Annual Reading Challenge 2019

[Colleen27]

#107 &108/130 - Then Came You and Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

Intense and rather dark regency romance, full of kidnapping and murder plots and characters that have lived far from the pampered lives of the nobility these stories tend to feature, centered around a gaming hall, these were not quite what I've come to expect when picking up random romances on Hoopla to read while sitting at DD's play rehearsals. But they were still good, just not as light as is typical for the genre.

#109 - The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay

There's no such thing as a reader that doesn't love bookshops, is there? So the title alone got me to borrow this one, and it turned out to be a pretty good pick. The novel tells the story of three women brought together by the death of the owner of a neighborhood bookshop, and the ways in which the deceased owner's legacy pushes them all to reevaluate their lives and become more true to themselves while also forming stronger bonds with one another and with their families and the community they are all a part of. I loved that is a such a woman-centric novel, with a hint of romance (some of it very non-traditional - rediscovering the connection with a spouse, seeking forgiveness after the end of a relationship), but it is the four women - the three main characters and the deceased but still ever-present shop owner - and their inner lives, full of the very ordinary struggles of career, marriage, and parenting that make up the heart of the story.

 

[bobbiwoz]

69/75. Alaskan holiday by Debbie Macomber
Boy and Girl meet in Alaska girl lives in Seattle. Ugg, I was set to enjoy this one, but apparently, I had read it before, so I read it again today.

 

[virge]

54/50 Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice is heard above the rest. In his New York Times op-ed piece "Death in Black and White," Michael Eric Dyson moved a nation. Isabel Wilkerson called it "an unfiltered Marlboro of black pain" and "crushingly powerful," and Beyonce tweeted about it. Now he continues to speak out in Tears We Cannot Stop—a provocative and deeply personal call for change. Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted. Short, emotional, literary, powerful—this is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.
While at times an emotionally challenging read, I am glad I read this. It gave me plenty to self-reflect about and ponder.

55/50 Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
I read this for the first time over the summer. I’m struggling with some things right now, and I thought this was a good time to reread it.

56/50 Deep Silence: A Joe Ledger Novel
This was the final Joe Ledger novel in this series. I thought it was a good wrap to the series, and I look forward to the next series.

 

[Kirby]

44/50 - The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. Genre - Historical
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tatowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism - but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

This is our book club's pick for November. We weren't sure whether we wanted to read another WWII book but we went ahead and put it on our list. It's not a long book and I'm glad we decided to read it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

70/75. A Place Called Hope by Philip Gulley

Sam is Quaker Minister, Barbara is his wife. They have moved to Hope after sort of being booted out of his ministry in Harmony. I look forward to this series, I had read the Harmony books years ago. Am glad the author was mentioned here recently!

thank you Tiggerish, post 607!

 

[Disney_Alli]

47/50 Some Kind of Hero: Suzanne Brockmann

Book about 17 in what remains my all time favorite series Troubleshooters Inc. and probably one of my favorite in the series too. I happened to see it available to borrow immediately from the library and checked it out on a whim. I’ve read every book in the series before - most several times - and I always love revisiting them.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Since I currently writing YA Book I figured I'd read some. I often do that as it makes me feel better.

10 Code - The Virals #3 Kathy and Brendan Reichs
Read first but not second. This book was much weaker than the first, which I had read after daughter suggested trying. Very generic but not terrible suspense adventure book that does not crossover to adult readers well(IMO). The clan is pitted against The Game Master due to a random activity.

11 Turtles All the Way Down -by John Green
Much more adult cross-over of a book and really great depiction of a girl suffering a severe case of anxiety. More severe and pin pointed type case, than my own daughter who also suffers, from anxiety. But feeling somewhat an authority on topic, it is a tremendous depiction of one battling such a condition. I wish there was more to the story though I do recommend it to all and especially FlightlessDuck as there is a character who is a Star Wars fan fiction writer in it though that writing may be a little dirty. I was hoping to share with my daughter but the depiction is so strong, I fear her reading it. Character is very similar to my daughter as in she is aware of her condition. I am not sure what I wanted at end but felt like it could have ended differently. Maybe this is more my own situation wanting that as well, I don't know. Regardless he really is IMO one of the better writers we have today.


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.

 

[Disney_Alli]

48/50 A Princess in Theory - Alyssa Cole

Someone subtweeted a tweet by Alyssa and it caught my interest. It was about a different series of hers but the first book of that series had a waitlist so I started the first book of her Reluctant Royals series first... I liked it very much! Great dialogue!

