Reading challenge 2021

[JayMass]

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. This book has been frequently reviewed here. I did find the writing style took some getting used to but the content is well worth reading.

I totally agree with the writing style being something you have to get used to. I read this one right after his other popular book, Stamped from the Beginning, so I got used to his style. The content of both, though, is incredible.

 

[Tiggerish]

8/50--Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Fantastic book. The way the death penalty is used in this country is absolutely wrong. Stevenson's accounts of the cases he's worked and the central case of Walter McMillian are beyond moving. This book is a call to action.

I read this awhile back when it first came out and agree it is a call to action. I highly recommend it.

At the time I read it, I had been medically, early retired (lawyer speak for became disabled). Before retiring, I had taken myself off the list of lawyers qualified to take death cases. During my legal career I had participated in six death penalty defenses. Each one of those cases consumed my life when I was working it. What I did not know at the time I stopped defending death cases, was that I was fighting a neurological disorder that steals your energy, physical abilities and cognitive abilities. All I knew was that death penalty defendants are entitled to the best legal defense and I recognized I was no longer up to the task. I thought I had gotten too old.

 

[OKW8297]

14. Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties by Camille Pagan

 

[mini22]

10/30 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry by Mary Higgins Clark

 

[mrs. magoo]

6/25 The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I loved this book so much that I read it this weekend. Started Friday afternoon finished last night at 9:45. Historical fiction from World War 2 is my jam. I really enjoyed that this one was from the point of view of occupied France. I can't imagine the amount of research that one must do in order to write a good historical fiction book. I know that many of you have already read it but it was very good in my opinion. I will look for other books by her.

Up next finishing my non fiction book - The Pioneers by David McCullough.

 

[Colleen27]

#14 - A Gentleman's Guide to Vice & Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

A YA historical with an LGBT romantic subplot, this one wasn't my cup of tea at all. Which was disappointing because on the surface it sounded really good, and I had heard good things about it. But none of the characters were especially likeable and the plot was ridiculous and melodramatic. Like, if the CW did their own small screen interpretation of The Three Musketeers sort of ridiculous and melodramatic. I enjoy a lot of YA titles, but this one felt like it is better left to the teenage crowd.

#15 - Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Once in a while, I realize there's a title I haven't read by an author I know well. This was one of those - I'd seen the movie but somehow never picked up the book, so when it caught my eye at a used bookshop, I picked it up. And predictably, the book was so much better than the film, which is saying something because I really did enjoy the movie. But the movie didn't do the oddity of the world beyond the Wall justice, and it left out some of the most magical and fantastic elements (while inventing some others that made it more comedic than the book was). Gaiman is an incredible storyteller and this was no exception.

#16-18 - 1Q84 by Haruki Mirakami

I'm counting this as three titles because it was originally published as three volumes, though the version I got was a collection with the English translation of all three (which ran to 2200 ebook pages!). The first two volumes were absolutely fascinating, with a layer of something magical/supernatural underlying the real world in a way that reminded me of American Gods and some of Neil Gaiman's other work. In the descriptive passages, the writing was beautiful in a way that echoed the ways the Japanese language itself is beautiful, with a minimalistic simplicity and a heavy reliance on nature-based imagery. The third volume dragged a bit, since much of it was spent with the two main characters sort of circling one another in anticipation of the conclusion, but in the end the resolution was well done and somewhat unexpected.

#19 - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I'm not quite sure what I think of this one, even the day after finishing it. It was unrelentingly bleak and yet I never really connected with the main characters on any sort of emotional/empathetic level, so it lacked the heartstrings element you'd expect from a story peppered with suicide and political persecution and discrimination and poverty. No doubt that was a deliberate feature of the writing, which has a very stoic "it is what it is" tone that I've read and read about as a common feature of Asian cultures in times of hardship (the same notion comes up a lot when reading about the Japanese internment during WWII). The history that formed the backdrop of the story was fascinating, dealing with the way Japanese-born people of Korean descent are treated, legally and socially; I remember being shocked when I learned, not all that long ago, that Japan's largest group of "immigrants" according to government statistics are Japanese-born Koreans, who are still considered immigrants even though their families have lived in Japan for generations. But even with an interest in the subject, it was hard for me to get really invested in the story.

