Reading Challenge 2022

[MGMmjl]

Adding The Bookwoman's Daughter to my list.
Just started watching the Joe Pickett tv series. Have not read any of the books.

I've read the first 5 Joe Pickett books and enjoyed them all! I just happened upon Open Season in the library a couple of years ago and gave it a try. I like the TV series as well. I read that they are making another season of it.

 

[Jaymarkm]

Things I’ve read that I really enjoyed so far this year:
-The Rook & it’s follow-up, Stiletto
-the first 4 books in the Wheel of Time series
-the 5 books in the Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone, reading the 6th one now
-Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell
-last books released in Harry Dresden and October Daye series
-wayward Children series

All were enjoyable but although JS & Mr. Norell blew my mind the Gladstone Craft Sequence was so insanely good. Sad to be nearing its end. I’m going to reread it soon just because I loved it so much!

 

[mrs. magoo]

18/30 The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr - I loved the Alienist by Caleb Carr and I thought he would do a decent job with a Sherlock Holmes. It was a pretty decent book probably a 6.5 out of ten.

19/30 - The Hard Way Home by Jean Grainger was an interesting look at the kindertransport and how a brother and sister ended up in Ireland. The sister returns to Berlin and meets a man from her past. It is part of a series and it is I believe the second book so it did not matter that I did not read the first one. I may look it up.

 

[willowsnn3]

Things I’ve read that I really enjoyed so far this year:
-The Rook & it’s follow-up, Stiletto
-the first 4 books in the Wheel of Time series
-the 5 books in the Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone, reading the 6th one now
-Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell
-last books released in Harry Dresden and October Daye series
-wayward Children series

All were enjoyable but although JS & Mr. Norell blew my mind the Gladstone Craft Sequence was so insanely good. Sad to be nearing its end. I’m going to reread it soon just because I loved it so much!

Do you have a goal set?

 

[willowsnn3]

#29/50 Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover
After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.

Another one that was just ok to me. Colleen Hoover gets such rave reviews & I don't remember ever reading any of her work so I was excited to find this one at my library. I was disappointed....altho others seem to like it.

 

[Jaymarkm]

Do you have a goal set?

Ah I did not realize there was a goal! I was combing some of the posts for recos. (I read a lot of academic stuff for work so not much of a goal-setter in personal reading. My bad for posting there!)

 

[RUDisney]

Ah I did not realize there was a goal! I was combing some of the posts for recos. (I read a lot of academic stuff for work so not much of a goal-setter in personal reading. My bad for posting there!)

Reading is reading, whether for work or pleasure. You're more than welcome here.

You can choose to post either or both from your reading list.

Your goal can be any number you'd like for it to be. Don't shy away because you have to take your fun time for reading away for work.

 

[Allison Joy]

10/20 -- Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult - A seven year old girl suddenly is seeing God, and healing people. When the media start to hound her, her father wages a custody battle with her mother, trying to prove that her mom is actually causing all of this. The twist in this one wasn't as big as some of the twists in her other books, but it was enough to make you think and it ends somewhat unresolved. Resolved enough, but also leaves you questioning a bit. Great book.

Currently I'm doing a re-read of Hunger Games because I have it here at home, and am staying at home as much as possible since my mom tested positive for COVID. Since we live together I'm doing the full quarantine. Mom's doing better, I tested negative today on day five. But still laying low for a bit, so I decided to read a book I had here. I'm not sure if I'll read the rest in the series again. I guess I'll see how I'm feeling (about the books) once I'm close to the end of "Hunger Games."

 

[Caseheidi]

43/60 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
I got this book after seeing the review on this thread. I enjoyed it, but it was just Okay for me. Fun to read, but predictable for me.

44/60 Kitty and the Silver Bullet (Kitty Norvell series #4) by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty's radio show is as popular as ever and she has a boyfriend who actually seems to understand her. Can she finally settle down to a normal life? Not if this is just the calm before the storm. When her mother falls ill, Kitty rushes back to Denver--and right back to the abusive pack of werewolves she escaped a year ago. To make matters worse, a war is brewing between the city's two oldest vampires, threatening the whole supernatural community. Though she wants to stay neutral, Kitty is again drawn into a world of politics and violence. To protect her family, her lover, and herself, she'll have to choose sides. And maybe become what she hates--a killer.

45/60 Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norvell series #5) by Carrie Vaughn
Already the alpha pair of Denver's werewolf pack, Kitty and Ben are planning to tie the knot human-style by eloping to Vegas. Kitty is looking forward to sipping fru-fru drinks by the pool and doing her popular radio show on live TV -- but her hotel is stocked with werewolf-hating bounty hunters.
Elsewhere on the Strip, an old-school magician might be wielding the real thing; the vampire community is harboring a dark secret; and the irresistible star of a suspicious animal act is determined to seduce Kitty.
Sin City has never been so wild, and this werewolf has never had to fight harder to save not only her wedding, but her very life.

