Books I’ve Read So Far and Now I Need Your Help…

It’s that time of the year again when book bloggers  list down all the books they’ve read so far because the year is about halfway done.

Well, I’m no exception – besides, I’ll take any excuse to make some kind of book list.

Compared to 2012, 2013 has not been a great reading year for me in terms of my book selections.  I’ve only read 15 books so far – 2 of which I’ve read before, and none of the new books I’ve read have so blown me away.

The books I’ve read so far (with ratings – 5 being the highest; 1 the lowest):

1. Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn (2.5)
2. Death Comes to Pemberley – P.D. James (2)
3. Red Sorghum – Mo Yan (3)
4. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami (2.5)
5. Revenge – Yoko Ogawa (3)
6. The Cat’s Table – Michael Ondaatje (2.5)
7. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold – John Le Carre (2.5)
8. The Perfect Spy – John Le Carre (2.5)
9. The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht (3)
10. Inferno – Dan Brown (2)
11. The Once and Future King – T.H. White (3)
12. The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman (2.5)
13. The Sisters Brothers (3)

Re-read:

1. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho (4)
2. The Dream Hunters – Neil Gaiman (5)

As you can see, with the exception of the 2 books I re-read, the ratings I’ve given to the 13 novels ranges from a 2 (it was ok) to a 3 (I liked it), with an average of around 2.6 (it’s better than just ok, but I’m not sure I can say that I liked it).

Last year I read a lot of really good books – The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Wolf Hall, Bring Up The Bodies, 1Q84, just to name a few, but this year, so far I think the best novel I’ve read was The Sisters Brothers, and even then I only gave that a 3.

There were also a handful of books I started but didn’t finish because I found them boring, namely:

1. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams) – I didn’t find it as funny as I thought I would.
2. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro) – I found it as boring as a lot of people have claimed it to be.
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon) – Font and spacing too small for a book that’s over 500 pages long. Though I might pick this up again if I can’t find any other interesting reads this year.
4. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (Jonas Jonasson) – I tried reading this book twice – I stopped reading it, twice.  Just doesn’t seem that interesting.

Right now I’m reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, which I’m dangerously close to quitting.  I’ve had the book for years now and have always had the idea that it would be amazing.  Unfortunately, I’m about 130 pages in and I just find it getting more annoying by the minute.  From what I’ve read so far, and from what I’ve read on the ‘net, the plot seems a bit similar to Donna Tart’s The Secret History, and I hated, I mean HATED that book!  Not to mention the very pretentious tone of the novel where the narrator has this compulsion to compare everything in life with intellectual novels, paintings, movies, songs, essays – anything to show off her dazzling wit and intellect.  To be honest, I just find the narrator and the whole novel annoying, and I don’t think I can take 500 pages more of it.

Which brings me to my conclusion and appeal to my readers – if there are any out there…I’m badly in need of good books to read.  Please recommend some books you think would be worthwhile or would bring me out of my slump.  I read any genre, just as long as the plot is good and it’s not Ulysses.

Thanks in advance and I’m looking forward to hearing your recommendations!