ANNUAL READING GOAL CHALLENGE for 2015!

[nemofans]

Finished book #9 - Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield

This book gives insight to what happened after Pearl Harbor was bombed. America sent innocent Japanese Americans to a prison camp during WWII. This story is about a girl & her mother who were sent there & what is was like for them. It is a heartbreaking story & a few surprises at the end. I give it 3.5 stars.

Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp.
Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever…and spur her to sins of her own.

 

[kmb584]

That was one of my favorite books from last year. I loved it too. The ending....wow!

I agree. I didn't see it coming at all!

 

[zippitydoo]

Book #9 of 50: Love and Decay, Vol.2 by Rachel Higginson

 

[KiKi Mouse]

4/25 Just finished
Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality
Book by Jacob Tomsky

It was a light read and made me laugh. Comparable to Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

5/25
Just started
Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold
by Mark Schultz

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

I've been on an Ann Patchell roll this year so far.

#1/25 - The Patron Saint of Liars

A young, married woman finds herself pregnant and decides to run away from her unhappy life to a home for pregnant teens. The first part of the book is told from the the young woman's perspective. The middle part of the book is narated by the home's caretaker while the last third of the novel is told from the child's point of view. This was Ann Patchett's first novel.

#2/25 - Truth and Beauty

This is a nonfiction book about Ann Patchett's friendship with author, Lucy Grealy.

Because of this book, I am now reading Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face.

 

[Christine]

Just finished The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant (#5/50).

Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine—a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.

Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today.” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.

Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.

This was a good story and I enjoyed all of the characters. Was it my favorite book? No, but a good, solid, enjoyable read.

 

[kt_mom]

I finished book 16 last night - The Edge Effect it was interesting and I would like to look into some of the supplements he mentioned in the book.
I was going to read The Autoimmune Solution next but I think I'll read The Girl on the Train instead. I think I need a break in between medical/health type books.

In response to the question about quitting a book there are only a few that I've just quit reading. Sometimes I will put one down and come back to it later (I have a few started on my kindle now) but I usually just finish them right away. I've had several books I didn't like when I started them but ended up loving them. Outlander is a big one that I did not get excited about as I read the first one. I wasn't even all that thrilled with the second book but kept reading to find out what happens and by the third book I was hooked. I did go back last summer and read the first one again and loved it now that I'm attached to the characters.

 

[dizluvah]

Book #13 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
synopsis has been provided on this thread before...
4 stars...I thought it was great

Book #14 Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex.

YA Romance – I love this author and she did not disappoint. I gave it 4 stars

 

[CajunMomof3]

I've found it in me to quit 3 books since starting this challenge. When I get 50 pages in and can't imagine what I'll post, I go ahead and donate that one to the library. This is good because I have multiple bookcases filled with books I plan on reading

 

[Swimnoid]

10. Abandon by Blake Crouch
This is a standalone book by the same author as the Wayward Pines series everyone is reading.
From Goodreads: On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins; and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town so that they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic, and a paranormal photographer—as the town is rumored to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from again. What this crew is about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

I really enjoyed this book. The author switched back and forth from what happened in the past and what what was happening in the present. It was pretty predictable but a good story that kept you hooked.

11. Critical by Robin Cook
I picked this up at the library and then discovered I had already read it 3 years ago. But it is a good story with characters I like so I reread it. Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery are forensic pathologists in NYC. In this story there are several deaths from MRSA in a nearby hospital and Laurie tries to find out how and why.

12. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen
I am batting 1000 here. I picked up this book to listen in the car and I also had already read it several years ago. But again it is a good story although different than most of the Rizzoli Isles stories. Maura is missing after traveling to a conference in Wyoming. When she doesnt come home or answer her phone Rizzoli flies out to where she was last seen to try to find her.

 

[willowsnn3]

Goal 72

#9 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Thought this was a YA book when I first heard about it but when I got it from the Library I realized it was a 'middle grade' book, lol. Regardless, I really enjoyed it and it was a quick read.
From the jacket:

"By sixth grade, Miranda and her friend Sal know how to navigate their NY City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know who to avoid. Like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a kid on the street for no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives, scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: 'I am coming to save your friend's life, and my own. I ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.'
The notes keep coming and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows things no one should know.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Goal 30

Book 7. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I read this one. The Dark Side of Disney by Leonard Kinsey
From Amazon: THE DARK SIDE OF DISNEY reveals all of the tips, tricks, scams, and stories that THEY don’t want you to know about! Unabashedly unafraid of offending the family-oriented audiences catered to by other Disney travel guides, author Leonard Kinsey gives intrepid travelers access to the seamy, raunchy, and often hilarious underbelly of Walt Disney World.

