ANNUAL READING GOAL CHALLENGE for 2015!

[Carstairs38]

Thanks so much. I love a good cozy mystery, and you listed several that I added to my "to-read" list on Goodreads.

You are very welcome. I love cozies as well, as you've deduced.

Having said that....

78/100
What Pet Should I Get? By Dr. Seuss – 3

When a brother and a sister arrive in a pet shop to pick out a new pet, they are faced with so many wonderful choices. Will they pick a dog, a cat…or something more exotic?


You can tell that Dr. Seuss didn’t think this was his best work and that’s why he gave up on it. The rhymes are almost there, but they aren’t as good as some of his books. Same with the rhythm of the lines. By the time we get to some of Seuss’s trademark imaginary creatures (and there are only two of them), they feel forced into the book. Never mind the fact that we never answer the title question. Fortunately, the illustrations live up to the Seuss name. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not one to rush out and buy, either, which is what I suspected before picking it up.

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #48 - The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver

This was a good mystery, but I'm not interested in continuing the series. The story was heavy on the technical CSI details which I didn't care for.

Lincoln Rhyme was once a brilliant criminologist, a genius in the field of forensics—until an accident left him physically and emotionally shattered. But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City’s past—and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who won’t stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

8 of 12: The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weekes.

Who would have thought a book of naughty poems by elves could mean the difference between war and peace? But if stealing the precious volume will keep the Republic and the Empire from tearing out each other's throats, rogue soldier Isafesira de Lochenville - "Loch" to friends and foes alike - is willing to do the dishonest honors. With her motley crew of magic-makers, law-breakers, and a talking warhammer, she'll match wits and weapons with dutiful dwarves, mercenary knights, golems, daemons, an arrogant elf, and a sorcerous princess.

But getting their hands on the prize - while keeping their heads attached to their necks - means Loch and company must battle their way from a booby-trapped museum to a monster-infested library, and from a temple full of furious monks to a speeding train besieged by assassins. And for what? Are a few pages of bawdy verse worth waging war over? Or does something far more sinister lurk between the lines?

Goodreads

4 out of 5. Not as much fun as the previous book in the series, The Palace Job. Seemed a little slow in the middle. Some of the plot didn't make sense. Still very good. Honestly, I probably would have liked it more if I didn't read it mostly when I was very sleepy.

Up next: Tarkin by James Luceno. Yes, it's another Star Wars novel.

 

[willowsnn3]

Goal 72

#46 Cover Of Snow by Jenny Milchman

 

[threeboysmom]

Wow, I can't believe I've almost made my goal already! I set it low thinking the long Outlander books would slow me down, but somehow I've managed to continue on at a fast pace.

#29 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - I loved this book! Gave it 4 stars out of 5 on Goodreads.

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Currently reading #30 The Perfume Collector - really enjoying it so far!

 

[sj&k]

Finished 6/20, The Husband's Secret, a few days ago. It was okay, not great. I seem to be disappointing myself with my choices this year, as I've been trying to try new types of books to read and not having much success with enjoying the ones I choose. I'm currently reading Go Set a Watchman and hoping for the best.

 

[camreesmom]

18/24
The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain

From Amazon:
Dear Anna,
What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry…The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle—her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—described a woman who embraced life.

Yet there was so much they didn't know.

With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives—and the life of a desperate stranger—with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.

Not as good as The Silent Sister but pretty darn close. 4 1/2 *'s for this one.

Next up: All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #49 - Below Stairs by Margaret Powell

This is about a woman who went into domestic service in England in the 1920s. I think I would have found this more interesting if I didn't watch Downton Abbey, but b/c I do, I found this book boring. It just goes into detail about what her jobs were as well as the other servants in the different homes. It read more like a resume than a story. I hoped for more stories about the families or other servants, but there were none. She didn't even tell us what the owners did for a living.

Margaret Powell’s classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s. As a kitchen maid – the lowest of the low – she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Margaret Powell's true story of a life spent in service is a fascinating “downstairs” portrait of the glittering, long-gone worlds behind the closed doors of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.

Next book: The Snow Child

 

[Jafar30]

So it's been awhile since I updated. And going forward I'm using a star rating system
***** Literary classic
**** Very good book
*** Good book
** Meh book
* Burn this



8/40-Allegiant. *1/2
9/40-Sigma Force series#2-Map of Bones. ****
10/40-X-Wing Series #3- The Krytos Trap ****1/2
11/40-X-Wing Series #4- The Bacta War ****
12/40- X-Wing Series #5- Wraith Squadron ****
13/40- The Hobbit *****
14/40- The Disneyland Story ***

 

[Carstairs38]

Goal 72

#46 Cover Of Snow by Jenny Milchman

I read that book a couple of years ago. It was good it made my best of list for the year, but it was so emotional I really haven't been able to psych myself up to read any of her other books.

 

[WowLookAtThat]

Book #54 One Good Earl by Sarah McLean

Book #55 A Rogue by any other name by Sarah McLean

Book #56 Charmed by his love by Janet Chapman

Book #57 Heroes and Outlaws of the Bible by Don Reid

Book #58 No Good Duke by Sarah McLean

Book #59 Casanova's Women by Judith Summers

Book #60 The Secrets of the Grand Canal by Alberto Toso Fei

Book #61 Secrets of Versailles by Nicolas Jacquet

Book #62 Juliet's Nurse by Lois Leveen

Book #63 Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

Book #64 The Biography of Casanova Vol. 1 by Giacomo Casanova

 

[mmouse37]

Gosh, haven't posted in many months. I actually forget what my goal was (will have to go back and check). Read many books this summer but have to through my Kindle to remember all the names.