 

[bobbiwoz]

71/75 Window By the Bay by Debbie Macomber
I enjoyed this book of two mid life romances.

 

[willowsnn3]

#56
Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens
Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail and Lindsey started over with a new life.
Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it's her ex-husband, even though he claims he's a different person. But has he really changed? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought?
This one was good, much better than the one I finished prior (same author)

 

[Tiggerish]

Plain Roots by Becki Willis. A combination of romance, mystery and Amish. It was a quick read and pleasant but I had figured out the mystery element less than half way through.

Doesn't She Look Natural? by Angela Hunt. Book One of The Fairlawn Series. Christian fiction. After a devastating divorce that also takes her job away because they both worked for the same employer, Jennifer inherits a funeral business in rural Florida. She and her two sons have moved in with her mother after the divorce so all of them go to Florida. The funeral home is part of a beautiful big home but it is falling apart. They decide to stay temporarily to get the place in shape to sell but in the end decide that the funeral home will be their home and her new career. Slightly different from most Christian romantic fiction in that it did not have a traditional happy ending.

91 and 92 of 104

 

[OKW8297]

33. The Saturday Evening Girl’s Club by Jane Healy -is about a girl’s club in Boston at the turn of the 20th century focusing on 4 close fr. It was a sweet story. Easy read.

 

[Disney_Alli]

49/50 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

I'm super proud that I did not cry at work at then end. Onward friends.

 

[bobbiwoz]

72/75. A Lesson In Hope by Philip Gulley

A satisfying second story in the Hope series.

 

[mini22]

34- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 

[Shellsbutt]

34- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

How did you like this book? I've got it on hold at my library, so who knows how long I'll have to wait.

 

[mini22]

I loved it but it took me a couple of chapters to get into it. I think I waited a couple of months to get it from my library also but it was defiantly worth the wait! I hope you enjoy it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

73/75. A Gathering In Hope by Philip Gulley

Quite a few laughs in this book about a Quaker Meeting.

 

[Kirby]

45/50 - House Rules by Jodi Picoult. Genre - General Fiction
Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject -- in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's -- not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect -- can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?

Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way -- and fails those who don't.

 

[tiggrbaby]

October:

#66/90: Hot Shot (Daley and Fernandez #10) by Sheldon Siegel (4/5) (legal thriller)
Mike has to defend a young woman after her tech billionaire sugar daddy winds up dead from a heroin injection she administered.

#67/90: The Hotel Neversink by Adam O’Fallon Price (4/5) (fiction/mystery)
Interlinking short stories about the rise and fall of a Catskills resort and mystery of children who go missing.

#68/90: Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit (Kopp sister #4) by Amy Stewart (4/5) (historical fiction)
Constance and the sheriff are dealing with an election that gets nasty. She also takes a personal interest in the case of a woman who is wrongly sent to an institution, and works to get her out.

#69/90: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (5/5) (historical fiction)
Cora is a young slave on a plantation in Georgia. The book follows her and others in her world as she escapes and leads a harrowing life.

This was a tough read with many of the details. It was a bit strange to see the Underground Railroad depicted literally.

#70/90: Kopp Sisters on the March (Kopp Sister #5) by Amy Stewart (3/5) (historical fiction)

The sisters attend a National Service School camp in Maryland, where Constance ends up becoming the director. A tentmate is hiding from a dark past.

#71/90: The Light Over London by Julia Kelly (4 /5) (historical fiction/romance)

Cara has thrown herself into her work for an antique dealer. When she finds an old diary from WWII, she feels compelled to find the author, who might also have ties to her grandmother’s wartime secret.
Louise falls in love with a dashing pilot, and joins the British Army and becomes a gunner girl stationed in London. She soon finds out that her wartime romance is not what she thought it was.

#72/90: Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman (4.5/5) (suspense)

In mid-sixties Baltimore, Maddie abandons her safe marriage for a life where she feels she can make her mark. Her assistance in finding the body of a missing girl leads her to a job on a local newspaper, where she pursues the story of a woman whose body was just found in a local lake.

This book was told from multiple viewpoints. There was a twist I did not see coming near the end.

#73/90: Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris ( 3/5) (historical fiction/romance)

A personal photo that Ellis takes may be what finally puts his career at the newspaper into high gear. But it is accidently destroyed, and he tries to recreate it, with unexpected results for the family he photographs. With the help of Lily, a former coworker with her own secret, he tries to reunite the family before it is too late.

The author was inspired to write this novel on an actual photo that may have been staged.