Annual Reading Challenge--2020

[monarchsfan16]

47: Normal People by Sally Rooney. I hate trigger warnings but this one should have come with a boatload of them. It wasn’t the right book for me to read, maybe ever, but especially as I prepare to return to in person school as a SLP. It was a good book, albeit with a slightly weird writing style. For that I give it a 4/5.

 

[bobbiwoz]

46. Home Again by Kristin Hannah. At first I didn’t care for the characters but last 1/3 touched me deeply

I read it and it grew on me too. I’m glad I read your review! Getting a brother’s heart.

60/80

 

[OKW8297]

50 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

 

[Tiggerish]

​

How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism,White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide by Crystal M. Fleming. Nonfiction. I read this in preparation for being on a panel at my church. The author has significant points to make but I did not accept everything she said.

49 of 80

 

[Tiggerish]

Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde. This was an amazing book. 17 year old Raymond feels like a misfit in his family, in his school and in the world in general. He has a chance encounter with a 92 year old blind woman who lives in his apartment building. Raymond's mother is white, his father is African American, his step-father and step siblings are white. The blind woman is Jewish. Raymond goes on a quest to find Luis who used to be a type of home health aide to the blind woman and suddenly just stopped coming. Luis is Hispanic.

This fiction book was a better exploration of systematic racism than the two scholarly, extremely well researched non-fiction books that I have recently read. I cannot recommend it enough!

50 of 80

 

[willowsnn3]

Me at the library, lol

 

[willowsnn3]

#40/60 What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

Historical romantic fiction involving time travel. I enjoyed it.

 

[melk]

27/25 What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

Follow up to Winter in Paradise. The Steele family returns to St. John as more details are revealed about Russell Steele’s mysterious life there.

I actually enjoyed this book better than the first. I believe it’s going to end with the third installment, coming out this fall.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Odd question for you all.
Can anyone point me to a book with a POV character who is nasty. YA preferably but any will do.

 

[bobbiwoz]

61/80 Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson

This is a story of a family’s sacrifice for those in need and their determination to resist Nazi domination in the France they remember and love. 4.5/5

 

[Colleen27]

#72/156 - City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Finishing out my re-read of The Mortal Instruments series with an ending that didn't disappoint the first time around. It is just an all-around fun series, like so many YA titles are.

#73 - The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

Spin-off from The Mortal Instruments. This is a short story collection featuring one of the most fun and fascinating supporting characters from the original series, and a quick, funny read.

#74 - Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare

Basically the same as above, but centered around a different supporting character.

#75 - Women Rowing North by Mary Pipher

I read Reviving Ophelia, Pipher's study of adolescent girls, when I was in high school so this one caught my eye at the library as it is the same sort of exploration of womanhood at the other end of the age spectrum. But I honestly found it a bit disappointing, more narrative than I remember RO being and oriented around a mix of plain common sense (it is important to have a purpose) and 'power of positive thinking' advice. Maybe it is because I'm a generation younger than the target audience, but it struck me as a privileged view of aging targeted at people agonizing over their first world problems.

#76 - 78 - The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess)

More in The Mortal Instruments world, this trilogy is a prequel to the original stories, set several generations earlier in late 19th century London and elaborating on some of the family histories hinted at in the original books. The characters in these aren't quite as compelling as the original cast, I don't think, but some of the same supporting characters make an appearance and there are enough bright spots to keep my interest.

#79 - The Shadowhunter's Codex by Cassandra Clare

Yeah, even more shadowhunters. This one is just a cheesy companion volume, similar to the Outlandish Companion but without the depth and reality, but it is written in the form of a "textbook" for aspiring shadowhunters and has "notes" in the margins from some of the original characters. My daughter said it was funny enough to be worth a read and gave me her copy - the e-book version is terrible because the font is the same throughout so the margin notes aren't distinguishable from the main text, nor are they in the mock-handwriting that lets you tell which character's voice they represent - and I think it took me about 3 hours to read from start to finish.

#80 - Heartland by Sarah Smarsh

This one came highly recommended, but after Hillbilly Elegy, I'm skeptical about highly recommended books that supposedly explain rural culture. But I did end up enjoying this much more than Hillbilly Elegy. The author is much more empathetic to the culture in which she was raised and much more open to seeing the factors beyond personal willpower and individual choice that shape it, and she tells her story in a way that is both honest about the bad and nostalgic for the good. And because that story was primarily the story of women - generations of them, navigating a dysfunctional but tight knit culture full of pitfalls - or maybe just because the author herself was female and found the emotions and interconnections of rural poverty to be more comfortable territory to tread, her analysis went beyond the "explainer" level to present a deep inside look at the economic divide that has come to fracture our increasingly unequal country.

