Annual Reading Goal Challenge for 2016 - Come and join us!

[nemofans]

Finished book #34/65 - The Lake House by Kate Morton

I liked this book. It is a great summer read. A little slow moving at parts but the mystery kept me going. Author could have slimmed some parts down. I really liked the ending. Overall, a good story.

Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…
One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. What follows is a tragedy that tears the family apart in ways they never imagined.
Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as an author. Theo’s case has never been solved, though Alice still harbors a suspicion as to the culprit. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather’s house in Cornwall. While out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old estate—now crumbling and covered with vines, clearly abandoned long ago. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone...yet more present than ever.


Finished book #35/65 - All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Wow. This is a powerful, intense YA book. I read it in 1 day. I couldn't put it down til I finished at 12:30am last night. I really liked the main character Finch. All I will say is be prepared to cry. Definite must read. Will be a movie too.

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

 

[Deffenm]

18/50 - Flood Girls
Welcome to Quinn, Montana, population: 956. A town where nearly all of the volunteer firemen are named Jim, where The Dirty Shame—the only bar in town—refuses to serve mixed drinks (too much work), where the locals hate the newcomers (then again, they hate the locals, too), and where the town softball team has never even come close to having a winning season. Until now.
Rachel Flood has snuck back into town after leaving behind a trail of chaos nine years prior. She’s here to make amends, but nobody wants to hear it, especially her mother, Laverna. But with the help of a local boy named Jake and a little soul-searching, she just might make things right.
In the spirit of Empire Falls and A League of Their Own, with the caustic wit of Where’d You Go, Bernadette thrown in for good measure, Richard Fifield’s hilarious and heartwarming debut will have you laughing through tears.

 

[threeboysmom]

Wow! It's been ages since I've updated my books. I'm not even sure where I left off, but the first post has me listed as reading 8 out of 35, and as of today, I've read 22!!

#9 The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult - LOVED this book! So far it is tied with The Nightingale for my favorite book of 2016
#10 What She Knew - Ummm... I don't even remember this one now, so guess it wasn't that good ?
#11 Wild by Cheryl Strayed - loved this one - didn't read like a non-fiction - very inspiring
#12 The Guest Room - stupid and blah - not sure why I chose to read this
#13 Stumbling on Happiness - I try to read a certain number of non-fiction books as a goal each year - this one was VERY enlightening as to how our brain works - would recommend!
#14 Second Life - don't even remember...
#15 The Widow - I *think* I liked this one, but now not remembering much about it
#16 Beside Myself - just okay
#17 Cutting for Stone - really liked
#18 The Bookseller - think I liked this one.... pretty sure I did, but once again, having trouble remembering
#19 The Lake House - LOVED! Can't wait to read more by Kate Morton
#20 Tell the Wolves I'm Home - had great reviews, but thought it was just okay
#21 The Gifts of Imperfection - another non-fiction book - made some really great points
#22 Tell No One - really liked. Definitely need to read more Harlan Coben!

Reading The Husband by Dean Koontz now. I don't normally read Koontz or King (well, I TRY not to) since horror is not usually my thing, but so far it's not scary at all. I'm enjoying it and wondering where it's going to go.

 

[threeboysmom]

I just discoverd this thread from someone's signature on a post on the budget board (3boysmom?). My fist thought was outrage that I have missed such an amazing thread. But, then I realized this will be a really, really bad thread for me! I love to read, and when I get a good book, I become a neglectful mother, wife, and employee. I actively restrain myself from reading, it's something I have to schedule and reward myself with. I forced myself to stop reading the thread after the first page, I was like a kid in a candy shop. So, rather than making a goal of how many I will read, maybe I should vow to stay under a certain number!

I think I want to try the outlander series, and I have a question: should I start with the real book 1 or with the prequel? I generally like to only start series after all the books have been released (waiting on George R.R. Martin is killing me!); does anyone know how many more books will be in Outlander? I may want to rethink this...

