Annual reading challenge 2018- Join in on the Fun

6/40 American Marriage by Tayari Jones 3.5 stars out of 5. I really liked the book, the pace was a bit slow but he story was pretty good. I didn’t love the characters which made it a bit hard to get through. I’m in a bit of a blah phase, just not feeling like reading. This happens to me every now and then. I’ll prob take a break and the pick up lilac girls since so many people here seemed to like it!
 
Happy to have come across this thread. Sign me up. I’ve set a reading goal of 104 books for this year. I’m well on my way to achieving that. Through March, I’ve read 55 books.

In January I read:


1) You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams by Alan Cumming. Last year I read his memoir Not My Father's Son and loved it. So i decided to pick this one up. It was fine. Pretty humorous. Just not exactly what i was expecting. 3/5


2) Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo. Joy Harjo is a Muscogee Creek poet and musician. This is a memoir of her growing up. It was a very good read. 4.25/5


3) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. An Alt-History novel where in the Underground Railroad was an actual underground railroad. 3.75


4) Crazy Like a Fox by Liam O'Rourke. This is a biography on the late wrestler Brain Pillman. While I've gotten away from wrestling as I've grown older, I really liked it growing up and Brain Pillman was a wrestler that fascinated me as he lived his Loose Cannon gimmick. 4/5


5) We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. A novel I've been meaning to read for years. It has two notable distinctions. One, It's consider one of the the first, if not the first, Dystonian novel and Two, it was the first book banned by Stalin. Great read. 4.75/5


6) Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. A book I first read about 15 years ago or so. Over the last year or so it's popped back into my mind on a few occasions and I decided to reread it. Still a good read, 3.75/5.


7) Eat & Run by Scott Jurek. Jurek's an Ultra-marathoner and a big proponent of Veganism. This is an autobiography looking into how he got into both. 3.5/5


8) The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. A self-help book of Toltec wisdom. It'a a NYT best seller that came out 21 years ago. Another book that's been on my rador for a while and I decided to finally read it. It was...fine. It's only about 130 pages or so, but I still found it to be drawn out. 3/5


9) A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa. Ishikawa's father brought his family to North Korea after the Korean War and the book is about his life growing up there and finally his escape back to Japan. A very interesting look into the life of living in North Korea. 4.75/5


10) Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. The book that was turned into the movie. Having seen the movie first, I was expecting it to be closer to a biography on these women. Which it was, but it was also much broader. I enjoyed that fact. 4.5/5


11) Fall Guys: The Barnum's of Bounce by Marcus Griffin. Another wrestling book. This is from 1937 and was the first to "expose" the business. A very interesting look into wrestling of the 1920s and 1930s as it was happening. 4/5


12) The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way by Bill Bryson. A book I've had on my shelf for years and finally decided to read it. The history and rules of English is something I'm just a fan of and I enjoyed this. Although, it was published in 1990 and there are parts of it that already feel a bit outdated. 3.5/5


13) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy is an author I've meant to read more of (the only work of his that I've read is the novella The Death of Ivan Illyich). So I decided to just jump in. While I did feel it was drawn out in a fair amount of parts, overall I did enjoy this. 3.5/5


14) July's People by Nadine Gordimer. Another book I've been meaning to read for years and finally just did it. Published back in 1981 it was a look into how Apartheid would most likely finally end through war, although the war itself was not seen as it delt with one family's attempt to hid out from it. 3.5/5


15) Miracle in Motion: Living a Purposeful Life by Fr. T.J. Martinez Jr and David Warden. Fr. Martinez was the head of Houston's Cristo Rey school in Houston, when at the age of 40 he found out he had Stage 4 Stomach Cancer and less than a year to live. I'm personally a sucker for this last lessons memoirs (The Last Lecture, Tuesday's at Morrie's, ect). 3.75/5


16) Pennsylvania Scrapple: A Delectable History by Amy Strauss. I just happened to walk into Barrens and Noble and at the front of the store was a table of books by local authors about local interests when i saw this Picked it up on a whim. Just a fun little book. My main take away from it is some restaurants/dinners/bars to try to see if their scrapple is really as good as it sounds.3.5/5.


