Reading challenge 2021

[Tiggerish]

A Western Bond by Lee Tobin McClain. Part of the Scared Bond Guardians series. Christian romantic fiction with happy ending.

Forever After by Deborah Raney. Book 2 of the Hanover Falls Series. Christian romantic fiction with happy ending.

The Cliffside Inn by Jessie Newton. Book 3 in the Five Island Cove series. Woman's fiction. A group of woman who became friends in childhood when they lived on the five islands and when in a program called the Seafaring girls. The series tells their stories as they return to the islands in adulthood.

Mind in Rehabilitation: The Emotional Journey of Coping with Disability by Dr. Eyal Heled. Non-fiction. Dr. Heled is a rehabilitation psychologist and neuropsychologist. Using examples from his years of practice in those area he tries to show how psychotherapy plays a role in rehabilitation. This was more like reading for a college or even graduate school class. Since I live with a neurological disorder that comes with chronic, progressive disabilities, I found it worth the effort.

13-16 of 104

 

[OKW8297]

9. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. Very good. About two women best friends fir over 30 years. They are my contemporaries so it rang true. Only complaint is that I could see the ending coming and it’s been done before.

 

[JayMass]

7/60. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Another phenomenal book, and one you just HAVE to read. This book is a beautiful YA paranormal adventure telling the story of Yadriel, a trans gay teenager who is struggling to be accepted by his Latinx family for who he is. This is further complicated by the fact that his family are brujx (or witches / magic users) whose job is to help souls cross over from this world to the afterlife, and Yadriel's fate becomes even more complicated when he is matched with the soul of another teenage boy who has recently been murdered. A beautiful tale of acceptance, love, and Latinx and trans/queer culture.

Adding this to my reading list!!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I just finished Vintage Forever: Food, Fads & Finds, so I'm at 4/21.

It was put out by the people who run Reminisce Magazine, and had chapters on all sorts of different nostalgic things (with lots of photos included!) I enjoyed it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

9. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. Very good. About two women best friends fir over 30 years. They are my contemporaries so it rang true. Only complaint is that I could see the ending coming and it’s been done before.

This is my next read!

 

[melk]

9/35 The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

A woman in 1930’s Texas experiences the horrible drought and dust storms during the depression and decides to go to California with her family, seeking a better life.

I really wanted to love this book. I loved The Great Alone and The Nightingale but this book just didn’t grip me the way those ones did. I’m glad I read it as I learned quite a bit about this period of American history, the dust bowl and the migration of thousands west, that I didn‘t previously know much about.

 

[willowsnn3]

#9/60 Malorie by Josh Malerman (Sequel to Birdbox)
Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence. There remains no explanation. No solution.
All Malorie can do is survive.
But then comes what feels like impossible news. And with it, the first time Malorie has allowed herself to hope. Someone very dear to her, someone she believed dead, may be alive.

 

[mmouse37]

2/50 - The Running Man by Stephen King - Another great book of his that I hadn't heard of. Really enjoyed it!!

3/50 - The Widowers Wife by Cate Holahan - An OK story about a husband and wife who plan her own death to save her poor parents.

4/50 - The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl - A woman does a friend a favor and picks up a bag from the train station which turns out to have a little boy in it. He is alive and it is about her trying to find out who he is and why he was in the suitcase....left for dead? Child trafficking? or something else?

5/50 - Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris - A really good thriller about a woman who looks like she has the perfect life from the outside but her life is really a living nightmare because of her abusive, controlling husband.

MJ

 

[JayMass]

6/50--"The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. What if all those people who jumped off slave ships crossing the Atlantic weren't actually killing themselves but using an ancient power to save themselves? A young man born into slavery discovers he has this power that he doesn't understand. He learns that Harriet Tubman, who everyone calls "Moses," also possesses this power and is part of the reason she is able to free so many from slavery. It's part magical realism, part historical fiction, and part love story. This was Coates' fist novel but he has had widely acclaimed success with his nonfiction. I won't say it's as compelling as his nonfiction but it was certainly an entertaining and thought provoking read.

Next Up: "Nine Perfect Strangers" by Liane Moriarty. I watched the Big Little Lies TV show but this will be my first time actually reading one of her books.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Next Up: "Nine Perfect Strangers" by Liane Moriarty. I watched the Big Little Lies TV show but this will be my first time actually reading one of her books.

I've read all her books, and Big Little Lies is my favorite. I also love The Husband's Secret. Nine Perfect Strangers is good, but in my opinion, not as good as some of the others. So, don't give up on her if you don't like it.

