. The Three Investigators & the Mystery of the Whispering Mummy by Robert Arthur

 

This was yet another 3I mystery with a very interesting title.
It is yet another story where one mystery leads to another and the big picture gradually emerges while the baffled reader cracks his head around original mystery.

 

5. Simply Irresistible by Rachel Gibson

 

This one was up for reading since quite some time. Finally picked it up

A very different book! I haven't really read anything like this one in the entire year. It was a singular instance in this year; of me reading about an intensely passionate love making sequence in a novel. I almost got goose-bumps reading it. Even when I was half way through the book, I wasn't sure where the story was heading.

Overall the novel was an interesting one.

  
Five ... not a bad score for the last month of the year :) 

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