Annual reading challenge 2017-come join us

[Swimnoid]

6. The Fireman by Joe Hill
From Goodreads: No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.

Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.

Loved it.

7. Edge of Evil by JA Jance
From Goodreads: The end of her high-profile broadcasting career came too soon for TV journalist Alison Reynolds—bounced off the air by executives who wanted a "younger face." With a divorce from her cheating husband of ten years also pending, there is nothing keeping her in L.A. any longer. Cut loose from her moorings, Ali is summoned back home to Sedona, Arizona, by the death of a childhood friend. Once there she seeks solace in the comforting rhythms of her parents' diner, the Sugarloaf Café, and launches an on-line blog as therapy for others who have been similarly cut loose.

But when threatening posts begin appearing, Ali finds out that running a blog is far more up-close and personal than sitting behind a news desk. And far more dangerous. Suddenly something dark and deadly is swirling around her life . . . and a killer may be hunting her next.

The first of the Ali Reynolds series. I liked this character better than the other series characters I've read by this author. I will continue with the series

8. The View From Here by Cindy Meyers
From Goodreads: When the father she never knew dies and leaves her a gold mine, recently divorced Maggie Stevens heads for the remote community of Eureka, Colorado to claim her inheritance and to solve the mystery of the man who abandoned the family when Maggie was only three days old. She hopes time in the mountains will help her figure out what to do now that life hasn’t worked out the way she planned. In Eureka, Maggie meets a number of people who touch her life in different ways: bitter librarian Cassie Wynock, who clings to her pride in her family’s past, while mourning her secret love affair with Maggie’s father; town mayor Lucille Theriot, who’s trying to figure out how to heal old wounds with the wayward daughter and grandson who have moved in with her; and Jameson Clark, whose love-hate relationship with her father intrigues Maggie, and whose attraction for her she finds both frightening and exhilarating. As Maggie confronts the sins of her father and the mistakes of her own past, she learns to look at life differently, and discovers it can take a village – or one small mountain town – to heal a heart.

I really enjoyed this.

 

[Colleen27]

6/100 - The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick

A classic of the alternative-history vein of science fiction, I never really had a whole lot of interest in this one until my husband started watching Amazon's television adaptation. The show never quite managed to suck me in but the book had me hooked right from the start. The basic premise is a what-if: what would the world be like if the Axis powers had won WWII. But the book bears little resemblance to the show, which from the few episodes I've seen seem to focus on a resistance effort rather than the inner experiences of Americans thrust into this bizarre cultural mash-up of Japanese and German controlled America. The writing style is a little choppy, particularly in the chapters told from the perspective of residents of the Japanese-controlled Pacific states. It is done quite deliberately, for effect, and echoes the grammatical structure of the Japanese language, but it still took a bit of getting used to. Overall I enjoyed the book, though the ending is extremely ambiguous and felt rather unfinished in many ways. I've read that Dick intended a sequel that he didn't live long enough to write, which explains a lot about the way the book introduced a couple of big conflicts/questions in the later chapters that were ultimately left unresolved.

7/100 - The Economics of Inequality by Thomas Piketty

God, was this a tough read! It is a scholarly analysis of economic data from multiple countries, examining the question of income and wealth inequality from multiple angles. Oh, and it is a translation - the original work was written in French. Only four chapters and about 200 pages, it took a lot longer than I expected to get through. It was very interesting, surprising at times, and meticulously researched, coming to conclusions that run contrary to the conventional wisdom currently pervading the economic policies of most of the Western world and doing so not from an ideological standpoint but rater from the perspective of a scientist building conclusions strictly on the available data.

8/100 - American Pain by John Temple

A journalistic narrative account of one of America's largest and most successful "pill mill" operations and the investigation that brought it down, this was an addictive read that was at times tragic, comic, and nearly unbelievable. I have a loved one who has fallen into the opiate cycle that is destroying communities and families across our country, and this was an absolutely stunning look inside its evolution and the legal limbo in which clinics and manufacturers that supply the pills that make addiction look "respectable" have flourished. The writing is tight and fast-paced, the characters vividly drawn, and the narrative coherent despite weaving together the perspectives of one of the clinic operators, the law enforcement team leading the investigation, and the family of one of the addicts killed by the drugs the clinic dispensed.

