Reading challenge 2021

[OKW8297]

18/25- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig- I really had high hopes for this book, it seems to be everywhere. It took months to get it from my local library. It was just "meh" for me. I had no idea going in what it was about, just that it was fiction. I'd read his previous book Reasons to Stay Alive and really liked it. I don't know, the premise was interesting but the book just didn't live up to it. Oh well, on to the next book.

I agree

 

[bobbiwoz]

4/25- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert-I really enjoyed this book, I was pleasantly surprised because I wasn't a fan of Eat, Pray, Love. This one is fiction though, maybe that's why?

5/25-The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo-I'm trying to remember what I thought about this book, finished it a few months back. It's centered around two college students who meet on Sept 11th and follows them through the years, it was an interesting read.

6/25- The Alice Network by Kate Quinn-Historical fiction about female spies during World War 1, had a hard time getting into to it but managed to stay with it and it definitely picked up by the last half, very good overall.

I just read The Light we lost by Jill Santopolo, definitely Romantic Fiction, and quite a story.

54/50

 

[PollyannaMom]

Before Green Gables - Budge Wilson
Loved this! The title pretty much says it all. - It's a story about Anne's life before she arrived at Green Gables. I enjoyed it a lot.

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter - Blaize Clement
OK. About an ex cop who left the force after a personal tragedy and now takes care of animals. She finds a murder victim and gets re-involved in investigating. I really wanted to like this series, but it didn't quite fit what I'd hoped for.

Nine, Ten: a September 11 Story - Nora Raleigh Baskin
A fictional account of four middle schoolers in the days leading up to and on September 11th. Geared young, but well worth the quick read for adults as well!

Decluttering at the Speed of Life - Dana K. White
The best decluttering book I've ever read!! If you've got too much stuff, get borrow this book from the library.


I'm up to 27/21.

 

[OKW8297]

57. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon I started this book twenty years ago and didn’t apprecthe slow pace. Picked it up again. Full disclosure, I’m an Episcopalian and this is about an Episcopal priest in a small southern town. I adore this aspect of it and the references to liturgy and scripture. What makes me uncomfortable is how it is glaringly white and straight. I acknowledge this and the limitations and will most likely continue the series as my Mom really enjoyed this and she passed away a few months ago and it makes me feel closer to her.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Update time!

36. "The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah, 5 stars-lots of people here have read it and almost universally we've all given it 5 stars. If you haven't read it yet, I hope you do-SOON!
37. "Skink-No Surrender" by Carl Hiassen, 4 stars-humorous, I was biased about it because I love environmental issues, and the controversy about the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, which was mentioned.
38. "The Black Swan" by Karen Robards, 3 stars. It pains me to give a historical fiction book only 3 stars, but I felt it was really much more focused on the deceptive activity of spies at any time.
39. "The Woman with the Blue Star" by Pam Jenoff, 5 stars-another well-deserved 5 star read about the plight of Jews during WWII.
40. "Later Gator", by Jana Deleon, 4 stars-a cozy mystery, but not about a murder, it was about poaching. Funny and cute!

 

[OKW8297]

58. Like Wind Against Rock by Nancy Kim

 

[melk]

34/35 Summertime Guests by Wendy Francis

At an old established hotel on the Boston waterfront a woman falls to her death. Then the story backtracks to tell the story of various guests as well as the hotel manager, all the while not identifying who was the woman that fell.

This was an enjoyable summer read. The characters all had their stories and I flip flopped a few times on the identity of the woman. Not a true mystery book but enough of a mystery to keep me interested.

 

[bobbiwoz]

#37/60 Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers
To those who matter in 1950s Hollywood, Lena Scott is the hottest rising star to hit the silver screen since Marilyn Monroe. Few know her real name is Abra. Even fewer know the price she's paid to finally feel like she's somebody.
To Pastor Ezekiel Freeman, Abra will always be the little girl who stole his heart the night he found her, a wailing newborn abandoned under a bridge on the outskirts of Haven. Zeke and his son, Joshua--Abra's closest friend--watch her grow into an exotic beauty. But Zeke knows the circumstances surrounding her birth etched scars deep in her heart, scars that leave her vulnerable to a fast-talking bad boy who proclaims his love and lures her to Tinseltown.
Hollywood feels like a million miles from Haven, and naive Abra quickly learns what's expected of an ambitious girl with stars in her eyes. But fame comes at an awful price. She has burned every bridge to get exactly what she thought she wanted. Now, all she wants is a way back home.