17) Out by Natsuo Kirino. A Japanese Crime Thriller/Suspense novel. While it's not a mystery novel, I still don't want to say much about the plot itself. Maybe a little longer than it needed to be, but very enjoyable. 4.25/5


18) Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. January 1st was the 200th anniversary of the novels publication, so I decided a reread would be in order. I still like it. 3.5/5


19) Dear Girls Above Me by Charles McDowell. When this Tweeter account was still popular 5 years ago it got it's own book, which has been sitting on my shelf for years. Another book I decided to finally got off the TBR pile. It was a quick read, which was what i was mainly looking for. Shocking no one, a Tweeter account only makes for at best an ok read. 3/5


20) An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. As the title says, a historical book going into a lot more detail of the Native American experience beginning in Pre-Coilumbus and going into the 21st Century (the book was published in 2014). It can be a bit dry and a litle drawn out, but if you want to know a lot more than what's taught in history class it's a good read. 4/5.


21) Paradise Lost by John Milton. With it being Frankenstein's 200th anniversary, I came across a challenge where, besides reading Frankenstein you also read the three books that the monster does in the novel. Those three being; Paradise Lost, Sorrows of Werter, and a volume of Plutarch's Lives. I figured why not and picked Paradise Lost to read first. It's an epic English poem from the 17th century, so the english is a trip to read. If you're able to deal with that, the story from the fall of Satan up through the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden is good. 4/5.


In February I read:


22) The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Taoism and Winnie the Pooh? What's not to like. The answer, the author. I found Hoff to be quite pompous. Liked the concept of the book, but not the writing. 2.75/5


23) Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. The 1st in her 4 part Patternist series, although the series was written out of order, so it was actually the 3rd book in the series that she wrote. 4.25/5


24) A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew Henson. This is Henson's memoir of the 1909 expedition, led by Robert Peary, to the North Pole. 4/5


25) Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler. The 2nd in her Patternist series, Also the 2nd book written. 3.5/5


26) Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth. The autobiography of a former slave. It was interesting because from birth until her escape in 1826, she was a slave in New York state. The northern slave experience doesn't seem to be something that's overly documented, so reading about it was illuminating. The book also dealt with her life after slavery as a abolitionist, feminist, & preacher. 3.5/5


27) Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin. Baldwin's first collection of essays. Excellent read. 4.5/5


28) Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler. The 3rd in her Patternist series. 3/5


29) The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Like Paradise Lost, this was a book read by Frankenstein's Monster in the book. Interesting due to it being written in diary form. However, I found the protagonist to be annoying and I don't think that was what von Goethe was going for. 3.25/5


30) Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Wells-Barnett's famous 1892 pamphlet that shed light on, to the rest of the world, the practice of lynching in the south. 4.25/5


31) The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. Collecting two of Baldwin's popular essays, My Dungeon Shook - Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation & Down At the Cross - Letter from a Region of My Mind. Both great essays. 4.25/5


32) Black Cowboys of the Old West by Tricia Martineau Wagner. 10 short (~15 pages each) biographies. The cowboys covered range from cattle ranchers to rodeo stars to the more Hollywood idea of what a cowboy is. 4/5


33) Pattermasters by Octavia Butler. The 4th in her Patternist series and the 1st that was written. 4/5


34) The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano. Another unusual autobiography of a former slave, in that Olaudah was actually taken from Africa as a child and his time in slavery was in Britten and the West Indies, not areas usually covered in the US when talking about slavery. Also unusual is that he spent fair bit of his time as a slave as a sailor. 3.75/5


35) Nobody Knows My Name; More Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin. Another collection of Baldwin's essays. 4.25/5


36) Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer. Very good short story collection. 3.75/5


37) The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow. When I first saw this book I saw its genre listed as Bildungsroman. That that was a new one for me, but in translation it pretty much means coming of age, which this novel of a biracial girl growing up is. I found it to drag in places though. 3.25/5


38) The Art of Thought by Graham Wallas. Written in 1926, it details Wallas' four stages of his theory for the creative process. Very interesting concept but it's written very formal and can be pretty dry. 3.75/5


