The RAHM Report for 1/1/18

After adding in all the new books my kids got for Christmas that I have read with them this week, the final count of books I read in 2017 is 824. Here are the books I read during these last two weeks of the year.

Finished Reading

• Waylon! Even More Awesome by Sara Pennypacker
  I liked this about as well as the first Waylon book, but I was puzzled as to why the dog described as ugly in the text looks so generically cute in the illustrations. I enjoyed the cameo appearances by Clementine, even though they were not all necessary to the plot.  
• Far Out the Long Canal by Meindert DeJong
  This was lovely. I posted my review on Thursday.
• Absolutely Alfie and the Furry, Purry Secret by Sally Warner
• Absolutely Alfie and the First Week Friends by Sally Warner
  These two books are well-written, just like the Ellray Jakes series, but I did not care for the artwork. I'm also kind of sick of the "kid wants pet, parent says no, kid secretly houses pet" storyline even if the story surrounding it was written in an engaging way.
• Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin
  I zipped through this one pretty quickly and have decided to put it on my read-aloud list for the girls this winter. The language is lovely and will be a pleasure to read aloud.
• The Greatest Gift by Kallie George
  This second book of the Heartwood Hotel series is every bit as sweet and gentle as the first. I especially love the way the hotel handles hibernation. I'm reminded a lot of Rabbit Hill when I read these books, except that there are no humans in George's books. 

• Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand
• Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand
  This series is not even that good, but I can't seem to quit the Quinn family. The second book (Stroll) was a lot better than the third (Storms), but both had a lot of melodrama in them, and both have some inaccuracies about Catholicism that irritated me. There is a fourth book, but I'm not sure yet whether I will jump right into it. I reviewed Winter Stroll on Goodreads.
• Killer Jam by Karen MacInerney
  It took me forever to actually find a copy of this book, and I was worried it wouldn't be worth the wait, but it really was! Great characters, interesting setting, complex mystery. I'll be reading the rest of the Dewberry Farm series for sure.
• Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris
  I am not crazy about Roe's new love interest in this book (I was all about the crime writer, Robin Crusoe), but the mystery was decent. I look forward to the next one, about the old house Roe is interested in buying.
• A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
  I feel like this series really hit its stride in this fourth book, set away from Three Pines, but involving certain favorite residents. This was my last 2017 read and I went out on a high note.

Currently Reading 

• The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
  My book club is discussing this in mid-January, but my copy is due at the library at the end of this week, so I'm going to have to finish it. I have only read the Introduction, and I already want to highlight every other line!
• The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
  I decided spur-of-the-moment to start reading this for #TheDarkisReading on Twitter. I'm a bit behind where the group is right now, but will catch up by Wednesday when they reconvene.  

I'll be linking up today with Unleashing Readers/Teach Mentor Texts and Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?