Reading Challenge 2022

[Disney_Alli]

25) Twisted Games - Ana Huang 9/10

Book 2 in this series - and the one that made me want to start a princess falls in love with her bodyguard.

 

[RangerPooh]

8/10 Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke
Book 3 of the Hannah Swenson series.

Sadly only 2 books this month. I did finish reading two textbooks for my classes, but I'm not counting those.

 

[KevM]

End of the month check in. I read 12 books this month bringing my total for the year to 29.

18) We Want Our Bodies Back: Poems by jessica Care moore – Poetry. An excellent poetry collection. 5/5

19) How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones – Nonfiction/Memoir. Saeed’s story of finding who he is beginning with being a Black gay kid in the South up through his young adult life and coming to terms with his mother’s death. 4.5/5

20) Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – Speculative Fiction/Dystopian. Butler’s dystopian classic of hope and terror set amid social and economic chaos in a US dealing with the growing crisis of climate change. 4/5
21) Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butlerby Ibi Zoboi – Nonfiction/MG Biography. When I picked this up, I didn’t realize it as a Middle Grade Biography. For what it is, it is pretty good. 4/5
22) Black Noir: Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction by African-American Writers edited by Otto Penzler – Short Stories/Anthology. A collection of 15 short stories ranging from 1899 to a short written for this collection (published in 2008). The title is a little misleading. All the stories do fall under mystery, crime, or suspense but most of them wouldn’t fall into the genre of noir. 4/5

23) The Color Purple by Alice Walker – Classic. Walker’s classic story telling the life of Celie 3.5/5

24) Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo – YA Contemporary. A novel-in-verse. After a deadly plane crash two teenage women, one in NYC the other in the Dominican Republic, find out they share the same father. A story of loss, forgiveness, and the bonds formed after tragedy. 4.5/5

25) The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty – Nonfiction/Memoir/Food. Through genealogical, and historical records, as while as personal family stories Twitty lays down the case that most of what is now known as Southern cuisine has its foundations based on African cuisine. 3.75/5

26) Muslim American Slave - The Life of Omar Ibn Said by Omar Ibn Said (translated by Ala Alryyes) – Memoir. Roughly 1/3 of Africans that were enslaved were taken from the predominantly Muslim parts of West African. One of them was 37-year-old wealthy scholar Omar Ibn Said. His memoir of being a slave was written in Arabic. 3.75/5

27) Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman – Literary Fiction. Based off the 1985 police bombing of MOVE in West Philadelphia this is the story of a reporter’s search for a young boy, the sole survivor of the bombing. 3.5/5

28) How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor – Nonfiction/Race/Feminism/History. The Combahee River Collective was a radical Black feminist organize in the lmid-to-late-1970s. In this book founding members and current activists look back on the organization’s legacy and contributions. 4.5/5

29) Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter by Kerri Greenidge – Nonfiction/Biography. An early 20th century civil rights activist, Trotter was the co-founder of the Boston Guardian, a radical Black newspaper which urged Black working-class people to use their political power. He was a vocal opponent to both Booker T Washington (seen as comprising to readily to white people) and W.E.B. Du Bois (seen as being an elitist) 4.25/5

 

[Caseheidi]

13/60 Etched in Bone (The Others #5) - Anne Bishop
This. Concludes the series, and may be my favorite of the five. I will probably check out the other books set in this world, but need a break with with something else.

 

[bobbiwoz]

12/50 Saving Grace by Kirsten Powers
Subtitled:
Speak your truth, stay Centered, and learn to coexist with people who drive you nuts.

I don’t think it achieves its goals 3/5

 

[drwitz]

More in the Stephen King re-read series:

14. Bag of Bones by Stephen King

A haunted love story and mystery reminiscent (and calling back) to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. I feel the book stumbled a little in the beginning, particularly with the malaise of the narrator following his wife's death, but once we begin with the ghost story, this one moves along beautifully. Again, not a scary novel per se, and not really a horror novel, this is much more a piece for general readers. A story that has some shocking moments, and some beautiful ones - at one point I had tears running down my face - this is worth a read.

15. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

I forgot how good this was. A young girl gets lost in the woods on the Massachusetts / New Hampshire border and tries to find her way out. Her only companion - a walkman radio (where she listens to the Boston Red Sox play-by-play) and the spectral presence of real life baseball player Tom Gordon. This is a short book, and moves fast.

16. Storm of the Century by Stephen King

A screenplay of the made-for-TV miniseries. Stephen King calls this a novel for television, and he isn't wrong. The screenplay has lots of narrative description and the story is complete within its pages. It was fascinating to read this and visualize the images on screen (and then to go back and find the actual series to watch online). Fun (and scary) read.

