Reading Thread/Goals for 2026

[cayennews]

#4 Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy. It was an interesting book. Very blunt and a little shocking.

 

[bobbiwoz]

8/70
Jan Karon, one of my favorite authors just wrote another Mitford Novel, “My Beloved.” 5/5!

 

[Simba's Mom]

6/55-The Mad Wife, Megan Church. 4 stars. Anyone who remembers S&H Green Stamps will like this book. Ending struck a cord, interesting.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I've never been a reader ... ever. Not even in school. I hated reading. Absolutely hated it. That said, I just started Dave's Total Money Makeover book last night. Got through the intro and 1st chapter and got about halfway through the second chapter before falling asleep. It's very interesting and eye-opening, and it's making me want to read more. I'm so fed up with being in debt, behind on bills, having no money, living paycheck to paycheck and I'm ready to break that cycle. So trying to read it and adhere to the information it gives.

Might kickstart me reading more. Who knows?

 

[melk]

3/35 Life, Loss, and Puffins by Catherine Ryan Hyde

A sweet book about grief, hope and friendship. I really enjoyed it and it made me want to go to the arctic circle to see the aurora borealis, haha.

 

[bobbiwoz]

9/70. “Matchmaking can be Murder,” by Amanda Flower. A new series by the author. Takes place in Homes County Ohio, where her last series took place. 3.5/5

 

[bobbiwoz]

6/55-The Mad Wife, Megan Church. 4 stars. Anyone who remembers S&H Green Stamps will like this book. Ending struck a cord, interesting.

I remember! Will look at home for the book, or is it a new book?

 

[Simba's Mom]

I remember! Will look at home for the book, or is it a new book?

Published in 2025, so it's fairly new

 

[bobbiwoz]

Published in 2025, so it's fairly new

It’s not in my hometown library.

 

[MGMmjl]

3/32 - The Trip by Audrey J. Cole

Description:
"A luxury sailing trip is the perfect escape from Palmer’s shattered marriage. Until the Pacific Coast cruise—a chance for old friends to mend old wounds—descends into a harrowing fight for their lives.

Twenty years ago, the five of them were inseparable. But after a rafting accident their senior year, only four of them returned. Volleyball captain Courtney’s body was never found. And their lives were never the same.

Now Palmer, her ride-or-die Beth, and home renovator Emma are on an all-expenses-paid trip with mega-influencer Gigi. But a mysterious note and a violent storm soon push them dangerously off course. The radio’s down, the captain’s missing, and the first officer’s woefully inexperienced. And in a chilling echo of the past, Gigi gets swept away. Perhaps on purpose.

Someone doesn’t want them to make it back. Palmer’s not sure who to trust, but she knows the truth lies in the murky depths of what really happened that day on the river."

I thought this was a pretty good thriller.

 

[mmbrad02]

I have decided it may be a struggle to reach my reading goal this year. And it's only January But I am enjoying jigsaw puzzles and my side hobby of selling on Ebay so much that... it kind of cuts into my reading time. But I digress....

6/75 Home With You by Susan Mallery. I enjoy SM's books overall but I do find they can feel a little repetitive. But easy light reads usually. This one was not my favorite. I felt the character development could have been better early on, and it felt rushed.

7/75 First Time Caller by B.K. Borison. Cute show about a radio host and a child that calls in on behalf of her mom, and it goes from there. I really liked the first half of this book. 1/2-3/4 seemed to drag on for me, and the last 1/4 was good again. Overall I guess I'm trying to say it could have been a little shorter and been perfectly fine. But I did like it and I'm anxious to read the sequel coming out later this month.

 

[MGMmjl]

4/32 - Stone Cold by C. J. Box

Description:
"Everything about the man is a mystery: the massive ranch in the remote Black Hills of Wyoming that nobody ever visits, the women who live with him, the secret philanthropies, the private airstrip, the sudden disappearances. And especially the persistent rumors that the man’s wealth comes from killing people. Joe Pickett, still officially a game warden but now mostly a troubleshooter for the governor, is assigned to find out what the truth is, but he discovers a lot more than he’d bargained for. There are two other men living up at that ranch. One is a stone-cold killer who takes an instant dislike to Joe. The other is new—but Joe knows him all too well. The first man doesn’t frighten Joe. The second is another story entirely."

This is book #14 in the Joe Pickett series. It has been a while since I have read a Joe Pickett novel, but I'm glad I started back on the series. This is another great book. I look forward to reading the next entry in the series soon.

 

[bobbiwoz]

10/70. “Lost Birds,” by Anne Hillerman. So happy that Anne continues the series begun by her dad! A good one! 4.5/5

 

[Lumpy1106]

3/25 - Abigail Shrier, "Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up", 5/5
If you have a kid that has graduated high school since the start of COVID, you need to read this book. All the therapy, drug intervention, shall we say, alternative lifestyles, ALL of it should be questioned and scrutinized. Step 1, PUT DOWN THE SMART PHONES, unplug from all social media, all of it. Seems like we've heard this before.

4/25 - Jocko Willink, "Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win", 4.5/5
Listened to the audiobook (which is quite good), Willink ties good leadership in business to what he learned as a Navy SEAL. Really good advice, a little repetitive. Two big takeaways; 1) don't blame others, take ownership of what you can control. 2) If you want to accomplish something but you use the excuse that you don't have time, don't do that. Set an alarm, don't hit snooze, get up and get going (literally). That one hit hard; I used to be big on getting up early, surfed every morning before dawn when I was going to college, went for a run every morning (4:30a) when I had a chocolate Lab that loved to do that. Then COVID - I got lazy, a lot of us did. I tried it this morning and guess what? It works, it's not hard. If you want more sleep get to bed earlier, but is you want to exercise, take up a hobby, whatever, stop making excuses, get up and make the time or it won't happen.

 

[melk]

4/35 They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

This is a graphic novel that I read for a reading challenge at our library. It was a really interesting account of the authors childhood spent in a Japanese internment camp. Very eye-opening as I don’t find this dark part of American history talked about often.

 

[clappyclaps]

4/30 = It by Stephen King - 4.5/5

After recently watching It: Welcome to Derry, I decided now would be a good time to re-read the original book as apparently 2017 was the last time I tackled it. It took me far longer than I'd like to get through, mostly because it's a beast of a book and I haven't been in the mood for reading. But I was still as engaged reading this through again as I was the first time, and while this isn't my favourite King books, it's certainly up there. The only thing that let's it down in my eyes is what happens in the ending for the kids (those that have read it will know what I'm referring to).

 

[bobbiwoz]

4/35 They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

This is a graphic novel that I read for a reading challenge at our library. It was a really interesting account of the authors childhood spent in a Japanese internment camp. Very eye-opening as I don’t find this dark part of American history talked about often.

I just put a hold on it. Thank you for mentioning.