Annual Reading Challenge 2019

#2) Jumped in a little late, just finished Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I liked this story, about a wild feral girl abused/neglected and eventually abandoned, who learns to fend for herself growing up out in the marshes of North Carolina. A sad but moving and uplifting story, with beautiful descriptions of the wildlife, with twists and turns. I enjoyed it.
Haven't finished my next book yet but thought I would chime in to say my book club has picked this one to read in September.
 
13 / 115 - The Ragged Edge of Night - Hawker, Olivia - Fictional, but based on a true story, story of a monk turned husband in Nazi Germany. A lot of people like this one but I was not in love with it. It felt over-written and like the author was trying too hard. I did like that it is based on a real person's story but I didn't love the political end note. 3 stars.

14 / 115 - Beauty Queens - Bray, Libba - 3 stars for the funny, 2 stars for the stupid storyline. The concept is good on paper (teen beauty queens crash onto a deserted island and must learn to survive) but there are too many plot twists (evil corporation! plot to take over the government! politically correct stereotypes to tick each box! sexy pirate boys (wait, what?)!) And the underlying (read: in your face) message that girls can do it all and don't need a man is completely torpedoed by the sexy pirate boys who serve zero plot point except to be boyfriend fodder. Also, too many typos.
 
#21/130 - Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb

I LOVED this book. It isn't the sort of thing I usually read, a Gothic ghost story/mystery told in two time periods as the main character begins dreaming the life of a century-old murder victim whose body eventually washes up on the Lake Superior beach near her home. The parallel stories unfolding in past and present as she tries to solve the mystery of the woman's murder and figure out the connection between them was just fascinating, in the "stay up way past bedtime to read" sort of way, and the writing was beautifully descriptive without feeling overly wordy or flowery. The author did an amazing job of making the lake itself and the weather along its shores almost into characters in their own right, playing sometimes surprising roles in how the events of the story unfolded, and while the identity of the murderer wasn't surprising by the time it was revealed, the parts of the mystery that connected it to the present were less expected.
 
The Library Book by Susan Orleans 4/52

One of the best books I’ve read in the past year.
Examines the place libraries have in our lives and communities while trying to determine the cause of the devastating 1983 fire at the Central Library of Los Angeles.
 


Book 2 of 20: Artemis by Andy Weir

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

From the author of The Martian. It's about a caper on the moon involving an aluminum producing company. It's actually kinda like Chinatown in Space. I liked the characters and the concept, but the plot felt a little like it was plodding along to me. 3.5 stars
 
08/50 Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea
09/50 Lamentation by Joe Clifford

Both really good.

Don't Believe It:
The Girl of Sugar Beach is the most watched documentary in television history—a riveting, true-life mystery that unfolds over twelve weeks and centers on a fascinating question: Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a Spring Break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work? Grace has spent the last ten years in a St. Lucian prison, and reaches out to filmmaker Sidney Ryan in a last, desperate attempt to prove her innocence.
As Sidney begins researching, she uncovers startling evidence, additional suspects, and timeline issues that were all overlooked during the original investigation. Before the series even finishes filming, public outcry leads officials to reopen the case. But as the show surges towards its final episodes, Sidney receives a letter saying that she got it badly, terribly wrong.
Sidney has just convinced the world that Grace is innocent. Now she wonders if she has helped to free a ruthless killer. Delving into Grace’s past, she peels away layer after layer of deception. But as Sidney edges closer to the real heart of the story, she must decide if finding the truth is worth risking her newfound fame, her career . . . even her life.


Kind of a surprise ending. Could possibly be start of a series to follow.

Lamentation:
In a frigid New Hampshire winter, Jay Porter is trying to eke out a living and maintain some semblance of a relationship with his former girlfriend and their two-year-old son. When he receives an urgent call that Chris, his drug-addicted brother, is being questioned by the sheriff about his missing junkie business partner, Jay feels obliged to come to his rescue.
After Jay negotiates his brother's release from the county jail, Chris disappears into the night. As Jay begins to search for him, he is plunged into a cauldron of ugly lies and long-kept secrets that could tear apart his small hometown and threaten the lives of Jay and all those he holds dear. Powerful forces come into play that will stop at nothing until Chris is dead and the information he harbors is destroyed.

Only around 200 pages, took me a while to get into but around halfway thru I really started to like it a lot. This is the first in the "Jay Porter" series. I will be reading the next one up.
 


2/30 - The Road Beyond Ruin by Gemma Liviero

For some people in post–World War II Germany, the battle is not over.
August 1945. As Stefano, an Italian POW, heads toward home across war-ravaged Germany, he encounters a young child beside his dead mother. Unable to leave him to an unknown fate, Stefano takes the boy with him, finding refuge in a seemingly abandoned house in a secluded woodland.

But the house is far from vacant. Stefano wakes at the arrival of its owner, Erich, a former German soldier, who invites the travelers to stay until they can find safe passage home. Stefano cautiously agrees, intrigued by the disarming German, his reclusive neighbor Rosalind, and her traumatized husband, Georg. Stefano is also drawn to Monique, the girl in a photograph on Rosalind’s wall, who went missing during the war.

