Annual Reading Challenge--2020

[SaintsManiac]

I think I have this one on my to read list.

I just picked it up at the library today!

 

[willowsnn3]

I will aim to read 30 books this year.

I would like to join in. I do the Goodreads challenge every year. I set it at 30. Not sure how people format their posts in these threads, so bear with me!

Glad you are both here. No special rules. Sometimes I just put book title & author other times a little review usually from Goodreads & whether I liked to book or not.

 

[jen7233]

Hello, I'd like to join the challenge! I'm not a fast reader and too distracted to sit long and get lost in a book, so my goal will be 20. Last year I may have read 7, so for me 20 is a challenge.

I have my Excel spreadsheet filled pretty much with my 20 books for the year, unless a different book comes along that captures my interest and then I'll make adjustments. Also challenging to make most of my books library checkouts, forcing me to read faster because of holds and can't renew right away. Unless it's something the library doesn't have, then I get the book used from Amazon.

Book #1 just started:
Tell Me a Story: My Life with Pat Conroy by Cassandra King Conroy

 

[mmouse37]

1/40 - The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson - I loved this book. It is very graphic describing the treatment of burns but a fascinating story that spans 700 years.
the mesmerizing story of one man's descent into personal hell and his quest for salvation. On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man's disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.


MJ

 

[bobbiwoz]

1/75. Murder at Crossways by Alyssa Maxwell

Set in Newport, the mystery was a good one. I will look into reading other Gilded Newport Mysteries.

 

[willowsnn3]

Hello, I'd like to join the challenge! I'm not a fast reader and too distracted to sit long and get lost in a book, so my goal will be 20. Last year I may have read 7, so for me 20 is a challenge.

I have my Excel spreadsheet filled pretty much with my 20 books for the year, unless a different book comes along that captures my interest and then I'll make adjustments. Also challenging to make most of my books library checkouts, forcing me to read faster because of holds and can't renew right away. Unless it's something the library doesn't have, then I get the book used from Amazon.

Book #1 just started:
Tell Me a Story: My Life with Pat Conroy by Cassandra King Conroy

Welcome! I get all my books from the library also. I live about 2 miles from our county headquarters library & it is quite big & if they don't have the title I want they can have it sent in.

 

[Wendy1985]

My first book of the decade is the overdue life of amy byler by kelly harms

A woman who has a adventer while ex husband watches the kids, everyone has the time of there life till tragedy happens

I loved it

I cant commit to a number like everyone else I am starting my second act and I am only 34 how carzy is that

Edit I am going to try 20

 

[bobbiwoz]

2/75. The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith

Its been a long time since I read the last 44 Scotland Street novel. I love reading about Bertie, Angus, Big Lou and all the others.

 

[Disney_Alli]

2/75 - The Aviators: The Brotherhood of War Book VIII - W.E.B Griffin

Second to last in the series and one of my favs. Book 9 steps back and retells some of Book 7 from a slightly different perspective so I think I'll take a break before I dive into that one.

 

[Colleen27]

#1/156 - Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran
#2 - Luck Be a Lady
#3 - Lady Be Good
#4 - A Lady's Lesson in Scandal

I started the year with sick kids, a spur-of-the-moment road trip with a second driver, and a lot of free time, so I went straight to Kindle Unlimited for some light reading. I always enjoy Duran's historical romances - she writes strong, unconventional female characters that probably aren't all that historically plausible but are very enjoyable to read - and these were no exception.

#5 - Sin & Spirit by K.F. Breene

The fourth book in a series I started quite a while ago, this one just became available on one of the ebook borrowing platforms I use so I picked it up. I wasn't disappointed. The series started out as something of a supernatural romance, but after the second book, it is pretty much supernatural mystery/suspense with the romance as more of a background element, which works well with the cast of characters set up in the early books. Each book is self-contained but building to a bigger confrontation, so there's enough of a refresher that it doesn't matter if it has been months or years since I started the series, and the developing plot centering around the politics and power struggles between various gods and interests in a supernatural world is quite engaging. I'm looking forward to the fifth/last book coming out this summer.

#6 - This Is How It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

This was a very disturbing read. It is an account of a fictional school shooting, told through the eyes of four students who were there at the time and each of whom had their own history with the shooter. It is marketed as YA and that showed - the teenagers were, well, very teenager-y even in a time of crisis - and because of the way it was written, minute-by-minute as the shooting unfolded, there's a lot that is told in memory and introspection rather than in the action of the story. But I think the most interesting thing about it was that the author did a lot of research on school shootings in the process of writing the book and ended up creating a shooter that defies the media/popular depiction of shooters but much more closely aligns with the facts that have ultimately come out about the perpetrators of mass shootings. He's not a poor victim of bullying fighting back, nor is his a two-dimensional caricature of evil - he's both understandable, coming from a terrible home life and a recent tragedy that made it worse, and entirely unsympathetic in his cruelty and decision to pass his pain along to others. It was definitely a more thoughtful and complex treatment of the question than I expected from YA fiction, especially since the author comes from a country that doesn't have school shootings.