46/60 Kitty Raises Hell (Kitty Norvell series #6) by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty and Ben flee The City That Never Sleeps, thinking they are finished with the dangers there -- but the sadistic cult of lycanthropes, led by a vampire priestess, has cursed Kitty in retaliation for the disruption of its rituals.

She enlists the help of a group of TV paranormal investigators -- one of whom has real psychic abilities -- to help her get to the bottom of the curse that's been laid on her. Rick, the Master vampire of Denver, believes a deeper plot lies behind the curse, and he and Kitty argue about whether or not to accept the help of a professional demon hunter -- and vampire -- named Roman, who arrives a little too conveniently in the nick of time.

Unable to rely on Rick, and unwilling to accept Roman's offer of help for a price, Kitty and her band of allies, including Vegas magician Odysseus Grant and Kitty's own radio audience, mount a trap for the supernatural being behind the curse, a destructive force summoned by the vengeful cult, a supernatural being that none of them ever thought to face.

I am really enjoying these Kitty Norvell novels. They are fun and quick moving. Good for me right now as I am doing a lot of short trips this summer.

 

[bobbiwoz]

36,37/50
I read these two while on vacation last week.
An Irish Country Girl and an Irish Country Courtship both in the series. Again these take place in the 1950’s and 60’s, a more rural time, before electronics, a place to get lost in. Plus it’s a place devoid of the religious battles in Ireland, a place where Protestants and Catholics even had Christmas pagents together, alternating venues every year.

However, there’s the English nobility system, which really is at odds with the democratic system I enjoy. Still, I am so happy to have found this author and these books. There are 16 books in the series. These two were written in 2010, so the author is “looking back.” He explains about the notes he had taken in his practice, and the notes keep the events in correct timeline regarding medical practice. The series is fiction, accurate in details.

 

[willowsnn3]

Ah I did not realize there was a goal! I was combing some of the posts for recos. (I read a lot of academic stuff for work so not much of a goal-setter in personal reading. My bad for posting there!)

No, no goal is required! A lot of us just like to keep up with what we are reading. No contest/no pressure whatever. I am mainly here to get info on different books & authors & have gotten many, many tips on books I ordinarily would not have ever heard of. Please stick around please, please
I am interested in checking out the Wayward Children series & The Wheel of Time.

 

[RangerPooh]

27/30 Raspberry Danish Murder by Joanne Fluke
Book 22 of the Hannah Swenson series.

28/30 Chocolate Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Book ?? of the Hannah Swenson series.

29/30 Coconut Layer Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Book ?? of the Hannah Swenson series.

-------
Time to up my reading goal to 40.

 

[willowsnn3]

#30/50 Wish You Well by David Baldacci
Precocious twelve-year-old Louisa Mae Cardinal lives in the hectic New York City of 1940 with her family. Then tragedy strikes -- and Lou and her younger brother, Oz, must go with their invalid mother to live on their great-grandmother's farm in the Virginia mountains. Suddenly Lou finds herself coming of age in a new landscape, making her first true friend, and experiencing adventures tragic, comic, and audacious. But the forces of greed and justice are about to clash over her new home...and as their struggle is played out in a crowded Virginia courtroom, it will determine the future of two children, an entire town, and the mountains they love.

One of the best I've read so far this year.

 

[ilovevacation]

#30/50 Wish You Well by David Baldacci
Precocious twelve-year-old Louisa Mae Cardinal lives in the hectic New York City of 1940 with her family. Then tragedy strikes -- and Lou and her younger brother, Oz, must go with their invalid mother to live on their great-grandmother's farm in the Virginia mountains. Suddenly Lou finds herself coming of age in a new landscape, making her first true friend, and experiencing adventures tragic, comic, and audacious. But the forces of greed and justice are about to clash over her new home...and as their struggle is played out in a crowded Virginia courtroom, it will determine the future of two children, an entire town, and the mountains they love.

One of the best I've read so far this year.

I read this about 2 years ago on a patient's recommendation (how I get most of my book recommendations until I found this thread, lol) I agree great book, likable characters. easy read

 

[Shellsbutt]

It's been awhile since I've updated here, I keep forgetting to do that. I will keep my comments brief as it's hard to remember what I thought of each one now.
9/25- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller-I really liked this book, great story. I could see them making this into a movie.

10/25-Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid-typical beach read

11/25-The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica-this was okay

12/25-The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont-I really enjoyed this, interesting story.

13/25-The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis- I have read her previous book centering on the New York Public Library, this one revolved around art and the setting was Grand Central Terminal-also was interested since we were taking a trip to NYC in June. It was an okay book.

14/25-Pachinko by Min-jin Lee-The first half of this book was great, it was just too long. They made it into a mini series that's streaming on Apple TV I think? So I'd be interested in checking that out.