 

[Colleen27]

6/100 - The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick

A classic of the alternative-history vein of science fiction, I never really had a whole lot of interest in this one until my husband started watching Amazon's television adaptation. The show never quite managed to suck me in but the book had me hooked right from the start. The basic premise is a what-if: what would the world be like if the Axis powers had won WWII. But the book bears little resemblance to the show, which from the few episodes I've seen seem to focus on a resistance effort rather than the inner experiences of Americans thrust into this bizarre cultural mash-up of Japanese and German controlled America. The writing style is a little choppy, particularly in the chapters told from the perspective of residents of the Japanese-controlled Pacific states. It is done quite deliberately, for effect, and echoes the grammatical structure of the Japanese language, but it still took a bit of getting used to. Overall I enjoyed the book, though the ending is extremely ambiguous and felt rather unfinished in many ways. I've read that Dick intended a sequel that he didn't live long enough to write, which explains a lot about the way the book introduced a couple of big conflicts/questions in the later chapters that were ultimately left unresolved.

7/100 - The Economics of Inequality by Thomas Piketty

God, was this a tough read! It is a scholarly analysis of economic data from multiple countries, examining the question of income and wealth inequality from multiple angles. Oh, and it is a translation - the original work was written in French. Only four chapters and about 200 pages, it took a lot longer than I expected to get through. It was very interesting, surprising at times, and meticulously researched, coming to conclusions that run contrary to the conventional wisdom currently pervading the economic policies of most of the Western world and doing so not from an ideological standpoint but rater from the perspective of a scientist building conclusions strictly on the available data.

8/100 - American Pain by John Temple

A journalistic narrative account of one of America's largest and most successful "pill mill" operations and the investigation that brought it down, this was an addictive read that was at times tragic, comic, and nearly unbelievable. I have a loved one who has fallen into the opiate cycle that is destroying communities and families across our country, and this was an absolutely stunning look inside its evolution and the legal limbo in which clinics and manufacturers that supply the pills that make addiction look "respectable" have flourished. The writing is tight and fast-paced, the characters vividly drawn, and the narrative coherent despite weaving together the perspectives of one of the clinic operators, the law enforcement team leading the investigation, and the family of one of the addicts killed by the drugs the clinic dispensed. A fascinating read on an important subject in current events.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#7/80: A Great Reckoning (Inspector Gamache #12) by Louise Penny (4.5/5) (Canadian mystery)
Quirky characters and some language. I really enjoy this series! Sad that this is the most recent and I will have to wait to read more.

#8/80: Eleanor and Hick by Susan Quinn (4.5/5) (nonfiction/ Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok)
Mainly explores the relationship between the First Lady and the AP reporter she had a relationship with, but also information about the trials of the Presidency.

 

[disneychrista]

#5 Fresh off the Boat - Eddie Haung
Assimilating ain’t easy. Eddie Huang was raised by a wild family of FOB (“fresh off the boat”) immigrants—his father a cocksure restaurateur with a dark past back in Taiwan, his mother a fierce protector and constant threat. Young Eddie tried his hand at everything mainstream America threw his way, from white Jesus to macaroni and cheese, but finally found his home as leader of a rainbow coalition of lost boys up to no good: skate punks, dealers, hip-hop junkies, and sneaker freaks. This is the story of a Chinese-American kid in a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac blazing his way through America’s deviant subcultures, trying to find himself, ten thousand miles from his legacy and anchored only by his conflicted love for his family and his passion for food. Funny, moving, and stylistically inventive, Fresh Off the Boat is more than a radical reimagining of the immigrant memoir—it’s the exhilarating story of every American outsider who finds his destiny in the margins.

The TV Series (Fresh Off The Boat on ABC) is very loosely based on this book. I really enjoy the TV show, so when I saw this book I had to read it. I was very surprised at how different reality is vs the scrubbed clean version shown on TV. My biggest criticism of the book is that it contains a lot of slang / street language. I am a 44 white girl from Small Town, USA so I really couldn't relate to it. But the book is a memoir & this is the way the Eddie Haung lived/lives, so I guess you could say it is "authentic."

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #6/70 - The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

I am a Kate Morton fan, but I didn't care for this one as much as her other books.

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941.
Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.


Finished book #7/70 - The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

This was an okay chick lit book. I liked the bookstore one better.

Amid the ruins of her latest relationship, Polly Waterford moves far away to the sleepy seaside resort of Polbearne, where she lives in a small, lonely flat above an abandoned shop.
To distract her from her troubles, Polly throws herself into her favorite hobby: making bread. But her relaxing weekend diversion quickly develops into a passion. As she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, each loaf becomes better than the last. Soon, Polly is working her magic with nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, and the local honey-courtesy of a handsome local beekeeper. Drawing on reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes . . . and discovers a bright new life where she least expected it.

