Reading challenge 2021

[bobbiwoz]

26/50
To Be Where You Are by Jan Karon
If a book can be better than 5/5, this is it. I am emotionally drained and happy.

 

[melk]

22/35 Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer

When Lexie gets a call in the middle of the night from her drug addicted sister Annie she has no idea what is to follow. Annie is pregnant and facing losing custody of her unborn baby. In court ordered rehab Annie is forced to face her past which is upsetting not only for her but for Lexie, who is now taking care of and bonding with Annie’s baby.

I could not put this book down. This was such a gripping and emotional story with sympathetic characters. Definitely recommend.

 

[mini22]

26/30 The Wedding by Danielle Steel

 

[Simba's Mom]

26/30 The Wedding by Danielle Steel

How did you like it? I'm reading "The Wedding" right now, and so far I love it.

 

[mini22]

How did you like it? I'm reading "The Wedding" right now, and so far I love it.

I always enjoy her books. If you're looking for another good one I loved "Silent Honor".

 

[usnuzuloose]

I am reading a Diane Motts Davidson books. Forgot the title.

 

[OKW8297]

37. Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy

 

[KevM]

Read 10 books in May bringing my total for the year to 44.

35) Nature Poem by Tommy Pico – Poetry. A novella length poem about a Native poet who can’t bring himself to write about nature, while also dealing with racism, queerness, and being a Native living in an urban environment. 4.5/5

36) Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – YA Fantasy. A standalone story. It started strong and ended strong, but but the middle was a bit sluggish. 4/5

37) If They Come for Us: Poems by Fatimah Asghar – Poetry. Poems about Asghar’s life growing up as an Pakistani Muslim woman in America. 4.75/5

38) Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu – Fiction Contemporary. Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, A send-up of Asian stereotypes and Hollywood tropes. It was an interesting read, but its narrative style was as a screenplay, which I am not really a big fan of. 4/5

39) Insurrecto: A Novel by Gina Apostol – Fiction Contemporary/Historical. What is the truth and who gets to tell it. Am American filmmaker and her Filipino translator collaborate and clash oer the script the filmmaker is looking to film about a massacre that occurred during the Philippine-American War 3.5/5

40) Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom – Nonfiction/Essays. A collection of essays covering things from race to beauty to money to education and more. 4.5/5

41) The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration, and Resistance in World War II America by Bradford Pearson – Nonfiction/History. A history of the Japanese American interment during WWII centered around the Heart Mountain concentration camp and the football team the high school at the camp put together. 4.25/5

42) Broken Horses: A Memoir by Brandi Carlile – Nonfiction/Memoir. Carlile’s heartfelt and candid jornay through the events of her life that have made her into the artist she is. 4.5/5

43) Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong – Nonfiction/Essays. A collection of essays on the Asian American experience. 4.25/5

44) Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever by John McWhorter – Nonfiction/Linguistics. Looking into profanity from historical, sociological, political, & linguistical viewpoints. 4.75/5

 

[mini22]

26/30 Answered Prayers by Danielle Steel
27/30 Royal by Danielle Steel

 

[RangerPooh]

#13/20 Promise Canyon (Virgin River series)
Decent story. Predictable guy gets girl, but we met new characters and briefly revisited lesser known ones.

#14/20 Wild Man Creek (Virgin River series)
I really enjoyed this story. Great way to tie back in with the ever expanding connections to the town. Hope that we revisit these characters.

 

[OKW8297]

38. The Underground Railroad by Colon Whitehead I cannot adequately describe the power of this book. All Americans need to read this.

 

[jen7233]

11. Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance. I liked the book, and read after watching a Netflix adaption with Amy Adams, and caught interest enough to watch a Hulu documentary on viewpoints of people and life in Appalachia.

12. Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley. A society where *science*, assembly-lining life, group over individual, organization, methodology, providing basics to suppress feelings of unrest which would lead into questioning authority and to prevent uprisings, and so on, rules over the concept of family, relationships, aging, emotions, and choices. The revisited version is the authors look back into the writing, does some evaluating, etc. Didn't like the writing or characters, glad when done reading it to be done with it, second time reading years later.

13. Simple Path to Wealth, JL Collins. Book is about what the title says. One interesting sentence on home ownership in the book in a message to his daughter, he said that houses are expensive indulges. At the very least, it reminds me to place my target on the wall for scaling down accounts, and getting more simplistic in personal finance in the coming years. Yes, liked the book.

 

[bobbiwoz]

26. Love is the Way by Bishop Michael Curry. Love the book and love him!

Thanks for the recommendation! I read the book, and it’s a good one.

27/50

 

[melk]

23/35 Maude by Donna Mabry

The life story of the author‘s grandmother, filled with the highs and lows of her life.