 

[OKW8297]

10. When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton very enjoyable about a Cuban woman in Florida after Castro seized control.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

#3 - My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
This is historical fiction about Eliza Hamilton. I liked it and learned more about Eliza.

 

[Shellsbutt]

2/25- One Day in December by Josie Silver-an enjoyable romance story, another pick from Reese's book club
3/25- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett- This was a very interesting book, the house was the main character. I kept wondering if this house really exists, lol. The only thing I didn't like was the jumping back and forth with different time periods, that was a little hard to follow. I've heard of this author but hadn't read any of her previous books, will have to check out some of her other works.

 

[SaintsManiac]

6/40 --The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O'Neal

From the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids comes a story of four generations of women grappling with family betrayals and long-buried secrets.

My Goodreads rating: 3 out of 5 stars

7/40 --The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two “letters,” written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as “sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle…all presented in searing, brilliant prose,” The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of our literature


My Goodreads rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

[bobbiwoz]

14/50 Firefly Lane by Kristen Hannah

I thought this was a great book! I began it yesterday!

 

[bobbiwoz]

6/50--"The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. What if all those people who jumped off slave ships crossing the Atlantic weren't actually killing themselves but using an ancient power to save themselves? A young man born into slavery discovers he has this power that he doesn't understand. He learns that Harriet Tubman, who everyone calls "Moses," also possesses this power and is part of the reason she is able to free so many from slavery. It's part magical realism, part historical fiction, and part love story. This was Coates' fist novel but he has had widely acclaimed success with his nonfiction. I won't say it's as compelling as his nonfiction but it was certainly an entertaining and thought provoking read.

Next Up: "Nine Perfect Strangers" by Liane Moriarty. I watched the Big Little Lies TV show but this will be my first time actually reading one of her books.

Just put a hold on “The Water Dancer. “ Thanks for mentioning what its about. Harriet Tubman has a history in Cape May, and your mentioning her piqued my interest in the book.

 

[Colleen27]

#10/156 - The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

A YA Holocaust title that I mainly read because DD12 was reading it in school and wanted someone to talk to about it, this was okay but not as effecting as Anne Frank or Number the Stars. I understand why it makes for great assigned reading, though, because the protagonist's childhood ignorance of what was happening just across the fence from his family's home, under his father's supervision as commandant of Auschwitz, speaks volumes about human nature and the limited perspectives of childhood, particularly when it comes to our parents' views and beliefs. And the ending was as horrifying as it was crazily implausible, wrapping up with a sort of ironic, tragic turnabout that really only seems to happen in fairy tales and children's books.

#11 - Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Another one I read at DD12's request. She read this one for school last year and thought I would like it, mostly because it is set in our home state. Again I could see why her literature teacher chose to assign this book, because with a setting during the Great Depression and another young narrator, it provides an excellent jumping off point for conversations about history, economics, and race in an age-appropriate way.

#12 - Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

One of these days, I'm going to start counting my reading challenge by pages rather than books! This was a long and very dense read but absolutely fascinating, enlightening and meticulously presented, accomplishing the remarkable feat of bringing the character of Alexander Hamilton to life in a way that captures both his historical significance and the parallels between the nation's founding and the ongoing battles over the role and direction of government that continue to the present day. Truly one of the best historical biographies I've ever read.

#13 - Nala's World by Dean Nicholson

Another read-along with the 12yo, this is the memoir/travelogue of a man who rescued a kitten shortly after embarking on an around-the-world bicycling journey. With the cat as his traveling companion, he continued the trip and found that it led him to charitable work that transformed his journey from a personal adventure to something more meaningful. It was a cute read that my mom bought for DD for Christmas after seeing the author on one of the network morning shows talking about his work raising funds for animal welfare organizations around the world.

 

[Simba's Mom]

3 more-
#5-''If I Were You" by Lynne Austin-4 stars, but I have a feeling I'd give it an extra 1/2 star as time goes on-very thoughtful
#6-"The Forbidden Promise" by Lorna Cook-3 1/2 stars
#7-"Don't Need the Whole Dog"-by TJ Slater, rambled lot, 3 stars

 

[Wendy1985]

Just finished the lion tamers daughter a few days ago I loved learning about the circus

I loved the book so much that I am reading all of alyssa Helton

 

[SaintsManiac]

8/40--The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

My Goodreads rating 4 out of 5 stars

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.