A Clean Your Reader Wrap-Up

Guys! Sorry for getting this up so late (I'd intended to have it up by the end of January), but look, here I am, wrapping up the Clean Your Reader Challenge. As a reminder, participants who linked up at the beginning and end of the challenge will be entered to win a new e-reader case (or, if you're international or just prefer e-book credit, a comparable e-book gift cert to an online vendor of your choice).

Without further ado, my (semi)-successful story of cleaning out my reader this month:

Eve in Hollywood, by Amor Towles: I cross-listed this one with the Books Speak Volumes' Jazz Age January challenge, only to realize after starting it that it is technically set in the 1930s, not the 1920s. But I adored Rules of Civility, and Towles picked up the story of Eve from that novel and continued it all the way from New York to Hollywood. Each chapter of this novella is told from a slightly different perspective, but all center on Eve: Eve as she reinvents herself on a train ride across the country; Eve as she befriends an aging actor in a Hollywood hotel; Eve as she pushes a starlet to be bolder. This is nothing if not an interesting dive into storytelling techniques, and even those who haven't read Rules of Civility will find charm in Eve's story.

In the Woods, by Tana French: I read The Likeness a few years ago (and loved it), only to realize halfway through it that I was technically reading a sequel. So I went back this month to pick up the first volume in French's Dublin Murder Squad series, and hoooo boy. It's just as awesome as I wanted it to be.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt: My new book club chose this for their January selection, and I happened to own the e-book of it, so more two-birds-one-stone here. I can't quite find the words to say how much I loved this book, though it was not at all what I expected it to be. This story of a young girl and her uncle's battle with AIDS in 1980s New York was quiet in many ways, but no less emotional, powerful, or captivating for it.

How did everyone else's Clean Your Reader challenge go?

Link up to your wrap-up post below and I'll select a random entrant to win the e-reader cover:

6 comments

Lianne @ eclectictales.comFebruary 3, 2015 at 2:27 PM
Thanks again for hosting this reading challenge! I got through 8 ebooks, including 2 that have been on my tbr pile for quite a long time now, so yay! :)
AndiFebruary 3, 2015 at 3:02 PM
Great wrap up! I drafted mine today, so I'll share the link when it goes up tomorrow. :)
As the Crowe FliesFebruary 3, 2015 at 9:37 PM
Didn't do this challenge, but I wanted to comment on how much I enjoyed Tell the Wolves I'm Home. So unexpected, so well done. I've not heard from anybody who has read it and didn't like it, but for some reason, it's a book that was mostly under the radar, at least in my little part of the book world.
Kerry MFebruary 4, 2015 at 4:22 PM
Eight is impressive! Thanks for participating!
Kerry MFebruary 4, 2015 at 4:22 PM
Your list made my TBR comics list EVEN LONGER, so thanks :-)
Kerry MFebruary 4, 2015 at 4:26 PM
I agree on it being under the radar, though I've also found (in just the two weeks since I read it) that everyone I've met who HAS read it has loved it. Which makes me even more curious as to how it was so quiet.

Thanks for stopping by!