Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

1.01.2024

Best of 2023: Books

Happy New Year! According to Goodreads, I read 205 books in 2023, or roughly 70,000 pages. Here are a few stats.  

Breakdown by star rating
5 stars (loved/it was great): 14 (7%)
4 stars (liked a lot/it was good): 80 (39%)
3 stars (liked a little/it was okay): 75 (37%)
2 stars (barely liked/it was not that good): 23 (11%)
1 star (it sucked but I finished it): 0 (0%)
0 stars (DNF): 13 (6%)
Average rating including DNFs: 3.2
Average excluding DNFs: 3.4

Breakdown by type
Audiobook: 165 (81%) 
eBook: 27 (13%)
Paper Book: 13 (6%) (of these, 8 were from my own shelf)

Published in
2023: 63 (31%)
Other years: 142 (69%)

I guess the moral of the above stats is that if a book sucks, I just DNF it, rather than finishing it, hence the case of no one star ratings. Also this year my proportion of audiobooks read increased by about 6% over last year. My number of books read in total increased by about 29%. I would guess that much of this increase is due to the fact that I have been listening to less and less music and/or podcasts and leaning more towards listening to books. I still find the need to pump up a run from time to time with some Lil John, don't get me wrong, but I often stray more towards books. 

You can find a list of all of my favorites from prior years on my bookshelf page or on Goodreads

I am usually a little bit stingy with my five star ratings on Goodreads. However, this year I had fourteen books that I thought deserved that high rating! Here they are, in no particular order! 


Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. What can I say, this is a cute book. I did not hear all of the hype; I just picked it because it had a bright cover and came up on my list on Libby when I was searching for books. It is about the relationship between an old lady and an octopus and a younger, kind of troubled boy. I enjoyed the characters, the story was engaging but not too fluffy, and I was entertained throughout. 

Dinners With Ruth by Nina Totenberg. I do like RBG and enjoy learning more about her as well as hearing each different point of view from the different authors I have read. Nina was a reporter who became friends with Ruth despite their age difference. This book details their friendship as well as some of their accomplishments, especially geared toward equality for women. 

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. In this novel, Obama talks about her relationships in life, but especially the ones with her mother and her kids. She has some words of wisdom like "start kind" which could be kind of corny coming from the wrong person but from her it makes sense. 

All The Broken Places by John Boyne. This book is about an elderly woman living in London. When a new family moves in downstairs from her, it brings up some memories of the past, which are mostly surrounding her escape from Nazi Germany at age 12 and the fact that her father was the commandant of one of the concentration camps during the war. It goes back and forth between the two time periods, weaving a story of guilt, complicity, grief and remorse and in the end, she has to decide whether or not to reveal some of her long kept secrets. 

Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen. Although I work in the finance industry, I enjoyed this book because it is written in a simple manner that anyone can understand. Shen talks about growing up in China where her family lived on pennies per day, to moving to the US where she learned how to invest so that she could quit work early and travel the world. Her plan is pretty simple and you may have heard it before but it is still a nice reminder that we can live more simply than we do and perhaps spend more time enjoying our lives now rather than always working so hard to make more money for the future. 

In Love by Amy Bloom. Get your tissues out for this one. This is not a spoiler, but this book is about a woman whose husband gets diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and he decides to die with dignity rather than living out his life with the disease. Obviously this is not an easy decision and Bloom goes through some of the struggles that they face as they work through the plan. 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Although this is a YA book, it touches on something that we sometimes forget about here in the US, and that is the fact that as late as 1989, people in Romania were still under communist rule. The main character is a teenager who has normal teenage dreams but is held back by the government oppression and has to decide whether to do nothing or to fight back and risk the lives of his family. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This is not the first time I read this book and it will not be the last. It is about a girl in Brooklyn and her family struggling to survive as they go through life. Life is not easy, food is scarce, and some of the lessons are hard, but Francie and her family persevere. The reread was heighted even more by the discussion had as part of Engie's cool blogger book club


Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleishman. I really enjoyed this inside peek into the world of elite running. Lauren not only talks about the difficulty of being a woman in a mostly male sport (or at least one where the males are more prized), but she also gets into some of the eating disorders that the young runners had and it was very eye opening. I also read The Longest Race by Kara Goucher (4.5 stars) and was appalled at some of the things that were done to some of the elite running women. 

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Okay, maybe more like drugs, jail and redemption. I am not going to lie; I had no idea who this woman is, but she was the ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu's book and The Sun Always Shines, which I enjoyed. The first chapter had me railing against her, as she dragged her three year old from place to place in an effort to score drugs. I wanted to slap her! Then she gets arrested, and chronicles life in jail, which I found fascinating. When she finally gets out, it is a struggle to manage life, try to find a job, not break parole, find housing, and stay clean. She finally does all of this, becomes a successful writer and even gets to meet Oprah and the Dali Lama in the end! So yes, it is a feelgood "rags to riches" kind of story, but I enjoyed hearing the ins and outs and some of the struggles that people face in a world that I am not part of. 

A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney. Get your tissues out again; this is a father's heart wrenching story about his young son getting diagnosed with terminal cancer. I didn't really know who the author was, but he is a comedian and actor, and he does a good job of putting his emotions into this book but still making it light, if that even seems possible. 

Drowning by T.J. Newman. I know that I joined the momentum train on this book, but I found it was a fast, easy, entertaining read. Was it profound? No. Did it make my runs go by faster? Yes. A plane goes down over the ocean and it hits the water, bursts into flames and sinks. What happens to the passengers? Do they survive? And if so, how? Read on to find out. (P.S. I also read Falling but was not as enamored by that one). 

Go As A River by Shelley Read. This is a story of a girl growing up in Colorado in a farming town in the 40s. It goes through her life of love, her relationship with her family, the hardships of life at that time and her struggles to get by. There were some details in the story that sounded so real that I had to fact check and they were real! 

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. Birchie recommended this with the caveat that it was strange and she was not sure what to think of it at first. It was a thriller about a woman in her 40s who lacks the mental maturity of someone her age. When her father dies, she puts him out with the trash, just as he has told her to do. This gets the attention of the police and the surrounding community, as well as the media. Due to this she later gets some unwanted attention and finds out things about her past that she did not know about before. It's twisted and dark, but I enjoyed every minute of it. 

A couple of additional nearly five star reads were You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith, Kindred by Octavia Butler, I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, and The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. 

What was your favorite book of 2023? Do you mostly read audio, eBook or paper books? 

