Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (#18, Fiction)

Another book success!  This Gothic romance has the foreboding feel of Jane Eyre, or other similar Bronte-esque novels from the 19th century.  Romance, mysterious men, suspicious death, a sinister maid, hair-raising drafts and the ramblings of a fool all come together for a page-turner.

Can't wait to watch the Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation.

4 out of 5

The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (#17, Fiction)

I liked this book from start to finish.  It's refreshing to find a new novel by a new author that doesn't feel completely cliche or give the feeling of been there read that.  The writing leaves nothing to be desired and the characters are neither extremely loveable, nor extremely terrible, falling somewhere in the middle--normal people with both strengths and flaws of character.  The one nagging question I had throughout was the complete absence of any talk of marriage/children/women in the workforce for a main character who starts the novel at the age of 25, which I would imagine is already past the marrying age in the 1930s.  Maybe it's implied that women moving to New York City were those looking for a different life than their peers?  Something to investigate further.

4 out of 5

World War Z by Max Brooks (#16, Fiction)

I have been hearing about this book for years now.  I've read my fair share of zombie and post-apocalypse novels, but this was a new twist on the genre.  I loved it for the first couple chapters, hated it and lost interest for the next 50 pages, and then finally settled in to liking it in the end.  Having each chapter be a different person talking about their experience with the Zombie War was extremely interesting at times and super annoying at times.  I think at the end they did use some of the same characters to come full circle, but honestly I didn't have the patience or memory to keep track of who was who.

3.5 out of 5.