And so ends another year of reading! I finished book #62 at about 1:00 AM on January 1st, but since I’d read 95% of it in 2011, I’m counting it for that year.

57: The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski: This was on the sci-fi new releases shelf at the library, so I gave it a shot. It’s about a girl from a family of politicians who goes to college in space. The jacket liner refers to this as “hard” science fiction, which just means it’s heavier on the actual science-science. And yeah, you can tell that the author is a microbiologist, because the book weighs heavily in that direction. It was interesting enough to finish, but a little too heavy and humorless to be my cup of tea. 6 out of 10.

58: Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire: Number two in the Wicked series follows Liir, Elphaba’s son, as he grows from boy to man and has many adventures throughout Oz. If you liked Maguire’s original Oz book, you’ll most likely enjoy this one. Thing is, I actually ordered this book for delivery because I saw Out of Oz on the new releases shelf, and figured I should read this first. 7 out of 10.

59: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: I’d seen this book recommended in more than one place, so I picked it up. It’s a YA novel centering on Jacob, a 16-year-old whose grandfather told him stories of a childhood spent in a mysterious school in Wales where the children all had freaky talents. After his grandfather dies, Jacob travels to Wales to find out more about the school and the children. I wasn’t expecting the turns this book took, first into a time-travel adventure, then into an action-packed chase story. But overall it was quite enjoyable, even if Jacob wasn’t the most sympathetic lead character. Plus, the book has pictures throughout of the peculiar children, which are creepy and fascinating. 8 out of 10.

60: Curse of the Masking Tape Mummy by Scott Meyer: Yes, I’d read all of the comics before. But they’re all two or three years old, so I didn’t remember a lot of them. Plus, the commentaries and special features were new to me. I don’t know that I can fairly rate this book, since I’m married to the author and all. But to me, Scott’s writing is very clever and funny, and many of the comics and commentaries made me laugh out loud. On the minus side, I wish I’d read the commentaries and special features before the book went to print, because the copy editor missed … a few things. But overall, as with books 1 & 2, this one is good, good stuff.

61: 11/22/63 by Stephen King: Another giant, clocking in at just shy of 850 pages in the hardcover version, this is now possibly one of my top 5 Stephen King books. On its face, it’s a simple time-travel story — a man finds a way to go back to 1958, and spends 5 years in the past so he can stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK. But it’s full of interesting characters, creepy places, and lots of surprise left-hooks (as well as the clearly-telegraphed left-hooks that King specializes in ["Little did he know it'd be the last time he saw her alive." END CHAPTER]). It also contains some of the weirdness and mystical other-worldliness that King always includes, but it’s just enough, and not too much. Could it have used some more editing? Of course. What King novel couldn’t? But the five years in the past could have dragged on, and it actually cooked along at a good clip. It’s a great step up from Under the Dome in pacing, characters, and story. 9 out of 10.

62: Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire: This is the book that took me into 2012. There’s actually another book in the Oz series that takes place sort of between Son of a Witch and this one, but I didn’t know that until I picked this book up. Oh well; book 3 is more about the Cowardly Lion, and they gave a brief synopsis at the start of this 4th book, so I figured I’d blaze on ahead. This one is about Liir’s daughter, Rain, and her life and adventures from age 8-ish to 15-ish. Yes, the book is that vague. It was frequently hard to tell how much time was passing in any given circumstance. I’m glad I finished the series, especially for the surprise twist ending, but I’m afraid this one, like #58 before it, will fall under the “good but not great” category. 7 out of 10.

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