Reading Challenge/Goals for 2023--2024 link added

[bobbiwoz]

29/30 - The Way of the Bear by Anne Hillerman

Description:
"An unexpected death on a lonely road outside of Utah's Bears Ears National Park raises questions for Navajo Tribal Police officers Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito. Why would a seasoned outdoorsman and well-known paleontologist freeze to death within walking distance of his car? A second death brings more turmoil. Who is the unidentified man killed during a home invasion where nothing seems to have been taken? Why was he murdered?

The Bears Ears area, at the edge of the Navajo Nation, is celebrated for its abundance of early human habitation sites and the discovery of unique fossils which revolutionized the scientific view of how early animals dealt with their changing world. For Chee and Bernie, the area glows with geological interest and spiritual insight. But their visit to this achingly beautiful place is disrupted by a current of unprecedented violence that sweeps them both into danger.

An illicit business, a fossilized jaw bone, hints of witchcraft, and a mysterious disappearance during a blizzard add to the peril. It will take all of Manuelito's and Chee's experience, skill, and intuition to navigate the threats that arise beneath the twin buttes that give Bears Ears its name and to see justice served."

This is the 26th novel in the Leaphorn, Chee, and (now) Manuelito series started by Tony Hillerman, and the 8th novel Anne Hillerman has written since she took over the series after her father's death. I continue to really like the series, and look forward to reading the next entry next year!

80/85
I really enjoyed this book! 4.5/5

 

[willowsnn3]

I don't think I have listed my last 3 so here goes:
#51/50 Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin
Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning.
Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood, waiting for signs: this one devotes herself to her child too much, this one not enough—that must surely draw the affliction’s gaze. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?
Just ok for me, could have been much better.
#52/50 Scarecrow by Robin Hathaway
Dr. Jo Banks, a young female doctor practicing in Manhattan. When a little patient dies, Banks blames herself. Unable to face her life, she runs—leaving her lover, driving away from New York and through New Jersey without a destination on the highway or in her life. She stops at a motel, and that evening is called upon to treat a woman taken suddenly ill.
The episode leads the motel owner to present Jo with a deal. Neither he nor the other motel owners can afford to keep a doctor on hand, but it is sometimes difficult to get one to come out from the nearest city. What they need is a cooperative house doctor—someone who can quickly get to any of the nearby motels. How about it? Jo takes the deal—without knowing that it will involve her in a series of gruesome murders of itinerant farm workers.
I kinda liked this one. More of a light mystery. Beginning of a new series but not too sure if I want to read more.
#53/50 Wish You Were Gone by Kieran Scott
Emma Walsh has finally worked up the courage to confront her husband James about his drinking—his alcoholic rages, his blackouts, and the fear his behavior has created for her and their two kids. But James never shows up to meet her as planned, and all her righteous words go unsaid. And unsaid they remain, because the next time Emma sees James, his body lies crumpled amidst the wreckage of his flashy car, which has been smashed to its final resting place halfway through the back wall of their suburban house’s roomy garage.
In the aftermath of the fatal crash, Emma and her teenage children begin to embrace life without James’s looming, volcanic presence. Buoyed by the support of her two closest friends, she struggles to deal with her grief, complicated by the knowledge that her husband’s legacy as an upstanding business owner and family man shines only because so many people, for so long, were so willing to keep his secrets—secrets that twist into new and unexpected shapes as the mysterious details of his last day of life begin to come to light.
Good but not great.

 

[bobbiwoz]

81/85 “The Girl with the Louding Voice” by Abi Daré

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. This, her mother has told her, is the only way to get a "louding voice"—the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's father sells her to be the third wife of a local man who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir.

When Adunni runs away to the city, hoping to make a better life, she finds that the only other option before her is servitude to a wealthy family. As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless slave, Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing.

But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it. And when she realizes that she must stand up not only for herself, but for other girls, for the ones who came before her and were lost, and for the next girls, who will inevitably follow; she finds the resolve to speak, however she can—in a whisper, in song, in broken English—until she is heard.

Wow, powerful! 5/5

 

[SpaceMan5]

When I first saw the subject line, I thought this should fun since I like to read but HOLY COW I could not believe the number of books that y'all are wanting to read! I feel pretty good about myself if I read one book every month or so.

