Essential Reading: December
It’s December, folks, and I have been absent from the blogosphere lately due so I think its time for another post from your favorite book hooligan [citation needed]. What better way to start the month by listing my December reading list and this month’s theme is there is no theme. But before that, let us review what I read last month:
- Midnight Tribunal (Trese #5) by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (5/5)
- Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence by Nick Bantock (4/5)
- Beneath the Wheel by Herman Hesse (3/5)
- Leaf Storm and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (5/5)
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (3/5)
- Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids by Kenzaburo Oe (5/5)
- Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa (5/5)
I’d say that I had a pretty good November because I had a lot of books which I rated 5 stars. Anyway, let’s move on. For this month, I just haphazardly picked books that I will be reading this month and the books are:
- Any Human Heart by William Boyd – Ever since watching the British miniseries, I’ve always wanted to read this book (which was hard to find). Now that I have a copy, I think it’s time to read this novel about a fictional writer.
- Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness In The West by Cormac McCarthy – I loved No Country for Old Men because it was violent and it was bleak. McCarthy’s vision is just so dark that it provides me with a unique excitement and I think it’s time to replicate such a feeling by reading McCarthy’s most violent novel.
- The Ecco Book of Christmas Stories Edited by Alberto Manguel – Because it’s Christmas and because this collection of short stories, filled with tragic Christmas stories, will let me see a different side of the season.
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – The movie is coming out, I’ve enjoyed The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, and a lot of bookish friends are raving about it. There is absolutely no reason not to read this book.
- Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl – Our book club’s book of the month. I’m looking forward to reading this book because I’ve enjoyed both movie adaptations and because the world that Dahl made is one of, as the song said, pure imagination.
There you have it, folks, my December reading list. Hope you all have a really good and bookish Christmas.
The Book Hooligan 
Hope you will have a good time with Cloud Atlas, too, Bennard! 🙂
You’ve got so many books to read this December.
Thank you!:) I hope so too! I know that it’s a lot of books but it’s vacation so I hope I can get a lot of reading done.:)
I love your theme for December. It is my recurring theme, as Angus put it. Haha!
Thank you for my copy of Any Human Heart, but I don’t think I will read it this month na. Sayang, we could have buddy read it sana. 🙂
And yay for Cloud Atlas! 😀
I’m thinking of just adapting your recurring theme. Hahaha.:D
And you’re welcome for the copy.:) I’ll just tell you if it’s any good so that you’ll know beforehand what to expect about Any Human Heart.:)
And I’m very pumped about Cloud Atlas.:D
Are you sure you want to read Blood Meridian this December? It has gory scenes (quite ironic for the month’s festivities) and horrible characters. I mean, the characters are so convincing that you feel horrified at what they are doing and by their senseless violence. And this reminds me that I haven’t reviewed it yet, hahaha.
It’s okay, I think. I have Charlie to offset all that gore and violence. Hahaha.:)
Ooooohhhh! Cloud Atlas! This has been in my shelf for the past 2 months. Been meaning to read it before the movie comes out.
I hope you have an enjoyable time reading Blood Meridian. I’ve heard it’s not an easy read.
My buddies have been pushing me to read Cloud Atlas ever since we buddy read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet so I think it’s time for me.:D
And I’ve been pushing myself to read Blood Meridian for months so…:D
Just love the antics of that Llosa! Also read that same novel of his shortly before last Christmas http://karlomongaya.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/death-in-the-andes-the-revolution-as-nightmare-and-the-empowered-masses-as-aliens