I really enjoyed this one.

I did too! Thanks for the summary, I decided to read it!

55/50

 

[OKW8297]

59. Thrush Green by Miss Read charming book about an English village. First in a series. Will probably read more.

 

[mini22]

33/30 Christmas At the Cove by Jessie Newton

 

[RangerPooh]

23/25. Feels Like Family by Sherryl Woods

 

[PollyannaMom]

The Anthropocene Reviewed : essays on a human-centered planet - by John Green

This is by the guy who wrote The Fault in Our Stars, and is a collection of essays adapted from his podcast. I found it interesting, and will probably read more from him.

28

 

[bobbiwoz]

59. Thrush Green by Miss Read charming book about an English village. First in a series. Will probably read more.

I’ve read all of Miss Read’s book! Definitely charming

 

[bobbiwoz]

56/50. “Split Second” by David Baldacci. A good one, 4/5 for me, it’s described as a thriller novel.

 

[OKW8297]

60. Social Graces by Renee Rosen. About the rivalry between Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Vanderbilt. Outstanding.

 

[MGMmjl]

22/30 - The Wrecker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott

Description:
"It is 1907, a year of financial panic and labor unrest. Train wrecks, fires, and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad's Cascades express line and, desperate, the railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency. Van Dorn sends in his best man, and Bell quickly discovers that a mysterious saboteur haunts the hobo jungles of the West, a man known as the Wrecker, who recruits accomplices from the down-and-out to attack the railroad, and then kills them afterward. The Wrecker traverses the vast spaces of the American West as if he had wings, striking wherever he pleases, causing untold damage and loss of human life. Who is he? What does he want? Is he a striker? An anarchist? A revolutionary determined to displace the 'privileged few'? A criminal mastermind engineering some as yet unexplained scheme?

Whoever he is, whatever his motives, the Wrecker knows how to create maximum havoc, and Bell senses that he is far from done; that, in fact, the Wrecker is building up to a grand act unlike anything he has committed before. If Bell doesn't stop him in time, more than a railroad could be at risk; it could be the future of the entire country."

This is the 2nd Cussler novel I have read, and I look forward to reading more. This was a really good and suspenseful story.

 

[willowsnn3]

#47/60 The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Thanks to everyone who recommended this one!

 

[bobbiwoz]

57/50
The Cape May Garden by Claudia Vance. Set in Cape May County, local to me, it’s a light hearted small novel. I give it 3.5/5, but am set to place a hold on the next in the series.

 

[melk]

35/35 Forever Young by Hayley Mills

Memoir by the former Disney child star covering her childhood up to the birth of her second child.

The most interesting portions of this book were her interactions (all positive) with Walt Disney and the making of The Parent Trap and Pollyanna. Being from England most of it takes place there and she‘s always name dropping old British actors, I had no idea who they were. Then she covers her marriage to a much older man and birth of her son. The book pretty much ends with her divorce and the remark that then she had another son. I was like what? Who’s the father, lol?
But I enjoyed the Disney portions, especially her first visit to Disneyland, with Walt as her tour guide.

 

[willowsnn3]

#48/60 Find You First by Linwood Barclay
Tech millionaire Miles Cookson has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of—except time. He has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and there is a fifty percent chance that it can be passed on to the next generation.
Two decades ago, a young, struggling Miles was a sperm donor. Somewhere out there, he has kids—nine of them. And they might be about to inherit both the good and the bad from him—maybe his fortune, or maybe something much worse.
One by one, Miles’s other potential heirs are vanishing—every trace of them wiped, like they never existed at all. Who is the vicious killer—another heir methodically erasing rivals? Or is something even more sinister going on?