Reading challenge 2021

[willowsnn3]

#33/60 Disaster's Children by Emma Sloley
As the world dies, a woman must choose between her own survival and that of humankind.

Yeah, right. This book was a total disaster. Who knows why I even finished it, lol.

 

[bobbiwoz]

36/50

The Girl with Braided Hair by Margaret Coel. I thought this was one of the better of the Wind River Reservation Mysteries. 4/5

 

[KevM]

I read 11 books in June bringing my total for the year to 55.

45) We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib – Nonfiction/Memoir. Habib’s memoir of growing up a Pakistani refugee in Canada while dealing with issues of her faith, race, and queer identity. 4.75/5

46) I'm Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya – Shraya, a trans woman, recounts on how masculinity was imposed on her a child and how its toxicity is still ever present. Nonfiction/Memoir. 4.25/5

47) Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron – 200 hundred years after the death of Cinderella, her story has been corrupted and is now used as a guild for how girls should live their lives; at 16 go to the annual ball and be chosen by a suitor. But Sophia has different ideas about how to live her life and who to love. Alongside the last descendant of Cinderella’s family and a witch, who is kore than she appears, Sophia’s going to take on the kingdom. YA/Fantasy. 4/5

48) Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin – Classic/Romance. A classic in gay literature, a man battles himself between living a conventional life and his impulses. 4.25/5

49) Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi – The author of three acclaimed novels, in this memoir, they layout, through a series of letters to family and friends, their journey. Covering everything from their identity to their creative spirit and success, to their relationships, and more Nonfiction/Memoir. 4.75/5

50) On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed – Through a series of essays, Gordon-Reed looks at both national history and Texas history, from before there was a Texas up through today. Nonfiction/History/Essays. 4.25/5

51) Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe by
Gayle Wald – Nonfiction/Biography. Although mainly a star gospel singer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is also recognized as a pioneer of rock-and-roll. This biography covers her entire life. 4/5

52) Don't Call Us Dead: Poems by Danez Smith – Poetry. Smith is a queer, non-binary, HIV-positive African-America award-winning poet and in this breathtaking collection all those identities are explored. 4.75/5

53) The Stonewall Reader edited by The New York Public Library – Nonfiction/History. A collection of over 40 essays, diary entries, articles and more covering the LGBTQ rights struggle in the years before Stonewall, Stonewall, and the years after. 4.5/5

54) Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-fi Anthology edited by Hope Nicholson – Short Stories/Sci-Fi/Fantasy. A collection of Sci-Fi and Urban Fantast stories written by and about LQBTQ (including 2 Spirit) Indigenous people. 4/5

55) The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri – Fantasy. The first book (released this month) in the new Burning Kingdoms trilogy. In a fantasy world inspired by the epics and history of India, a princess imprisoned by her brother and a maid from a conquered nation, who possess forbidden magic, form an unlikely team in order to take down the mad Emperor. 4.5/5

 

[RangerPooh]

#15/20 Harvest Moon (Virgin River series)
More characters introduced or minor characters explored. Felt like the ending was rushed.

#16/20 Bring Me Home for Christmas (Virgin River series)
I really enjoyed this book and hope that they revisit this couple. It was a cute story of first loves and rekindling what was lost.

 

[Tiggerish]

A Family's Blessing by Carolyne Aarsen. Book Two in the Love in Millars Crossing series. Christian romantic fiction with happy ending.

Seaside Manor Bed & Breakfast by Lilly Mirren. Romantic fiction set in Australia. First book in the Emerald Cove Series.

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry. I think I read about this one on this thread and it was a good, relaxing read.

No Love Like Nantucket by Grace Palmer. Sweet Island Inn Book 4. Romantic fiction

What New Beginnings Are Made Of by Debra Clopton. A Star Gazer Inn of Corpus Christi Bay Novel. Romantic fiction.

