Reading Thread/Goals for 2025

[Simba's Mom]

#2 - We Burn Daylight by Bret Anthony Johnston
Genre - Mystery
This is my Book Club pick for this month. It's based on the events in Waco, TX with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. It's a boy meets girl story. Each chapter begins with a short interview. I enjoyed reading it, I may research the true happenings one day. My rating will be 4/5.

That sounds interesting. Our library doesn't have it-yet. I requested and hope they get it soon. I do remember it happening, and because it was just a few months before we moved to Texas, I paid more attention than normal.

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

8/104: More, Please: On Food, Fat, Bingeing, Longing and the Lust for Enough by Emma Specter
A memoir about diet culture and the author's experiences. I try not to rate memoirs unless they really resonate with me and this one didn't really.

I'll be on a cruise next week (same one as bobbiwoz) so I should finish a couple more books as I relax on our sea days.

 

[willowsnn3]

#2/25 Libby Lost & Found by Stephanie Booth
Meet Libby Weeks, author of the mega-best-selling fantasy series, The Falling Children—written as "F.T. Goldhero" to maintain her privacy. When the last manuscript is already months overdue to her publisher and rabid fans around the world are growing impatient, Libby is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Already suffering from crippling anxiety, Libby's symptoms quickly accelerate. After she forgets her dog at the park one day—then almost discloses her identity to the journalist who finds him—Libby has to admit she needs help finishing the last book.
Desperately, she turns to eleven-year-old superfan Peanut Bixton, who knows the books even better than she does but harbors her own dark secrets. Tensions mount as Libby's dementia deepens—until both Peanut and Libby swirl into an inevitable but bone-shocking conclusion.
I was surprised that I liked this one as much as I did. Different from most of what I read but very enjoyable.

 

[cayennews]

#2 Undone by Karin Slaughter. Another Will Trent book. Good story as usual.

 

[bobbiwoz]

4/50
“Call the Midwife.. Farewell to the East End” Vol. 3 by Jennifer Worth. 4.5/5

Very good series!

 

[melk]

3/30 One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Emma marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse, and the two are ridiculously happy. Jesse goes down in a helicopter crash and is presumed dead. Years go by, Emma meets Sam, falls madly in love. Then Jesse reappears and Emma must choose between Jesse and Sam.

It was an interesting premise and kind of sucked me in. Then it got completely unbelievable and went off the rails for me.

 

[mgarbowski]

Book 1 of 24: Murder Road - Simone st. James
Book 2 of 24 - City Under One Roof (Cara Kennedy #1)

Pair of throwaway murder mysteries.Murder Road was more satisfying. I had greater expectations about City Under One Roof, set in a fictional Alaskan town (based on a real place) where the entire year round population lives in one building, but it didn't really deliver.

Spoiler: Spoilers for City Under One Roof and True Detective Season 4

If I had a nickel for every murder mystery I consumed in the last 12 months in which women in Alaska killed abusive men and the authorities who solve the crime decide to cover it up, I'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

 

[OKW8297]

2. American Dirt byJeanine Cummins. A factionalized account of a Mexican mother and son trying to get to the USa undocumented. Powerful and moving.

 

[Kameron Milne]

30 books for my 2025 goal

I surpassed my goal of 30 books in 2024, but I decided to keep this year at 30 books, too. A lot of my books were Agatha Christie books, and those tend to be a quick read. I plan to expand my selections a little more this year.

I absolutely love Agatha Christie books; her timeless and captivating mysteries are a delight. I'm adding several to my 2025 goals.

1/25 - The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware.

 

[Lumpy1106]

1/20, Jonathan Haidt, "The Anxious Generation...", 3/5 stars
The book is good, VERY thorough, but reads more like a textbook. Sum it up; Don't give your kids smartphones and stay off your smartphone while you're at it. I was looking for more insight into the harm COVID shutdowns had on kids, and it's in there, but the problem is more the smartphones.

Easier said than done, I know.

 

[cayennews]

#3 Broken by Karin Slaughter. Part of the Will Trent series. I enjoyed the overlap of the Grant County characters. Good book.

 

[MGMmjl]

4/32 - The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne

Description:
"Coming from scandalous Florida treasure hunters and drug smugglers, Sloan McPherson is forging her own path, for herself and for her daughter, out from under her family’s shadow. An auxiliary officer for Lauderdale Shores PD, she’s the go-to diver for evidence recovery. Then Sloan finds a fresh kill floating in a canal—a woman whose murky history collides with Sloan’s. Their troubling ties are making Sloan less a potential witness than a suspect. And her colleagues aren’t the only ones following every move she makes. So is the killer.

Stalked by an assassin, pitted against a ruthless cartel searching for a lost fortune, and under watch within her ranks, Sloan has only one ally: the legendary DEA agent who put Sloan’s uncle behind bars. He knows just how deep corruption runs—and the kind of danger Sloan is in. To stay alive, Sloan must stay one step ahead of her enemies—both known and unknown—and a growing conspiracy designed to pull her under."

This is book #1 of the Underwater Investigation Unit series. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of the series!

 

[DisneyHardin]

3/30 One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Emma marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse, and the two are ridiculously happy. Jesse goes down in a helicopter crash and is presumed dead. Years go by, Emma meets Sam, falls madly in love. Then Jesse reappears and Emma must choose between Jesse and Sam.

It was an interesting premise and kind of sucked me in. Then it got completely unbelievable and went off the rails for me.

I love Taylor Jenkins Read, but haven't read this one. I'll add it to my list.

2. American Dirt byJeanine Cummins. A factionalized account of a Mexican mother and son trying to get to the USa undocumented. Powerful and moving.

I have this one on my list to read.

 

[Wood Nymph]

3/30 - The Midwife - by Jennifer Worth

This nonfiction book is the first of three books that the TV show, Call the Midwife, is based on. I was fascinated by the time period, 1954, and the setting - the slums of London.

 

[bobbiwoz]

2/30 - In the Midst of Winter - by Isabel Allende - 3.5/5

"In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident--which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster--a 60-year-old human rights scholar--hits the car of Evelyn Ortega--a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala--in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor's house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz--a 62-year-old lecturer from Chile--for her advice. These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia."--

The life stories of both Evelyn and Lucia before they came to the US were very interesting. I haven't read very much at all about life in Chile or Guatemala. You can see why the idea of starting over again in a new country is so desirable.

Because of what you said, I took the book out and enjoyed it! Thank you!

5/50. 4/5

 

[willowsnn3]

#3/25 Homecoming by Kate Morton
Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of the grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia.
This was way too long & slow paced.

 

[Travel60]

Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini. Published in 2019 but very timely now. True story, long but very compelling characters.

 

[melk]

4/30 The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

After finding a trove of love letters from the 1960’s, a journalist sets out to solve the mystery of a secret affair.

One of Jojo’s Moyes older books, a solid story with a surprise at the end.

 

[Simba's Mom]

#5/56-"The Auschwitz Protocol", by Jack Carnegie. A former inmate of Auschwitz helps in the capture for ultimate proscecution of the Germans who'd been involved there. 4 stars.
So far I've only been reporting on the books that are 4 stars or better.

 

[bobbiwoz]

2. American Dirt byJeanine Cummins. A factionalized account of a Mexican mother and son trying to get to the USa undocumented. Powerful and moving.

I read this because of what you said…it was powerful! Thank you for posting!

6/50. 4.5/5