 

[Tiggerish]

Week 5 - It has been a winter weather stay at home kind of week so read six books. That puts me at 20/104. However, when I went to the library this morning to pick up next weeks books, I got one that is over a 1000 pages so that may take more than a week to get done. The books I read this past week are:

The Guest List by Fern Michaels who is a fairly well know writer of woman's light fiction.

Aud Acquaintances by Ruth Haley is another woman's fiction but the protagonist is from Canada and inherits a home in Scotland so some cultural differences made it interesting.

Rescuing Finley by Dan Walsh is Christian fiction about a dog training program in a women's prison where the dogs go to veterans suffering from PTSD. Nice details about dog training but a typical happy ending.

Chop, Chop: The Series of a Lifetime by Lini Cronk. This was actually a seven book boxed set that I got as a free kindle download. The books were all short, almost novelettes so I am counting the series as one book. They were a good series of contemporary Christian fiction and not all happy endings.

Mermaid Moon by Collen Cable which is a murder mystery/romance novel.

Etched in Sand by Regina Calcaterra an non-fiction account of growing up with an extremely dysfunctional mother, a broken child welfare system and children who bond together to raise themselves. It was a hard read because of the abuse and struggles of the children but well written and well worth the effort.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#9/80: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly(5/5) (non-fiction)
This is the book for the current movie. There is a lot of technical information, so it that is not your thing, I would avoid this book. However, I found it so inspiring to learn about what these women went through.

 

[murmer]

10/100 Developing A Quiet Time by Kim Sorgius 1/29
Book about helping kids develop a daily spiritual study habit. Interesting but very specific (so not overly helpful if not the authors flavor of Christian).

11/100 Then Came You by Wendy Lingstrom 1/31 11:35am
Sweet historical romance. 2nd in a series. A man is forced into marriage can he learn to love his wife.

12/100 Shades of Honor by Wendy Lingstrom 1/31 10:34 pm
Historical romance, 1st in the series. Can a man too messed up from war find love.

13/100 A Promise to Remember by Kathryn Cushman 2/1 10:05pm
An accident takes the lives of two young men from 2 different walks of life. The ways the families grieve and come to terms and forgive.

14/100 Lips That Touch Mine by Wendy Lingstrom 2/3 9:13am
Historical romance, 3rd in series. Woman who wants temperance and the local bar owner find themselves pushed together.

15/100 A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair by Erma Bombeck 2/3 12:07
Humorous look at marriage and family. It's a bit dated but still has some universal truths about love, marriage, family, feminism, and gender roles.

I was sick this week which means a lot of reading lol.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

#2 Stay Close Harlan Coben
Second Harlan Coben book I read in a row. Second time I loved the books writing, second time loved the writing styles and the characters, second time that I was not totally happy with the story/ending. First time I felt the story was really misleading, this time it was just that I kind of figured most of it out early and then nothing compelled me to change my mind. The only thing I didn't quite figure out was really poorly explained by the author which annoyed me a little. I read things to figure them out so I'm not that mad that I figured it out, just wish there were so more options. I did like the character the Detective Broom a hardcore cop detective obsessed with solving an old case. Cassie a soccer mom who suddenly goes back to visit her less suburban life before she became that. Ken and Barbie were kind of fun, but this part of the story seemed over the top for me.
If anyone can suggest a good Harlan Coben bok please do, really like his writing style.

(If anyone is interested, I would gladly send kindle gift versions of any of my works, Written for You , Cemetery Girl, Three Twigs for the Campfire, or Reigning. You can see them reviewed on goodreads. Just PM here or there or like post.)

 

[rigs32]

#8 - Private Games by James Patterson
#9 - Private London by James Patterson

I like this series because it's easy reading after a rough day at work. But I didn't care for the writing style of the co-author on Private London.

#10 - Talking with my Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater by Gail Simmons

I love Top Chef and I usually enjoy Gail's critiques. I find Padma to be harsh for no valid reason at times. It was an interesting read, but know that there's not much time dedicated to her time on Top Chef.

#11 - The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

I really enjoyed this collection of essays. Like many comics, she seems way more grounded than other famous people.