17. Fantasticland: A Novel by Mike Bockoven

One of my greatest joys of being part of this group of readers is discovering a book that one of you shares that fits perfectly into my preferred genres, and I cannot imagine one better than this. A novel which many of us have read, and which I will just describe as Stephen King meets Kingdom Keepers meets Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies. I LOVED IT! And I particularly appreciated the way the story was told through "interviews" with survivors. Yes, it was intense at times, and yes, this is a novel with adult themes (and dark at times) but wow was it an entertaining piece of dark fantasy. THANK YOU to threeboysmom for this suggestion!!!

18. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones

I have been on an ongoing exploration of a more balanced view of American history that the one I was presented in High School. I have also been searching out books that offer me - a white cis-male - a window into narratives and perspectives not my own. While this has been ongoing, I have heard lots of debate about Critical Race Theory, but really haven't understood what the fuss was, so I decided I wanted to read the original thesis that prompted all of the conversation and argument, and judge for myself. This book, which is a series of essays on different topics (such as Politics, Religion, Sugar, Capitalism, etc.) tackles each topic with an eye towards a full contemplation of the history of each and why our society operates today in the way that it does. Yes, much ties back to slavery and to the legacy of racism and disempowerment of African-Americans that has been endemic in our society since even before our founding. Yes, the stories that we tell ourselves about American history leaves out major themes that this book explores. But, no, I don't think less of our country as America as a result of reading this book. I am instead inspired by the stories told to continue to work towards a better America.

 

[threeboysmom]

10/45 - A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah Maas (eBook) - #2 in the series. I didn't like it as much despite the rave reviews. I ended up skimming most of the middle. Most likely won't read the 3rd in the series.

11/45 - A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (real book) - #6 or 7 in the Inspector Gamache series. I really enjoy these. It's my goal to read the entire series. They seem to get better with each one!

12/45 - These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant (eBook) - I LOVED this book! It's a fairly quick read (250pp or so). So so good! I don't typically feel emotion when I read (cold hearted I guess), but this one really tugged on my heartstrings and made me feel human

13/45 - All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle (audiobook) - THIS BOOK! An absolute 5-star from me! I want everyone to read this book! I am thoroughly in love with Hubert Bird (main character). I listened on audio and would highly recommend audio over a traditional book (unless you can do a really good Jamaican accent while reading in Hubert's voice!) If you need a "feel good" book or really love a great curmudgeon story, this is the one for you! Definitely my favorite so far for 2022 - the bar has been set high!

Happy Reading, y'all! ❤

 

[bobbiwoz]

13/50. Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

“The Scandalous rejection of my Hasidic roots.” A Memoir 4/5

 

[OKW8297]

4. The Children’s Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin. This is a well written book about a horrible event . Set on the prairie in the late 1800’s. I agree with the reviews of other, earlier posters.

 

[drwitz]

17. Fantasticland: A Novel by Mike Bockoven

One of my greatest joys of being part of this group of readers is discovering a book that one of you shares that fits perfectly into my preferred genres, and I cannot imagine one better than this. A novel which many of us have read, and which I will just describe as Stephen King meets Kingdom Keepers meets Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies. I LOVED IT! And I particularly appreciated the way the story was told through "interviews" with survivors. Yes, it was intense at times, and yes, this is a novel with adult themes (and dark at times) but wow was it an entertaining piece of dark fantasy. THANK YOU to threeboysmom for this suggestion!!!

18. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones

I have been on an ongoing exploration of a more balanced view of American history that the one I was presented in High School. I have also been searching out books that offer me - a white cis-male - a window into narratives and perspectives not my own. While this has been ongoing, I have heard lots of debate about Critical Race Theory, but really haven't understood what the fuss was, so I decided I wanted to read the original thesis that prompted all of the conversation and argument, and judge for myself. This book, which is a series of essays on different topics (such as Politics, Religion, Sugar, Capitalism, etc.) tackles each topic with an eye towards a full contemplation of the history of each and why our society operates today in the way that it does. Yes, much ties back to slavery and to the legacy of racism and disempowerment of African-Americans that has been endemic in our society since even before our founding. Yes, the stories that we tell ourselves about American history leaves out major themes that this book explores. But, no, I don't think less of our country as America as a result of reading this book. I am instead inspired by the stories told to continue to work towards a better America.

A few quick posts ahead. I just noted that my local library has the entire Marvel comics Dark Tower series and I have requested all of them. I am reading through them in order (each volume is a collection of 6 or 7 individually produced issues gathered in a hardback).

19. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Peter David, Robin Furth, Jae Lee, and Richard Isanove

This collection tells the stories of Roland's youth as told in Wizard and Glass. As an illustrated expansion of King's written work, the graphic novel sets a beautiful tone for the rest of the series. The stories were originally published in seven chapters which are gathered here in this one volume.

20. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home by Robin Furth, Peter David, Jae Lee, Richard Isanove

This new story expands on the journey of Roland and his ka-tet from Mejis to Gilead. As a new story, I loved the continuation of the story through the graphic novel format.

21. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Treachery by Robin Furth, Peter David, Jae Lee, Richard Isanove

Another in a series of expanded stories in the Dark Tower series, this volume takes place primarily in Gilead before the fall of the barony. The piece introduces new characters and storylines, and expands on existing ones. Again, beautifully drawn and exquisitely executed.

More to come...

 

[evilmommie]

7/20 - Bag of Bones - Stephen King. Picked this one up based on a fellow poster's review of this book. Very ghosty, not gory. Story of a writer who is suffering from severe writer's block after the death of his wife. He has recurring nightmare's about the summer house they owed together and he confronts his fears to move into the house. King has made this Maine territory mythical. It's full of wit, grief and a love story about our dark places. 4 stars out of 5.

8/20 - Flower Net - Lisa See. This was another library sale book that I picked up for .25 cents and it's been on my shelf. See's first mystery series. An American attorney and a Chinese cop are pitted against a deadly conspiracy of Chinese gangs, government, and big business that lies behind a series of grisly murders. Starts off slow. What I love about Lisa See is how she brings China alive in her books. I much prefer her historical fiction writing vs her mystery writing. 3 stars out of 5.

 

[melk]

7/35 Find You First by Linwood Barclay

When Miles Cookson finds out he has Huntington’s disease and that it can be inherited he decides he must let his children know. Trouble is his children were conceived via his donations to a sperm bank and they don’t know he is their father. And now they’re being killed off one by one.

I read this on a recommendation by someone who loved it. It held my attention but I didn’t love it like she did.

 

[willowsnn3]

#10/50 Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
A small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it's only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the killer's twisted work becomes clear. Sara's ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, leads the investigation -- a trail of terror that grows increasingly macabre when another local woman is found crucified a few days later. But he's got more than a sadistic serial killer on his hands, for the county's sole female detective, Lena Adams -- the first victim's sister -- wants to serve her own justice. But it is Sara who holds the key to finding the killer. A secret from her past could unmask the brilliantly malevolent psychopath .. or mean her death.

This is a re read for me. The first in the Grant County series that later blended into the Will Trent series. Love all of those books.

 

[mrs. magoo]

5/30 - Tom Sawyer - I had never read this book before. It is definitely a book for a different generation but it was still a good classic. I was also watching the original Footloose where a character said the Slaughterhouse five was a banned book but Tom Sawyer was an ok classic. I am thinking in my head really. The best part about the book is Nick Offerman narrating - he is perfect for the part.

 

[RangerPooh]

9/10 Lemon Meringue Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Book 4 of the Hannah Swenson series.

 

[drwitz]

A few quick posts ahead. I just noted that my local library has the entire Marvel comics Dark Tower series and I have requested all of them. I am reading through them in order (each volume is a collection of 6 or 7 individually produced issues gathered in a hardback).

19. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Peter David, Robin Furth, Jae Lee, and Richard Isanove

This collection tells the stories of Roland's youth as told in Wizard and Glass. As an illustrated expansion of King's written work, the graphic novel sets a beautiful tone for the rest of the series. The stories were originally published in seven chapters which are gathered here in this one volume.

20. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home by Robin Furth, Peter David, Jae Lee, Richard Isanove

This new story expands on the journey of Roland and his ka-tet from Mejis to Gilead. As a new story, I loved the continuation of the story through the graphic novel format.

21. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Treachery by Robin Furth, Peter David, Jae Lee, Richard Isanove

Another in a series of expanded stories in the Dark Tower series, this volume takes place primarily in Gilead before the fall of the barony. The piece introduces new characters and storylines, and expands on existing ones. Again, beautifully drawn and exquisitely executed.

More to come...

More of the Marvel Comics graphic novel Dark Tower series below. I love the way the creators have taken Stephen King's written word and both expanded upon it (showing us scenes never described in the series) and offering stunning visuals of those scenes which are in the original text. The series below takes me all the way chronologically to the end of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger with a vision ahead of The Drawing of the Three.

For fans of the written novels, this series is a beautiful way to explore the series. I wish I could afford to buy these; but no one is selling them at a reasonable price.

22. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill

This is where the original ka-tet falls apart, and the grief and turmoil show. What a stunning tale, and full of dread for the young Roland Deschain.

23. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead

The final novel in the Gunslinger Born series, this tells the tale of the fall of mid-world's citadel, and sets the Gunslinger off to face whatever is to come.

24. Stephen King's The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger: The Journey Begins

Our protagonist begins his quest for the Dark Tower and we begin to meet the older Roland whom we know from the original novel.