39) Clotel: or, The President's Daughter by William Wells Brown. Written in 1853 this is considered to be the first published novel by an African-American. Set in the 18th century, it tells the fictional tale of two slave daughters of Thomas Jefferson. 3.5/5




40) Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Very well researched biography on Ona Judge and the emancipation laws of various northern states in the late 17th century 4/5


In March I read;


41) African American Women of the Old West by Tricia Martineau Wagner: 10 short biographies (~12 pages each) of some fascinating women. 4/5


42) Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth: I've watched Call the Midwife since PBS started airing it. I've been meaning to read the memoir it was based off of for a while. Now seemed like a good time to get round to it. 4.25/5


43) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Phew, where to start with this book. Part science history of the HeLa cells, part biography of Henrietta Lacks, part biography of her child, part memoir of Skloot's pursuit of getting to be allowed to tell Henrietta's story. There's a lot in here. And it's good. 4.25/5


44) Trail Sisters: Freedwomen in Indian Territory, 1850-1890 by Linda W. Reese: A historical look at African American women and their connection to Native Americans. From slavery through the Civil War and after. An interesting read 3.75/5..


45) The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shinning Women by Kate Moore: In the early 20th Century radium was seen as an absolute wonder. However, once the women that were working closely with it started to get sick no one could figure out why and the companies they worked for did everything possible to not have to link back to radium. A great read on what became a groundbreaking workers' rights case. 4.5/5


46) Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes: Pretty good biography, with one caveat; this book is just as much about George Antheil. It switches back and forth, pretty much chapter by chapter, between Lamarr & Antheil. 3.5/5


47) The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin: Personal favorite book of mine. I've read it multiple times. a sci-fi groundbreaking classic. 5/5


48) Around the World on Two Wheels by Peter Zheutin: A biography on Annie Kopchovsky (aka Annie Londonderry). In 1894 two wealthy men made a bet that a women couldn't ride around the world on a bicycle (as Thomas Stevens had a few years earlier) and Annie accepted the challenge. Or did that bet never actually occur? Either way, Annie, a woman looking to reinvent herself, went on a incredible journey that along the way raised many questions about what a Victorian woman was capable of. 3.25/5


49) Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy: A great historical look at the American women code breakers. 4.5/5


50) Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilmam: Before reading this the only work of Gilamn's I had read was The Yellow Wallpaper, which I liked. This was an interesting concept, but not well written. I know it was originally written in serial form for publication in her magazine, but that can only account for so much. Plus, while she's considered a lead in early feminism, boy does she have some racist and eugenicist takes. 2.5/5


51) The Crux by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: So I was reading this at the same time as Herland, and nope still not that great. After reading this, I saw a review that described it as a manual on how to not get gonorrhea masquerading as a novel and yeah that seems about right as for as the writing of the novel goes. 2.5/5


52) Sally Ride - America's First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr: Biography of Sally Ride. Pretty good read. However, as Sherr discloses early on Ride & Sherr were friends and I do actually think having a friend write the biography takes away from it a bit. 3.5/5


53) The Awakening by Kate Chopin: Written in 1899 this was a groundbreaking feminist novel. It's a well written book that dealt with a woman trapped in a marriage who commits infidelity. This was so shocking that Chopin never published again and the book was quickly swept away until it was rediscovered in the 1960s. 4/5.


54) Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunnes, Butcher of Men by Harold Schecter: Well researched and interesting historical look at Belle Gunnes, who between 1902 - 1908 literally butchered anywhere from 25 to 40 people. However, the writing is just no. Multiple issues, among them,an African American woman had a nickname that would be tipical for that time and Schecter continually used it during the book, which just no. 2.5/5




55) Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II by Amy Goodpaster Strebe: A good historical look at the women who flew for their countries during WWII. This is really more of a historical look, so if you're looking for something more personal of biographical of the women it wouldn't be this. Good for what it is. 4/5
 
White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht - fiction. Story of two Korean girls who were haenyeo divers. Haenyeo divers are always women and are only found on the Korean island of Jeju. They dive in to ocean without oxygen and harvest shellfish from the bottom including abalone and sea urchins. The story starts during the Second World War when the oldest girl, at age 16, is kidnapped and taken into mainland Korea to be a "comfort woman" for Japanese soldiers. The Japanese army had a policy of establishing a house of "comfort woman" near army bases so that soldiers would have access to sexual release. The Korean woman were kidnapped or tricked into this and they were horribly used against their wills. The book goes between the stories of the captured sister during the war and the younger sister in the present time still looking to find her older sister. The younger sister story contains flashbacks to the years after the war and covers the effect of the Korean war on her village. I had never heard of haenyeo divers and only a vague knowledge of "comfort women" so this was a fascinating read.