12.18.2023

Where Did You Find That Book?

My work husband G once asked me how I find so many different and good book recommendations. He is an avid reader, but prefers non-fiction and does not belong to any book clubs or the like. He joined Goodreads because I told him about it and now I am his only friend, which means that he sees ALL of my ratings and comments about them at work. He is not really a social media person, but loves being able to keep track of his books, which I find very dear. I have recommended a few fiction books to him which he has really loved (The Nightingale, The House in The Cerulean Sea, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn) even though his genre is usually non-fiction. 

To answer his question, I told him that I have a multitiered process. 

First of all, my number one method for getting good book recommendations is from other bloggers, and I keep them in a list and make a few notes. I also do rate them in Goodreads once I am done; the notes I keep in this list are very basic. Here are a few examples.

Birchie: The Social Climber by Amanda Pellegrino (put on hold 11/13)

NGS/Lisa: Kill Show (put on hold 12/01, hard copy only, no audio) 

Stephany: Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb  (put on hold 10/24)

----------------    READ ------------------------

Emily: An Evil Heart (on hold 10/06) READ, thought it was good. 

Elisabeth/Nicole: I Feel Bad About My Neck (borrowed 6/28) READ, really liked it. Great read about getting older as a woman. Humorous.

Jenny: Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory (Deena Kastor) (put on hold 9/28) READ, thought it was good. Definitely different from the other two running lady books I read this year. [Side note, in case you are wondering, they were Good For A Girl and The Longest Race]

The other thing I do is I poach my friends' feeds on Goodreads for five star reviews. This is actually not one I do very often, as I am not really a social media scroller; I generally get on, add my updates and get off without really looking through the feed. However, sometimes I will see a five star and I will go to Libby and put that on hold. For these ones, I don't really make a list or notes. 

I also peruse the Goodreads annual choice awards. Each year a winning book is chosen from each genre. However, there are also about 10 nominees for each category and I often will add books from the top ten to my holds list. For example, here were some of the top nominees (and the winner, Weyward) for this year's historical fiction category (one of my favorite genres). 



However, I will also peruse the prior years nominee lists if I am looking to fill my holds bin. Sometimes there are books on the old lists that I have still never read. The good thing about this method for me is that I can tell by a glance on Goodreads if I have read it or not, because more likely than not, I will not always remember! 

I also use Libby in two ways: (a) if I need a book now, like I am desperate, I will check the "available now" filter and just see what is out there and in this case I am not too picky. If I see a thriller from an author I know (or think) is not total crap, I will borrow it. I also have some in the pocket, like I still have not read all of the Louise Penny books, so I am saving some of those for a rainy day! (b) I may also filter by "popular now" although more and more I have read a lot of the first ones that come up, but I will still scroll down and then either put them on hold or borrow them if they look interesting. In this case, I will admit, I sometimes DO judge a book by its cover. Sorry! 

Lastly, and not least, I get recommendations from IRL friends! These are more few and far between but they are still there. My friend K's Mom was reading Lessons In Chemistry the last time we were together and I was so excited to hear what she thought about it after she was done (and she loved it! and apparently there is now a TV show too, which is supposed to be pretty good). 

Also, you may wonder how I keep track of what I want to read. I used to mark them as "want to read" on Goodreads but I found that once I had the "wish list" function on OverDrive, which then transferred over to Libby, it is just easier to either put them on hold right away, borrow them right away, or put them on my wish list on OverDrive/Libby right away rather than trying to manage two lists. 

So there we have it. If you are looking for a book recommendation, you can find a list of some of my favorite books here. And if you want to poach my five star shelf, you can find me on Goodreads here

How do you find new books? Where do you get book recommendations? How do you keep track of  your TBR (to be read) list? 

P.S. Only one more week until Christmas!! 🎄

9.29.2023

Looking Back: Books

Now that the third quarter is drawing to a close, I thought I would do a quick review on some of my favorite books for the quarter! In the third quarter I read a lot since I did a lot of hiking and bikepacking and driving. However, because of this, most of them were audiobooks. I also DNFed a lot of books, maybe because they were (mostly) audiobooks, and I don't always get hooked at the beginning and I tend to then lose focus and so I end up just giving it up. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. As most of you know, we reread this book as part of Engie's book club, and it was great to not only read it again, but do to so with a group of people who had so many different views. I had a great time getting into the details and discussions of this book and it was just as good this time as it was when I first read it when I was a child. (5/5)

Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleishman. To be honest, I did not know much about Lauren except that she was behind Picky Bars, but I really enjoyed this inside peek into the world of elite running. Lauren not only talks about the difficulty of being a woman in a mostly male sport (or at least one where the males are more prized), but she also gets into some of the eating disorders that the young runners had and it was very eye opening. I also read The Longest Race by Kara Goucher recently and was appalled at some of the things that were done to some of the elite running women.  (5/5)

I Feel Bad About My Neck, And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron. This book was recommended by Nicole and Elisabeth (<---new blog link here!) and it did not disappoint! Thanks ladies! Ephron talks a little about her past in a very funny way, but a lot of what drew me to this book is that it is a very real glimpse into the things we (women) experience as we get older. She talks about menopause and how she feels about her purse, how she depends on coconut oil, and the conversations with her sister about combatting hair thinning. I know that some of these things are on deck for me and I appreciate being able to giggle about them rather than dread them! (4.5/5)

The Likeness by Tana French. I am trying to read and give away books on my bookshelf (as always) and this was one of them. Some of them are pretty crap (random thrift store buys or Little Free Library finds or free on the street finds - I can't resist) but this one was good. French writes detective novels and this is #2 of the Dublin Murder Squad series. I thought I had read another book by her and liked it, but I don't see proof of that on Goodreads, so it appears that I did not read #1 of the series, but this did not make me like the book any less! (4/5)

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makaii. I went into this book highly doubtful, as I DNFed her other book The Great Believers. However, I really enjoyed this one. I would call it a cold case type of book, which I do think is right up my alley, so maybe that is why this one drew me in when the other didn't. Basically it is about a grown woman who goes back to her alma matter to teach a course and ends up getting tangled up in trying to solve a murder case that happened when she was at school there. It is similar to the show Serial, where they convicted one person but are now going back to review the details to see if perhaps the person they blamed is innocent. (4/5)