 

[mini22]

11/30 Texas True by Janet Dailey

 

[willowsnn3]

#15/60 Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner
Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

Lisa Gardner is one of my all time favorite authors so when I saw this new release at the library I was so excited!
Sooo, even tho it was good, it was just not near as good as her other books, so a little disappointed.

 

[HiStitch626]

I have fallen behind in my reports (not the reading, just the reporting of reading)
I have gone through a lot of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series recently. I think I may have read one as teen, but none of the rest. I really liked the series so far, and there are still some to come including some written by her son. The stories are set on a distant planet where human colonizers settled. There are also dolphins who chose to migrate with the humans. Not realizing before they made the one-way journey, the planet is infested with space-borne parasites every 200 years. The stories are about the lives of the people on this planet at various points in time. One of my favorite parts of the story is that some of the people ride fire-breathing dragons that can teleport and communicate telepathically.

Set at a time 2500 years after the planet was colonized

16/100 Dragonflight (this was the first book about Pern)
17/100 Dragonquest
18/100 White Dragon
19/100 Dragonsong
20/100 Dragonsinger
21/100 Dragondrums
22/100 All the Weyrs of Pern
23/100 Dolphins of Pern

Set about 500 years before the first set

24/100 Moreta
25/100 Nerilka's Story

Set just before and during the original settlement of the planet, so about 2500 years before the first set

26/100 Dragonsdawn
27/100 Chronicles of Pern

 

[Simba's Mom]

Update time! Four more books read-

#8-Sweet Tea Sunrise, Rachel Hanna, 3 stars-this book was part of a series, and no, it really can't be read as a stand-alone book, I found out the hard way!
#9-The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel, 5 stars-EXCELLENT read about a woman who worked as a forger for the French Resistance during WWII
#10-Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson, 2 stars-about the Galveston hurricane shortly after 1900, for anyone who wants a book of facts, this author really delivered. But for me, not my kind of book.
#11-Disney Made Easy, the Essential Guide to WDW Resort 2021, 3 stars Many errors, touting attractions or experiences no longer in existence.

 

[HiStitch626]

#11-Disney Made Easy, the Essential Guide to WDW Resort 2021, 3 stars Many errors, touting attractions or experiences no longer in existence.

I guess they must be a money maker, but I’m surprised at how many physical books there are about touring the parks. Often the information doesn’t change much from one edition to another, even when the parks themselves have changed. It just makes more sense to me to use online resources where information can be updated so much more easily than an old-fashioned paper guidebook.

 

[mini22]

12/30 Texas Fierce by Janet Dailey

 

[pfp258]

6/25 The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I loved this book so much that I read it this weekend. Started Friday afternoon finished last night at 9:45. Historical fiction from World War 2 is my jam. I really enjoyed that this one was from the point of view of occupied France. I can't imagine the amount of research that one must do in order to write a good historical fiction book. I know that many of you have already read it but it was very good in my opinion. I will look for other books by her.

Up next finishing my non fiction book - The Pioneers by David McCullough.

You might like “We Were the Lucky Ones”.

 

[mrs. magoo]

You might like “We Were the Lucky Ones”.

I read that this past summer. It was a great story and because it was based on a true story it made it even better. That family truly was one of the lucky ones. I really love WWII historical fiction. I go in spurts where I read a ton. Every time I read one of those books I am amazed that anyone lived. The sacrifice and determination is just amazing.

 

[mrs. magoo]

Update time! Four more books read-

#8-Sweet Tea Sunrise, Rachel Hanna, 3 stars-this book was part of a series, and no, it really can't be read as a stand-alone book, I found out the hard way!
#9-The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel, 5 stars-EXCELLENT read about a woman who worked as a forger for the French Resistance during WWII
#10-Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson, 2 stars-about the Galveston hurricane shortly after 1900, for anyone who wants a book of facts, this author really delivered. But for me, not my kind of book.
#11-Disney Made Easy, the Essential Guide to WDW Resort 2021, 3 stars Many errors, touting attractions or experiences no longer in existence.