17/52

Just put in a request for this!

Book #6/30

As Bright as Heaven-Susan Meissner

From Goodreads:

From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and A Bridge Across the Ocean comes a new novel set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which tells the story of a family reborn through loss and love.

In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters--Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa--a chance at a better life.

But just months after they arrive, the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew. But even as they lose loved ones, they take in a baby orphaned by the disease who becomes their single source of hope. Amidst the tragedy and challenges, they learn what they cannot live without--and what they are willing to do about it.

As Bright as Heaven is the compelling story of a mother and her daughters who find themselves in a harsh world, not of their making, which will either crush their resolve to survive or purify it.

————
5/5....I have loved this author’s previous books and this one definitely did not disappoint. I could not put i done.

Loved this one!
 
Ten days with no internet = lots of reading!

#21/90: Slow Horses by Mick Herron (3.5/5) (suspense)
"Rejects" from British intelligence work together.

#22/90: The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs (4/5) (historical fiction)
Told from the viewpoints of Hamilton and Eliza, it tells the story of their lives.

#23/90: Kindred by Octavia Butler (4/5) (fantasy/historical fiction)
Woman goes from 1976 to pre-Civil War to save the life of a young man multiple times.

#24/90: Still Me by Jojo Moyes (4.5/5)
Further adventures of Louisa Clark, now in NYC.

#25/90: To Die but Once (Maisie Dobbs #14) by Jacqueline Winspear (4/5) WWI historical fiction)
Maisie attempts to solve the murder of a young man while working on personal issues.

#26/90: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (3.5/5) (suspense)
Similar to The Girl on the Train and The Woman in Cabin 10.
 


5/30: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (5/5). Continuing in my theme of novels that take place in London or Scotland. I tried reading this when I was much younger but never finished. I decided it was high time I finish it and I wasn't disappointed. It was much funnier than I was anticipating.

6/30: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (5/5). I wanted to read the novel before I saw the movie and I enjoyed it. I love the classic murder mysteries as a lot of the time they are more light hearted.
 
(21/50). Rounding the Horn by Dallas Murphy
I’m talking a cruise around South America and I was interested in reading about it. From the Arctic Circle to sub Antarctic there is no natural break in The continental coastlines through which big ships could sail, except at Cape Horn. The book covers much of the history of European countries quest to find a route to the East for Spices and wealth. Now of course, there’s the Panama Canal, but this is about the voyages ships had to do!

I am excited about our stop in Ushuaia Argentina!
 
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(21/50). Rounding the Horn by Dallas Murphy
I’m talking a cruise around South America and I was interested in reading about it. From the Arctic Circle to sub Antarctic there is no natural break in The continental coastlines through which big ships could sail, except at Cape Horn. The book covers much of the history of European countries quest to find a route to the East for Spices and wealth. Now of course, there’s the Panama Canal, but this is about the voyages ships had to do!

I am excited about our stop in Ushuaia Chile!

Wow! We are taking a cruise around the horn in January! Just checked and neither library I use has it. Will have to check Amazon next!
 


Wow! We are taking a cruise around the horn in January! Just checked and neither library I use has it. Will have to check Amazon next!
Our trip is in March 2019. The copyright is 2004 if I remember correctly, it’s back in our library. Maybe your library can go out of the system.
Please note, Ushuaia is in Argentina!
When the book was written, Chile and Argentina were squabbling over land in that area.
 
#5/25 - The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland

#6/25 - Shark Beach by Jim Meyer

#7/25 The Unremembered Girl by Eliza Maxwell

#8/25 - Cold Mountain by Daniel Powel

#9/25 - Her Last Day by T. R. Hagan

#10/25 - We Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

#11/25 - Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang

#12/25 - The One and Only by Emily Griffin

Currently reading the Passage by Justin Cronin

MJ
 
I have been reading but since my books are on my Kindle I forgot titles.