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett. My favorite Patchett books are her essays: This is The Story of a Happy Marriage and These Precious Days. Similar to Ephron, she talks frankly but humorously about her life and how she got to where she is now. However, her fiction is sometimes not bad too! I do find her a bit hit and miss; I liked State of Wonder and The Dutch House but did not love the Magicians Assistant or Run. The Patron Saint of Liars is about a woman who goes to a home for unwed mothers with the plans to give up her baby, but after living there for a while starts to think of things differently. (4/5)

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth. Oh man, this one will make you cringe! It is about a woman who I would say is on the spectrum, Fern and her sister Rose, who is not. Fern's sister has been taking care of her for years due to having a difficult mother growing up. Fern is happy doing her daily routine, working out, working at the library etc. When Rose is having trouble getting pregnant, Fern decides to help her by getting pregnant for her. Things do not go as planned and we learn that a relationship between sisters is not always what it seems on the surface. (4.5/5)

Stealing by Margaret Verble. This book was highly praised by Lisa, and it was a good one! It is about a Cherokee girl growing up in the 50s (?) in the Louisiana bayou. Things were difficult for Native Americans then (even more so than now) and she was taken away from her family and sent to live in a Christian boarding school, where things were not better than they would have been had she stayed with her family. It is disturbing and it will make you mad. One thing I did not like about this book was the abrupt ending. I wanted a resolution or a solution, and I did not get it. For that, I am docking .5 stars. (4.5/5)

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Okay, maybe more like drugs, jail and redemption. I am not going to lie; I had no idea who this woman is, but she was the ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu's book and The Sun Always Shines, which I enjoyed. The first chapter had me railing against her, as she dragged her three year old from place to place in an effort to score drugs. I wanted to slap her! Then she gets arrested, and chronicles life in jail, which I do find fascinating. When she finally gets out, it is a struggle to manage life, try to find a job, not break parole, find housing, and stay clean. She finally does all of this, becomes a successful writer and even gets to meet Oprah and the Dali Lama in the end! So yes, it is a feelgood "rags to riches" kind of story, but I enjoyed hearing the ins and outs and some of the struggles that people face in a world that I am not part of. (recommended by Beckett - thanks!) (5/5)

DNFed books -- China Rich Girl by Kevin Kwan (paper), The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (audio), The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham (audio), The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates (paper). 

What were your favorite books of the third quarter? What books have you DNFed lately? 

7.17.2023

Looking Back: Books

The year is half over now and it is time for another book check in! Since I posted in February about the handful of good books that I had read so far, I have found a few more good ones! Without further ado, here are a few more of my favorites so far this year. 

All The Broken Places by John Boyne: I know I am not the first person to suggest this book, so I will not go into too much detail. It is about an elderly woman living in London. When a new family moves in downstairs from her, it brings up some memories of the past, which are mostly surrounding her escape from Nazi Germany at age 12 and the fact that her father was the commandant of one of the concentration camps during the war. It goes back and forth between the two time periods, weaving a story of guilt, complicity, grief and remorse and in the end, she has to decide whether or not to reveal some of her long kept secrets. 

Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen: Although I work in the finance industry, I enjoyed this book because it is written in a simple manner that anyone can understand. Shen talks about growing up in China where her family lived on pennies per day, to moving to the US where she learned how to invest so that she could quit work early and travel the world. Her plan is pretty simple and you may have heard it before but it is still a nice reminder that we can live more simply than we do and perhaps spend more time enjoying our lives now rather than always working so hard to make more money for the future. 

In Love by Amy Bloom: Get your tissues out for this one. This is not a spoiler, but this book is about a woman whose husband gets diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and he decides to die with dignity rather than living out his life with the disease. Obviously this is not an easy decision and Bloom goes through some of the struggles that they face as they work through the plan. 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys: Although this is a YA book, it touches on something that we sometimes forget about here in the US, and that is the fact that as late as 1989, people in Romania were still under communist rule. The main character is a teenager who has normal teenage dreams but is held back by the government oppression and has to decide whether to do nothing or to fight back and risk the lives of his family. 

Kindred by Octavia Butler: This book took me by surprise. The author was recommended to me by a client who is very involved in minorities in the arts, and she said that Butler was the first published African American science fiction writer. I am not big into science fiction, but I thought I would give this book, written in 1979, a whirl, and I really enjoyed it. Yes, it involves time travel, but it is about a modern day African American woman who keeps getting sent back in time to the slavery days, and how she handles the differences between the two time periods. Apparently there is also a TV show, but I have not yet seen it. 

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks: I am a sucker for a thriller and this one was a fun one. A couple comes into therapy due to infidelity and the therapist has some unconventional ways to try to get them to work through their problems. In trying to get them to do so, she uncovers some secrets that she did not expect. I listened to this while backpacking and it kept me entertained over many miles. 

Some others that I gave four stars on Goodreads include: Hello Beautiful by Janet Napolitano, I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron, I Will Find You by Harlan Coben, American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, A Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell, and many more. You can find my entire list of 2023 books read and reviewed here on Goodreads

Have you read any of the above books? If so, what did you think? What has been your favorite book so far this year? 

5.15.2023

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

I recently listened to the book Food, A Love Story by the comedian Jim Gaffigan where he talks about his relationship with food. I don't know much about Gaffigan and have never seen his stand up or a movie with him in it, but the book was available at my library and I wanted something light so I picked it up. It is read by the author and in the end, it was surprisingly funny. I am not always a fan of memoirs as they just talk about themselves the entire time, but he talked about himself in a depreciating but comedic manner. 

One of my favorite places to think deep thoughts...

In addition to that, this book made me think. Of course I was out hiking when I listened to it, and that already lends itself to deep thoughts, but I do love a book that makes you consider things you may not have thought of before. In this case, he made a joke about eating when you are not really hungry: “Ugh, I’m so full. I guess I’ll have some cheese. Hmm, I don’t even like this cheese. I guess I’ll finish it.” It got me thinking about how often I do this (a lot!) and how some people don't seem to have this issue. Why can I not open a bag of tortilla chips without eating the entire thing when some people CAN "eat just one?" I don't know the answer to this question, nor do I know if I will ever change, but it got me thinking! Here are a couple of other recent reads that have got me saying hmmmm lately...

The Measure: this is a book about everyone in the world receiving a box with a string in it. The length of the string indicates the length of your life. I will not tell you how I felt about this book, but it got me thinking... would I want to open the box? What would I do (differently?) if I found out that my string was long/short? The book also explores the politics surrounding the strings: should you be required to disclose your string length? Should you run for office or be in the military if your string is short? It was very interesting and really make me think about a lot of different social and political issues. 

