Annual reading challenge 2018- Join in on the Fun

[willowsnn3]

#59 Memory Man by David Baldacci

Well, I read a few pages of this one and thought, this sure sounds familiar. Read a few more then had to go back and check my books read list. Sure enough I read this one a couple years ago but couldn't remember how it ended. Which is odd considering the main character in the book can't forget anything, lol. So I finished it again and now see that there are a couple sequels to it so at least I got my memory refreshed for the next book, lol. All in all it was pretty good.

 

[KevM]

Realized I forgot to post what I read in November.

137) Strange Dogs by James S. A. Corey - The (at least for the moment) last novella set in The Expense universe. Nice little side story. 4/5


138) Prime Meridian by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Set in a future Mexico City, Earth has colonized Mars and Amelia is struggling with life while dreaming of one day being able to making it to Mars. 4/5


139) Persepolis Rising by James S. A. Corey - The 7th book in The Expanse series. Still a great series. Now the wait until March when noon #8 is due. 5/5


140) Walter Camp: The Father of American Football by Harford Powell -A biography written by a friend a year after Walter Camps life. Interesting read on the early days of football. However, it was very easy to tell that it was written by a friend and not a more neutral observer. 3/5


141) The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It by Neal Bascomb - The story of the three man who I. The early 1950s set out to be the first to break the 4 minute mile. 4.25/5


142) Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad - The Autobiography of American Olympian fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad. 4.25/5


143) Whereas by Layli Long Soldier - The debut book (mostly poems but a wide range of other writings) of the Oglala Lakota writer. 4.5/6


144) The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs - Very interesting read. Covering a lot of different issues. Thanks for the recommendation Amelia.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

#24/30 Column of Fire by Ken Follett (5/5). The third installment of the Pillars of the Earth series. It takes place in the late 1500s and centers around the Reformation. I loved the first two and I was worried this wouldn't live up to them but I think I like it more than World Without End, although the similarities in plot arcs among the three are annoyingly similar.

 

[willowsnn3]

#60 All Things Bright and Strange by James Markert

Really liked this one:

In the wake of World War I in the small, Southern town of Bellhaven, South Carolina, the town folk believe they’ve found a little slice of heaven in a mysterious chapel in the woods. But they soon realize that evil can come in the most beautiful of forms.

The people of Bellhaven have always looked to Ellsworth Newberry for guidance, but after losing his wife and his future as a professional pitcher, he is moments away from testing his mortality once and for all. Until he finally takes notice of the changes in his town . . . and the cardinals that have returned.

Upon the discovery of a small chapel deep in the Bellhaven woods, healing seems to fall upon the townspeople, bringing peace after several years of mourning. But as they visit the “healing floor” more frequently, the people begin to turn on one another, and the unusually tolerant town becomes anything but.

The cracks between the natural and supernatural begin to widen, and tensions rise. Before the town crumbles, Ellsworth must pull himself from the brink of suicide, overcome his demons, and face the truth of who he was born to be by leading the town into the woods to face the evil threatening Bellhaven.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

#25/30 The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood (5/5). Finally getting around to reading this because I want to watch the Hulu series. If you're not familiar, it's set in a dystopian future where women's only real value is for breeding. Handmaids are women who are sent to families with no children of their own so that the husband can try to impregnate her and keep her child. It's chilling and parts of the dialogue were startlingly familiar to some discussion around women's rights that can be heard today.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#59 Memory Man by David Baldacci

Well, I read a few pages of this one and thought, this sure sounds familiar. Read a few more then had to go back and check my books read list. Sure enough I read this one a couple years ago but couldn't remember how it ended. Which is odd considering the main character in the book can't forget anything, lol. So I finished it again and now see that there are a couple sequels to it so at least I got my memory refreshed for the next book, lol. All in all it was pretty good.

Love this! I've read the first three books in the series. I saw him speak at a bookstore when the fourth book came out. He was a really funny guy!

 

[willowsnn3]

Love this! I've read the first three books in the series. I saw him speak at a bookstore when the fourth book came out. He was a really funny guy!

Going to have to look up the sequels and put on hold at my library. Just started Robert Dugoni's 'The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell' and it is really good. It is a stand alone, not part of a series.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#84 and 85/90: A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce #3)and I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (#4) by Alan Bradley (4/5) (mystery)
A young girl in post WWII England lives with her widowed father and two sisters in a small village. She loves chemistry, poisons, and solving murders. Very quirky characters.

