Annual Reading Challenge--2020

[bobbiwoz]

25/80. Potions are for Pushovers by Tamara Berry

Not a very interesting mystery, set in an English village. Blackmail and poisons!

 

[OKW8297]

13. The Institute by Stephen King. Very good book-he’s such an amazing author. It’s not gruesome, but children are involved so it is disturbing.

 

[Colleen27]

#26/156 - Be Angry by the Dali Lama

A short book on Buddhist thought on the danger and utility of the emotion of anger, developed from an interview a Japanese writer conducted with the Dali Lama. This was deceptively short but the sort of book that demands you sit with it a bit, reread sections even though you just finished them, and generally take your time. If you have any interest in Buddhist practice or philosophy, I'd highly recommend this one or any of the others in the series, each of which deals with a different emotion.

#27 - Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger

I'm not usually a big fan of memoirs, but as a Disney fan, I was really looking forward to this one. It didn't disappoint. Like many Disney Parks fans, my opinions of Iger's leadership have definitely had both highs and lows but it was fascinating to see the path that took him to the top of Disney, and as a huge Marvel and Star Wars fan, it was fascinating to read the behind-the-scenes stories of those blockbuster acquistions. And Iger is quite a storyteller. The book really grabs you from the start, with the introduction set amid very dramatic events at a single point in time during his leadership of the company, and never dragged on as business memoirs sometimes can.

#28 - Hero's Baby by Aubrey Wright

This was just bleh. I don't read a lot of contemporary romance and this one reminded me why quite effectively - the characters were two-dimensional, the conflict contrived rather than feeling genuine, and the whole thing just packed full of cliches from the baby that the father didn't know about to the rich man saving the struggling single mom from her life. But it was available on my library's ebook platform when I was having trouble sleeping because of this whole virus mess, and it did provide a couple hours of escapism. Sometimes that's really all a book needs to do.

 

[Colleen27]

20/80 Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

“Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” is the sub title and it was written in 2005. It’s a lot to take in, but important things to think about and act upon.

I picked this one up from the library just before they closed, so it is on my to-read list for the near future.

Funny story that I know other readers would appreciate - until last year, I was working for the local newspaper as the reporter covering the community I live in. In that job, I made a lot of helpful contacts in our town and in a lot of government institutions, from the library board up to the city commission. Well, when our governor scheduled a press event and news started leaking out that a bar/restaurant closure order was coming, one of those contacts who got a preview of the full order the governor was going to be issuing later in the day sent me a quick text letting me know it was going well beyond restaurants and bars to include gyms, movie theatres, museums... and libraries. He knows how much I read, had run into me a handful of times at each of our two local library branches, and thought I might want to make one last trip before they closed. So by 10am, I'd gone to the branch in our town and checked out a half-dozen titles in addition to picking up 4 inter-library loans that had come in. By noon, I was at the other branch I frequent, in the next town over, because they had two of the Outlander titles that weren't available at my branch, and I was there when the librarians got the call that they would be closing at 3pm until further notice. I told my contact that I owe him a beer when this is all over because if I'd got the news from the governor's 1pm press conference, I wouldn't have had nearly as much time to gather a good selection of titles from my to-read list. (And the best part is, due dates are suspended for the duration so I have plenty of time to read through my stack!)

14. The Stand by Stephen King

Yes, I get the irony. And, yes, it was a little uncomfortable reading this now in light of everything going on, but I felt a commitment to see this through. This is the originally published version (Doubleday) and later in the series I will read the "Complete and Uncut" version, but for now I wanted to read the book that made me fall in love with King as an author. This is a masterpiece, and I laughed at the funniest parts, sobbed at the saddest moments, and rode the journey with these characters. King's writing is brilliant in this (just see the paragraph written from Kodak, the dog's, point-of-view) and his story is (as he calls it) an American Tolkien vision (ala Lord of the Rings). If for some reason you haven't read this, you should. It will convince you that while King excels at horror, he really excels at telling stories.

This is the only book I've ever read in my entire life that gave me nightmares, and I loved it. I kind of want to reread it just to see if it has the same impact now as it did 25 years ago, when I read it for the first time.

 

[Disney_Alli]

18/75 - Where Winter Finds You (Black Dagger Brotherhood Book 17.5): J.R. Ward

Love this series and now I’m caught up to read the newest book that came out Tuesday and was delivered yesterday. I enjoyed this one a lot though I felt the ending was slightly rushed but then it’s also over 400 pages and kind of a filler book between the “main” books she probably just wanted done with it.