52-56 of 104

 

[melk]

26/35 Brat: an 80’s Story by Andrew McCarthy

Mainly about McCarthy’s college days and then rise to fame in the 80’s.

Super quick read, interesting enough but I’m glad I got it at the library and didn‘t buy it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

37/50
Buffalo Bill’s Dead Now by Margaret Coel. 4/5

This is the last of the series I’ll read for awhile. I’m glad I found the books.

 

[bobbiwoz]

10/30 - The Eagle Catcher by Margaret Coel

Description:
"When the Arapaho tribal chairman is found murdered in his tepee at the Ethete powwow, the evidence points to the chairman's nephew, Anthony Castle. But Father John O'Malley, pastor of St. Francis Mission, and Vicky Holden, the Arapaho lawyer, do not believe the young man capable of murder. Together they set out to find the real murderer and clear Anthony's name.

The trail that Father John and Vicky follow winds across the high plains of the Wind River Reservation into Arapaho homes and community centers and into the fraud-infested world of Indian oil and land deals. Eventually it leads to the past—the Old Time—when the Arapahos were forced from their homes on the Great Plains and sent to the reservation.

There in the Old Time, Father John and Vicky discover a crime so heinous that someone was willing to commit murder more than a hundred years later to keep it hidden. As they close in a killer who does not hesitate to kill again, they discover they have become the next targets... "

I enjoyed this one. It is the first in a series of books that take place on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. I would like to read more in the series.

I want to thank you for mentioning the book and the series.

 

[mom2febgirls]

15/50 - A Brazen Curiosity by Lynn Messina - cute 'cozy' mystery with fun banter between the main characters
16/50 - A Scandalous Deception by Lynn Messina - Book 2
17/50 - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - my 17 year old daughter (who has never read a book for pleasure in her life :'( ) read this and loved it. I also loved it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

38/50
I read the newest book, by a favorite author, Anne Perry!

Death with a Double Edge and I enjoyed it 4.5/5

I have enjoyed reading about the Pitt family’s adventures in England over so many years!! Excellent historical fiction/mysteries.

 

[mgarbowski]

8/24 The Outsider by Stephen King
9/24 Tales from the Fermi Resolution by Moe Lane
10/24 Memories of Tomorrow (Nameless #6) Dean Koontz
11/24 Justified (The Saga of the Nano Templar) Jon Del Arroz

Been a while since I checked in, and I'm a bit behind schedule.

• I watched the HBO miniseries before the King book, and though there were some changes, I was surprised by how closely the show tracked the novel, and got less out of reading it than I expected as a result
• Tales from the Fermi Resolution is a short story collection by a budding novelist who is fleshing out an entire post-apocalyptic fantasy world based on magic. The stories work well alone, but as a group they help him flesh out the future history he is building and it is fun to see that happen sort of in real time.
• The last of a series of six novellas by Koontz, which I previously described. I recently found out there is a second set. Short satisfying read all.
• Sci-fi/fantasy with a religious theme, to which I am sympathetic but I'm not sure it works as well as I would like. Just finished and still deciding whether to continue the series.

 

[OKW8297]

45. A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance

 

[tiggrbaby]

#42/90: He Started It by Samantha Downing (3/5) (suspense)

Three adult siblings are reunited due to their grandfather’s will: repeat the cross country trip taken years ago and inherit a fortune. But that trip ended in disaster, and this one looks like it might be the same.

#43/90: Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews (3.5/5) (suspense)

Florence is not having the success she envisioned for her life. But she feels that her life will change for the better when she is hired to work for the mysterious author known as Maud Dixion. After traveling to Morocco to help research a book, Florence is involved in a terrible car accident, and Maud is missing. Florence leaps at the opportunity to take on Maud’s identity.

#44/90: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton (3.5/5) (romantic historical fiction)

Florida Keys 1935: Three women from different circumstances will find their lives intertwined as one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the Keys barrels towards them.