I think I thought this would be more like stories of stupidity in the theme parks. I suppose in a way it was, but it really was a travel guide in how to break the rules. It was a very quick read, but did not enjoy it at all.



Book 8: Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
From Amazon:
Australian triplets Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle are about to turn thirty-three and one is pregnant, one has just had her life turned upside down, and one is only just keeping hers from skidding off the fast lane. Meanwhile, their divorced parents have been behaving very oddly indeed.

In this family comedy by Liane Moriarty, we follow the three Kettle sisters through their tumultuous thirty-third year -- as they deal with sibling rivalry and secrets, revelations and relationships, unfaithful husbands and unthinkable decisions, and the fabulous, frustrating life of forever being part of a trio.

I really enjoyed this book. I'll give it 4/5 stars because there was a lot of bouncing backward in time that, at times, made it difficult to follow. However, the writing story from the sense of character development was phenomenal, and this was a very engaging book. I can't wait to read more of her books.

 

[dminnie]

I read Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult. Book 3/12. I had started The Happiness Project but moved away from it...maybe I'll go back after a while. Leaving time was pretty good. It seemed like it was hard to get into during about the first half of the book. It was a good book, but I never felt like I couldn't put it down. Learned a bit about elephants reading it!

 

[mumloveseeyore]

16 RELIC by preston and child thanks to the diser who put me on to the agent pendergast series i thouroughly enjoyed this

 

[E&Cmom]

Just finished book 9/65

"Before I go" by Colleen Oakley

From Goodreads:
-------------------------

A heart-wrenching debut novel in the bestselling tradition of P.S. I Love You about a young woman with breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a new wife for her husband before she passes away.

Twenty-seven-year-old Daisy already beat breast cancer three years ago. How can this be happening to her again?

On the eve of what was supposed to be a triumphant “Cancerversary” with her husband Jack to celebrate three years of being cancer-free, Daisy suffers a devastating blow: her doctor tells her that the cancer is back, but this time it’s an aggressive stage four diagnosis. She may have as few as four months left to live. Death is a frightening prospect—but not because she’s afraid for herself. She’s terrified of what will happen to her brilliant but otherwise charmingly helpless husband when she’s no longer there to take care of him. It’s this fear that keeps her up at night, until she stumbles on the solution: she has to find him another wife.

With a singular determination, Daisy scouts local parks and coffee shops and online dating sites looking for Jack’s perfect match. But the further she gets on her quest, the more she questions the sanity of her plan. As the thought of her husband with another woman becomes all too real, Daisy’s forced to decide what’s more important in the short amount of time she has left: her husband’s happiness—or her own?
-------------------------

Good read but sad.. I found this one hard to read without bawling. I gave it a 4/5......I think I need to read a more fluffy book next.

 

[kmb584]

Cain His Brother by Anne Perry makes 11/100. I've yet to read a William Monk novel that I didn't enjoy.

"In his family life, Angus Stonefield had been gentle and loving; in business, a man of probity; and in his relationship with his twin brother, Caleb, a virtual saint. Now Angus is missing, and it appears more than possible that Caleb--a creature long since abandoned to depravity--has murdered him. Hired to find the missing man, William Monk puts himself into his shoes, searching for clues to Angus's fate and his vicious brother's whereabouts. Slowly, Monk inches toward the truth--and also, unwittingly, toward the destruction of his good name and livelihood."

 

[BonnieF]

5/40 - One Plus One, JoJo Moyes. An okay read, not as good as Me Before You.
6/40 - My Father's Wives, Mike Greenberg. A thirty-something successful man looks to save his marriage by finding out about his father's marriages. This was better than it sounds - lots of insight.

 

[WDWMom]

Book 10 Power Play Book 4 of the Kingdom Keepers. Probably my favorite because there are so many twists. I had a hard time putting this one down. 5 star for sure.

Now for some fluff reading. Love getting free books to read from Book Bub on my Kindle.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

9/52

https://www.oysterbooks.com/book/TNnMfXbeXJxjpnadNZuvjc/pretty-little-liars-7-heartless

 

[zippitydoo]

Book #10 of 50: The Dead Will Tell (Kate Burkholder, #6) by Linda Castillo