Isaac's Storm is on my list of want to read. I enjoy his books but I like them even more on audible. Dead Wake was so good to listen too. The Devil in White City was a great read if you want to try him again. This past summer I read In the Garden of Beasts about an American diplomat family who is in Berlin at the beginning of the Nazi Party. I find that I enjoy non fiction so much more when I listen to someone read it to me.

 

[mini22]

13/30 No Quarter Asked by Janet Daily

 

[OKW8297]

15. The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. I love this author and this story set in the New York public library is wonderful.

 

[bobbiwoz]

15/50 Crazy Horse Weeps by Joseph M Marshall III

The challenge of being Lakota in white America. A hard to read book, but worth reading to really get a sense of what happened to the Lakota.

 

[drwitz]

6/60. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

This short but mighty read warns of the dangers of fascism and recounts the 20 lessons we must learn to ensure that we avoid a repeat of the past. With lessons like "1. Do Not Obey in Advance" and "10. Believe in Truth", Snyder spends a few pages explaining the dangers of ignoring each rule and drawing lessons relevant to our current political climate. Published in 2017, I just learned of this book recently, but it belongs on my bookshelf, right next to my copy of the Constitution.

7/60. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Another phenomenal book, and one you just HAVE to read. This book is a beautiful YA paranormal adventure telling the story of Yadriel, a trans gay teenager who is struggling to be accepted by his Latinx family for who he is. This is further complicated by the fact that his family are brujx (or witches / magic users) whose job is to help souls cross over from this world to the afterlife, and Yadriel's fate becomes even more complicated when he is matched with the soul of another teenage boy who has recently been murdered. A beautiful tale of acceptance, love, and Latinx and trans/queer culture.

OK, so it has been a minute since my last update, but I took my time with these three, so here you go. I spent some time reading up on the seminal texts on anti-racism which I hadn't yet done. I have heard a lot about these three books, and in my previous reading I have skirted around them, but it felt time to dive in. I am glad I did!

8. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

So I admit to being surprised by this one. I expected much more an academic and dry text based on the title, but I was really inspired and moved by the author's interweaving of his personal story into the arc of the book itself. I definitely recommend this, and take into account the call to action this book engenders in me (more on that later).

9. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

This one took me the longest of the three to read. Important lessons about whiteness and white awakening, and I felt myself somehow reduced to more of an antiseptic read through rather than an emotional one. I admit to being a little underwhelmed by this one. But!!! I found the best one for last!

10. Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving

I LOVED this book. Maybe it is because I resonated with Debby's personal story and the way she also interwove it into her narrative, or maybe it is because having spent years in the Boston area I felt the echoes of the culture she described, or maybe it was the questions for personal reflection at the end of each short chapter. For whatever the reason, I judge that I drew deep important life-changing lessons from this book, and I appreciate the author's candor and honesty in her own observations of herself. This book has also inspired me to register for the White Privilege Conference (https://www.theprivilegeinstitute.com/white-privilege-conference-22-virtu) coming up in April. This virtual conference I would have never discovered other than this book, and the agenda looks amazing!!

 

[violina]

16. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company - Robert Iger
17. The Year of the Witching - Alexis Henderson
18. Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy, #2) - Deborah Harkness
19. All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward - Tanya Talaga
20. The Once and Future Witches - Alix E. Harrow
21. Souled Out - Anjum Choudhary
22. Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline
23. The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
24. The Art of Mindful Living: How to Bring Love, Compassion, and Inner Peace Into Your Daily Life - Thich Nhat Hanh
25. The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design - Roman Mars
26. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
27. Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle, #1) - Diana Wynne Jones
28. Castle in the Air (Howl's Moving Castle, #2) - Diana Wynne Jones
29. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks
30. A Burning - Megha Majumdar