 

[daydreamer101]

3) A Bird in the House by Margaret Laurence
A collection of short stories following a girl and her family in a fictional southern Manitoba town in the 1930s. I read some of these stories throughout university and it was nice to visit the whole collection outside of academics! A little dense and more "literary" than what I normally read, I still really enjoyed it.

4) The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
After a tainted seafood buffet leaves the bride and groom out of commission, Olive and Eathan pretend to be married so the Hawaiian honeymoon doesn't go to waste. Enemies-to-lovers trope. SUPER cute, fluffy, and everything you could want from a rom-com. (If you finish and want a similar vibe, read Roomies.)

 

[Tiggerish]

Coming Home by Holly Kerr, Book 1 in the series Sisters in a Small Town. It was another free download but it was entertaining. There are five sisters who grew up in a small town in northern Ontario, Canada. Their father abandoned the family and their mother was mentally ill so the sister kinda raise themselves. Now they are all adult and two have moved away and three remained in their hometown. Then the one who went away to university and then law school and a legal career in Vancouver, returns home after she catches her husband with her assistant and makes a scene their law firm that costs her her job. The story is about how she reconnects to her family and finds romance.

Whispers From Yesterday by Robin Lee Hatcher. Christian romantic fiction with the happy ending.

20 and 21 of 80.

 

[willowsnn3]

I picked this one up from the library just before they closed, so it is on my to-read list for the near future.

Funny story that I know other readers would appreciate - until last year, I was working for the local newspaper as the reporter covering the community I live in. In that job, I made a lot of helpful contacts in our town and in a lot of government institutions, from the library board up to the city commission. Well, when our governor scheduled a press event and news started leaking out that a bar/restaurant closure order was coming, one of those contacts who got a preview of the full order the governor was going to be issuing later in the day sent me a quick text letting me know it was going well beyond restaurants and bars to include gyms, movie theatres, museums... and libraries. He knows how much I read, had run into me a handful of times at each of our two local library branches, and thought I might want to make one last trip before they closed. So by 10am, I'd gone to the branch in our town and checked out a half-dozen titles in addition to picking up 4 inter-library loans that had come in. By noon, I was at the other branch I frequent, in the next town over, because they had two of the Outlander titles that weren't available at my branch, and I was there when the librarians got the call that they would be closing at 3pm until further notice. I told my contact that I owe him a beer when this is all over because if I'd got the news from the governor's 1pm press conference, I wouldn't have had nearly as much time to gather a good selection of titles from my to-read list. (And the best part is, due dates are suspended for the duration so I have plenty of time to read through my stack!)



This is the only book I've ever read in my entire life that gave me nightmares, and I loved it. I kind of want to reread it just to see if it has the same impact now as it did 25 years ago, when I read it for the first time.

Sooo glad you got to go to your library before it closed. My county headquarters library is only a couple miles from my home & the halfway mark to my job so I am in there a lot. I knew a few days before that our library system was closing on 3/15 but a couple days before that I had a very close family member pass away so the 2 days before the library closed was spent with family & making final arrangements so I didn't get to stop by to stock up. I only had two books out at the time (and one of those was a cookbook, lol). And absolutely nothing at home to read. Finally broke down & bought 2 books at the Dollar Tree, lol.
As for 'The Stand', that has always been one of my favorite books & have re read it a couple times. Every time I get a cold/sniffles I think of that book, lol.

 

[monarchsfan16]

21/30: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. This is a VERY short (159 pages I think) multigenerational family story. It's very good, but it needed more. It's dramatic and deep, but too short to be deep enough. It's sweet, but again, a little too short. The author flawlessly moves between characters and time. 4/5 because of its brevity.

 

[Simba's Mom]

4) The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
After a tainted seafood buffet leaves the bride and groom out of commission, Olive and Eathan pretend to be married so the Hawaiian honeymoon doesn't go to waste. Enemies-to-lovers trope. SUPER cute, fluffy, and everything you could want from a rom-com. (If you finish and want a similar vibe, read Roomies.)

Thanks! I just put Roomies on my wish list for the library. I also read "The Unhoneymooners" and enjoyed it. Kind of predictable, but I loved it.

 

[allenfane]

Finished book 5 of Hillerman's series - The Dark Wind. This one flowed better than the first Chee novel and actually was made into a movie staring Lou Diamond Phillips. I'll have to see if I have that movie and see how it compares to the book.
As I'm reading the books, I'm struck by how much patience the main characters (both Leaphorn and Chee) show. Someone prowling around at night trying to kill Chee, and he waits for hours until daylight before he moves from his hiding place to check the area. I definitely would have taken off running long before that. ( and probably would have ended up dead halfway through the book)

 

[SaintsManiac]

8/30 --Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love--by Dani Shapiro
Interesting story, but she was so redundant in places I got annoyed.

