March

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

This is my first Vonnegut book, and I’ll definitely be picking up his others. He’s hilarious, mad, politically incorrect, and bursting with ideas. This book primarily follows Kilgore Trout, an aging writer, and Dwayne Hoover, a local hero who suffers a breakdown after reading one of Trout’s novels. Vonnegut even throws himself in the mix, in a sort of surreal dimensional shift. I love that he seems to just write what and how he wants. His writing has a certain freedom to it. His illustrations are a lot of fun too.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell Hamilton

Jaye was hosting an ‘Adopt a Vampire’ month, in which she urged readers to pick up some vampire fiction during the month. It had been ages since I had read a vampire story, and Mike and Manda had recommended this a while back, so I decided to give it a go.

The story follows Anita Blake, a necromancer and vampire hunter. Someone in the city is killing vampires, and she’s forced to find who’s doing it. I liked the detective feel in this book, and I’m glad there wasn’t really any romance happening. I’ll check out the next few books, although I’ve heard the series eventually deteriorates into vampire porn.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

This was, by far, my least favourite of the movies. Having not read the book at the time, I found it to be confusing and disjointed in some places, while painfully obvious in other places. The book, I thought, was quite a bit better. The series has started to pick up, and I enjoyed this one.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

I just love Christopher Moore, and he keeps getting better. In this book, an average Beta Male finds himself carrying out the duties of Death. It’s dark and hilarious, and Charlie Asher, the protagonist, is probably my favourite Moore character yet. This is the sort of writing to which I aspire.

February

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time last year and loved it, so I was excited when I picked this up. I was enthralled with Incident from the first page, but it took me a little longer to get into A Spot of Bother. When I finally did, I found it to be an overall more satisfying read. It’s essentially about an uptight Englishman, who is slowly going mad, and his family, who were arguably mad already. It’s very well written and funny, with a wide range of uniquely-voiced characters. He’s definitely an author to keep an eye on.

January

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

A tale of a sex-addicted con artist trying to get a grip on life. This book is full of messed-up people doing messed-up things for messed-up reasons, and it’s great fun. I love the rambling, philosophical mind of the main character. A funny, tragic, and thought-provoking read.