But when he discovers letters written by Monique, a darker truth emerges. This place of refuge could be one of reckoning, and the secrets of the past might prevent the travelers from ever getting home.

3/30 - Genghis - Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggluden

Genghis Khan was born Temujin, the son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the rugged steppe. Shaped by abandonment and betrayal, Temujin endured, driven by a singular fury: to survive in the face of death, to kill before being killed, and to conquer enemies who could come without warning from beyond the horizon.

Through a series of courageous raids, Temujin’s legend grew until he was chasing a vision: to unite many tribes into one, to make the earth tremble under the hoofbeats of a thousand warhorses, to subject all nations and empires to his will.


I enjoyed both these books. The first was really good with a twist I didn't expect. Keep me entertained all the way to the end. This is the first in a five book series called Conqueror Series.

The second book about Genghis Khan was very interesting. I enjoyed learning a little about how the Mongol tribes lived back in Central China. Was brutal at times but seemed well researched.

MJ
 
1. Friction - Sandra Brown

2. Sold on a Monday - Kristine McMorris

3. A Dog's Way Home- Bruce Cameron

4. A Dog's Journey - Bruce Cameron

5. The Brass Verdict- Michael Connelly
 
3 Cold Vengeance by Preston and Lee

I read another book from this series with no problem. However, this book was very difficult to read without having read the prior books. Cant really say more than that. I enjoyed but was lost in the beginning quite. Found the part about Highlands, Scotland most interesting.

As always 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 (Click on link to view books). If you are interested in reading any just message me here or at Goodreads.
 
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5/50 The Hundred Lies Of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti
A YA novel that I thought I would enjoy. I found the main character annoying until the last few chapters. The ending was really good, but not worth the first 30 chapters.

6/50 The Innocent by Harlan Coben
I enjoyed this one. I didn’t start reading his books until last year. I like that I can almost figure out where they’re going, but have yet to figure all the parts out before they’re revealed.
 
2/30 My Life As An Amish Wife by Lena Yoder. Someone gave me this. It 's a 5 year diary of her life. All this lady did was work from dawn till dark.

3/30 The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear. Loved the book cover but that was only a couple pages of the book. Travelers make their way from Tennessee to Kentucky on the Wilderness Road in 1794. I liked the romance between the two main characters.
 
Wow, I just found this post. I would love to join if it isn't too late. Also, I work at an elementary school library so I read alot of the chapter books from there and I also read the books that my son (11) reads for Battle of the Books. Would I be allowed to count these books? If so, I'd like to set my goal at 50.
I've read so far:
1/20 Towers Falling by Parker Rhodes
2/20 The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Franks
3/20 Land of Mango Sunsets by Dorothea Benton Franks
4/20 Save me a Seat
5/20 Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Franks
 
#2) Jumped in a little late, just finished Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I liked this story, about a wild feral girl abused/neglected and eventually abandoned, who learns to fend for herself growing up out in the marshes of North Carolina. A sad but moving and uplifting story, with beautiful descriptions of the wildlife, with twists and turns. I enjoyed it.

I just want to mention that I also had tried to read Pride and Prejudice, a downloaded Kindle version. I love the story, but the Kindle version I downloaded was horrible, so full of grammatical, punctuation errors and misspellings that I was so frustrated that I decided not to read further.


Joining in, if it’s not too late? My goal is 100 books for 2019. I’ve heard so many good things about this (quoted) book! It’s on my list.

Our book club is reading The Flight Attendant.

Other books I’ve read this year:
A Spark of Light (Jodi Picoult)
Educated (wow!)
In Pieces (Sally Fields)
Kitchen Confidential
Marrow: A Love Story (Elizabeth Kesser)
The Dinner List (loved it!)
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (non fiction)


Reading now:
Against All Grain (Danielle Walker)
Arizona (Frommers)
Braving the Wilderness (Brené Brown)
Indispensable (non fiction)
 
Wow, I just found this post. I would love to join if it isn't too late. Also, I work at an elementary school library so I read alot of the chapter books from there and I also read the books that my son (11) reads for Battle of the Books. Would I be allowed to count these books? If so, I'd like to set my goal at 50.
I've read so far:
1/20 Towers Falling by Parker Rhodes
2/20 The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Franks
3/20 Land of Mango Sunsets by Dorothea Benton Franks
4/20 Save me a Seat
5/20 Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Franks

Can you indicate the kid books I like to read and recommend to the kids I volunteer with
 
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. 5/52
Coming of age story about a young girl growing up poor and with a loving but alcoholic father and a careworn and overworked mother.
I read this years ago-when I was in high school and remembered very little of the story. I also don’t remember it being so dark, but I probably just let those parts go over my head. I read it for my book club and I’m looking forward to the discussion.
 
12/50 Prisoner of Night by J.R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood 16.5) - novella set in the BDB universe. Pretty good, and it felt like she was writing it "straight" with none of the annoying lingo/jargon that shows up in the other books (which I usually don't mind but sometimes feels too fanservicey).

13/50 Origin in Death by J.D. Robb (In Death #21)

14/50 A Purely Private Matter (Rosalind Thorne Mysteries #2) - I really like this mystery series so far, it takes the usual historical formula and changes it up a little.
 

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