2013 Book Challenge Update January

         Here it is my first 2013 Book Challenge Update.  considering I only joined these last week I think I did OK.  What about you, how'd you do?  Which Challenge did you decide to participate in? Well here's how I finished up January with my 5 Challenges.

  The books I read this month were:


David Baldacci  The Forgotten John Puller heads to Florida at the request of his aunt only to discover that just before he arrives she is found dead.  Once again David Baldacci uses his story telling to bring a social injustice to light.  In The Forgotten the we are brought face to face with the real life tragedy of human trafficking.  Through John Puller's search for answers surrounding his aunt's death we encounter families torn apart while others are just trying to survive.  Baldacci fans won't be disappointed.
Tess Gerritsen 
Last To Die  The latest in the Rizzoli/Isles series we find Maura on vacation in Maine visiting Julian at Evensong Boarding School which just happens to be run by the Mephisto Club.  This was a particularly short book and I felt that the author may just be running out of plausible scenarios for this duo.
The Silent Girl Rizzoli/Isles #9  We find the duo working a case in Chinatown that possibly has connections to a case years old.  Tess Gerritsen's use of shifting narrators in this book was an excellent choice, I truly loved hearing the different point of views.  I also enjoyed the mythical thread that ran throughout the book.  We don't see much of Maura in this story however Jane keep you interested from beginning to end.
Christopher Reich The Rules of Vengeance This is book #2 in the Jonathon Ransom series.  We find Jonathon in London to give a speech at a conference when his wife decides to surprise him with a visit.  Before he knows it Jonathon is running from the authorities and all across Europe trying to gather proof that he isn't responsible for a fatal bombing.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the story each time Jonathon outsmarted another police force I found myself being less and less able to "believe" the story as I think a reader should.  It does not measure up to Rules of Deception.

Amanda Hodgkinson 22 Britannia Road  Set in England after WWII we watch a family try to reconnect after the war has torn them apart for 6 years.  This story is told through three perspectives, Janusz, a solider in the Polish army believes having his wife and son together with him in a new country they'll be able to build a new life.  Silvania has spent years living in the forests of Poland doing everything a mother can to keep her son alive, starting new in a country where she finds not only the language strange but also the man who is her husband.  Aurek only knows a life dependent on his mother, living not all that different than a feral animal, and does not know this man who says he is father.  The story reminds of us of how organic the mother/child relationship is.

2013 Audio Book Challenge.  For this challenge I committed to reading  hearing 25 books over the course of the year.  Books read this month: 5  

 6th What's In A Name Challenge David Baldacci's book The Forgotten fits into Category #6: A book with lost or found (or equivalent) in the title.

 2013 British Books Challenge (BBC).  Amanda Hodgkinson is my British Author for January.  Wish she had written more than one book

Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge.  I committed to reading between 66-70 books during 2013.  I really need to be reading 5 - 6 a month so I think I'm on target.

Eclectic Reader Challenge.  Not one of my books qualified for any of the 12 categories.  Going to have to try better in February.