1/25 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
2/25 Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
3/25 Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
4/25 Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

Obviously if you are interested in Outlander on Starz you recognize the first 4 books in the series. I have enjoyed all of the books I read so far. It is actually enjoyable to see what the author had in mind in her development of the characters as compared to the TV series.

I have a huge interest in the Jacobite rebellion anyway so I found some other books to read along that line.

5/25 Mask of Duplicity by Julia Brannan
6/25 Mask Revealed by Julia Brannan

These two are from the Jacobite Chronicle series. In Mask of Duplicity you are introduced to the characters and Mask revealed carries on with the story. Beth Cunningham is a Jacobite who lives in high society England. Her mother was a Scot. She needs to marry and picks an odd choice in Sir Anthony Peters, but he is not what he appears to be. It's light reading but enjoyable and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

7/25 Unforeseen by Nick Pirog

Retired homicide detective Thomas Prescott is reluctant to read the best selling book Eight in October, a true-crime thriller based on a string of murders occurring throughout October of the past year. After all, it was his case, and he doesn t need to be reminded of the gruesome details. The book dubbed the serial killer, Tristen Grayer, The MAINEiac. Grayer is allegedly dead, but only Prescott knows the truth, Grayer is alive and lurking in the shadows. On October 1st, the anniversary of the first murder, Tristen resurfaces, killing someone special from Prescott's past. Suddenly, it s deja vu for Prescott except this time the women closest to him begin to fall victim at the hands of Grayer. With the help of former flame, medical examiner Dr. Caitlin Dodds, and Eight in October author, Alex Tooms, Prescott must race against the clock to stop Tristen from completing his encore.

8/25 The Mackinnon's Bride by Tanya Anne Crosby

When laird Iain MacKinnon's young son is captured by the English, the fierce Scottish chieftain retaliates in kind, capturing the daughter of his enemy to bargain for his boy's return. Fiercely loyal to kin, Iain never imagines a father can deny his child--or that he will become Page FitzSimon's savior. "Keep her, or kill her!" FitzSimon proclaims when Iain forces his hand. What can a good lad do, but take the lass home. Even as Page blames her reluctant champion for welching on a bargain with her father, she suspects the truth... the shadows hold secrets... and danger. Now only love can save MacKinnon's fiery new bride.

9/25 Never Forgotten by Kelly Risser

In this coming of age story, Meara Quinn is about to find out there are worse things than moving to a tiny ocean side town before her senior year. Like discovering there's a secret being kept from her and knowing it's a life-changer. After experiencing vivid visions of her absentee father, Meara decides she deserves answers. With the help of her new friend Evan, a guy she happens to be falling for, she embarks on a journey in the hopes of unlocking family history and finding her true self. But when she meets a handsome stranger at a local club who knows far more about her than he should, her world is again shaken. In him, Meara may have uncovered the key to the very secret that will reveal not only who she is... but what she is

10/25 Free to Kill by Julie Mellon

FBI Agent Katie Freeman’s life has been upended. After being reassigned from Louisiana to middle Tennessee, her new bosses suspect that her reassignment is due to an indiscretion with her previous partner. Now, she and her new partner, Michael Powell, are asked to assist on the bewildering case of a woman who was kidnapped, tortured and left for dead on her own front porch. Before they can make any headway, a second woman disappears. As the number of missing women rises, Katie and Michael must work to figure out how the women are being abducted and where they are being held. Will they be too late to save the latest woman?

11/25 White Rose, Black Forest by Eion Dempsey

December 1943. In the years before the rise of Hitler, the Gerber family’s summer cottage was filled with laughter. Now, as deep drifts of snow blanket the Black Forest, German dissenter Franka Gerber is alone and hopeless. Fervor and brutality have swept through her homeland, taking away both her father and her brother and leaving her with no reason to live.