Living Without Plastic: this book is, not surprisingly, about trying to use less plastic in your life. It talks about some of the substitutions we can initiate, like some obvious ones such as our own reusable grocery bags, own own produce bags or some more not so obvious but easy ones like wooden combs and toothbrushes, bar shampoos and soaps, non-plastic straws and utensils etc. I try to do my part, and don't use a lot of single use things like plastic water bottles or takeout containers etc., but there are some changes I will make due to reading this. It even inspired me to finally take a load of old grocery bags to Sprouts for recycling (also did you know you can recycle plastic wraps, like the ones that are around a case of water or toilet paper, at some grocery stores too?) I still have a long way to go, but I feel like this book has given me some ideas to move in the right direction. 

Can you "eat just one" chip? Would you open your box/want to know how much longer you had to live? Do you do any of the anti-plastic activities I mentioned or do you have any other tips/tricks for not using so much plastic? 

2.27.2023

Looking Back: Books

I am not going to lie; lately I have been unmotivated to read real books. It may be that the one I am reading is not really gripping me and so I keep finding better things to do than read it. However, I am still going strong with the audiobook game, and in the first two months of the year have read some good ones! Here are a few of my favorites so far. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt: What can I say; this is a cute book. I did not hear all of the hype. I just picked it because it had a bright cover and came up on my list on Libby when I was searching for books. It is about the relationship between an old lady and an octopus and a younger, kind of troubled boy. I enjoyed the characters, the story was engaging but not too fluffy, and I was entertained throughout. 

Dinners With Ruth by Nina Totenberg: I do like RBG and enjoy learning more about her as well as hearing each different point of view from the different authors I have read. Nina was a reporter who became friends with Ruth despite their age difference. This book details their friendship as well as some of their accomplishments, especially geared toward equality for women. 

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama: In this novel, Obama talks about her relationships in life, but especially the ones with her mother and her kids. She has some words of wisdom like "start kind" which could be kind of corny coming from the wrong person but from her it makes sense. 

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman: Once again, the story of the Thursday Murder Club participants did not disappoint. This is Osman's third in the series and you can't help but love the octogenarian citizen detectives. They are annoying at times but they get the job done! I was also happy that Bogdan is still around, as he was one of my (surprising) favorites in the first book. I listened to it on audio and I also enjoyed the interview with the author that was at the end. 

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult: This is a controversial book about LGBTQ, murder, and the controversies surrounding both. I don't want to spoil anything, but I can say that I always enjoy how much work Picoult puts into the research around the topics that she writes about. Most of them are controversial and she really digs in and gives readers insights that we may not have known about. I always learn something by reading her books and this one was no different. 

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McCallister: This book may not usually be my forte, as it involves time travel which is not the most realistic, but I actually enjoyed it. A woman sees her son commit a murder and then she wakes up the next day and it has not happened yet. As the book goes on she learns more and more about the situation and in the end she has to decide what she wants to do about it. I was entertained and did not really see the ending coming, which always makes it more fun. 

Have you read any of the above books? If so, what did you think? If not, what has been your favorite book so far this year? 

12.27.2022

Best of 2022: Books

Just like that, another year has gone by...Although each year brings many changes, one thing that remains the same is my love of books. This year I only beat last year's number by about 3%! The slight increase could be due to the fact that audiobooks continue to play a more important part of my life. I listen to books while cleaning, cooking, driving, running, hiking...you get the picture. Of all the books I read in 2022, about three quarters of them were audiobooks. 

Here are my recaps from prior years: 2021202020192018201720162015201420132012, and 2011

This year I gave the coveted five star rating to nine books. I am trying to be a little more generous with my stars, as some years there are less than a handful of five star reads. Without further ado, here are my favorite reads from 2022, in the order that I read them. 

Remember: The Science of Memory and The Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova: This is not the first of Genova's books that I have had in my top picks. She is a neuroscientist who has written about many neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's and ALS. In Remember, she talks about the brain in general and how many of the things we worry about, like that the fact that we cannot remember where we put our keys, is not necessarily a sign of aging but perhaps just of our brains prioritizing. 

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn: Based on a true story, this is another WWII novel by Quinn, but this time its from a different perspective. Kiev native Mila is a bookish mother until Germany invades the Ukraine and then she becomes Lady Death, a feared Nazi sniper. She tallies up so many deaths that she gets invited to the US by Eleanor Roosevelt. However, things go south while she is in the US and she has to battle both inner and outer demons to survive. 

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe: I was a bit hesitant to begin this book, as I had to put down one of his other books, Say Nothing, due to it being an overload of information. However, he went from zero to five stars with this story of corruption and greed in the opioid industry. The Sackler family is one of the richest in the world and the producers and marketers of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin. When asked about the addictive properties of the drug and clear signs that it was being abused they were in strict denial of either point. 

Pony by R.J. Palacio: By the author of Wonder, this was another YA novel with an underlying message. When horsemen steal his father away, 12 year old Silas and his imaginary friend set out on a rescue mission. On the journey, he faces many fears, but with his friend and his pony, he not only survives but learns a lot along the way. 

Blindness by Jose Saramago: This book really made me feel very emotional. I put it on my to read list during the pandemic, as it was supposedly "pandemic related." Then a friend of mine gave me the physical book this year and I was going to read the first chapter to see how it sat. After that I could not put it down. It was like a car accident; it both disgusted and fascinated me. In the story, a man is struck blind out of the blue. Soon after, another man becomes blind, and then another. Not knowing what is causing this, they are isolated in case it is contagious. Soon more are "infected" and things start to become messy, literally. They are in confinement with only one meal a day and nobody to clean up their waste. There are no rules and nobody to enforce them; it becomes like Lord of the Flies. It is disturbing and thought provoking and there are many parallels to the pandemic that we have just experienced. I recommend it but just know that you are going to feel lots of things when you read it. 

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy: When I first read the title of this book, I knew it was going to be interesting. I was not familiar with the author, but this story still sucked me in. She becomes a child star fairly early, but is subjected to her mothers ideas of beauty, including calorie restriction and at home makeovers. Not surprisingly, this leads to eating disorders, abusive relationships, shame and addiction. 

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin: A story of a 17 year old girl and an 83 year old woman who meet in the terminal ward of the hospital and become fast friends. Since their combined years add up to a hundred, they decide to do an art project honoring the stories they have had over these years. Although one has had a short life and the other has had a long life, they learn that who you share it with is what matters. 