I like the spy, CIA genre. A few of my favorite authors:
Mark Greaney,
Tom Clancy (RIP), Vince Flynn (RIP) - glad to see other authors continue the stories
Brad Metzler - he ties in early US history with his modern storylines
Brad Thor

Also like to add in some classics and history

Happy reading!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

31/30 - Morning Glory - by LaVyrle Spencer

This is basically a love story between two people who grew up in tough, loveless situations. The setting is rural Georgia beginning in 1941.

I am always intrigued when someone says that this is one of their favorite books and they have read it many times. I have a few of those books. I'm glad that I decided to read it. This is a well-written book that was enjoyable to read.

 

[bobbiwoz]

82/85
”Almost Amish” by Nancy Sleeth. 4/5

 

[willowsnn3]

31/30 - Morning Glory - by LaVyrle Spencer
I am always intrigued when someone says that this is one of their favorite books and they have read it many times. I have a few of those books. I'm glad that I decided to read it. This is a well-written book that was enjoyable to read.

Me! That would be me! I do love this book & have read it several times.

 

[willowsnn3]

When I first saw the subject line, I thought this should fun since I like to read but HOLY COW I could not believe the number of books that y'all are wanting to read! I feel pretty good about myself if I read one book every month or so.

I like the spy, CIA genre. A few of my favorite authors:
Mark Greaney,
Tom Clancy (RIP), Vince Flynn (RIP) - glad to see other authors continue the stories
Brad Metzler - he ties in early US history with his modern storylines
Brad Thor

Also like to add in some classics and history

Happy reading!!

We do have some serious readers! I used to read a whole more than I do now but still feel like I always have to have something on hand to read.

 

[willowsnn3]

#54/50 Night by Elie Wiesel
Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man.

 

[melk]

26/35 Someone Else’s Shoes by Jo Jo Moyes

When Sam accidentally takes someone else’s gym bag it sets in motion a series of mix ups and leads to some revelations and new and surprising friendships.

This was enjoyable enough, an easy and quick read with some funny parts.

 

[bobbiwoz]

31/30 - Morning Glory - by LaVyrle Spencer

This is basically a love story between two people who grew up in tough, loveless situations. The setting is rural Georgia beginning in 1941.

I am always intrigued when someone says that this is one of their favorite books and they have read it many times. I have a few of those books. I'm glad that I decided to read it. This is a well-written book that was enjoyable to read.

I’ve read a lot of LaVyrle Spencer years ago, and when I saw this, I decided to read her last one, and i really enjoyed it. “Then Came Heaven.” 4.5/5. 83/85

 

[MGMmjl]

32/30 - Die Trying by Lee Child

Description:
"In a Chicago suburb, a dentist is met in his office parking lot by three men and ordered into the trunk of his Lexus. On a downtown sidewalk, Jack Reacher and an unknown woman are abducted in broad daylight by two men - practiced and confident - who stop them at gunpoint and hustle them into the same sedan. Then Reacher and the woman are switched into a second vehicle and hauled away, leaving the dentist bound and gagged inside his car with the woman's abandoned possessions, two gallons of gasoline. . . and a burning match. The FBI is desperate to rescue the woman, a Special Agent from the Chicago office, because the FBI always - always - takes care of its own, and because this woman is not just another agent. Reacher and the woman join forces, against seemingly hopeless odds, to outwit their captors and escape. But the FBI thinks Jack is one of the kidnappers - and when they close in, the Bureau snipers will be shooting to kill."

This is the 2nd novel in the Jack Reacher series. I enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to watching the 2nd season of Reacher on Amazon Prime in a few weeks, even though this season will be based on a later book in the series, I believe.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've got a little time to try to add a few-
#46-Thte Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave-4stars. Not my typical read, more thriller and suspense than I"m used to, but I really enjoyed it and vowed to read more of this type.

#47-"Who's Killing All My Old Girlfriends?", Jon Spoelstra 4 stars. It was described as an "old guys' murder mystery" and it was. A very cute cozy mystery.

#48-"The Keeper Of Hidden Books", Madeline Martin, 5 stars. I loved, loved this book. It described how the Nazis occupied Warsaw and tried to basically rewrite history-changing the birthplace of a well-loved Polish hero, making him German; banning books that didn't glamorize the Germans. It was written in such a descriptive way that it had me in tears at the end.

