Annual Reading Challenge 2019

[virge]

25/50 And After by Sarah Lyons Fleming This is the 2nd book in the “Until the End of the World” trilogy, a zombie apocalypse series. The first half of the book felt weirdly like chick lit. I liked the 2nd half much better, and appreciated some unexpected plot turns.

 

[mini22]

22/30-Escape by Barbara Delinsky

 

[Disney_Alli]

22/50 Line of Fire - The Corps Book V - W.E.B. Griffin. Halfway through the series now, I'll be continuing on around other books as always.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

#8 Night Fall by Nelson DeMille
Another John Corey book.
Living on Long Island I really like these books as they take place often in parts on the Island.
Enjoyed the pace and the suspense building up. Did not see the ending coming at all. The whole story revolves around Flight 800 and fictional witnesses of it.

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 of them message me here or at Goodreads.

 

[virge]

26/50 Circe by Madeline Miller While I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it, I didn’t like it as much as The Song of Achilles.

 

[willowsnn3]

#29/50
The Old Man and the Wasteland

First in the Wasteland Saga. Forty years after nuclear bombing. Old man sets out in the wasteland of a destroyed world to scavenge for his village.

 

[Kirby]

Last Light by Terri Blackstock. I read and liked the If I Run series so I decided to give another of her series a try. This is the first book in the Restoration series. The premise of the series is that there was some type of electromagnetic pulse that is ongoing so there is no technology, no electricity, nothing motorized, etc. How I ended up with another dystopian type book, I am not quite sure but now that I have started the Restoration series, I did order the next one from the library. So I guess I am hooked on her writing style and the context is secondary.

49 of 104

I read her Restoration series but enjoyed the first book most. I thought it was a good conversation piece about how we rely on so much that is electronic and what would happen should something like this happen. We read it in the book club I am in a couple of years ago and had a really good discussion about it.

7 A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
I liked it but Ove started to wear on me after while. I am usually a sucker fir inspirational books but I don't know it just must have caught me in bad mood.

I enjoyed reading this book. It took a little to get into it but I liked it by the end. Unfortunately I have been unable to get interested in anything else the author has written.

18/50 - The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen. Genre - Historical
Based on the remarkable true story of a freed African American slave who returned to Virginia at the onset of the Civil War to spy on the Confederates, The Secrets of Mary Bowser is a masterful debut by an exciting new novelist. Author Lois Leveen combines fascinating facts and ingenious speculation to craft a historical novel that will enthrall readers of women's fiction, historical fiction, and acclaimed works like Cane River and Cold Mountain that offer intimate looks at the twin nightmares of slavery and Civil War. A powerful and unforgettable story of a woman who risked her own freedom to bring freedom to millions of others, The Secrets of Mary Bowser celebrates the courageous achievements of a little known but truly inspirational American heroine.

I found this book to be very easy to read and very interesting.

 

[OKW8297]

16. The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand
A great easy summer read. Light mystery.

 

[Disney_Alli]

23/50 Night Play (Dark Hunter Book 6ish) Sherrilyn Kenyon. I forgot how much I liked this one! Man it’s been ages since I really read this series!

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I enjoyed reading this book. It took a little to get into it but I liked it by the end. Unfortunately I have been unable to get interested in anything else the author has written.

I am usually a sucker for this type of book, I think it just caught me not in the mood to be uplifted.

 

[Tiggerish]

The House on the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner. The House at the Edge of Night is a bar owned by three generations of the Esposito family on the fictional island off the coast of Sicily. In that bar, tthe three generations of that family will serve coffee, rice balls, and limoncellos to locals and visitors. World Wars I and II, the Fascist period, and the financial crisis of 2009 all play critical roles in the plot. But so do the folk tales one of the main characters collects in a red leather book. This was a complex, multi-layered story that kept me entertained across its more than 60 year span.

Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock. This was one of her older books and a stand alone book, not part of a series. It was a fast read and if it had been the first book I had read by this author, I might never had read any more.

57 and 58 of 104

 

[willowsnn3]

#30/50

The Savage Boy by Nick Cole
This is the story of Boy. We meet him just after the passing of his caretaker and only friend, Sergeant Presley. It's been decades since the bombs fell. Decades since Presley was sent on a mission to go into America and find out what was left. It was during these travels he came upon Boy. Boy is young, too young to know what the world was like before. All he knows is what Presley has taught him and now that Presley is gone, it's up to Boy to travel back to I Corps to complete Presley's mission.

Second in the Wasteland Saga

 

[Disney_Alli]

24/50 - Seize the Night Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark Hunters book 7ish) A really great addition to this series and I'm so glad my library had it available as my sister and I share this series and while I had the first several she has most of the rest haha

 

[mini22]

23/30 The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky

 

[Kirby]

19/50 - The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. Genre - Historical
In an enthralling new historical novel from national best-selling author Kate Quinn, two women - a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947 - are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

It's 1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

It's 1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.

This was my book club's pick for June. I enjoyed the book, seems I'm two for two for historical reads.

