As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

I definitely appreciated the achievements of this book much more this time around than I ever have before. I'm not quite sure what clicked (whether the epic ambitions / ultimate parody of the journey the Bundrens take, Darl's prescient ability to know what's going on, poor Vardaman's inability to process his mother's death, Cora's self-righteous assumptions, or Anse's sly laziness), but I could see how this novel works better than ever.

Low Town by Daniel Polansky

This book throws a lot of balls in the air but manages them well. I found myself surprised by several twists. It took a little bit of time to figure out how the imaginary world of the novel works, and how the main character fits into that world, but I ended up really liking the main character, who fits into the noir mold of a detective struggling to do what's right in spite of his troubled past. I'm hoping there's more to come from this story!

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

I was really intrigued by the figures of Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe when I read this book again. I found Mrs. Ramsay's ability to make connections (and a sort of art out of the social) particularly moving--especially when you consider how ephemeral that art (and even Lily's art--she cannot create her painting until she accepts that it might moulder in someone's attic someday) is. Additionally, I was moved by the lyrical beauty of the prose. Finally, I was intrigued by Woolf's attention to punctuation--for example the characters who die in bracketed statements.

Choices of One by Timothy Zahn

I really enjoyed this book which delivers old and new favorite characters (Han, Luke, Leia, a little Wedge, a little Vader, Mara Jade, Thrawn, and the Hand of Judgment stood out) in the midst of the rebellion. Lots of great action (and not a few betrayals), but more to the point, the characters were great. I particularly enjoyed seeing Luke as still a farmboy--definitely someone who doesn't yet have it all figured out. Han and Leia, who still haven't admitted they like each other yet, are also good here. All in all a great story.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

This book purports to be an oral history of the zombie war. It's a really enjoyable account. The book does a good job of working its way through to cover the war fully despite being set up as a series of interviews. We don't get to know any of the individual characters terribly well (many of them just have one section), but overall it paints a compelling and exciting portrait of humanity in crisis.

Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck

This book is about Blossom Culp, a young girl who lives in the Midwest in 1913. She's got the Second Sight and the main plot of the book is about how she sees the ghost of a British boy who died on the Titanic and gets to visit the Queen as a result. I found the plot a little bit slow, but I really like Blossom and her friends Miss Dabney and Alexander Armsworth.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

This book made a lot more sense (or the plot lines seemed to work together better this time around). I intrigued by Dracula's move to London--he's interested in the new urbanization and the huge population accessible to him from there. I also found the Renfield subplot more comprehensible this time.