Annual Reading Challenge 2019

[bobbiwoz]

4/75
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan....second of the series, enjoyable. I’m ready for the third!

 

[Kirby]

4/50 - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, genre - Science Fiction

As you probably already know, this book has a tv series on Hulu. I haven't seen it but decided to pick up the book due to the popularity of the tv show. I liked the book okay, I don't enjoy reading in the first person. There is a sequel due out in September called The Testaments. It's about what happened to Offred. I might read it because I would like to know what happened to her and I'd like to know why society changed if it gives you any clue.

 

[PigletsPal2]

Can I count the books I edit as having been read? Some of them haven't been published yet, but trust me, I read them! I'm not going to set a goal, because I can't determine in advance how busy I'm going to be editing. I'll start out with the ones I've actually already read for pleasure (I'm an insomniac, which is how I was able to read six hardback books in 19 days!):

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
2. Fire and Fury - Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff
3. A Christmas Revelation by Anne Perry
4. The Knowledge by Martha Grimes
5. The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen
6. Gunner Girls and Fighter Boys by Mary Gibson

Number One on my Christmas list every year is "a honkin' big book store gift card." And I always get at least one. Then our next tradition is to spend New Year's day at the book store that issued my card. We're standing at the door when they open, and we don't leave until 6:00 pm dinner time, at which time I've made a preliminary list of the books I'm going to buy over the next few weeks, until my card is empty. That brings me just about to my birthday in March...

Oops I forgot that I read Code Girls as well (I forget the author's name, and I loaned the book to my daughter, so I can't check it right now.)

Queen Colleen

 

[KevM]

Oops I forgot that I read Code Girls as well (I forget the author's name, and I loaned the book to my daughter, so I can't check it right now.)

Queen Colleen

Assuming you mean the book on the WWII code breakers, that was written by Liza Mundy.

 

[PigletsPal2]

Assuming you mean the book on the WWII code breakers, that was written by Liza Mundy.

That's the one! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Queen Colleen

 

[CallieMar]

4/50 Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts (Key Trilogy #2) - I liked Dana the most out of the three women in this trilogy, probably because I relate to her the most. Her chemistry with Jordan was great, and their story is like a second chance at love type of thing.

5/50 Key of Valor by Nora Roberts (Key Trilogy #3) - I really did not like Zoe in the first two books, mostly because she comes across as very defensive and doesn't give herself enough credit for what she's done. She's very resourceful, having made her own way ever since she was sixteen, and has created a good life for her son, Simon. Simon is absolutely the best part of this book, along with his growing father/son relationship with Bradley. The actual love story between Zoe and Bradley is just ok, but the three of them together are wonderful.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

5 Edge of extinction

 

[virge]

3/50: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
I read this for a book club I belong to. It’s by the author of The Nightingale and is about a young girl whose family moves to Alaska after her father returns from Vietnam. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

 

[Simba's Mom]

3/50: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
I read this for a book club I belong to. It’s by the author of The Nightingale and is about a young girl whose family moves to Alaska after her father returns from Vietnam. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

I read this last year, and the most interesting thing to me was that they were in a part of Alaska I'd visited. The rest of the book was just OK. Well, as time has gone on, I think back more and more positively about the book. If you enjoyed it when you finished, I'll predict you'll come to love it as you think back on it.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Only 2 more books so far in 2019-

#2-"The Perfect Couple", Elin Hildebrand-4 stars
#3-"The Unofficial Guide to WDW, 2019"-of course, 5 stars

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Can I up my reading goal I suddenly have a lot more time to read due to the shutdown

 

[dolewhipdreams]

3/50: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
I read this for a book club I belong to. It’s by the author of The Nightingale and is about a young girl whose family moves to Alaska after her father returns from Vietnam. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

Oh I loved The Nightingale. I"ll need to add The Great Alone to my list!

 

[bobbiwoz]

3/50: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
I read this for a book club I belong to. It’s by the author of The Nightingale and is about a young girl whose family moves to Alaska after her father returns from Vietnam. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

I read it too, last year, based on recommendations here! I did enjoy it too.

 

[Tiggerish]

The Seat Beside Me by Nancy Moser - Christian fiction. During a bad winter storm, an airplane crashes on take-off and goes into a freezing river. Seven people survive the crash and a hundred die. The story is about the conversations the survivors had with their seatmates before the crash and how the crash affected their lives.

The Fashion Designer by Nancy Moser - Christian historical fiction. Set in 1912, a young woman has come to New York after running away from her job as a housemaid in England. She has a series of encounters that leads to becoming a successful fashion designer. This is part of a series.

6 and 7 of 104

 

[bobbiwoz]

5/75 Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

Whew, it was a long story, three books, but it was a satisfying story of many people who really are over the top!