 

[Colleen27]

#67/130 - It's Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear by Gregg Easterbrook

A long-lens view of human history and cultural progress applied to the problems of the current moment, this was an interestingly contrarian view on the modern world. Easterbrook is somehow optimistic, almost to the point of techno-utopian in his trust of advancing technology and human ingenuity to solve the most pressing problems facing our world, without being dismissive of the scope and scale of those problems or of the role of individual and collective will in finding solutions. It was a strong counterpoint to the narrative we all hear every day about all the negatives in our world and the perception so many people have that things have never been so bad or so precarious, which I think makes it a worthwhile read for anyone with a strong interest in politics or social movements or even just those who spend a lot of time on social media. It really challenges the reader to step back and think about the messages they're hearing/reading in a larger context than the perceived urgency of the moment.

#68 - Raising the Floor by Andy Stern

Written by a former union head, this book lays out the case for universal basic income as a solution to both the challenges of automation and of income inequality/poverty. I found it to be very uneven. Each of the first several chapters was themed around an interview or interviews the author did with leading figures in various fields - academics, business leaders and activists/organizers - which he used to explain why and how he came to the conclusion that a universal basic income was a policy that was not only desirable but would soon be necessary as an adaptation to a more automated future. And much of that was fascinating. But the chapters that should have offered more information on how a UBI would work and how it might be implemented sort of fell flat, with good historical perspective but little to convince the reader that the idea is either practically feasible or politically possible in our country. Stern was right on one count, though - he said in 2016 that the 2020 presidential campaign would see a candidate or candidates talking about UBI, an issue that Andrew Yang has made a key part of his long-shot run for the nomination.

 

[Kirby]

20/50 - Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski. Genre - Young Adult Fantasy
A story where edge-of-your-seat horror meets post-apocalyptic thriller, perfect for fans of Lois Lowry and The Mazerunner

On Marin's island, sunrise doesn't come every 24 hours - it comes every 28 years. Now the sun is just a sliver of light on the horizon. The weather is turning cold and the shadows are growing long.

Because sunset triggers the tide to roll out hundreds of miles, the islanders are frantically preparing to sail south, where they will wait out the long night.

Marin and her twin brother, Kana, help their anxious parents ready the house for departure. Locks must be taken off doors. Furniture must be arranged. Tables must be set. The rituals are puzzling - bizarre, even - but none of the adults in town will discuss why it has to be done this way.

Just as the ships are about to sail, a teenage boy goes missing - the twins' friend Line. Marin and Kana are the only ones who know the truth about where Line's gone, and the only way to rescue him is by doing it themselves. But night is falling. Their island is changing.

And it may already be too late.

This is a different than anything I have read thus far which made it very interesting. I found it easy to read and wished at the end there was a sequel.

 

[design_mom]

I'm way behind with updating. I've gotten out of order, but here's the list from my Kindle history!

11/24 - The Rumor - Elin Hilderbrand
12/24 - The Castaways - Elin Hildebrand
13/24 - Here's to Us - Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand's novels are mostly set on Nantucket Island. They are usually unrelated stories (although she has a few series' but occasionally a main character in one will turn up as a minor character in another... and of course locations, etc. are similar. My favorite of these three, I think, was Here's to Us.

14/24 - May the Best Man Win by Mira Lyn Kelly -- I saw this listed on a "Best Summer Beach Reads for 2019" list and it was available to I grabbed it. It was... okay. It's a romance and the bedroom scenes got a little too graphic for my personal tastes.

15/24 - Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman -- This was on the same "Best Summer Beach Reads" list. It's about neighbor's being in each other's business (no beaches involved) but I enjoyed this one.

16/24 - Maybe in another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid -- I think this was from the same list... and it was another pretty good one. This one is told in alternating chapters illustrating how the main characters life would have been different had it not been influenced by a car accident. For instance, in chapters 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. she was NOT involved in a car accident and this is what her life would have been. In chapters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. she WAS in the car accident, and this is what her life would have been. (I'm not sure they ever clearly define which one is "real life" and which one was fantasy.) I enjoyed it.

17/24 - A Christmas Howl - Laurien Berenson
18/24 - Wagging through the Snow - Laurien Berenson
19/24 - Ruff Justice - Laurien Berenson
20/24 - Doggie Daycare Murders - Laurien Berenson
21/24 - Murder at the Puppy Fest - Laurien Berrenson

These are kind of mystery-of-the-week kind of thing and they always involve dogs in some way. They are very easy reads, and somewhat formulaic, but I enjoy them.

Got my Kindle for Christmas, and have hooked it up with my Library account through the Libby app. I haven't bought any books for it yet and have enjoyed it so much. I wasn't sure I'd really like an e-reader... but I love it.

 

[OKW8297]

17. The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand
Read on vacation, finished on flight home. Second book I read by her. Very good, nice character development.

 

[bobbiwoz]

34/75 Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly

I read this after a recommendation here. It’s the story of a Russian aristocratic family and their wealthy American friends and how both families survived WWI. Revolutions are frightening, the czarist regime wasn’t a good one for the Russian people, and the period covered by the book is full of atrocities. It’s also the story of a woman’s search for her young son who was taken from her in Russia during the early stages of the revolution.

It is a good book, I liked it very much.