New Years Resolutions

Most of us have some kind of New Years Resolution floating in the back of our heads this time of year. I decided that, instead of my normal "lose 10lbs" (ok, still on the list), I'm going to devote myself to reading at least one book a week for the rest of the year. I have no rhyme or reason to what I'm reading... not 52 Best Sellers, or 52 Classics... just 52 Books I Haven't Read Before and Hope I'll Enjoy. Nothing more, nothing less. Reading has always been one of my major passions, but I realized that over the years, daily life has slowly eroded its presence in my life. Well, not anymore. I'm taking my books back, damn-it!

So let's get started.

Book 1, Week 1 - The Twelve, by Justin Cronin

My first book of the year was The Twelve by Justin Cronin. I actually got started on this a little late. Being eternally overconfident in myself, I started reading this on January 5th, with a deadline to be done by the 7th (Eek!) - 564 pages later, I finished the book on the 7th around 6pm. The Twelve is the second book in Cronin's series, the first being The Passage, which I read just before the new year.

Just to get you up to speed on the first novel in the series, The Passage is a post-apocalyptic thriller set in a future North America. The US government begins biological testing on a series of inmates in an attempt to create beings that do not die - their reasons for this seem to vary from philanthropic ideals of curing cancer, disease, and death, to creating indestructibly deadly weapons of war. As you might guess, all hell eventually breaks loose, and a hoard of vampire-like creatures are unleashed, quickly killing and infecting the populace and consuming all of North America, leaving only scraps of survivors fighting for their lives. This book follows a series of characters both in the past and the post-apocalyptic future (around 100 years later).

I was pretty skeptical of this sequel when I started it. Traditionally, my favorite book in a series is always the first. I love being introduced to new characters and having the world described to me in such rich detail; the first book is like the honeymoon stage of a relationship - new and exciting. I feel that most of what I love about a series ends after book one, everything becoming stale and predictable. Not the case with The Twelve. While this book followed the same structure of past to present, following numerous characters from chapter to chapter, it never felt redundant. New and integral characters were introduced, and the characters from the original book evolved, gaining a new depth with each chapter. The tension and apprehension was the same in this book as in the first, never failing to keep me turning the page. A well timed plot twist allowed this follow-up novel to differentiate itself from the first book, keeping you guessing from page to page.

While this probably won't be making my top ten best books list anytime in the future, I really enjoyed it, and would highly recommend the series.

Next week....

What's a Dog For? by John Homans