 

[willowsnn3]

#55/50 All That is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay
A mother vanished. A father presumed guilty. There is no proof. There are no witnesses. For the children, there is only doubt.
One afternoon in November 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home from school to find her house eerily quiet. Her mother is missing. Nothing else is out of place. There is no sign of struggle. Her mom's pocketbook remains in the front hall, in its usual spot.
So begins a mystery that will span a lifetime. What happened to Jane Larkin?

Pretty good, I enjoyed it.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well I found out where my cancer journey has gone so far. 2 weeks in the hospital with a fractured femur with lung cancer cell in the lesion. Now I am in rehab. Both not conducive to much reading do I’ e only managed to read one more book so far

27/32 - In The Shadow of The River by Ann Gabhart. Historical fiction set in late 1800’s on a Showboat on the Ohio River. I enjoyed the characters and setting. Interesting theme and a mystery to solve.

 

[melk]

Well I found out where my cancer journey has gone so far. 2 weeks in the hospital with a fractured femur with lung cancer cell in the lesion. Now I am in rehab. Both not conducive to much reading do I’ e only managed to read one more book so far

I’m sorry to hear what you’re dealing with. Take it easy and just listen to your body. The books will still be there when you’re feeling better. I wish you all the best!

 

[KevM]

End of the month wrap up.

241) Cherokee America by Margaret Verble – Historical Fiction. 3.25/5

242) Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec – History/Social Justice. 5/5

243) The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi – History/Politics. 4.5/5

244) The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson – YA Contemporary. 4.5/5

245) Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha LaPointe – Memoir. 4.5/5

246) Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones -Horror/Thriller. 4.5/5

247) Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers – YA/Short Stories/Horror. 4/5

248) The Beginning and End of R*p*: Confronting S*xual Violence in Native America by Sarah Deer – Social Justice/Feminism/History. 5/5

249) Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah – Contemporary. 4.25/5

250) Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose – Memoir. 4.25/5

251) The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson – Historical Fiction/Nature. 4.5/5

252) Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz – Poetry. 4.75/5

253) Traplines by Eden Robinson – Short Stories. 3.5/5

254) Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry edited by Joy Harjo – Poetry. 4.5/5

255) Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement edited by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon – Social Justice/Environment. 5/5

256) Reclaiming Two-Spirits: S*xuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers – Gender & Sexuality/History. 3.5/5

257) They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri – Memoir – 5/5

258) Iwigara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science by Enrique Salmon – Ecology.4.25/5

259) Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley – YA Mystery/Thriller. 4.5/5

260) The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery by Sarah Augustine – Religion/Social Justice/History. 4.25/5

261) Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, & Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel – History/Politics. 5/5

262) Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – Social Justice/Politics. 4.5/5

263) Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha – Poetry. 4.5/5

264) The Martyrdom of Collins Catch the Bear by Gerry Spence – True Crime. 3.5/5

265) The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich – Historical Fiction. 4/5

266) Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris – Horror. 4.25/5

267) Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq – Historical Fiction/Magical Realism/Bildungsroman. 4/5

268) In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's War on the American Indian Movement by Peter Matthiessen – Biography/Politics. 3.5/5

269) Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow. by Noor Hindi – Poetry. 5/5

 

[tiggrbaby]

November:

#59/80: Where Are the Children Now? By Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke (4/5) (mystery)

Forty years ago, Melissa and her brother Mike were kidnapped, and only rescued in time by their mother’s persistence. Melissa has recently married a widower with a young daughter. While Melissa and Mike are relocating their mother to the Hamptons, Melissa’s stepdaughter goes missing. Melissa and Mike draw on their own experience to try and save the girl from the trauma they experienced.

#60/80: A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales (2/5) (historical fiction /mystery)

When a wealthy bachelor drops dead at a ball, a young lady takes on the improper role of detective.

Supposed to be a Jane Austen/Agatha Christie/humorous mystery.

#61/80: Vicious Circle (Joe Pickett #17) by C.J.Box (4/5) (mystery)

Joe Pickett tangled with the Cates family in order to protect his daughter April. Now the remaining son is coming after Joe and his family. Will Joe and Nate be able to stop him?