Welcome! Glad you found us! I know what you mean about reading taking over your life. I don't have much of a life, lol, so books it is! I try to read at least 1 hour every evening (not much of a TV watcher) and I ALWAYS read on my lunch break!

Loved the Outlander series! Not sure if there will be another one or not. I waited until book #8 was out, then read through the entire series last year.

 

[MochaDrinker]

60/200-The English Spy by Daniel silva

 

[willowsnn3]

#31/72

The Year We Disappeared by Cylin & John Busby

The extraordinary true story of a family, a brutal shooting, and the year that would change their lives forever.

When Cylin Busby was nine years old, she loved Izod shirts, the Muppets, and her pet box turtle. Then, in the space of a night, everything changed. Her police officer father, John, was driving to his midnight shift when someone pulled up and leveled a shotgun at his window. The blasts that followed tore through his face and left him clinging to life. Overnight, the Busbys went from being the 'family next door' to one under 24 hour armed guard, with police escorts to and from school and no contact with friends. Worse, the shooter was still on the loose, and it seemed only a matter of time before he'd come after John again---or someone else in the family. With their lives unraveling around them and few choices remaining for a future that could ever be secure, the Busby family left everything and everyone they had ever known...and simply disappeard.

As told by both father and daughter, this harrowing, at times heartbreaking account of a shooting and its aftermath shows a young girl trying to make sense of the unthinkable..and the triumph of a family's bravery in the face of crisis.

Good read. Not as dramatic as the review sounds, but sad altogether.

 

[MochaDrinker]

61/200 I had a nice time by the betches

 

[tiggrbaby]

#36/60: The Hours Count by Jillian Cantor (4/5)(historical fiction)

#37/60: Perfect Alibi by Sheldon Siegel (4/5) (Daley and Fernandez #7)

 

[Kirby]

29/80 - The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker. Genre - Mystery

In this riveting sequel to Martin Walker's internationally acclaimed novel Bruno, Chief of Police, some of France's great pleasures - wine, passion and intrigue - converge in a dark chain of events that threaten the peaceful village of Saint-Denis.

Benoît (Bruno) Courrèges - devoted friend, cuisinier extraordinaire and the town's only municipal policeman - rushes to the scene when a research station for genetically modified crops is burned down outside Saint-Denis. Bruno immediately suspects a group of fervent environmentalists who live nearby, but the fire is only the first in a string of mysteries centering on the region's fertile soil.

Then a bevy of winemakers descends on Saint-Denis, competing for its land and spurring resentment among the villagers. Romances blossom. Hearts are broken. Some of the sensual pleasures of the town - a dinner of a truffle omelette and grilled bécasses, a community grape-crushing - provide an opportunity for both warm friendship and bitter hostilities to form. The town's rivals - Max, an environmentalist who hopes to make organic wine; Jacqueline, a flirtatious, newly arrivedQuébécoise; and Fernando, the heir to an American wine fortune - act increasingly erratically. Events grow ever darker, culminating in two suspicious deaths, and Bruno finds that the problems of the present are never far from those of the past.

A splendid mystery - and a delectable serving of the pleasures of France.

This was my book club's selection for May. We read the first book, Bruno, Chief of Police, a couple of years ago. I liked that one okay but really enjoyed this one more. There is currently nine books in this series and I'm looking forward to reading them all.

 

[Kirby]

18/50 - Flood Girls
Welcome to Quinn, Montana, population: 956. A town where nearly all of the volunteer firemen are named Jim, where The Dirty Shame—the only bar in town—refuses to serve mixed drinks (too much work), where the locals hate the newcomers (then again, they hate the locals, too), and where the town softball team has never even come close to having a winning season. Until now.
Rachel Flood has snuck back into town after leaving behind a trail of chaos nine years prior. She’s here to make amends, but nobody wants to hear it, especially her mother, Laverna. But with the help of a local boy named Jake and a little soul-searching, she just might make things right.
In the spirit of Empire Falls and A League of Their Own, with the caustic wit of Where’d You Go, Bernadette thrown in for good measure, Richard Fifield’s hilarious and heartwarming debut will have you laughing through tears.