 

[Colleen27]

Does anyone else belong to a book club?

I haven't had good luck finding one IRL, which is part of why I like this thread and Goodreads and bookworm FB groups and Tumblr bloggers. Most of the IRL clubs I've tried in my area are either social with little actual reading/book discussion happening, or have a very narrow focus that I'm not interested in (the library has one for mystery readers and one for Christian literature, but no general or nonfiction clubs).

 

[Colleen27]

#11/130 - A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren

I actually downloaded this one onto my Kindle for my daughter, who is taking being old enough to vote in the 2020 primaries super seriously and is really interested in all the women running this cycle. I read it before, when it was newish (maybe 2013) but ended up re-reading it, as I often do with books DD17 is reading, so that we could talk about it as she read. A memoir of the dysfunctional nexus of big money and politics, particularly as it concerns the banking industry, as well as of Warren's 2012 senatorial campaign, the book gives a lot of infuriating and disheartening insight into the state of our political system as well as into the ideas that Warren was fighting for even before she got involved with politics.

#12/130 - Going Rogue by Chantal Fernando

Meh. I saw this pop up on Goodreads when a friend read it, and thought I'd give it a shot one night when I was in the mood for something light and easy, but it just didn't wow me. Not that the book was bad, really, though there wasn't much conflict and the characters all felt just a bit too perfect. But I should know by now not to pick up any of the million MC (biker) romances that have been oh-so-popular since Sons of Anarchy hit the scene. I've had too much up close experience with bikers to be able to get past the sanitization and glamourization of outlaw bikers enough to enjoy the love story. So not a bad book, but a bad choice on my part.

#13 & 14/130 - Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

These were interesting. Not my kind of story, but a concept that was unusual enough to catch my eye when a college-aged friend shared a review. They're the same story, a romance in the genre I have seen labeled "new adult" fiction for its centering on college-age protagonists, but from two different perspectives. Kind of like E. L. James has done with Grey, retelling 50 Shades from the male perspective, Walking Disaster retells the same events from Beautiful Disaster but from the perspective of the hero. The story itself didn't really wow me - the writing was good and the dialogue convincingly age-appropriate, but the plot centered around a reality-show-worthy college romance, with tons of drama and lots of stupid risk-taking (when seen through almost-40yo eyes), and with as young as the characters were, a happily ever after ending felt more like a life-altering mistake than a satisfying ending. I am clearly too old for these kinds of books (or maybe my kids are too old - 4 out of the 5 living under my roof are within a year or two of the main characters' ages and I'd smack any one of them silly if they acted anything like the cast of these stories!). LOL

 

[sjrec]

I haven't had good luck finding one IRL, which is part of why I like this thread and Goodreads and bookworm FB groups and Tumblr bloggers. Most of the IRL clubs I've tried in my area are either social with little actual reading/book discussion happening, or have a very narrow focus that I'm not interested in (the library has one for mystery readers and one for Christian literature, but no general or nonfiction clubs).

I’m so lucky-my core group is a bunch of retired librarians and HS English teachers. During the summer our younger colleagues that are still working join us. I might not always “like” the book for that month, but we have some great discussions.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Does anyone else belong to a book club?

Technically I belong to my work's book club, but I can't attend the meetings due to other obligations during the meeting time. Ah, well. They are reading Becoming by Michelle Obama right now

 

[Kirby]

5/50 - The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan, genre Historical.
On June 5, 1944, as dawn rises over a small town on the Normandy coast of France, Emmanuelle is making the bread that has sustained her fellow villagers in the dark days since the Germans invaded her country.

Only twenty-two, Emma learned to bake at the side of a master, Ezra Kuchen, the village baker since before she was born. Apprenticed to Ezra at thirteen, Emma watched with shame and anger as her kind mentor was forced to wear the six-pointed yellow star on his clothing. She was likewise powerless to help when they pulled Ezra from his shop at gunpoint, the first of many villagers stolen away and never seen again.

In the years that her sleepy coastal village has suffered under the enemy, Emma has silently, stealthily fought back. Each day, she receives an extra ration of flour to bake a dozen baguettes for the occupying troops. And each day, she mixes that precious flour with ground straw to create enough dough for two extra loaves - contraband bread she shares with the hungry villagers. Under the cold, watchful eyes of armed soldiers, she builds a clandestine network of barter and trade that she and the villagers use to thwart their occupiers.

But her gift to the village is more than these few crusty loaves. Emma gives the people a taste of hope - the faith that one day the Allies will arrive to save them.
I enjoyed this book. I am considering bringing it to my book club's attention. I think it would be a great discussion topic.