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This is the third book by TJR that I have had on my end of year Best Of list. I have now read seven of her books and have given five stars to two, four stars to two and three stars to three of them. Almost everything I have read of hers has been entertaining and interesting, especially the more recent ones! This story details a tennis star who at 37 years old decides to try and reclaim her title after a six year hiatus. She is definitely the old kid on the block, and she struggles both mentally and physically to try to live up to where she was in the past. 

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham: Cooper and his daughter Finch live in an isolated cabin in the woods. It's just the two of them and this is how Cooper likes it. However, when a girl turns up missing in the woods nearby, they cannot maintain their isolation any longer. Cooper has to face up to his past, including coming clean about it to Finch. 

Have you read any of the above and if so, did you like them? What were some of your favorite books this year? 

11.02.2022

Looking Back: Books

Well yes, hi. I do only write about books and nothing else these days. I have all of these grand plans to write about hiking trips and gear lists and life, but somehow this fell along the wayside a bit. It could partially be due to the fact that I have been experimenting with other forms of media a bit more, but I will talk more about that later. 

It could also be that I got a new job and have been a different kind of busy, but I will also talk about that at a different time; for now, lets talk books! 

In all of the books I read in the third quarter, here were my five favorites! 

Happy-Go-Lucky by David SedarisYou either love him or you hate him, and I love him. Which is funny because he is a bit snarky for my normal taste. But he picks up trash on the side of the road, and he sees funny in normal things. This is another book full of interesting stories about him and his family and it was a great one for a long hike, which is when I listened to it. I am actually going to see him in a few weeks and I am really looking forward to it. 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: This was such a fun story of a woman chemist in the 1960s who leaves her job and goes to work as a cooking show TV host. Of course she wants to teach people the science behind the recipes, but her male boss does not concur. It is a bit silly, but was a fun and quick and entertaining read. 

Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River by Peter Heller: I really enjoyed Heller's book The River which was about a fictional rafting trip in Northern Canada gone awry, so I thought this would be more of the same. However it is actually a true story about an elite kayaking team's attempt to conquer a never-before-conquered section of the Tsangpo River in Tibet. They have many an challenge, including fights with porters, death defying rapids and impenetrable passes and it makes for an intriguing story. 

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach: A book about a teenage girl who loses her sister in a horrible car accident, and then struggles with the grief of it. To make things worse, the only person she feels a connection to is the sister's boyfriend who was driving the car when it crashed. It is a story of emotional struggle but still manages to not get too maudlin while still sparking interest. 

These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett: I really love Patchett's writing style and especially her personal essays. She makes you feel like you are sitting right next to her in her living room listening to her stories. My favorite story was one during COVID where she befriends the assistant of Tom Hanks and invites her to stay at her house during the pandemic, striking up an interesting friendship. 

And that was five. 

What was your favorite read over the last few months? Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction? 

7.01.2022

Looking Back: Books

Another day, another dollar; another quarter, another book list. Hopefully as you are reading this, you are about to go and sip a margarita, or lounge in the pool, or are getting ready for a summer trip. 

This quarter I read a lot more than last quarter, because I spent a lot of time listening to audiobooks. I listen to them while doing my grocery shopping, working in the yard, driving, hiking, working around the house and running. Of all of the books that I have read so far this year, approximately 80% of them have been audiobooks. I have also asked one of my good friend's daughters, who is 12, to recommend books to me. So far, she has recommended Ground Zero (I loved it; it is also by the author of The Refuge) and the Tales of Despereaux (very fun). If you have a 12 year old, they may like these books too!  

I do have a couple of book related goals this year and so far, I am not doing very well! I wanted to read and get rid of 12 books (one per month) from my bookshelf. I have been doing a lot of purging lately, but for some reason, those books seem like grey hairs; even though I am not buying more, they keep seemingly multiplying! I have read one book so far from my own shelf. I also wanted to read a book in Spanish. I did this in 2020 (Harry Potter y La Piedra Filosofal -- #1) and I really enjoyed it, and I learned some weird words like wand and owl to boot. In 2020 I set 10 minutes aside each day to do that and some days I couldn't put it down. I am about one chapter into my Spanish book so far for this year (Auggie y Yo). Total fail. 

I am going to keep this quarter's list to my top six books. 

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe: this book details the rise of the Sackler family, who are the makers of oxycontin, and are one of the richest families in the world. It's a tale of big pharma and the opioid crisis and I couldn't put it down. 

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn: I haven't met a Kate Quinn book I haven't liked. This time she tells a story of WWII from a Russian woman's point of view. The main character is a librarian and a mother who ends up having to go out and fight and she becomes one of the most feared snipers of her time, with a nickname of Lady Death. I like how Quinn takes a true story and makes it into something entertaining and enlightening. 

Blindness by Jose Saramago: I wanted to not like this book but it brought up a lot of emotions and that is the sign of a good writer! I gave it 4.5 rounded up to 5 for the fact that it made me contemplate my existence over and over. It was disgusting, disturbing and scary. It paralleled some of the feelings I had during the pandemic lockdown. It made me feel hateful about humanity but also made me feel fond of people and grateful for human connection. It was a cross between The Lord of the Flies and the Walking Dead and the Great Influenza. Although it grossed me out, I couldn't stop reading. 

Think Again by Adam Grant: this book explores the idea of changing, or rethinking things that you have been doing one way for a long time. Of course, like many, I sometimes get set in my ways or struggle with change and he brings up a lot of good points regarding why a new point of view or way of going about something can be an asset rather than a burden. 

The Guncle by Stephen Rowley: this is a fun and light book about a heavy situation. When Patrick's sister dies, he takes the kids for the summer. He is a single man, not used to caring for young children, but he learns a lot about life and love over the course of a few months. 

State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton: who doesn't love a book about international terror and possible world domination? When a terror group threatens the world, the US secretary of state has to try to save the day. There are a lot of parallels with a certain administration and it brings some amusement to an otherwise serious situation. 

Some others I liked were: One, Two, Three (corruption, greed and love), Notes on an Execution (murder), This is How They Tell Me The World Ends (cybersecurity), Dopesick (opioid epidemic) & The Paris Apartment (murder). 

What are you reading right now? What has your favorite book been so far the year? 