9/30-- Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank
I enjoyed this one. It was a nice escape read.

10/30-- Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy
The actual memoir parts were beautifully written, but she went very cold and text book toward the end. I could have done without that.

11/30--Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Amazing book. One of the best I have ever read. I'll be feeling this one for a very long time.

 

[drwitz]

13. Night Shift by Stephen King

And the King reread goes on. This is the first Stephen King short story collection and it is a doozy! Many of the stories were published elsewhere, and some are new to this collection. Some of the stories have been made into full-length movies ("Children of the Corn", "Trucks", "Lawnmower Man") while others are clearly precursors for other stories ("Jerusalem's Lot" and "One for the Road" for "'Salem's Lot"; "Night Surf" for "The Stand"). All in all a wonderful collection.

14. The Stand by Stephen King

Yes, I get the irony. And, yes, it was a little uncomfortable reading this now in light of everything going on, but I felt a commitment to see this through. This is the originally published version (Doubleday) and later in the series I will read the "Complete and Uncut" version, but for now I wanted to read the book that made me fall in love with King as an author. This is a masterpiece, and I laughed at the funniest parts, sobbed at the saddest moments, and rode the journey with these characters. King's writing is brilliant in this (just see the paragraph written from Kodak, the dog's, point-of-view) and his story is (as he calls it) an American Tolkien vision (ala Lord of the Rings). If for some reason you haven't read this, you should. It will convince you that while King excels at horror, he really excels at telling stories.

15. The Long Walk by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)

Long before The Hunger Games, way before Maze Runner, and more divergent before Divergent, Stephen King wrote a YA dystopian fantasy called The Long Walk. Featuring a group of teenagers competing on a continuous walk through Maine's East Coast, and with a character whose last name closely resembles mine (of course, he's an obnoxious character -- thanks Mr. King), this page-turner keeps you engrossed all the way through (thank goodness there is no squad of soldiers watching to see if you put your book down). The vision of the near future is a little dated (after all this was published in 1979) but the story holds no punches. It leaves you with a cliffhanger ending (and I long to have a discussion with someone else as to their vision of what happened after the last sentence).

16. The Dead Zone by Stephen King

Oh, what to say about this one... That a view of a megalomaniac leader who holds a threat for the US, and a man with prophetic sight who's faced with a terrible choice reads as a modern parable? That I forgot how beautiful this book was (after all I last read it as a teenager and now I am a man of 50)? Or that I simply hoped for a happier ending? Whatever, forget my rant. Read it!

17. Firestarter by Stephen King

Some people may think this is another Carrie but that would be a big mistake. Along with The Shining and The Dead Zone, the protagonist in our story has a dreadful power, but this novel casts the government (The Shop) in the role of the antagonist. While I love all Stephen King novels, when I last read this I was closer to the age of the girl, Charlie. This time I am much closer to Andy (the father's) age. King's writing about parental responsibilities and guilt slayed me. Amazing how King writes for multiple audiences simultaneously and his writing speaks to you in different times in different ways,

 

[Tiggerish]

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. This book was mentioned back in January by Saintsmanic and Willowsnn3 and I had to get on a long waiting list to finally get a digital download from the library. They were correct it was an excellent book. Historical fiction at its best and on a topic that I did not know much about but got deeply involved in.

22 of 80

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks! I just put Roomies on my wish list for the library. I also read "The Unhoneymooners" and enjoyed it. Kind of predictable, but I loved it.

Oops! I just noticed in my book count that I'd mistakenly called it "The Honeymooners", leaving out the "Un" at the time. But this is what I meant.

 

[melk]

11/25 A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

What starts as a rift between new neighbors over an old oak tree turns into much more once the teenagers from each family become romantically involved.

The book started out a little slow for me but overall I liked it. It takes its time developing the characters and by the time you get to part three of the book you are hooked. It tackles deep issues such as racism and class distinctions and gives you a lot to think about when you’ve finished reading it. Definitely stirs the emotions.

 

[willowsnn3]

15. The Long Walk by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)

One of my all time favorite King books!

 

[mini22]

14/35 The Good Fight by Danielle Steel

 

[BonnieF]

11/50. Dead Water, Ann Cleeves. The fifth book in her Shetland series. I really like Jimmy Perez!

 

[OKW8297]

14. Spring House by Mary Ellen Taylor. Sequel to Winter Cottage. Nice addition with two story lines past and present