That is, until she discovers an unconscious airman lying in the snow wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, his parachute flapping in the wind. Unwilling to let him die, Franka takes him to her family’s isolated cabin despite her hatred for the regime he represents. But when it turns out that he is not who he seems, Franka begins a race against time to unravel the mystery of the airman’s true identity. Their tenuous bond becomes as inseparable as it is dangerous. Hunted by the Gestapo, can they trust each other enough to join forces on a mission that could change the face of the war and their own lives forever?

12/25 Lachlan by Hazel Hunter


When Kinley Chandler abruptly lands in medieval Scotland, there isn’t much she’s leaving behind. With her body shattered and her military career over, Kinley has resigned herself to death. But in the past, all that changes.

Lachlan McDonnel, the laird of a clan of immortal highlanders, can hardly believe his good fortune. Not only does the mysterious lass save his life, she awakens his heart in a way he’d thought no longer possible.

But the druid spells that allow Lachlan’s clan to live forever have a dark side as well. He and his men know all too well that the magic folk never give without taking. Though he is sworn to protect them, the price of his loyalty may finally be too high

13/25 Love Beyond Time by Bethany Claire

It began nearly four hundred years ago. The Conall clan and all their people were murdered in a surprise attack, their beloved castle and all evidence of who destroyed them burned to the ground with their bodies. In the centuries following, archaeologists searched through the ruins looking for any evidence of what or who had caused the untimely demise of such a powerful Scottish clan. All efforts were fruitless, until a spell put in place by an ancient Conall ancestor finally began to work its magic...

Texas kindergarten teacher, Brielle Montgomery, finds comfort in the mundane routines of her life, but when her archaeologist mother asks her to accompany her on a dig in Scotland, she decides to step out of her comfort zone. Once in Scotland, they discover a secret spell room below the castle ruins, and Bri finds herself transported back in time and suddenly married to the castle's ill-fated Laird. Now, she must work to change the fate of his people, all while trying to find a way to return to her home and century. But with each passing day, Bri finds herself falling more deeply in love with her new husband. If she can find a spell to bring her home, will she use it? And if she stays, will it ultimately mean her own death as well?

14/25 A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin

Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval--even marry a man she doesn't love. Lt. Walter Novak--fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women--takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas. Walt and Allie meet at a wedding and their love of music draws them together, prompting them to begin a correspondence that will change their lives. As letters fly between Walt's muddy bomber base in England and Allie's mansion in an orange grove, their friendship binds them together. But can they untangle the secrets, commitments, and expectations that keep them apart?

15/25 Wives of War by Soraya M. Lane

London, 1944. Two young nurses meet at a train station with a common purpose: to join the war effort. Scarlet longs for the chance to find her missing fiancé, Thomas, and to prove to her family—and to herself—that she’s stronger than everybody thinks. Nursing is in Ellie’s blood, but her humble background is vastly different from Scarlet’s privileged upbringing. Though Ellie puts on a brave face, she’s just as nervous as Scarlet about what awaits them in France.

In Normandy, the two friends soon encounter the seemingly unflappable Lucy. Scarlet and Ellie are in awe of her courage and competence, but the experienced nurse is well aware of the dangers of the job they’ve chosen—and even she is terrified they won’t make it home alive.

16/25 Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan

Russia, 1941. Katya Ivanova is a young pilot in a far-flung military academy in the Ural Mountains. From childhood, she’s dreamed of taking to the skies to escape her bleak mountain life. With the Nazis on the march across Europe, she is called on to use her wings to serve her country in its darkest hour. Not even the entreaties of her new husband—a sensitive artist who fears for her safety—can dissuade her from doing her part as a proud daughter of Russia.

After years of arduous training, Katya is assigned to the 588th Night Bomber Regiment—one of the only Soviet air units composed entirely of women. The Germans quickly learn to fear nocturnal raids by the daring fliers they call “Night Witches.” But the brutal campaign will exact a bitter toll on Katya and her sisters-in-arms. When the smoke of war clears, nothing will ever be the same

All descriptions came from Amazon as it was easier that way. I enjoyed all of the books although some had me reading faster than others to get to the end. I will say with the Kindle I can't cheat and read the last few pages to see what happens so I want to get to the end quickly. I may need to revise my reading totals however as I am going to reach my goal before my heavy reading months of the summer.
 