#86/90: The Warner Boys: One Family's Story of Autism and Hope by Ana and Curt Warner with David Boling (5/5) (memoir)
Moving story of how they dealt with many challenges raising a family that included twin boys on the spectrum.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Going to have to look up the sequels and put on hold at my library. Just started Robert Dugoni's 'The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell' and it is really good. It is a stand alone, not part of a series.

I love his Tracy Crosswhite books! Will have to check this one out.

 

[willowsnn3]

I love his Tracy Crosswhite books! Will have to check this one out.

It's really good so far. Have you read any of his David Sloane series? Planning to check those out also.

 

[disneychrista]

Had to take a break from the In Death series, as it took awhile to get the new book in the series from my library. So I went back to the Joanne Fluke Murder series. This is a much easier/quicker read. I started to find the writting a little too descriptive - like every time she gives her cat a kitty treat (or even just asks someone about the treats) she describes them as fish shaped salmon flavored kitty treat.


#39 Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke

#40 Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke

#41 Gingerbread Cookie Murder (Novella) by Joanne Fluke

#42 Devil's Food Murder by Joanne Fluke

#43 Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke

#44 Red Velvet Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

#45 Blackberry Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

 

[willowsnn3]

#61 The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

** I believe this could easily be the best book I've read this year. Not a mystery like Dugoni usually writes, but instead a very heartwarming tale.

Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his father’s practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends.

Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. And that it was God’s idea for Mickie Kennedy to storm into Our Lady of Mercy like a tornado, uprooting every rule Sam had been taught about boys and girls.

Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design—especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known. Running from the pain, eyes closed, served little purpose. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world. This time, his eyes are wide open—bringing into clear view what changed him, defined him, and made him so afraid, until he can finally see what truly matters.

 

[willowsnn3]

#62 One House Over by Mary Monroe

Was just ok. Supposed to be a sequel in the making, don't know if I'll read it or not.

 

[bobbiwoz]

62/50. A Uninvited Ghost by E.J. Copperman

Picked this to read because it’s set in the Jersey shore. A ghost commits murder, what is the consequence?

 

[tiggrbaby]

62/50. A Uninvited Ghost by E.J. Copperman

Picked this to read because it’s set in the Jersey shore. A ghost commits murder, what is the consequence?

Intriguing! Had to put in a request as my library doesn't own it.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well I made my Goodreads reading challenge of 35 books and I actually won 1 book from Goodreads this year lol.

My favorite book this year was Things I Never Told You by Beth Vogt.

I have enough books in my pile to last all winter.

Don't usually save my books that I mostly win so I donated the advanced reader copies to the hospital where ds3 works. Gave Amish books to ds1 gf mom and now I am donating a basket or two to a fundraiser.

I usually just save the signed one's I win from my favorite authors.

Happy reading everyone!

 

[willowsnn3]

#63 Year One (Chronicles of The One) by Nora Roberts

It began on New Year's Eve.

The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated.

Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most.

As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.

In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.

The end has come. The beginning comes next.

 

[tiggrbaby]

#87/90: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (4.5/5) (historical fiction)
Based on the life of a real survivor, this tells the tale of a young man and how he navigated the camp and fell in love.

#88/90: In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) by Tana French (4/5) (crime)
A detective investigates a child murder case near where his two childhood friends disappeared.

 

[Tiggerish]

Death By Chocolate by Sally Berneathy. A light hearted mystery book that actually kept my interest.

Flowers in the Snow by Danielle Stewart. Three children, each an outcast in his or her own way, form their own group. One is Afro American, one is the daughter of a high ranking KKK member and the other is the son of the head of the local KKK whose entire family, including his mother, live and breathe the KKK. The story of how they met and form their group during the early 1960's in rural North Carolina and how they deal with the violence that comes when school integration come to their small town is told in flashbacks from a perspective of more than 40 years later.

The River Widow by Ann Howard Creel. The book is set around a severe flood that occurred in Kentucky in 1937. As the flood waters are threatening their home, Adah's husband takes time out from trying to save their animals and household goods, to give her a beating, beating her is his special skill. But he comes by it naturally, his entire family is feared by all the neighbors for their violent and cheating ways. This time is different, he seems intent on killing her and in desperation she hits back, hitting him in the head with a shovel, killing him. She drags his body into the flood and she is taken by the flood waters but lives. The rest of the book details her efforts to save herself from being found out about the murder and protecting her young stepdaughter from her husband's family.

55, 56 and 57 of 60

 

[bobbiwoz]

63/50. Old Haunts by E.J. Copperman

This is the next in the “ghosts by the shore” series, my description. It was enjoyable.