The First of Many

I stayed up last night finishing this book.  I knew as soon as I started reading that it would be the first book I finished this year.  I was inspired to start tracking the books I read after reading a blog post on a SQL skills blog by Paul Randal.  I honestly am surprised it took reading about someone else doing it to come to the realization that I should do the same.  I read so many books.  I love them.  I devour them.  They inspire me.  They make me smile, laugh, and cry.  They become a part of me.  Why hadn't I thought to keep track of them before?  

I began making a list of books I thought I'd like to read after reviewing Paul Randal's reading list for 2017.  I even downloaded a couple of his top picks as eBooks from the library.  I started reading both of them, and one I will likely finish.  The other, I'm not sure I can keep going.  It's not my cup of tea.  But it made me realize these books should be my choices.  Recommendations are always accepted and usually enjoyed, but we don't all have the same taste in books.  So I then made an impromptu trip to the actual library. 

Recently I've only been picking up holds of books and movies I request online, and then helping the kids search through the newest Children's books or find something they've been reading at school from one of the computer terminals.  This trip to the library, I finally took time to browse the adult sections for something new.  Not new as in just published, but new to me.  Not something I would usually grab or or the next in a series I had to have.  Just different to me!  

This book, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane", was sitting on a book easel on display, proudly representing the adult fiction letter G authors' shelf.  I'm not sure if it was the author or the beautiful blue-black cover that caught my eye first, but I knew I had to pick it up.  A few months back I had listened to the audio book ""Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman.  I chose it mainly because of the voice actors and because I knew that Mr. Gaiman had been a writer on Doctor Who a few years back.  I loved the audio book, but listening to it, I didn't really think much about the author.  I was caught up in listening to some of my favorite actors doing the voices.

I had no idea what this novel was about when I started it.  I pictured a beach house or a scarcely traveled scenic road leading to the ocean.  I should have know it was nothing so obvious.  I was completely off mark on those thoughts.  I would never have been able to imagine something so creative and beautiful and scary so much more that Gaiman created in this book.  There were so many great lines as well.  So many thought provoking, eye-opening lines.  It made me think about how my children see and perceive things differently me.  It reminded me how I saw things differently as a child.  How I felt about some things then versus now.  

I logged onto my goodreads page to update my status as read and to rate the book.  I highly recommend it to adults everywhere.  Five stars from me for sure.  After that, I started to look through the reviews of the book and the first one from someone named Patrick was so well-written.  He was funny and witty and sounded exactly like someone I'd enjoy hanging out with!  Turns out that guy named Patrick that reviewed the book was actually Patrick Rothfuss!  Another incredibly talented science fiction author.  No wonder I was drawn to his review as well!  I'm making a point of adding some of his books to my list this year.  

Now to decide which book to finish next!