January's Book List - 12 Books

Today, I'd like to post my list of books that I read in January. I decided to keep track of the books I read this year, so I'm recording them in a word document on my desktop. Easy, right? January was a good reading month for me. I read a TON! Some of the books good, and some were great...

Last year, I started reading the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. I liked the first book - The Lightening Thief. It had an interesting premise, and I enjoyed learning more about Greek mythology. So, in January I decided to try to finish the series. Not only did I finish that series, but I also read the 2 books in Rick Riordan's next series, Heroes of Olympus.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan

Book 2 - The Sea of Monsters

In this book, 13-year-old demigod, Percy Jackson, and some friends, must rescue his satyr friend, Grover, from the Cyclops Polyphemus, and save Camp Half Blood from a Titan's attack by bringing back the Golden Fleece to cure Thalia's poisoned pine tree.

Book 3 - The Titan's Curse

Now 14 years old, Percy leads a group of friends to rescue Annabeth and the Goddess Artemis, who have both been kidnapped.

Book 4 - The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy tries to stop Luke Castellan and his evil army from invading Camp Half-Blood through Daedalus's labyrinth. He tries to find Daedalus and convince him not to give Luke Ariadne's string, which would help Luke through the Labyrinth.

Book 5 - The Last Olympians

Percy leads his friends, including a mortal who can see through the mist, in a last battle to protect Olympus. The battle takes place in New York City, at the Empire State Building - the entrance to Olympus. (I bet you didn't know that!)

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan
Book 1 - The Lost Hero

A new group of teenage demigods star in this novel, which still has many of the characters from Camp Half Blood. Jason wakes up as a demigod, and has no idea where he's come from. The group at Camp Half Blood welcome him and two other demigods into camp. These new demigods have Roman mythology parents instead of Greek. The three are sent on a quest to rescue Hera, queen of the Gods.

Book 2 - The Son of Neptune

This story follows Percy Jackson, the demigod son of Poseidan, after he disappears. He ends up in a completely different camp of halfbloods, where Roman myths rule. He goes to Alaska to free the Greek god of death, Thanatos, and save the world from Gaia.

This series is even better than the last series- it has the characters from the Percy Jackson series, but adds several more. Riordan adds the Roman Gods/myths to the story in these books. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Beautifully written - jumps between modern day and the Salem witch trials. A woman who is pursuing her graduate degree in Early American History, stumbles on a book of "spells", and discovers that her early ancestor was one of the women tried and convicted of being a witch in Salem, MA - an unknown, undocumented witch. Interesting story.

The Litigators by John Grisham

As story about mass tort lawyers - amazing how much money and corruption is out there! A lawyer who works for a huge law firm, and makes lots of money, gets tired of working so many hours and never having time for his family. One day he just leaves. After "having lunch" at a bar, he drunkenly stumbles into a small law firm. The story unfolds as he starts to work for this law firm, which is run by 2 semi-corrupt, bumbling lawyers... the type that literally chase ambulances. As one of the partners jumps into a mass tort case, things quickly begin to unravel. Typical Grisham novel - engrossing. One of his better novels.

Book of a Thousand Day by Shannon Hale

Retold story from the Brothers Grimm - loved this book! A young princess refuses to marry someone she doesn't love, and she and her maid are banished to a tower for 7 years. This is a story about falling in love, loyalty, perseverance, friendship, honesty. Wonderful story! This book is in the Young Adult Fiction genre - one I read quite a bit. If you are only shopping in the Adult sections of the bookstore, you'll miss out on some great books.

Bitten by Robert Smith

This is an LDS fiction, a story about a missionary who is called to Tennessee and thinks his life is over. He serves almost his whole mission in Thelma's Way - a geniune back-woods town, meets the girl of his dreams, and after his mission, returns to claim her. This book was hilarious! I laughed out loud many times! A good, clean, fun story - with some great life lessons.

Fearless in High Heels by Gemma Halliday

This is the 5th book in the series. I read the other 4 last year. It's a fun series about a girl (Maddie) who designs shoes in Hollywood. Her best friend, Dana, is an actress. Her mom is married to a guy who owns a salon. It seems like Maddie is a magnet for dead bodies. She and her friends try to solve murders, and earlier in the series, she meets a detective named Ramirez. They end up getting married. In this book, she is pregnant with their first baby. I love the characters in this series. It's just a fun, entertaining read.

Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors

I thought this was a fun idea for a book. The book cover is what attracted me to the book. An actress who plays Juliet on stage at her family's theater, gets whisked back in time to Verona - and Juliet and Romeo's lives. The actor who plays Romeo also travels back in time. They save Romeo and Juliet, and fall in love themselves. Fun!

12 Books! I told you January was a good reading month!! I also started a book called Bad Buys of the Book of Mormon by Dennis Gaunt.

I'm planning on reading a chapter each Sunday, so it will take a couple of months to finish. So far, it's very entertaining.

So, that's it. If you live by me, and want to borrow some of these books, be my guest. The only books I can't lend out are the books owned by my kids - the Percy Jackson books are Matthew's.

Stay tuned next month for February's books...