 

[Disney_Alli]

3/75 - The Flight Girls: Noelle Salazar

I'm pretty sure this was one I found from last year's list... I really enjoyed this one except for one TINY, MINUTE detail that drove me insane throughout the book. She uses "Officer" like it's an actual Military rank in the US Army. It's not, nor has it ever been. It was one thing that drove me batty every time the main character addressed someone as "Officer So-and-so" No! It was probably Lieutenant So-and-so and some Captain Whatevers thrown in there based on the levels of the military they (W.A.S.P.s in WWII) would have dealt with but "Officer Whoever" made me cringe repeatedly.

 

[tiggrbaby]

3/75 - The Flight Girls: Noelle Salazar

I'm pretty sure this was one I found from last year's list... I really enjoyed this one except for one TINY, MINUTE detail that drove me insane throughout the book. She uses "Officer" like it's an actual Military rank in the US Army. It's not, nor has it ever been. It was one thing that drove me batty every time the main character addressed someone as "Officer So-and-so" No! It was probably Lieutenant So-and-so and some Captain Whatevers thrown in there based on the levels of the military they (W.A.S.P.s in WWII) would have dealt with but "Officer Whoever" made me cringe repeatedly.

Added this to my library list - thanks!

 

[Kirby]

I have a question for you that use an electronic device. Do you use Kindle or Kindle Unlimited? I already subscribe to Amazon Prime, have a Kindle and was wondering if it was worth an additional $9.99 to add Kindle Unlimited. I mostly read hand held books but am considering phasing in to electronic ones.

 

[SaintsManiac]

#1-What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
It’s book 2 in her new series. Really enjoyed the characters and setting. Ended on a cliffhanger ugh! Next one comes out in October. She is one of my all time favorite authors, so I know I will enjoy anything she writes.

#2-The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
A solid “sequel” to Handmaid’s Tale. I enjoyed getting to learn things from other perspectives. Very interesting and I love Atwood’s writing style.

#3-This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (currently reading)

 

[willowsnn3]

I have a question for you that use an electronic device. Do you use Kindle or Kindle Unlimited? I already subscribe to Amazon Prime, have a Kindle and was wondering if it was worth an additional $9.99 to add Kindle Unlimited. I mostly read hand held books but am considering phasing in to electronic ones.

Sorry I can't help with that. I don't have any type of electronic reading device. I know a lot of the others on here do tho.

 

[Disney_Alli]

I have a question for you that use an electronic device. Do you use Kindle or Kindle Unlimited? I already subscribe to Amazon Prime, have a Kindle and was wondering if it was worth an additional $9.99 to add Kindle Unlimited. I mostly read hand held books but am considering phasing in to electronic ones.

I have a Kobo and an ipad. I read a TON of free ebooks and buy some usually through whoever is cheaper KOBO or Kindle. I'm going to sign up for one month free to try out Kindle Unlimited (I get offers for 3 months for $0.99 which would be a good way to try it out too). Sign up for BookBub for daily emails giving you links to free and discounted ebooks based around your interests.

 

[bobbiwoz]

3/75. To the Land of Long Lost Friends by Alexander McCall Smith

A book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Novel. Gentle humor and outstanding attitude on life, IMO.

 

[tiggrbaby]

I have a question for you that use an electronic device. Do you use Kindle or Kindle Unlimited? I already subscribe to Amazon Prime, have a Kindle and was wondering if it was worth an additional $9.99 to add Kindle Unlimited. I mostly read hand held books but am considering phasing in to electronic ones.

I have the basic Kindle Fire. I also have a Prime account, so I get one free book a month and can borrow one book a month. However, most of the books I read are borrowed electronically from my library. I love it as I can just go online to request a book. Sometimes they are available right away. Sometimes I need to put a hold on the book and they notify me when it becomes available.

 

[MGMmjl]

2/30 - Land of Wolves by Craig Johnson

This is novel #15 in the Walt Longmire Mystery series. I first got into the Longmire TV series when it was on A&E, and later discovered the Longmire books. I liked the TV show, but like the books even more. Land of Wolves was great like the rest of them.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I have a question for you that use an electronic device. Do you use Kindle or Kindle Unlimited? I already subscribe to Amazon Prime, have a Kindle and was wondering if it was worth an additional $9.99 to add Kindle Unlimited. I mostly read hand held books but am considering phasing in to electronic ones.

It wasn't worth it for me. I used Libby more, which is free. I read a mix of electronic and regular books, so I couldn't justify the monthly charge.