January 2012 Wrap-Up

We're back for another year of reading and reviewing, and it's time for my first monthly wrap-up for 2012.  On the spur of the moment, January became my Women Writers Month, with a couple of delights from each of my specialist areas (plus one bonus featurette!), all written by women - which means that they have a big head-start on the men this year!  But enough waffle, let's get on to the numbers...

*****
Total Books Read: 11

Year-to-Date: 11

New: 10

Rereads: 1

From the Shelves: 3

Review Copies: 2 
From the Library: 2

On the Kindle: 4

Novels: 8

Novellas: 2

Non-Fiction: 1

Non-English Language: 6 (2 Japanese, 2 German, 1 Spanish, 1 Korean)

In Original Language: 2 (2 German)

Books read in January were:

1) The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto

2) The Seamstress by María Dueñas

3) Nachdenken über Christa T. (The Quest for Christa T.) by Christa Wolf

4) Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

5) Impressions of Theophrastus Such by George Eliot

6) Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa

7) Silly Novels by Lady Novelists by George Eliot

8) Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living by Carrie Tiffany

9) Das Gemeindekind (The Community Child) by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

10) Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin

11) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Murakami Challenge: 0 (0/3)

Aussie Author Challenge: 2 (2/12)

Australian Women Writers Challenge: 2 (2/10)

Japanese Literature Challenge: 2 (10/1)

Tony's Turkey for January is: Kyung-Sook Shin's Please Look After Mother

My inaugural monthly turkey (the 'award' has been established so that I'll have a dozen plump birds to choose from at the end of the year!) is Please Look After Mother, a book which has somehow made the shortlist for the Man Asian Prize.  I have no idea how, as it is a weak, sickly-sweet, poorly-written (and poorly-translated) slip of a book.  The central idea is a really good one; I just find the execution totally lacking.  Until I read this one, I had assumed that The Seamstress would be taking home the drumsticks - the reality is though that despite its flaws, I actually quite enjoyed Dueñas' book at times, something I can't say for Shin's...

Tony's Recommendation for January is: Alexis Wright's Carpentaria

The chillingly dark Hotel Iris was excellent, and my latest find from the electronic graveyard, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach's study of nature versus nurture, Das Gemeindekind, was also a front-runner.  However Wright's lengthy story of life in Australia's far north won out for its blend of social commentary and magical story-telling - definitely one that any reader can enjoy :)

That's all for January then.  I'll see you all again in February, when I'll probably have a few books by men to review - and about time too ;)