#45/90: The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristen Harmel (4/5) (historical fiction)

Olivia’s life has fallen apart when her grandmother whisks her off to Paris. Grandmother has a difficult story to tell about her time during the war.

Told in alternating chapters between Olivia and two women in the Champagne region during WWII>

#46/90: We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin (4.5/5) (suspense)

Wyatt has lived in the town where he is blamed for the disappearance of his sister. When he brings home an abandoned girl, his former girlfriend, now a local cop, steps in to rescue the girl and protect Wyatt. Odette is still trying to solve the mystery of Wyatt’s sister’s disappearance, and clear Wyatt’s name.

#47/90: Marion Lane and the Midnight Murders by T.A. Willberg (3/5) (mystery)

A mysterious group of investigators operates under the streets of London in 1958. They work to solve crimes that Scotland Yard has not. But one of their own has been violently murdered - could it be by someone on the inside? A new apprentice named Marion is working to solve the mystery.

Just meh.

#48/90: The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel (4/5) (historical fiction)

While working in a library in Florida, Eva sees a photograph of a book she has not seen in 65 years. Researchers are perplexed by the code found within, but Eva knows exactly what it is. Can she relive that period of her life where she was forging identity documents for Jewish children in Paris 1942?

 

[Simba's Mom]

Update again-

28. "Before I Called You Mine", Nicole Deese-3 stars, Christian Fiction that was a little too sticky sweet for me.
29. "As If Women Mattered", Virginia DeLuca-3 stars overall-I loved the first half, it was about women facing issues of the sexes in the 70s; perfect for me as I was their age in the 70s, and facing the same issues regarding gender roles. But then around 2/3 of the way thru the book, it went on too long, dragged out, and ended in a common, sad way.

Right now, I'm reading "The White Rose Resists" by Amanda Barratt. It's a historical fiction that so far I love, but at this point of the previous book, I loved that one also. I wonder if this one will hold up, however.

 

[RangerPooh]

#17/20 Hidden Summit (Virgin River series)

 

[bobbiwoz]

39/50
Murder on Wall Street by Victoria Thompson 4/5
This is a Gaslight Mystery. I had read one two years ago, and didn’t enjoy it as much. I think the characters are better now.

 

[mrs. magoo]

11/25 - The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner

Historical Fiction is my jive and I love historical fiction about World War 2. This was a different take since it took place in the US and Germany. It was a story of German immigrants who were placed in internment camps and then repatriated to Germany during the last year of the war. It also has a side story about the main character and a Japanese family who was also at the internment camp. I wanted to like this book but it was just ok. If you like WW 2 historical fiction it is an interesting concept. I would give it a 3 star rating.

 

[Simba's Mom]

11/25 - The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner

Historical Fiction is my jive and I love historical fiction about World War 2. This was a different take since it took place in the US and Germany. It was a story of German immigrants who were placed in internment camps and then repatriated to Germany during the last year of the war. It also has a side story about the main character and a Japanese family who was also at the internment camp. I wanted to like this book but it was just ok. If you like WW 2 historical fiction it is an interesting concept. I would give it a 3 star rating.

Goes to show his everyone's different. I also read this and LOVED it.

 

[mrs. magoo]

Goes to show his everyone's different. I also read this and LOVED it.

I really wanted to like it. I am going to try another one by her - As Bright as Heaven. I am on a kick right now where the books I read are ok not great but at least I can finish them.

 

[mrs. magoo]

12/25 - Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson. I listened to this one on audible. I like to use audible for non fiction. I really enjoyed this but I have liked all his books to be fair. I have read Devil in White City, Dead Wake, and in the Garden of Beasts. Isaac's Storm is about the great hurricane of Galveston. It was very interesting read about the turn of the century and the hubris of men. If you like weather non fiction books I highly recommend the Johnstown Flood by David McCullough. I was fascinated and slightly obsessed by this book 2 summers ago to the point that we made a detour on a trip to Pittsburgh to see where it took place.