Did you enjoy this one? I'm always looking for a book that gives me a good laugh.

 

[MochaDrinker]

63/200-American Warlords-how Roosevelts high command led America to victory in World War II by Jonathan w. Jordan

 

[nemofans]

Finished book #36/65 - All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

This is a quick YA read that drew me in. Interesting sic fi story that involves time travel. The big reveals were obvious though. Reminded me of Terminator a little bit.

What would you change?
Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.
Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.
Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it... at least, not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time that only one of them can win.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Book 9 of 15: Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue by Bill Watterson and Jenny Robb

Enjoy this beautiful companion book to the extensive Exploring Calvin and Hobbes exhibition at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library. Includes an in-depth, original,and lengthy interview with Bill Watterson.

Exploring Calvin and Hobbes is the catalogue for an exhibition by the same name at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University that ran in 2014. The exhibit is Bill Watterson's personal exploration of how the wonder of Calvin and Hobbes came to be. It includes original art of Calvin and Hobbes, along with Watterson's original commentary. The show also includes art from cartoons and cartoonists that Watterson has identified as influential in the development of his art, including Peanuts, Pogo, Krazy Kat, Doonesbury, Pat Oliphant, Jim Borgman, Flash Gordon, Bloom County, and Steadman. The book also includes an extensive, original interview with Watterson by Jenny Robb, the exhibition's curator.

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is the repository of the Bill Watterson Deposit Collection (including the entirety of Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes artwork).

A companion book to the Exploring Calvin and Hobbes exhibition at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library, which I unfortunately did not get a chance to see while it was running. This contains a very interesting, funny, and heartfelt interview, along with prints of Watterson's work included in the exhibition. From a purely artistic perspective, my favorites are the watercolor covers to the Calvin and Hobbes collections and Watterson's later Sunday strips, when he was no longer required to follow Universal Strip Syndicate's template for how Sunday strips needed to be structured. I started reading Calvin and Hobbes in 1988, and was a put part of my life growing up. This book brought back a lot of memories.

5 out of 5.

Up next: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

 

[MochaDrinker]

63/200 the Geek Femimist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

 

[tiggrbaby]

#38/60: Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard (3.5/5)(memoir)

#39/60:The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (4.75/5) (psychological thriller)

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

16/24

Mary Ann and the mystery music box

Mary Ann learns about her grandparents though a music box

 

[Kirby]

30/80 - The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri.

"You can always start again," Kate Robinson's mother once told her, "all it takes is a new thread." Overwhelmed by heartbreak and loss, the struggling twenty-six-year-old fashion designer follows her mother's advice and flees to her ancestral homeland of Ireland, hoping to break free of old patterns and reinvent herself.

She arrives on the west coast, in the seaside hamlet of Glenmara. In this charming, fading Gaelic village, Kate quickly develops a bond with members of the local lace-making society: Bernie, alone and yearning for a new purpose since the death of her beloved husband, John; Aileen, plagued by doubt, helplessly watching her teenage daughter grow distant; Moira, caught in a cycle of abuse and denial, stubbornly refusing help from those closest to her; Oona, in remission from breast cancer, secretly harboring misgivings about her marriage; Colleen, the leader of the group, worried about her fisherman husband, missing at sea. And outside this newfound circle is local artist Sullivan Deane, an enigmatic man trying to overcome a tragedy of his own.

Under Glenmara's spell, Kate finds the inspiration that has eluded her, and soon she and the lace makers are creating a line of exquisite lingerie. In their skilled hands, flowers, Celtic dragons, nymphs, fish, saints, kings, and queens come to life, rendered with painterly skill. The circle also offers them something more - the strength to face their long-denied desires and fears. But not everyone welcomes Kate, and a series of unexpected events threatens to unravel everything the women have worked so hard for. . . .

