December 2013 Wrap-Up

December has been a month of catching up and looking ahead.  I managed to get through a few review copies and library books I had lying around, before moving on to the next big project, more J-Lit for my January in January event :)  Still, before we get onto 2014, let's close off 2013 first...

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Total Books Read: 12
Year-to-Date: 130

New: 12

Rereads: 0

From the Shelves: 6
Review Copies: 5

From the Library: 1

On the Kindle: 1 (Review Copy)

Novels: 8

Short Stories: 3
Non-Fiction: 1

Non-English Language: 12 (7 Japanese, 2 French, Spanish, Czech, Romanian)

In Original Language: 0

Aussie Author Challenge: 0 (5/3)
Japanese Literature Challenge 7: 7 (20/1)

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Books reviewed in December were:

1) The Inflatable Buddha by András Kepes
2) Uppsala Woods by Álvaro Colomer
3) Beauty on Earth by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz
4) Brief Loves that Last Forever by Andreï Makine
5) Blinding: The Left Wing by Mircea Cărtărescu
6) The Seamstress and the Wind by César Aira
7) The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira by César Aira
8) The Devil's Workshop by Jáchym Topol
9) The American Senator by Anthony Trollope

Tony's Turkey for December is: Nothing

With four turkeys already for the year, my job is done :)

Tony's Recommendation for December is:

Mircea Cărtărescu's Blinding

I reviewed some great books to round off the year, several of which may have taken out the prize in a weaker month.  Special mentions go to Álvaro Colomer, Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz and Andreï Makine; however, Blinding was simply too good to ignore, a worthy recipient of the final book of the month award for 2013 :)

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That's it then for 2013, but (as you may have seen) 2014 has already kicked off with January in Japan.  Here's hoping you can join us to kick-start the new year with some great J-Lit!