Reading Thread/Goals for 2025

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

4/104: Good Time Girl by Heather Gay
Another reality TV star book. Heather is from the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, the book is partially about her time as a Housewife on TV and partially about her life as a an excommunicated Mormon. This is a follow up to her last book, Bad Mormon. I found it entertaining. I listened to the audio book. 3

5/104: The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook
Stories of families torn apart by conspiracy theories. 3

 

[MGMmjl]

2/32 - Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg

Description:
"Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective Eve Ronin and her soon-to-retire partner, Duncan Pavone, are running a 24-7 sting in a guard-gated enclave of palatial homes in Calabasas. Their luxury McMansion is a honey trap, set to lure in the violent home invaders terrorizing the community. The trap works, leaving three intruders dead, a body count that nearly includes Eve and Duncan.

Eve’s bosses are eager to declare the case closed, but there are too many unanswered questions for her to let go. Was the trap actually for her, bloody payback for Eve’s very public takedown of a clique of corrupt deputies? Or is there an even deadlier secret lurking behind those opulent gates? Eve’s refusal to back down and her relentless quest for the truth make her both the hunter…and the prey."

This is book #3 in the Eve Ronin series. It was another good one, and I look forward to continuing the series.

 

[Needsanap]

I know I’ve found some books/authors I wouldn’t have , if not for the 2024 thread.

I’m going to try for 50 books this year.

 

[melk]

2/30 Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch

“In this one of a kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he has ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder she didn’t commit.”

The pony was actually very funny. It was a nice light mystery with no swearing or anything objectionable, if anyone is looking for a clean book with a good story.

 

[MGMmjl]

3/32 - Eleven Numbers by Lee Child

Description:
"Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper."

I got this short story for free as an Amazon First Reads pick for January. It was a decent story; I think it would have been better had it been fleshed out a bit more in a full-length novel, but it was still a good read.

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

6/104: Life on Svalbard, finding home on a remote island near the North Pole by Cecilia Blomdahl
I don't give out many five stars but I found this book fascinating. The book is full of amazing pictures and stories of living on an island in the arctic circle. 5

 

[HeatherC]

6/104: Life on Svalbard, finding home on a remote island near the North Pole by Cecilia Blomdahl
I don't give out many five stars but I found this book fascinating. The book is full of amazing pictures and stories of living on an island in the arctic circle. 5

She is very popular with her videos in TikTok. I would love to go see Svarlbard.

 

[Kirby]

I'll join again though I'm not going to set a goal. Thank you MGMmjl for taking this on!

I'm currently reading my first book of the year.

 

[willowsnn3]

Finally finished my first book of the year, even tho I started it early December.
It was just ok, kinda boring.
#1/25 The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave
Nora Noone’s father, Liam, was many things to many people. To the public he was a self-made hotel magnate, whose luxury boutique hotels were among the most coveted destinations in the world. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving yet distant family man who managed to keep his finances—and his families—separate. But to Nora, her father was always a mystery—especially after his suspicious death at his cliffside home.
Though the authorities rule Liam's death accidental, Nora and her estranged brother, Sam, believe otherwise. As they form an uneasy alliance to unpack the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.

 

[bobbiwoz]

“Call the Midwife…Volume 2. Shadows of the Workhouse.” By Jennifer Worth. 4/5
2/50

From the Disboards, I learned about the TV series “Call the Midwife” that was itself based on the books by Jennifer Worth. Once I learned there were books, I decided I would read what I could.

This was totally eye opening to me, and I am so happy to find this book.

Quoting from the opening page of the book
“Worth’s engaging memoir retraces (her) early years caring for the indigent and unfortunate during the pinched postwar era in London……Herwell-polished anecdotes are teeming with character detail.” Publishers Weekly

 

[willowsnn3]

“Call the Midwife…Volume 2. Shadows of the Workhouse.” By Jennifer Worth. 4/5
2/50

From the Disboards, I learned about the TV series “Call the Midwife” that was itself based on the books by Jennifer Worth. Once I learned there were books, I decided I would read what I could.

I have never read any of the books but have seen 13 out of the 14 seasons of the tv series.

 

[Simba's Mom]

#3/56-"The Faculty Lounge", Jennifer Mathieu. An interesting description of the experiences of various teachers who all meet in a high school faculty lounge. As a former high school teacher, I found myself nodding in agreement and chuckling at parts. 4 stars.

 

[OKW8297]

Thanks for keeping this going! I’ll shoot for 30. Finished my first: The Women by Kristen Hannah. Definitely hard to put down. I was born during the Vietnam War and remember the fall of Saigon so this was really poignant.

 

[cayennews]

#1 Fractured by Karin Slaughter. Part of the Will Trent series.

 

[VancouverIslandDisney]

Last year my goal was 20 books and managed 25, so this year I’ve set my goal of 30.

I’ve finished the 1st of the year so hopeful I can reach this goal.


1/30 Cross Country - James Patterson

This is the 15th book in the Alex Cross series. I find the authors writing style to keep me interested in continuing the series.


I tend to read one or two of the books in this series, then something more light hearted, then something non-fiction so will likely continue that routine throughout this year.

 

[bobbiwoz]

3/50
“Call the Midwife. A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times”. Jennifer Worth.

This is the first book.

From the book cover
At the age of 22, Jenifer Worth leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and to move into a convent and become a midwife on Postwar London’s East End Slums. The colorful characters she meets while delivering babies - from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives, to the woman with 24 children, to the prostitutes and the dockers of the seedier side -illuminates a fascinating time in history. Beautifully written and utterly moving, “ Call the Midwife” will touch the hearts of everyone who is, and everyone who has, a mother. 4.5/5

 

[Wood Nymph]

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.

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

7/104: The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
I really enjoyed this one, lots of Paris and food descriptions. Fiction about a woman who goes to Paris and finds her true calling. I didn't love the main character but the supporting characters and the location made up for it. 3

 

[RangerPooh]

2/15 Blue Lake Mysteries #5: Cook Off, Kill Off. By Hadley Knox

 

[Kirby]

I thought that I was reading my first book for 2025 the other day but in fact it was my second. I forgot about the first book I read before it.

#1 - Intrinsic; Book One of the Terran Cycle series by Philip C. Quaintrell
Genre - Science Fiction
A friend of mine asked me to read it, to see what thought about it. It engaged me at times but not always. Felt rather disjointed throughout the book. I'm not going to pursue the rest of the series.

#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.