15/25-Fleishmann Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner- I did not care for this book, it was also set in NYC.

16/25-The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid-This was really good.

 

[bobbiwoz]

38/50. To Be Where You Are by Jan Karon was a second time read for me, and I loved it as much as I did the first time, and with satisfying tears again as well.

I had thought it was a ”newest” book so I had put a hold on it. 20 pages in, I remembered!

 

[virge]

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
“Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the U.S. settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture and in the highest offices of government and the military. Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples' history radically reframes U.S. history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.”

I checked this out because my library had 25 copies of this available and I’m trying to learn more about our nation. I’m glad I read it, but it definitely felt like reading a history book. It didn’t hook me with a narrative storyline, so I had to make myself stick with it.

36/75

 

[drwitz]

More Stephen King reads... One of these took me quite a while to read.

64. Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan

So I freely admit I am not a sports fan. But I did live in Boston for many years and I remember when the Red Sox broke the curse. King and O'Nan happened to have chosen this season to chronicle their experiences as Red Sox fans and their experience of watching games through the season, and they just happened to luck into an historic season. This book took me a LO-O-O-ONG time to read, probably because I didn't love all of the baseball stuff (lol) but in summary I did enjoy it. The book includes written reflections, narrations of games, emails between the two authors, and other miscellaneous items. I found King's writing more enjoyable and plodded through O'Nan's pieces, but in pursuit of my completest goal, I made my way through it. Recommend if you love baseball and can describe all of the various plays.

65. The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

This is a quick and enjoyable entry in the Hard Case Crime paperback series which tells the story of an unsolved murder on a small inhabited Maine island. The story is told by two old newspapermen sharing it with their young female intern. It is a beautifully written story of Maine island life and a riveting (and frustrating) murder story which leaves as many questions as answers. A fun quick read though.

66. Cell by Stephen King

This is King's version of a zombie story but rather than a regular virus, the "virus" is delivered by a ubiquitous tool - the cell phone. Set in Boston and points north, the story is kind of the polar opposite of The Stand. Where The Stand was a story in the optimism of the human experience, even when faced with total disaster, Cell is a study in the ways in which our human society falls apart in the face of trauma. It is a true disaster story and is certainly a page-turner. The novel also contains King's first (in my recollection) positive reflection of a gay character. Worth a read, but be prepared. This is not a "happily ever after" novel, although the ending may leave some hope.

Three more Stephen King books (which brings me up to 2007 in his massive literary oeuvre.

67. Lisey's Story by Stephen King

Lisey is the widow of the famous writer Scott Landon. While she is hounded by his death, she is also plagued by so called "inculcs" who want access to his papers and unpublished manuscripts. As she quite literally battles a psychopathic fan who wants to punish her for not giving away his papers, she is also remembering parts of the history of her marriage that lie "behind the purple", and she is following along on a "bool" (treasure hunt) left behind for her by her deceased husband. Part romance story, part horror novel, this is a beautiful book which will fully engross you in its story as you discover along with Lisey what she has tried to forget. This novel will take you quite literally to other worlds. Trigger warning for self-harm and cutting behaviors.

68. The Secretary of Dreams: Volume 1 by Stephen King with illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne

This is a book of King's I thought I would never have, and then a dear friend surprised me recently with both this and volume 2. This was quite a gift (and very hard to find now). Only 5,000 were produced in a limited slipcase edition, and I am so grateful to have a copy. This oversized collection of six King short stories alternates between lavishly illustrated short stories, and retellings in graphic novel form. The illustrations are stunning (and creepy), and are all black and white. The stories can be read in other collections, but being able to see Glenn's illuminations of King's words is truly powerful. A treat if you can get your hands on a copy!

69. Blaze by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)

Another quick read by King, this is what King refers to as a trunk novel (meaning that he wrote it, and stuck it in the trunk and let it sit there for some time). The original version of this novel was written when King was much younger and he thought he would never publish it, but he came back to the story in later years and found that he liked it and did want to share it. I'm glad he did! The novel tells the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., a hapless (and hopeless) victim of circumstances, and his plan to kidnap the child of a wealthy couple. The story is told in flashbacks and events happening in the present, and it does a truly amazing job of presenting an antagonist you care about (or is he a protagonist just doing bad things?). A quick read, and an amazingly fresh story. Worth a read!

I'm taking a short break from Stephen King to read some library books, but I am excited to say I only have 15 more years to go to complete my Stephen King re-read.

 

[drwitz]

Things I’ve read that I really enjoyed so far this year:
-the first 4 books in the Wheel of Time series

Love this series. It is worth making it through the whole series, especially if you haven't done so before. It does seem to expand and move very slowly in the middle of the series, but the ending makes it ALL worthwhile.

 

[OKW8297]

13. Summer People by Elin Hillerbrand. It was ok