Village of Secrets - Defying the Nazis in Vichy France by Caroline Morehead. During WWII there was an area in France, close to the Swiss border, that sheltered over 5,000 Jews and others facing death at the hands of the Germans. This book chronicles what it was about this area and its people that made that possible. It was a long, difficult read. It took me over a month to slog through it. I found the information fascinating but was frequently overwhelmed by the details and number of people involved. One reason the Nazi's were so sucessful in the effort to eradicate all the Jews was getting people to rat each other out. People snitched and got rewarded for it and did it for self protection, e.i. "I think my neighbor is hiding someone and if they get found out then I will be in trouble because I should have known and turned them in." But in this area, people did not tell, even if they were not actively helping, they kept silent. The author did have an interesting theory that the reason this area was so successful was their Calvinist religion. Calvinists believe that they are responsible to a higher power (God), higher than any government and that they are put on earth to do good to others. As a result, they were set up to disregard orders that they felt morally wrong and felt a duty to try to help those being hunted.

After Long Silence, a memoir by Helen Fremont. Non-fiction. From the book jacket, "Helen Fremont was raised Roman Catholic in America, only to discover in adulthood that her parents ere Jews who had survived the Holocaust. Delving into their extraordinary secrets that held her family together in a bond of silence for more than forty years, she recounts with heartbreaking clarity and candor a remarkable tale of survival, as vivid as fiction but with the eloquence of truth."

18 & 19/52
 
7/40 Dear Martin by Nic Stone. 4/5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, I had recently read The Hate U Give, so was holding off on this one as I heard they are similar and I loved that book! Well I loved this one too! I will say the writing style got me it changed 1st person, 3rd person etc, so often it drove me crazy, other wise fabulous book!
 
4/30: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
5/30: The Widow by Fiona Barton
6/30: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
(Yes, again. I'll never get tired of JP).
7/30: Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey
8/30: Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow by Juliet Grey
9/30: The Weight of Lies by Emily Carpenter
10/30: The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
11/30: The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory


I tried reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll try again in the future.

Next Up: Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas
Actually I have about 3 or 4 different books that I'm reading. Does anyone else do that? I have a book for just about every room I'm in! :rotfl:
 
13/50

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner

Eight years ago, Sharlah May Nash’s older brother beat their drunken father to death with a baseball bat in order to save both of their lives. Now thirteen years old, Sharlah has finally moved on. About to be adopted by retired FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his partner, Rainie Conner, Sharlah loves one thing best about her new family: They are all experts on monsters.
Is he a killer?
Then the call comes in. A double murder at a local gas station, followed by reports of an armed suspect shooting his way through the wilds of Oregon. As Quincy and Rainie race to assist, they are forced to confront mounting evidence: The shooter may very well be Sharlah’s older brother, Telly Ray Nash, and it appears his killing spree has only just begun.
All she knows for sure: He’s back.
As the clock winds down on a massive hunt for Telly, Quincy and Rainie must answer two critical questions: Why after eight years has this young man started killing again? And what does this mean for Sharlah? Once upon a time, Sharlah’s big brother saved her life. Now, she has two questions of her own: Is her brother a hero or a killer? And how much will it cost her new family before they learn the final, shattering truth? Because as Sharlah knows all too well, the biggest danger is the one standing right behind you

Another good one from Lisa Gardner #7 in the Quincy & Rainie series
 
#3
Little Heaven
Nick Cutter
A trio of mismatched mercenaries—Micah Shughrue, Minerva Atwater, and Ebenzer Elkins, colloquially known as “the Englishman”—is hired by young Ellen Bellhaven for a deceptively simple task: check in on her nephew, who may have been taken against his will to a remote New Mexico backwoods settlement called Little Heaven, where a clandestine religious cult holds sway. But shortly after they arrive, things begin to turn ominous. There are stirrings in the woods and over the treetops—and above all else, the brooding shape of a monolith known as the Black Rock casts its terrible pall. Paranoia and distrust soon grip the settlement. Escape routes are gradually cut off as events spiral toward madness. Hell—or the closest thing to it—invades Little Heaven. All present here are now forced to take a stand and fight back, but whatever has cast its dark eye on Little Heaven is marshaling its power—and it wants them all…

This was one of the best horror books I've ever read. I was terrified to be alone at night many times (and DH works midnights LOL). I actually had a nightmare or two. The descriptions the author uses are so disturbing. It was kind of like an edgy action movie (I'm thinking Hateful 8) plus Hellraiser/The Exorcist... It's really hard to describe. There are also what I'd call "pop-up scares". No, it's not a picture book, no there aren't any corny graphics on the digital version. I don't want to give it away but if anyone is interest PM me.