 

[OKW8297]

51. The Auerbach Will by Stephen Birmingham I love books that span decades and are rags to riches. This was well done.

 

[Tiggerish]

War Girl Ursula by Marion Kunnerow. WWII romantic fiction. Part of a series. A some what unrealistic portrayal of an 'average' young woman in Nazi Germany. It was a free download and a quick read but I have no interest in the rest of the series.

The Doctor's Bond by Lee Tobin McClan. Part of the Sacred Bond series that I have read other books from. Romantic Christian fiction with the happy ending that is standard for this formula.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Eric Bauermeister. Once a month, on Monday night, eight students meet in an exclusive restaurant for cooking lessons from its chef/owner. It was a fascinating exploration of the relationship between food, memories and friendship/relations. I can recommend this one.

51-53 of 80

 

[Simba's Mom]

Update time!

34/56-Live and Let Chai, Bree Baker-3 stars
35/56-The Sea Glass Cottage, ReaAnne Thane, 3 stars
36/56-28 Summers-4 Stars
37/56-The Boy Who Followed His Father to Auschwitz, Jeremy Doronfieds-5 stars-true story, well researched and very factually written
38/56-The Secret Daughter, Kelly Rimmer-4 1/2 stars-interesting story of forced adoptions of "unwed teenagers" in 1973.

 

[willowsnn3]

27/25 What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

Follow up to Winter in Paradise. The Steele family returns to St. John as more details are revealed about Russell Steele’s mysterious life there.

I actually enjoyed this book better than the first. I believe it’s going to end with the third installment, coming out this fall.

Looking forward to the third installment also.

 

[willowsnn3]

#41/60 In The House In The Dark Of The Woods by Laird Hunt
From Goodreads:
In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along. The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations--witchcraft in colonial America--In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, but told in a vivid way you will never forget.

Ok, y'all, altho this one started out with promise, it became simply weird. The following Goodreads review sums it up perfectly:
I have no idea what I just read. Obscure fiction works for me sometimes, but this was just too much. I couldn’t wait for it to end and I’m so glad to be done with it that I can’t even be bothered to write a full review

 

[Shellsbutt]

11/25 The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo- this was a historical novel set in 1930s Malaysia. Very interesting and different read.

12/25 Whisper Network by Chandler Baker- subject of this one was the #metoo movement. I had a hard time getting through this one, kept starting and stopping, it was just okay and the ending was silly to me.

13/25 The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine-perfect beach read, very easy breezy style and only took me a day to get through. Fun book.

 

[drwitz]

41. The Dark Half by Stephen King

Although I have read this one, I couldn't find it in my library (probably I lent it out somewhere along the way), so thanks to eBay, I now have a hardcover version of the novel again. This novel imagines what it would be like if your pseudonym came to life. Given King's experience using the Bachman name, this must have been a fun thought experiment for him. The novel is a crime story with supernatural elements thrown in (kind of like some of his later books, including Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers). All in all a great read!

42. The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition by Stephen King

This edition of the novel restores hundreds of pages cut from the original version. Clocking in at more than 1100 pages long, this is a commitment, but a worthwhile one. For me the experience of reading this in comparison to the original novel is a bit like seeing a 3D version of your favorite movie. The expansion adds dimensions and fills in color that you didn't know was missing. The Stand has long been my favorite King novel, and this re-read proves why. The story is deeply engaging, King makes you care about the characters (even the "evil" ones), and it is an emotional fulfilling journey.

43. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

My family watched the Hulu miniseries and we were very struck by the story and the acting, so we decided to read the novel that the series is based upon. I am so glad we did (although I wish I had read the novel first). This is a beautifully crafted story with gorgeous writing and perfectly constructed plot elements. Definitely worth a read, and an interesting reflection on our current times and societal introspection even though it is set 30ish years ago.

This set of books was a break from the King re-read. I decided to read what some will call political books (I would agree, they are political).

Just want to be clear: by listing these here, I am not inviting a political discussion. Too much of my life is made up of people arguing about politics, and I value this space as one where we don't do that. So in the interest of inclusion on my reading list (and to get credit for these), I will list them here, but I will skip the usual overview and review. If you do want a review of any of these, feel free to message me and I will share my candid opinion of any or all.

44. Separated: Inside an American Tragedy by Jacob Soboroff

45. The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics by Steve Benen

46. The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton.

Again, please honor my request and do not offer political opinion or feedback here (either in support or criticism of these titles). If you would like to do so, I welcome that through chat.

Now back to the King read-through.

 

[OKW8297]

52. Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. Story of two sisters from the 50’s forward.

 

[monarchsfan16]

48: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: This was excellent. 5/5

49: Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist: It was good, but... I was hoping for something a little more practical. 3/5.