Annual Reading Challenge--2020

29/30 Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne Hillerman

I enjoyed this and am so glad I learned here that his daughter has continued the series.
 
19/35 A Perfect Life by Danielle Steel
20/35 You Don't Own Me by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke
 
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10/30--The Shining by Stephen King.

Wow. I love the movie but the book has much more to it! This could be my new favorite King. I loved everything about this book. Next up for King has to be Dr. Sleep!

I am trying to catch up on books that I was "supposed to read" back when I was in high school. I'm a 1/3 of the way through Wuthering Heights. I actually really like it. After Emily Bronte, though, it's back to King!
 


Sorry! It has been a cra-a-a-a-azy week. But back now.

To me, I think either he dies or he kills the *****. I would hope for the 2nd but knowing King stories it is likely the first.

What about you?
Sorry, I haven't replied sooner!

My daughter thinks he dies. I want to believe he's just delusional after finishing the grueling walk. I don't think he exacts any revenge, although I would love it if he did!
 
7/12 The Ghostway, by Tony Hillerman. Book 6 and the last of the three Chee only books. I'm now starting Skinwalkers, where Lt. Leaphorn and Sgt. Chee start working together.
 
28: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. Not the lightest content, but a good read. 4/5

29: Twenty by Debra Landwehr Engle. This was a brief but beautiful book. Not the most unique, not the most complex, but poignant. 5/5
 


29/30 Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne Hillerman

I enjoyed this and am so glad I learned here that his daughter has continued the series.

Glad you liked it! That is actually the book I just finished. I'm glad she decided to continue the series too. I've read 3 of her books so far out of the 5 she has written.

14/30 - Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman
 
16/25 American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

A bookstore owner’s family is gunned down by a Mexican cartel and she is forced to escape with her eight year old son. Their journey north towards the United States brings them together with other migrants also looking to cross the border for various reasons.

I know this has been a controversial book. Personally, I couldn’t put it down. It’s definitely a heavy book and one that will stay with me for a long time.
 
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

29/80

I also got a digital download from my library to read this important book!
 
Glad you liked it! That is actually the book I just finished. I'm glad she decided to continue the series too. I've read 3 of her books so far out of the 5 she has written.

14/30 - Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman
I ordered the next four from the Bookshop! They are not in the on line digital books available to me!
 
15/42 - The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah - not my favorite of hers, but a compelling read about a difficult subject

16/42 - Camino Winds - John Grisham - the second book of his that is set on Camino Island (this was the name of the first book as well). Quick read. I rate it above average, but not in my Grisham favorites.

Now back to the Outlander series! I'm starting book five, The Fiery Cross.
 
Back to the Stephen King re-read.

22. Cujo by Stephen King

Another one I have in paperback. So, I noticed this time that the book begins "Once Upon a Time". The introduction promises a fable with monsters and princes on horseback and damsels in distress. You get that. Kinda. We definitely get the monsters. Cujo is a GOODBOY who turns bad through no fault of his own (always blame the bats), and in the end he is as much a victim as are his victims. The book is suspenseful and reads quickly (do you remember the days when Stephen King novels were less than 300 pages long?). The characters seem to be amalgams of people we have seen before (namely the family in The Shining). I do feel like this book is the first time I realized that there was a greater Stephen King universe (and this is made clear from the opening where there is a strong connection to the events of The Dead Zone). The book is a good read and moves quickly to its inevitable conclusion!

23. The Running Man by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)

This is the last of the four Bachman Books prior to Thinner (which is when the whole Bachman / King thing blew up). This one has more of a sci-fi feel. Set in the far distant future (2025), it tells the story of a poor man who desperately participates in a TV game-show which may end up in his death. I don't want to give too much away, but as the inevitable conclusion draws near I kept on hoping for some kind of "magic door" or other way out. It was well-written, fast-paced, and much better than the Arnold Schwarzenegger film adaptation.

And the beat goes on...

24. Creepshow by Stephen King

So this might be a cheat, but given how lo-o-o-ong some Stephen King novels are, I'm counting it. Creepshow is a graphic novel presentation of the ideas from the like-titled movie. Presented like a comic and in the form of a "Weird Tales" -like adaptation, this collection of tales is wonderfully interesting and entertaining. This was a quick read, but a fun one.

25. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

OK, it is time to admit a deep, dark secret that I have been hiding for years. I've been reluctant to acknowledge this, but here it is. Once, when I was in high school (circa 1984), I stole a book from the library. The specifics are this: I actually checked the book out, I just never returned it. I did pay the lost book fee for it, but I kept the book in my personal library. It was this book! Only 10,000 copies were printed and I knew it was a limited edition book. There was no place to buy it; no Amazon.com or eBay. And to makes matters worse, I really didn't like the book. It felt like a loosely connected series of western/sci-fi stories with no real direction and no sense of a through-put story. Boy in retrospect was I wrong! Reading this now that I know the rest of the Dark Tower cycle, I can see how the seeds for what was to come were laid in this book, and I really enjoyed reading back through it this time now that I had a clear vision of the total story. For someone new to the Dark Tower cycle, just bear with it! It may seem like snippets from a weird dream, but the connection is coming; I promise! This tine through I also enjoyed seeing the construction of the giant universe King was building, and seeing the connections he was planting early on (The Dark Man from The Stand returns in this collection; is it the same man/mythical creature?).

26. Different Seasons by (you guessed it) Stephen King

If you don't like "Stephen King" stories, this may be the book for you. Have you seen and enjoyed any of these movies: "The Shawshank Redemption", "Stand by Me" or "Apt Pupil"? Then you've been exposed to a Stephen King story! Long before these were made into hugely successful films, this collection of novellas provided a wonderfully broad exposure to King's excellent prose and (with the exception of "The Breathing Method") doesn't have a supernatural element in them. I also loved the small connections between stories: the prisoner in "Shawshank" is the banker of the old man in "Apt Pupil"; Constable Bannerman in "Apt Pupil" is Sheriff Bannerman in Cujo and The Dead Zone. A very satisfying collection of longer short stories, and a worthwhile reread. These stories fit like comfortable pajamas; and King is at his best with each of them.

Now off to read a book about a haunted car.... Oh, my life.
 
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Update time! The shelter in place gives me more time to read-

#18-"The Trouble with Tabbies", AG Henley-4 stars
#19-"Memories of Glass", M Dobson-3 stars. historical fiction, which I usually really like, but this wasn't my favorite
#20-"The Best of Us", R Carr, 4 stars, part of a series, but can be read as a stand-alone
#21-"The Happy Camper", M Carlson, 4 stars, nice, easy read for these turbulent times
#22-what I'm reading now, "A Mother's Goodbye, Hewitt, so far I really like it.
 
-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.
I have to agree with this. After I saw this review, I got on the library ebook waitlist and it was worth the wait. It is about a 12 year old boy who was the sole survivor of an airplane crash the kills 191 other people including both his parents and his brother. The book follows how he puts his life back together over the next several years. The crash details are revealed as flash backs during his story in a seamless way that was very impressive.

The February Files. A Manny Rivera Mystery by Rich Curtin. This is the third book I have read in the series and I continue to enjoy the characters and the story lines.

Inn Over Her Head by Dixie Davis. This was a cosy mystery about a woman trying to open a B & B whose first guest is murdered. I knew who the murder was almost immediately so not much of a mystery.

Impossible Dream by Cenna Jackson. Set in Dublin in the late 1800s about an abused wife who manages to get out from under her husband's thumb and turns her house into a home that helps women escape from abusive situations and start a new life.

Whisked Away by Melanie Summers. A romantic comedy with a fair amount of adult content. It was very light reading.

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30/80 Borderline by Nevada Barr
I used to read all of the Anna Pigeon series because I like to read about National Parks. That was a long time ago, I had begun to get tired of the subtexts. I thought this was pretty good, 4 out of 5.
 
30/80 Borderline by Nevada Barr
I used to read all of the Anna Pigeon series because I like to read about National Parks. That was a long time ago, I had begun to get tired of the subtexts. I thought this was pretty good, 4 out of 5.
Thanks for the recommendation! I just requested the first book.
 
Well I should have set my goal higher!

30/30: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick. I loved this book. It’s, for lack of a better word, sweet. It was exactly the type of book I needed to read in these current times. 5/5
 

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