4.01.2022

Looking Back: Books

After spending a lot of time reading in my backyard in 2020, the last year and change has felt like I have not really read very much. Of course, on a relative value scale that is not really fair; it's almost like comparing the price of the stock market now to March 23, 2020 and saying that the price has gone up a lot. I am still reading a lot just not as much as 2020! 

For the first quarter of 2022, I abandoned four books already (Cloud Cuckoo Land, Furiously Happy, The Man Who Ate Too Much and The House on Vesper Strands). All of them were audiobooks, so maybe it was a concentration or situation issue, but I gave all of them up before I even got half way. However, for every high there is a low etc. and there have been quite a few good ones as well! Here are some of my favorites from the last three months. 

Pony by R.J. Palacio: This is a YA novel by the author of Wonder. She creates characters that you can't help but love and sprinkles in a little adventure and some of the trials of growing up (in Wonder she tackles being disfigured and in Pony we meet the main character's invisible friend). I want to read more of her books! 

Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova: If you have not read any of her books, you need to do it now. Genova has a PhD in neurology and writes about neurological diseases. I really enjoyed her book Still Alice, which is about early onset Alzheimer's. Her subjects are heartbreaking but fascinating at the same time. In Remember, she talks about how the brain stores memories and she reassures us the when we forget where we put our keys it may not be a slide into old age; we likely are just not paying attention! I have not read a book of hers yet that I do not like. 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: This was a very touching book about a woman in her twenties who loses her mother to cancer. She speaks of her mother's strength and how seeing this wane affected her. Upon finding about her mother's diagnosis, she begins to get in touch with her heritage and figure out more about her own identity overall. 

The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club, #2) by Richard Osman: The four octogenarians from the Thursday Murder Club are at it again, they are off to solve a murder while simultaneously being helpful and thwarting the authorities. You never know what they might do. However, in the end, they get the job done but not without a lot of adventures along the way. 

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller: This book begins with a married woman with three kids cheating on her husband with a long time friend. The remainder of the book speaks to her struggle of what to do with her mixed feelings. It flashes back and forth and gives us some insight into her long time relationship with her friend, some of the trials they went through together and how this led to the subsequent relationship with her husband. 

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan: I listened to this as an audio book and I enjoyed hearing the jokes in the author's own voice. It was a good mix of him making fun of himself for loving food, and some interesting observations about food. For example, he questions why a shiny orange piece of plasticy food became "American cheese." This book made me laugh out loud while running, like when he talks about being so full he couldn't button his pants, so he decided to have some cheese as a snack and when he realized he didn't really like it, he decided to finish it. I have been there! 

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins: By the author of A Girl on The Train, this is yet another murder mystery by Hawkins. However, she does well developing her characters and this book was no exception. We meet the murdered man's strange ex-lover who has a criminal background, his uptight aunt with a bone to pick and the kooky boat neighbor, and we are kept guessing as to whether it was one of them who offed him or not. 

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell: A young woman disappears in a small neighborhood and fingers start pointing at who done it. Was it the creepy 30 year old "kid" who lives with his aunt and visits strange internet forums? Was it the young woman's therapist, who is not quite as perfect as we once believed? You tell me! I mean, who doesn't love a thriller? 

The Last Widow (Will Trent, #9) by Karin Slaughter: Speaking of thrillers, here is another one! I have enjoyed the entertainment that this author has brought me over the years. The particular one is about a CDC employee who goes missing and a month later a bomb goes off near a hospital. Are the two things linked? And why? We will soon find out! This is a detective series where Will Trent and his partner Sara, a medical examiner, team up to save the day. Or will they? 

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land: College plans go out the window fast when the author finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. She tries to make it work with the father but eventually moves out and attempts to make a life for herself and her young daughter by cleaning houses. She tells her story from the point of the maid, whom for some people is invisible, while others are friendly toward her and even go out of their way to be kind. 

The Bohemians by Jasmin Darznik: This book talks about the famous photographer Dorothea Lange and her move to the city of San Francisco back in the early 1900s. She starts off as a naïve girl and gets hardened through the people she meets, and the things she experiences, most notably the depression. 

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams: The main character, Ruth, has not seen her twin sister in years, since her twin disappeared behind the iron curtain to Russia with her husband and children. Then out of the blue, she gets a postcard from her sister asking her to come and visit. She teams up with a counterintelligence agent and goes to Russia to get her sister out of trouble and finds adventures she never expected. 

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard: When Eve was 12 her parents and sister were murdered. Now she is older and she decides to write a book about it. The killer reads the book and thinks maybe he should finish what he started. It's a little strange as it's a story in a story, but in the end I was very satisfied with the way it wrapped up. 

Out of the thirteen books above, four are non-fiction, and yes, I am counting the Gaffigan book! Eleven were audio books, as I am not feeling as motivated to read when I am home in the evenings as I have been in the past. 

What has been your favorite book so far this year?

12.31.2021

Best of 2021: Books

Even if I don't post all year long, I have to post my favorite books each year! I know that I like reading about and getting inspiration from other people's favorite book lists each year, so I thought I would keep the tradition alive myself as well. 

Here are my recaps from prior years: 202020192018201720162015201420132012, and 2011.

This year, I did not read as many books as last year, but I wasn't stuck in the house/backyard as much and I had to study more. However, many of the ones I did read were good! And without further ado, my favorite 11 books for the year (because it was too hard to just choose 10). 

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel: I guess I always have a WWII book (or two) on my list! This was about a woman who helped forge papers for the Resistance for people trying to flee the Nazis during WWII. Many of them were children and in order to preserve their real identity, the names are put into a book using a code. There are a few twists along the way and I really enjoyed the pace and the subject matter of this book. 

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon: As promised, another WWII book... this book is about an Australian woman who becomes a spy for the British and the Resistance throughout the war. The Germans are looking for her but she keep evading them as she smuggles weapons and people into and out of France. I love stories of the Resistance and especially the strong women who played roles in the organization, so this book was right up my alley. To top it off, it was based on a real person! 

Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls: This book was first published in the 60s and I read this book when I was young and really enjoyed it, although it is sad. I decided to reread it this year and although it was a little young for me, I still enjoyed it the second time around. If you have not read this children's book, it is about a boy who acquires two hound dogs and teaches them how to hunt racoons. Its a classic boy and his pet(s) story that it is very touching. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: I am not normally a huge fan of fantasy, but this book was different. It is about a girl in the 1700s who gives up her mortality and has to live out her days in eternity with people who do not remember her as soon as she leaves the room. 300 years later, someone does remember her and she has to deal with the issues and emotions that this new development bring about. 