I never would have come across this book but several on here recommended it. Thanks to those who posted because Maude‘s life was truly a captivating read.

 

[OKW8297]

39. The Siren by Katherine St. John

 

[willowsnn3]

#30/60 Win by Harlan Coben
Windsor Horne Lockwood III — or Win, as his few friends call him — doesn't know how his suitcase and his family's stolen painting ended up with a dead man. But his interest is piqued, especially when the FBI tells him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism — and that the conspirators may still be at large. The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades, but Win has three things the FBI doesn't: a personal connection to the case; an ungodly fortune; and his own unique brand of justice.
Ok, this might be ok for Harlan Coben fans (which I always forget that I don't really care for his books), but was kinda long & drawn out (ok, boring) to me.
I keep getting Coben mixed up with another author that I like but can't always remember his name, lol, so when I see one of Coben's books on the 'new arrivals' shelf at the library, I grab it. I probably would not have finished this one but I had started 2 other books that I had to put down before I started this one so just bit the bullet & finished this one.
So if you are a fan of Coben's 'Bolitar' series you may like this one as Win is one of the characters in that series.

 

[drwitz]

And there we go. Three more very quickly. These were all really good. If you like fiction, you may want to consider these.

21. The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

WOW! This is an incredible science fantasy novel set in a fascinating world. The story is told through the perspective of three female POVs from different ages, and sharing their experience of a world of cataclysms and earth magic. This novel won the Hugo award, and the reason shows. In fact, the two sequels also won the Hugo - the first time in the award's history that three novels in a trilogy all won the award. I will definitely be reading the next two novels. This was a page turner (with lots of surprises in the novel too). If you like fantasy, science-fiction, and reading multicultural fiction, this is definitely for you!

22. We Five by Mark Dunn

While I wait for the next two novels in the trilogy above, I found some other fiction to read. And I am so happy I did. This is a very different novel than the one above. It is a story of 5 female friends and their first explorations in dating and romance. The conceit of the novel, though, is that each chapter in a cycle of five comes from 5 different retellings of this story in different times and places. The settings vary from late 1800s in England, to the early 1900s in San Francisco, to Sinclair Lewis' fictional America in the 1920s, to WWII London, to the 1970s in America. Each chapter contains and continues the narrative but also has its own voice and sense of place. This is quite an interesting and fun read and Mark Dunn (who wrote Ella Minnow Pea) does such a great job telling the story in 5 cycles of 5 authors about 5 friends. The last chapter and epilogue are so special that I don't want to spoil the surprise, but they are phenomenal!

23. There There by Tommy Orange

This is another novel of multiple narratives, but this time set in and around Oakland, CA, Speaking from the Urban Native American voice, this novel relates the experience of a number of people getting ready for the big Oakland powwow. The novel is beautifully written and the opening should be required reading of everyone in US History classes as it tells the story of the US and our fraught history with our Native citizens. Compelling story which brings all of its narratives together in a conclusion which will have you racing to finish the story, but also sad to be ending this beautiful novel.

24. and 25. The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin

If there were ever a perfect fantasy series (touched with a twinge of science fiction) this is it. So I reviewed book 1 in my last post and I breezed through books 2 and 3 in this trilogy with great passion and speed. Let me say it (and maybe say it again): N. K. Jemisin deserved all three Hugo awards. She did! And this series is now on a level for me akin to Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy or Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever. Except, how do I put this? This series is even better. If you are a fan of speculative fiction and world building, you need to read this. The metaphor inherent in the book speaks to the racial justice in our times, and it is just beautifully done. Trust me. Read them.

26. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Another one I suggest you get and read. This is a book that opened up a window for me into the Asian American experience. Set in San Fransisco's Chinatown, this novel is a combination of a screenplay, stream of consciousness narrative, fictional memoir of its main character, and imagined life. It is well worth a read, and will leave you laughing and moved.

 

[OKW8297]

40. Newport Harbor House by Cindy Nichols meh. Quick read, kindle deal, editorial errors.

 

[MGMmjl]

13/30 - Boundless Realm: Deep Explorations Inside Disney's Haunted Mansion by Foxx Nolte

Thanks to the members here who recommended this book! This is a very detailed history and review of the attraction. It was well-researched, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

 

[bobbiwoz]

More great books to add to the list. For the Disney-fans among us (isn't that all of us?), especially pay attention to the last two.

14. A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South by Ben Montgomery

An unusual true story that took place in Kentucky during the post-war period. George Dinning was a former slave who, during self-defense of his home from an armed mob, shot and killed a white man who was the son of a wealthy landowner in the area. You may think you know where this story goes, but you will be surprised. The book reads like a novel, but every word is true!
...

My 28/50 was this fascinating story!