I want to delve into a book by this author, but I also want to read something full of unicorns and rainbows BECAUSE of this author.
 
#14/60

The Appointment by Herta Muller

I have to say I have no idea what this book was supposed to be about....so disjointed, no chapters, just sentences rambling on & on & on. Only 214 pages but I put it down a couple times to read 2 other books, lol. Didn't want to give up completely as it was just 214 pages so I plowed along.

from Goodreads:
"I've been summoned. Thursday, ten sharp." Thus begins one day in the life of a young clothing-factory worker during Ceaucescu's totalitarian regime. She has been questioned before; this time, she believes, will be worse. Her crime? Sewing notes into the linings of men's suits bound for Italy. "Marry me," the notes say, with her name and address. Anything to get out of the country.

As she rides the tram to her interrogation, her thoughts stray to her friend Lilli, shot trying to flee to Hungary, to her grandparents, deported after her first husband informed on them, to Major Albu, her interrogator, who begins each session with a wet kiss on her fingers, and to Paul, her lover, her one source of trust, despite his constant drunkenness. In her distraction, she misses her stop to find herself on an unfamiliar street. And what she discovers there makes her fear of the appointment pale by comparison.
 
#3
Little Heaven
Nick Cutter


This was one of the best horror books I've ever read. I was terrified to be alone at night many times (and DH works midnights LOL). I actually had a nightmare or two. The descriptions the author uses are so disturbing. It was kind of like an edgy action movie (I'm thinking Hateful 8) plus Hellraiser/The Exorcist... It's really hard to describe. There are also what I'd call "pop-up scares". No, it's not a picture book, no there aren't any corny graphics on the digital version. I don't want to give it away but if anyone is interest PM me.

I want to delve into a book by this author, but I also want to read something full of unicorns and rainbows BECAUSE of this author.

I need to go get this book at the library (they don't have an e-book for it) but I've already got 3 books in my queue!
 
Promise by Minrose Gwin. Historical fiction. On Palm Sunday in 1936 an incredible tornado destroyed a major portion of Tupelo, Mississippi. According to the official count as many as 233 people died and more than a 1000 were injured, The author's grandparent's lived in Tupelo and their house, although damaged was one of the few that survived the storm. But in researching the storm, the author learned that the official count is incredibly inaccurate - one-third of Tupelo was African-American and their dead and injured were not in the official count. Why, because at that time, it simply was unnecessary to count them as they were of no consequence. As noted by the author, "Events and places in this story of the Tupelo tornado and its immediate aftermath are from newspaper accounts, oral narratives and memorabilia: the characters and their stories are entirely fictitious."

20/52
 
22/50
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue- Fictional story of a Cameroon couple’s time in America. I thought it was very well written and thought provoking.
 
#8 The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

Lisbeth Salander is back tattoo and all. One of the more memorable literary characters that I have come across in recent years. This is the second book with the current author taking over for the original author. I did not read #4 but at least in this work the author did a very good job taking me back to Sweden and reacquainting me with all the old crew, Palgrem, Blomkvist, though I could have done with a little more Plague and Erika Berger, two character I liked in the original series that had smaller cameos here. Still a very good attempt at keeping me in touch with a great character, though bitter sweet in one way that I do not want to ruin for anyone planning to read.


If anyone is interested, I would gladly send a kindle gift version of any of my works “Written for You”, “Three Twigs for the Campfire”, “Cemetery Girl” or “Reigning”. You can see them all reviewed at Goodreads. If you are interested in reading any just message me. Hopefully releasing two new works as well soon so any one interested in possibly being beta reader again just let me know.
 
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