 

[Swimnoid]

Second Harlan Coben book I read in a row. Second time I loved the books writing, second time loved the writing styles and the characters, second time that I was not totally happy with the story/ending. First time I felt the story was really misleading, this time it was just that I kind of figured most of it out early and then nothing compelled me to change my mind. The only thing I didn't quite figure out was really poorly explained by the author which annoyed me a little. I read things to figure them out so I'm not that mad that I figured it out, just wish there were so more options. I did like the character the Detective Broom a hardcore cop detective obsessed with solving an old case. Cassie a soccer mom who suddenly goes back to visit her less suburban life before she became that. Ken and Barbie were kind of fun, but this part of the story seemed over the top for me.
If anyone can suggest a good Harlan Coben bok please do, really like his writing style.

(If anyone is interested, I would gladly send kindle gift versions of any of my works, Written for You , Cemetery Girl, Three Twigs for the Campfire, or Reigning. You can see them reviewed on goodreads. Just PM here or there or like post.)

So, what was the title?

I've read a bunch of his books. I'm the same as you. I enjoy the writing but they are not that tough to figure out. I really like them though. He also has a series of suspense stories about a sports agent, Myron Bolitar. These are kind of funny.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

So, what was the title?

I've read a bunch of his books. I'm the same as you. I enjoy the writing but they are not that tough to figure out. I really like them though. He also has a series of suspense stories about a sports agent, Myron Bolitar. These are kind of funny.

OOOPS I updated above it was Stay Close.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#

#11 - The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

I really enjoyed this collection of essays. Like many comics, she seems way more grounded than other famous people.

I have to add this to my list!
Have you read Bossy Pants or Yes Please? I read both last year and enjoyed them.

 

[rigs32]

I have to add this to my list!
Have you read Bossy Pants or Yes Please? I read both last year and enjoyed them.

Yep. I read both last year. I liked Schumer's book more.

 

[Colleen27]

9/100 - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

A modern dystopian classic about a world in which birth rates have plummeted catastrophically, fueling the rise of a theocratic government in what was once the United States. I first read it many years ago but since it is coming to the small screen as a Hulu original I wanted to re-read the book before getting started on the show. Because this is a woman's story that centers around fundamental questions about women's independence and control over women's bodies as a reflection of their place in society, or maybe because it is written by a female author and deals more with inner life and emotions than a lot of major dystopian fiction. It was definitely more of a tearjerker now, as a mother, than it was the first time I read it as a young adult! It is a very good read and I'm cautiously looking forward to the show, hoping they do it as well as the other streaming services and pay networks have done with their big book-to-TV adaptations.

10/100 - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Although The Giver quartet ranks as probably my favorite young adult fiction of all time, I'd never actually Number the Stars, which is probably Lowry's best-known work. It is the story of a young girl in Nazi-occupied Denmark who, along with her family helps smuggle her Jewish best friend and her family to safety in Sweden. My older daughter and I were talking about whether younger DD was old enough to read this, which inspired me to read it myself first. It is a simultaneously charming and heartbreaking story that blends sweet little details of life through the eyes of a child with the vague horror that is a child's understanding of a seemingly distant war and the unfolding Holocaust. Unlike most works dealing with the subject, it is written for a bit younger audience and has a mostly positive ending, giving the book as a whole a very positive message about the power of ordinary people doing what is right.

 

[tiggrbaby]

9/100 - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood


10/100 - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Although The Giver quartet ranks as probably my favorite young adult fiction of all time, I'd never actually Number the Stars, which is probably Lowry's best-known work. It is the story of a young girl in Nazi-occupied Denmark who, along with her family helps smuggle her Jewish best friend and her family to safety in Sweden. My older daughter and I were talking about whether younger DD was old enough to read this, which inspired me to read it myself first. It is a simultaneously charming and heartbreaking story that blends sweet little details of life through the eyes of a child with the vague horror that is a child's understanding of a seemingly distant war and the unfolding Holocaust. Unlike most works dealing with the subject, it is written for a bit younger audience and has a mostly positive ending, giving the book as a whole a very positive message about the power of ordinary people doing what is right.

I used to do this novel with my 8th grade special ed class as their Holocaust novel.