But, I just finished the "Island" by Victoria Hislop about a leper colony in Greece and the effects it had on many people both lepers and not. Very good story.

Just started "The Strain" by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I love horror books and this is great so far!!!

MJ

 

[jenny105]

Did you finish yet? I finished yesterday... and I think I must have missed something?

I kept meaning to write you back. I finished it a few days ago. What do you think you missed?

 

[threeboysmom]

I kept meaning to write you back. I finished it a few days ago. What do you think you missed?

OK now you're pushing my memory, lol! I think when I finished the book, I had 2 questions: What WAS her mysterious secret anyways? Without spoiling anything, I didn't think her so-called "secret" was really all that secretative? And if that WAS the secret, I guess I don't understand why she felt the need to keep all that a secret.

Many reviews reference twists that you don't see coming, so I have to ask, where was the major twist and what was it?

Maybe it's me, but I kept waiting for something to HAPPEN, and nothing ever did. So that's why I was thinking perhaps I just missed something deep along the way...

 

[jenny105]

OK now you're pushing my memory, lol! I think when I finished the book, I had 2 questions: What WAS her mysterious secret anyways? Without spoiling anything, I didn't think her so-called "secret" was really all that secretative? And if that WAS the secret, I guess I don't understand why she felt the need to keep all that a secret.

Many reviews reference twists that you don't see coming, so I have to ask, where was the major twist and what was it?

Maybe it's me, but I kept waiting for something to HAPPEN, and nothing ever did. So that's why I was thinking perhaps I just missed something deep along the way...

I didn't think there were any twists either. What happened to her wasn't really a twist. I kind of saw that one coming. I think the only surprise was who the shooters were and the fact that that happened at all.

It seemed everyone in her life knew her "secret" so...maybe it was a secret from us? lol I don't know.

I still enjoyed it though.

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #50 - The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This is a tender, sweet story. It's endearing and mystical and I enjoyed all the characters in it.

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.


Finished book #51 - The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos

This story was okay. The father is an a*s who keeps replacing his families to make the perfect family (in his eyes). It is told through 2 characters: Taisy, the older daughter and Willow, the younger daughter. I did like Taisy's chapters and wish there was more storyline with her and her twin brother than just her telling about him.

In all her life, Eustacia “Taisy” Cleary has given her heart to only three men: her first love, Ben Ransom; her twin brother, Marcus; and Wilson Cleary—professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire, brilliant man, breathtaking jerk: her father.
Seventeen years ago, Wilson ditched his first family for Caroline, a beautiful young sculptor. In all that time, Taisy’s family has seen Wilson, Caroline, and their daughter, Willow, only once.
Why then, is Wilson calling Taisy now, inviting her for an extended visit, encouraging her to meet her pretty sister—a teenager who views her with jealousy, mistrust, and grudging admiration? Why, now, does Wilson want Taisy to help him write his memoir?
Told in alternating voices—Taisy’s strong, unsparing observations and Willow’s naive, heartbreakingly earnest yearnings

 

[Jafar30]

15/40-The Martian ****1/2

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #52 - Bird Box by Josh Malerman

3/5 stars This story is so creepy and bizarre and a super quick read. I can't imagine a life like this. Some parts of the story were inconsistent and seemed unnecessary (like naming the 2 kids Boy and Girl instead of actual names) & I wish there was more info at the end though about what the creatures were.

Something is out there . . .
Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.
Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?
Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

 

[Carstairs38]

I'm officially upping my goal to 120. I think I should hit that easily considering how far into the goal I am.

#79/120
Fudging the Books by Daryl Wood Gerber (Cookbook Nook #4) – 5

The Cookbook Nook is celebrating National Chocolate Month while the town of Crystal Cove is celebrating pirates. However, missing doubloons that are to be a prize at the end of the week put a damper on the festivities. That’s nothing compared to what happens when the owner of a cookbook publishing company is murdered. The victim had lived in Crystal Cove and published several residents. But when Jenna’s friend becomes the police’s chief suspect, Jenna begins trying to find someone else who had motive for murder.


This is a strong book in the series. The plot is constantly unraveling pieces as the suspects lie and point fingers at each other. I had no clue where it was all leading until the end. Meanwhile, the characters are continuing to grow and show us new sides, which I love.

#80/120
Crushed Velvet by Diane Vallere (Material Witness Mysteries #2) – 5

Polyester Monroe is just a week away from reopening the fabric shop she inherited from her great uncle. She’s ordered a special blend of velvet and hired her friend Genevieve’s husband, Phil, to pick it up for her. But when the velvet arrives, it’s not Phil behind the wheel. In fact, he’s dead under the velvet. Worse yet, Genevieve thinks she had something to do with his death. Now Poly will have to add solving a murder to her last minute to do list.


I enjoyed the first in the series, and I enjoyed this one just as much. The characters are unique, strong, and real, and I loved getting to revisit them. The plot has plenty of twists and turns before we reached a logical conclusion. I’m already looking forward to visiting them again.

 

[Christine]

#20 of 50: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande.

This was a great book and an interesting perspective on how we want to live our lives as we become elderly. While depressing at times, it really makes you think about aging, what has gone wrong in this country with how we deal with our aging population, and what can be done (and what is being done). Does give me some hope!