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz: A struggling writer hears a fabulous plot from one of his students who is writing a book. Next thing he knows the student has died without writing the book. So the writer writes a new book using the student's plot and he becomes famous. Everything is great until he realizes that someone knows that he stole the plot. In trying to find out who is harassing him, he looks deeper into the student's life and finds out some amazing things. This one kept me entertained and on my toes and I could not put it down!  

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn: Yes, it is another WWII book. This one is about three ladies who work at Bletchley Park, a super secret British operation, where the most creative minds help to crack codes sent from the Nazis. After a while, it is noticed that someone in their midst is betraying them and they try to find out who it is, but things don't always go so well. 

The Four Winds by Kristian Hannah: It's the dust bowl and the drought has dried up Elsa's family's farm in the Great Plains. She does what many others are forced to do, she heads west with her two children looking for a better life, and work so that she can feed her kids. She struggles to find both in a dog eat dog world of farming in California, where the owners exploit them and the townspeople shun them. She shows resilience and bravery in a less than perfect world. 

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas: This a book about a woman who does not want kids, or maybe she does, or maybe she has them after all, or maybe she doesn't...it is her life, told in several scenarios, and how things go if she chooses one thing over the other. 

Admission by Julie Buxbaum: We all heard about the admission scandals a while back, where the rich actress pays for her kid's records to be fudged to get into a good college? This book is a fictional recap of this scenario. Told from the view of the kid, who does not know this is going on but still gets ostracized because of it, it is entertaining, infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time. 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: The Earth is going to die and our main character, a mild mannered science professor, has to save it...by going into space. After a long journey, he awakens from a coma and finds his shipmates have all perished. Now he is alone and time is running out!! Once again, Andy Weir is ingenious, creative and fun. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid: I have to say, I am impressed by the ease at which I can read books written by TJR. She is entertaining and funny and her characters are annoying but likable. She does a good job making you see people as human, warts and all. I have enjoyed the books I have read so far by her and this one was no exception. This is about some kids in Malibu who throw a party that people will never forget. 

It really was not easy to choose this year. Here are a few more good ones that almost made the cut: The Book of Longings, A Good Neighborhood, The Book of Lost Friends, A Promised Land, The Paris Library, The Best of Me, The Great Influenza, The Last Bookshop in London, The Light of Days, The Secrets We Kept, Between Two Kingdoms, Count The Ways. 

Have you read any of my favorites? What was your favorite book of 2021? And why? 

3.05.2021

Looking Back: February

 I am not sure if it is because February was a short month or what but all I can say is what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks happened to February!? I do not feel that it was especially productive, but still things sailed pretty quickly from January to March. Maybe this is a good thing, as it means one day (week, month) closer to, dare I say, "normalcy?" Here's hoping. Until then, one day (week, month) at a time, we keep paddling. Yup, I am in a sailboat with a paddle. 

Running: In February, after two months of solitude, we came out of lockdown. I started back doing a once a week run with my running buddy. However, I still had quite a few solo runs, several of them in the pouring rain and the majority of them still on the road rather than trails. I ended up with 215 miles. I have been having fun finding weird things in my neighborhood, like this series of wooden creatures on a local trail. 

Plumbers crack

Forrest creature

Reading: Two things dragged down my reading numbers this month. One: I am reading a book called Dark Money for a work book club and it is dragging along! It is about the Koch brothers and I have learned a lot but man it is boring at times. Two: I have been studying a lot. However, I did read 12 books and my two favorites were Code Name Helene (WWII alert!) and A Good Neighborhood. For more details you can go here

My study buddy

Travel
: Hahahahahaha. What? Snore emoji! I went back and forth to work, I went grocery shopping and I went to the gas station. My big traveling lately has been done on YouTube (places like this), which is helping me to plan about 10 summer camping trips of which I will hopefully get to do a few of. 

Misc.: I have done a fair bit of puttering in the garden and we have actually had some rainy days but not enough of them, so the backyard days have been more plentiful than I thought they would. I did some digging and moved some dirt around and did a ton of weeding. In a couple of weeks, I will make sure the drip system is set up and I will throw some veggies in the dirt! It is very satisfying and a nice break from studying. I am also tentatively planning a few summer things, although I am keeping my expectations low while also being cautiously optimistic. 

What was your favorite book in February? Did you go anywhere or do anything? 

2.01.2021

Looking Back: January

The first month of the new year pretty much went the same way as the last month of last year went; we were still under lockdown, which meant more solo runs, audiobooks, and puttering around the house. I also started studying again, and am doing that about 15-18 hours per week. In addition, it's been raining, so the weeds are getting out of control, but that is a task for another month! 

Running: I have been trying to run three times per week, once during the week and once each weekend day. I can get out early on the weekends so can be "mask-less" for a couple of hours before I start having to put it up from time to time, and on the weekday run, I have found a neighborhood route where I see fewer people, even though it's the middle of the day. This has resulted in a lot of neighborhood exploration runs and I have found some interesting kitschy gardens and funky gates around town. In January I did 14 runs for a total of 230 miles. 

These guys just people watch all day, I guess.

Survivors will be shot again.

I love the pretty blue tiles.

Reading: Due to being home, I once again read a lot! I already put a couple of five star ratings on books and my goal is to try to write an actual review blurb for (not just star) a few books a month. My favorites were The Book of Lost Names (WWII French Resistance), The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (Immortality), Tell the Wolves I am Home (AIDS, love, being a teenager) and A Promised Land (Obama). They were all good, although I felt that Obama's book was a bit too long and wish he would have edited it a bit more. It was a 30 hour audiobook; thank goodness for 1.6x speed! 

Travel: Crickets again! I traveled to and from work. I did not even go to the grocery store, as I stocked up at Costco in December and am working my way through my stash of fridge meals. 

Happy New Year! Brought to you by happy eggs! 

Misc.: I am back on the study bus, so as much as I would like to say that I was super productive around the house, I mostly studied, worked in the yard (the balls/seeds falling from the maple tree are the bane of my existence), read and puttered. 

What did you do in January? What was your favorite book so far this year? 

1.06.2021

Looking Back: December

Well, that was an interesting month. On December 7th, California imposed another Stay at Home requirement, so I got a lot of stuff done around the house last month!