 

[Deffenm]

4/40 - Summer at the Bakery on Main St.
5/40 - The life she wants

6/40 - The Survivors Guide to Family Happiness: Newly orphaned, recently divorced, and semiadrift, Nina Popkin is on a search for her birth mother. She’s spent her life looking into strangers’ faces, fantasizing they’re related to her, and now, at thirty-five, she’s ready for answers.
Meanwhile, the last thing Lindy McIntyre wants is someone like Nina bursting into her life, announcing that they’re sisters and campaigning to track down their mother. She’s too busy with her successful salon, three children, beautiful home, and…oh yes, some pesky little anxiety attacks.
But Nina is determined to reassemble her birth family. Her search turns up Phoebe Mullen, a guarded, hard-talking woman convinced she has nothing to offer. Gradually sharing stories and secrets, the three women make for a messy, unpredictable family that looks nothing like Nina pictured…but may be exactly what she needs. Nina’s moving, ridiculous, tragic, and transcendent journey becomes a love story proving that real family has nothing to do with DNA.

7/40 - In the Light of the Garden: Inheriting her grandparents’ island estate on Florida’s Gulf coast is a special kind of homecoming for thirty-one-year-old Charity Baxter. Raised by a narcissistic single mother, Charity’s only sense of a loving home comes from childhood summers spent with Gramps and Grandma. But piercing her fondest memories is her sharpest grief—the death of her beloved grandmother, when Charity stopped believing in the magical healing power of the weeping willow that still casts a shadow on their property.
Now that Charity has returned, she’s full of longing and regret, until she befriends her neighbor Dalton Reynolds, who has come to Gaslamp Island carrying his own heartache. As other exiles arrive—a great uncle harboring secrets, a teenage runaway—Charity begins to reconsider what makes a family. When her own estranged mother shows up in crisis, Charity is challenged to search her heart for forgiveness. But forgiving herself may require a little magic from the last place she’d expect to find it.


8/40 - Queen of the Cookbooks: In the quirky Southern town of Cherico, Mississippi, a new library means an exciting new chapter for librarian Maura Beth McShay—and for the friends and book lovers known as the Cherry Cola Book Club…
The construction of Cherico’s cutting-edge library has been an epic struggle worthy of War and Peace. But the Grand Opening Ceremony is scheduled at last—for the Fourth of July no less—featuring lakeside fireworks and a concert by country singer Waddell Mack. Maura Beth has even devised a cooking contest among area chefs and aspiring Julia Childs to crown the Queen of the Cookbooks. Yet even Maura Beth’s careful plotting can’t prevent some glitches…
Between a furniture fiasco that requires some creative problem-solving, and front-desk clerk Renette’s major crush on Waddell Mack, there’s equal parts drama and comic relief. Once the ribbon has been cut and the delicious recipes are judged, the Queen of the Cookbooks will take her crown, and the Cherry Cola Book Club, along with Maura Beth and her staff, will have the library of their dreams. But it’ll take luck, loyal friendships, and the shared love of a powerful story to make this a truly happy beginning…

 

[willowsnn3]

#4/60

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

This series has been reviewed on here several times. I thought it would be better but was just ok to me. Will probably try the second in the series to see if it gets better.

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #8/70 - Field of Graves by JT Ellison

This is a pretty good murder mystery. This is book 8 of the series, but it's actually the 1st one she wrote yet didn't publish.

All of Nashville is on edge with a serial killer on the loose. A madman is trying to create his own end-of-days apocalypse and the cops trying to catch him are almost as damaged as the killer. Field of Graves reveals the origins of some of J.T. Ellison's most famous creations: the haunted Lieutenant Taylor Jackson; her blunt, exceptional best friend, medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens; and troubled FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin. Together, they race the clock and their own demons to find the killer before he claims yet another victim.


Finished book #9/70 - Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I am a Gaiman fan and like the movie Coraline, but never read the book.

Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures.


Finished book #10/70 - I'm Traveling Alone by Samuel Bjork

This is a great Scandinavian crime fiction story. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

A six-year-old girl is found in the Norwegian countryside, hanging lifeless from a tree with a jump rope around her neck. She is dressed in strange doll's clothes. Around her neck is an airline tag that says "I'm traveling alone."
A special homicide unit in Oslo re-opens with veteran police investigator Holger Munch at the helm. Holger's first step is to persuade the brilliant but haunted investigator Mia Krüger to come back to the squad--she's been living on an isolated island, overcome by memories of her past. When Mia views a photograph of the crime scene and spots the number "1" carved into the dead girl's fingernail, she knows this is only the beginning. She'll soon discover that six years earlier, an infant girl was abducted from a nearby maternity ward. The baby was never found. Could this new killer have something to do with the missing child, or with the reclusive Christian sect hidden in the nearby woods?
Mia returns to duty to track down a revenge-driven and ruthlessly intelligent killer. But when Munch's own six-year-old granddaughter goes missing, Mia realizes that the killer's sinister game is personal.