i'm not done

GoodReads suggested I "see my year in review" starting at the beginning of the week.  Dude, I can finish three or four more books, easy.  Don't rush me, GoodReads.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  I have for decades (gah!) considered this my favorite book; I read it every two years or few years from mid-highschool through about 10 years ago.  In the last 10, I have always sort of meant to read it again, but never really got around to it.  I'm so glad that I've read it again, and also that I did have that big gap in between my last readings.

I always thought and remembered the book as being dark, heavy, and intense.  On this recent rereading, I was startled by how melodramatic and light it seemed.  Whereas before my description would have focused on how gothic it was, I would now best describe it as romance novel.

It was so interesting to reread this and to have a vastly different reading experience, when obviously the only to have changed is me, influenced by everything I've read in the meantime.  10/10, will read again next decade.

A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  I was a little bit afraid to start this-- obviously it has been immensely popular, but "popular" books and I don't usually get along.  I adored Beartown but And every morning the way home gets longer and longer was a difficult read.

This book was sad and hard to read for long stretches, so I kept putting it down, but so beautiful that I kept picking it back up.  I slowly pirouetted in and out my chair all weekend.  It made me so sad; at the end of one of the days, as we were getting ready for bed, my husband asked me if I was coming down with something.  Read it, but not in the staff room or other public places.

The Indian in the cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks.  My husband suggested this title for our son for Yule Book Flood, so I grabbed it for a reread/refresher.  I did read a few in this series when I was youngish, but I didn't particularly love them.  Reading it now, I really liked all the tiny things that Omri or Little Bear made.  My son is proudly on page 104 already and is really enjoying it.

I love Yule Book Flood because it is the one day a year I can hand my son a book and he reads it unquestioningly.

Innocent Erendira and other stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Something else in the category of "not what I usually read."  I very much enjoyed "Innocent Erendire" and a few other of the stories (mostly early in the book), but freely admit that I had to skim a handful for being too freaky.  I couldn't figure out if some of the characters were supposed to be ghosts or dead people or what, but there death made more appearances than seems healthy for the author.  I did really enjoy the inventive and expected turns of phrase, so I won't completely rule out reading this author again.

Red Dwarf XII with Chris Barrie and Craig Charles.  The general consensus around this house is, this season has great script writing but poor plots: lots of great one-liners, but the episode plots aren't fantastic.  Only of interest to existing fans.

Santa Clause 2 with Tim Allen.  We rewatched The Santa clause yesterday and then watched the sequel, which I've only seen once before and remembered very little of.  Both are cute family movies but they have some pretty big holes-- the sort of thing like it would take too much time to explain or acknowledge these details, so the story just ignores them.