Running: Definitely not my highest running month ever, but December went out with a bang when I realized on the 29th that I was less than 5,000 feet away from having a total feet climbed of 400,000. So on the 30th, I went and ran up and down a hill near my house a few times and on the 31st instead of drinking champagne, I went and did a trail run to get those last few thousand feet of climbing in. I ended the year with 400,433 feet of climbing. 

Reading: In December I read my most books ever for one month. None of them were total duds, although I did give one book two stars only because I did not like the tone of the narrator (I listened to it as an audiobook and the author was the narrator). My favorite was Christadora, which made it into my top books of 2020. A few others I enjoyed were Gimme Everything You Got (an easy, fast YA read), The Black Swan of Paris (who doesn't love a WWII French resistance novel) and On Tyranny (an interesting comparison between Nazi Germany and the current US).

Travel: Crickets! The furthest I traveled was my commute to work. Oh, I also went to Costco once for a grocery haul so I would not have to go to the store a lot during the shut down. Other than that, I guess going back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom were my big forays for the month! 

Misc.: I actually got a lot of those little annoying things that you do not like doing done in December. I cleaned out several closets, sorted and threw away paperwork, finally deep scrubbed the bathroom grout, installed a security system myself (it even works!), went through that darn junk drawer and other assorted things like that. I also worked in the yard a couple of times each week, as the Maple tree just keeps giving! I am also doing a lot of video calls!

How was your December? What did you do for the holidays? Did you read any good books? 

1.04.2021

Best of 2020: Books

Well it's that time of year again, time to do the wrap ups! This year, due to spending a lot more time at home than I normally do, I read a lot more books than I normally do. In fact, this is the most books read per year since I started tracking and even more than some of the years where I was not working and was traveling a lot. In addition, I read over 20 books in one month alone, which is definitely the most I have ever read in a month! I guess it was that kind of year! 

I always like looking back and remembering what my favorite books were for the year and really enjoy reading other people's lists as well (and adding books to my to-read list!). Here are my recaps from prior years: 2019, 2018201720162015201420132012, and 2011.

And now, in no particular order, here are my favorite ten twelve books that I read in 2020. 

Five Stars:

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This was a very entertaining book about a rock band in the 60s; it's all about the sex, drugs and rock and roll and it doesn't disappoint. It is written in an interview style and goes back and forth between stories, but that does not detract from the story at all, in fact, it actually made it very entertaining, in my opinion. 

The River by Peter Heller: Two friends go out on a fishing trip in Northern Canada thinking that they are going to have a nice time catching up, fishing and enjoying nature but they end up getting more of an adventure than they bargained for. I won't say more in fear of spoiling it for readers, but let's just say that I finished this book in one day! 

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger: In the 1930s many Native American children in Minnesota were separated from their families and sent to be "educated." This is the story of two brothers who attempt to escape this life. You really begin to like these brothers and their friends and are rooting for their journey to succeed. Of course they come upon hard times and danger and adventure along the way. 

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow: I actually did not know what this book was about when I started it; I only put it on my to-read because it had good reviews. However, once I started it, I was both disgusted and enthralled by the story. It is an investigative journalism story about the Weinstein ordeal, not only what he did, but how hard it was to find women willing to testify and how corrupt and controlling the big men in big chairs really are. It was very interesting hearing some of the "behind the scenes" information. 

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou: This was another investigative journalism piece about an ordeal that had been in the news a lot but that I did not know a lot of details about. This talks about the Theranos scandal, which if you are unfamiliar was a company that sold a machine that did blood testing, but they were delivering fraudulent results. Once again, there were some big power people at play here and the fight between might and right is in the forefront of the situation. 

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman: This book was written by a woman in the strict Satmar sect of the Hasidic Jewish faith. She talks about what it is like to be in a faith where woman have little rights. She is married off at an early age to a man she barely knew and after getting pregnant, decided to try to escape. It is not easy however, as the sect keeps to themselves and if you leave you are often ostracized. I learned a lot about the faith through this book and wanted her to be able to just leave but also understood the difficulties of trying to do so. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune: This book is about a man who lives a pretty by-the-books boring life. One day, his employer sends him to an island for an assignment and it turns out to be one where there are magical (and dangerous) children. He is there to evaluate them and their caretaker and in the end, he gets more than he bargained for. This was a touching book with a couple of twists thrown in and was one that was hard to put down. 

Christadora by Tim Murphy: I had this on hold for a while and finally got it right at the end of the year so it was a last minute five star add. About a family through time, it talks about the struggles of the AIDs movement, issues with addiction, mental disorders and emotional pain. It does jump back and forth a little between time periods, which was a little difficult, but all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Four Stars: I had a lot of four star reviews this year! Normally three stars is more common for me, basically when I found a book good but not totally wow, but this year I either got more generous or more of them caught my fancy! 

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes & The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson: I am combining this one, because both of these books are about the packhorse librarians of Kentucky and they were both very enjoyable. The packhorse librarians were a group of women in the early 1900s who would ride horses through the remote mountains of Appalachia to deliver books to people who lived too far out of town to come in and get them. In 1930, about 30% of the people living in eastern Kentucky could not read and did not have a school to go to, so this was their only way of learning. These books were both fiction, but they gave me a very interesting peek into the way that things worked in that area, and they make me think of how lucky I am that right now I have about 20 books checked out from the library! 

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld: This book is a fictional book about what would have happened to Hillary if she had not married Bill Clinton. It has a bit of raunchy areas that I felt it could have done without, and they made me cringe a little, but otherwise it is entertaining and sometimes when reading (or listening in my case) you forget that it is not a biography. I had to go and look up a couple of things to see if they really happened! 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: I am not the only one who liked this book; it is on a lot of the top 2020 book lists and that made me put it off for a while actually. However, once I read it, I saw what all of the hype was about. It is about a set of light skinned twins who run away from home and one of them goes off and passes herself as white while the other moves back to their hometown with their mother. They live very separate lives for a while but eventually their paths cross again. 

It was hard to pick only ten this year as I read a lot of good books (hence the extra two)! Some of the others that I enjoyed this year included: A Burning, We Are Not From Here, The Girl with the Louding Voice, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Last Train to London, Sigh, Gone, Saving Ruby King, Know My Name, One of Us is Lying, Dear Edward, Shoe Dog, The Story Keeper, City of Girls, Cilka's Journey, Talking to Strangers, I'll Be Gone in The Dark & I Am Malala. 

What were your favorite books in 2020? Did you read more this year than you normally do?