#62/90: Prom Mom by Laura Lippman (4/5) (suspense)

Amber has spent her entire life trying to escape being known as “Prom Mom,” the teen who allegedly killed her newborn when her date abandoned her for his ex. But she ends up back in her hometown, and finds herself back with Joe, who is now married. When Joe asks Amber to do the unthinkable, she must decide if she wants to help.

Interesting twist at the end.

#63/80: The Maid (#1) by Nita Prose (3/5) (mystery)

Molly struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. But she excels at her job as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. But when she enters the suite of a wealthy man and finds him dead, she becomes the police’s prime suspect.

#64/80: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (4/5) (fiction)

Two estranged siblings examine their mother’s hidden past and how it relates to her traditional Caribbean black cake.

#65/80: My Name is Barbra by Barbra Steisand (4/5) (memoir)

This living legend tells her own story of her life and career,


#66/80: The Disappeared (Joe Pickett #18) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)

The new governor has a delicate job for Joe: locate a female British executive who went missing after a visit to a high-end guest ranch. At the same time Nate has requested Joe’s help to discover who is blocking the falconers from hunting with eagles even though their permits are in order.

#67/80: Wolf Pack (Joe Pickett #19) by C. J. Box (4/5) (mystery)

Joe discovers that a drone is killing wildlife. Unfortunately, the drone is owned by a mysterious man whose son is dating Lucy. When he attempts to stop the operator, both the DOJ and FBI ask him to stand down. When bodies begin to pile up in his district, Joe suspects that a group known as the Wolf Pack have been working for a cartel to eliminate the mysterious man and anyone associated with him. Joe works with a female game warden to stop these assassin

 

[Allison Joy]

I am so very far behind on this...

12/15 - The Pact - a Love Story by Jodi Picoult -- Story about two teens and a "suicide pact" but only one goes through with it. What are the consequences for the one left behind? (Intentionally vague description.)

13/15 -Muzoon : a Syrian refugee speaks out -- The title is pretty much self explanatory, actually. It's technically a children's book, but it kept my interest, no problem. A Syrian teen talks about what she went through when her family decided to escape the civil war in Syria. The beginning is especially interesting, as she talks about how she never considered her century to be one of "those" countries that you'd have to flee from.

14/15 - To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee - A re-read. It's been years since I've read it, though I had read it as an adult before this, at some point. Anyway, there were so many parts I didn't remember, and even had mis-remembered some of the major plot points in the book. I enjoyed it, and it will be on my "multiple re-read" list. Funny story about this book. I was reading a thread on Reddit (a guilty pleasure of mine) that mentioned TKAMB, and thought, "Man, I should re-read that book!" but wasn't sure if we could still find our copy. I asked my brother at dinner if we still had it, and he didn't think we did. Well, the next day, my mom was taking a walk in the park and looked at the Little Library they had there, and just happened to find TKAMB. Same purple cover I remember, even. It was like God was giving me a little wink, because I happened to be in COVID isolation at the time (had a very mild case) and needed a pick-me-up.

15/15 -- Vanishing acts by Jodi Picoult -- A young woman, who's father is an amateur magician, discovers that there may be more "tricks" than she realized.

 

[MGMmjl]

33/30 - FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

Description:
"Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where 'Fun is Guaranteed!' But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares. How could a group of survivors, mostly teenagers, commit such terrible acts?

Presented as a fact-finding investigation and a series of first-person interviews, FantasticLand pieces together the grisly series of events. Park policy was that the mostly college-aged employees surrender their electronic devices to preserve the authenticity of the FantasticLand experience. Cut off from the world and left on their own, the teenagers soon form rival tribes who viciously compete for food, medicine, social dominance, and even human flesh. This new social network divides the ravaged dreamland into territories ruled by the Pirates, the ShopGirls, the Freaks, and the Mole People. If meticulously curated online personas can replace private identities, what takes over when those constructs are lost?

FantasticLand is a modern take on Lord of the Flies meets Battle Royale that probes the consequences of a social civilization built online."

I saw this book mentioned in last year's Reading Challenge Thread. I normally don't read books with as much violence/gore, but based on the reviews, and since it included a theme park and a hurricane, I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did!