One of my fellow book club members told me about this book. I can't say I enjoyed reading it but more that I liked reading it. I haven't decided yet whether or not to pursue any other books by this author.

 

[Deffenm]

19/50 - No strings attached
As a professional volleyball player, Dune Cates attracts scores of pretty women who flock to his side. But only one has managed to get under his skin—Sophie Saunders. Unlike the skimpily-clad beach groupies, Sophie marches to a beat all her own. And though she's afraid of the surf, burns in the sun, has two left feet, that doesn't stop her from trying every daring sport available on the boardwalk. Dune knows Sophie spells trouble, and he should keep his distance, especially since he's a no-strings-attached kind of guy. But he can't ignore an overwhelming instinct to protect her. And with the promise of ice cream sandwiches, merry-go-round rides and dreamy sunsets, it's only a matter of time before Dune gives in to the temptation of Sophie's soft lips.

 

[Deffenm]

Did you enjoy this one? I'm always looking for a book that gives me a good laugh.

It was ok. If you are easily offended by language then don't read this book. He used more cuss words then I thought was necessary. It also was more dark then I was hoping to the point where I was crying. Of course I have 3 children who came from some pretty bad situations and the home life for the young boy in the story hit too close to home for me. I thought it was going to be more funny then it was.

 

[Colleen27]

#38 - Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

From Goodreads: In this brilliant,heartbreaking book, Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind.

The fates of these families are in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former schoolteacher turned inner-city entrepreneur, and Tobin Charney, who runs one of the worst trailer parks in Milwaukee. They loathe some of their tenants and are fond of others, but as Sherrena puts it, “Love don’t pay the bills.” She moves to evict Arleen and her boys a few days before Christmas.

Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America’s vast inequality—and to people’s determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.

Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, this masterful book transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.

This was excellent, the best of what sociological writing can be. It was engrossing and deeply personal, with flawed but sympathetic characters that put a human face on a major problem of our time. Statistics and references were woven into the story, not rattled off in an eye-glazing academic ramble of justification and explanation, and the context of the issue was always firmly rooted in the individual experiences of the families Desmond followed through the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee.

#39 - Unstoppable by Bill Nye

From Goodreads: Just as World War II called an earlier generation to greatness, so the climate crisis is calling today's rising youth to action: to create a better future.

In UNSTOPPABLE, Bill Nye crystallizes and expands the message for which he is best known and beloved. That message is that with a combination of optimism and scientific curiosity, all obstacles become opportunities, and the possibilities of our world become limitless. With a scientist's thirst for knowledge and an engineer's vision of what can be, Bill Nye sees today's environmental issues not as insurmountable, depressing problems but as chances for our society to rise to the challenge and create a cleaner, healthier, smarter world. We need not accept that transportation consumes half our energy, and that two-thirds of the energy you put into your car is immediately thrown away out the tailpipe. We need not accept that dangerous emissions are the price we must pay for a vibrant economy and a comfortable life. Above all, we need not accept that we will leave our children a planet that is dirty, overheated, and depleted of resources. As Bill shares his vision, he debunks some of the most persistent myths and misunderstandings about global warming. When you are done reading, you'll be enlightened and empowered. Chances are, you'll be smiling, too, ready to join Bill and change the world.

I'm going to preface my thoughts on this one by saying I'm not a science "person". I understand the big picture issues, but details like formulas and the mechanism by which some things work has never been my strong suit. So this was, for me, a slower/denser read than it had to be. It was readable and enjoyable, but clearly written from the perspective of an engineer who has a lot of passion for the details. That said, I found Nye's approach to the issue refreshingly nuanced and reassuringly optimistic compared to other works I've read about climate change. He breaks down the science of everything from greenhouse gases to rocket fuel into easily understandable chunks, and each chapter deals with a different facet of the case for and means of creating a more sustainable society to create a sort of "spreadshot" approach that seems vastly more achievable than the "silver bullet" pipe dreams that so often come up in discussions of environmental and energy issues. It was both educational and inspiring, and I'm glad I picked up.