25. Stephen King's The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger: The Little Sisters of Elurria

A vampire-story in the Dark Tower universe, this is based on the story as told in Everything's Eventual. A side-trip but an exceptionally haunted one.

26. Stephen King's The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger: The Battle of Tull

This tragic story tells of Roland's journey to the town of Tull and his eventual battle to escape its residents.

27. Stephen King's The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger: The Way Station

In which we meet Jake Chambers and hear his story, and begin to move to the confrontation between the Gunslinger and the Man in Black.

28. Stephen King's The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger: The Man in Black

"Go, then. There are other worlds than these". This novel finishes the story as told in the original novel of the series, and leaves us with Roland by the sea ready to start the drawing of the three.

 

[drwitz]

7/20 - Bag of Bones - Stephen King. Picked this one up based on a fellow poster's review of this book. Very ghosty, not gory. Story of a writer who is suffering from severe writer's block after the death of his wife. He has recurring nightmare's about the summer house they owed together and he confronts his fears to move into the house. King has made this Maine territory mythical. It's full of wit, grief and a love story about our dark places. 4 stars out of 5.

8/20 - Flower Net - Lisa See. This was another library sale book that I picked up for .25 cents and it's been on my shelf. See's first mystery series. An American attorney and a Chinese cop are pitted against a deadly conspiracy of Chinese gangs, government, and big business that lies behind a series of grisly murders. Starts off slow. What I love about Lisa See is how she brings China alive in her books. I much prefer her historical fiction writing vs her mystery writing. 3 stars out of 5.

I'm glad you liked it. King is a prolific and varied author. Folks sometimes get stuck into thinking of his work as all gory horror. It isn't. And I am glad you got to experience this.

 

[JayMass]

I can't believe it's March and the first reading challenge post I've made all year!

1/40: Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. Many of you know that I am a teacher. I've been reading a lot of research around classroom discussions and a few articles referred to this book. I actually can't believe I've never heard of it! It was such an eye opening read (although not easy as it's translated from Portugese). Freire was a Brazilian educator who did a lot of work increasing the literacy rates among the poor in Brazil. His ideas definitely translate to my work in Boston and support a lot of how I run my classroom. Essentially, the book describes how the power dynamic between oppressor and oppressed works against educating those from oppressed groups. Instead of reinforcing that dynamic, he offers theories on how to break it. He said that teaching is, "politics, art, and knowing." I really, really loved this. It has certainly shifted my own views on education.

2/40 Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. I am a HUGE Springsteen fan and absolutely loved this autobiography. I listed to the audiobook and Bruce narrates. From the streets of the Jersey Shore to NYC to Hollywood, he leaves virtually nothing out. He has a part where he and Little Steven (Stevie Van Zandt from the E Street band who was also famous for playing Silvio on the Sopranos) went to Disney Land in 1984 or 5. They were wearing do-rags and security told them to take them off because they were worried about gang activity. Before they get to the parks he says how excited Stevie was to go to Disney and ride the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. But as soon were confronted by the cast members he flipped on a dime and said the most horrible things in the world about DL. I feel bad for those CMs but it's a really funny story.

3/40 Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. This is the book I was actually looking for when I found Springsteen's. This is about a "hidden" people in Mexico and how running extreme distances is part of their culture. McDougall assists a mysterious man known only as Caballo Blanco (white horse) who tries to put together an ultra marathon in the mountainous home of these people. Very good story and really touching.

4/40 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I know, I'm an English teacher and I'd never read The Jungle. (Actually, you'd be surprised at which books many English teachers have never read!). My daughter had to read it for school so I decided I'd read it too. If it weren't for her having to read it I'd probably have given up on it. It was so damn depressing. Bad things on top of bad things just kept happening to this poor family! I'm a huge Steinbeck fan, but Sinclair surpasses Steinbeck in his depiction struggling families. I would not recommend this unless you want to feel bad.

I'm now reading "Hearts in Atlantis" by Stephen King. I don't know, I just can't read enough King. His books just check all the boxes for me!

 

[MGMmjl]

5/30 - Since the World Began: Walt Disney World - The First 25 Years by Jeff Kurtti

Another historical book about Walt Disney World, this one was published for the 25th anniversary in 1996. I went to WDW a few times in the '90s, and it was fun reminiscing about what the "World" was like back then.

 

[bobbiwoz]

…

12/45 - These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant (eBook) - I LOVED this book! It's a fairly quick read (250pp or so). So so good! I don't typically feel emotion when I read (cold hearted I guess), but this one really tugged on my heartstrings and made me feel human
…
Happy Reading, y'all! ❤

14/50
I loved this book too! So very much 5/5! Thank you for describing it here!