20 Years of Reading

20 years.  TWENTY YEARS OF READING.

Okay, so technically this isn’t true.  I’ve been reading since I was 5.  So (here’s my age)…I’ve been reading for 39 years.  But for the past 20 years, I’ve been diligently tracking what I read.  I’ve read 876 books in the last 20 years.

 

Before I get into that, I would just like to give a shout out to my parents.  My parents taught me to read.  I knew how to read before I started Kindergarten and I owe that to my parents.  We didn’t have a lot of money growing up (we never lacked for ANYTHING though), but my parents worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed.  We always had chewable Flintstones vitamins (do they make those anymore?  For adults?  If they do, I WANT THEM.)  We had family vacations every year.  We had surprise gifts a few times a year (individually wrapped that Mom and Dad would haul into the living room in a garbage bag).  SO FUN.  And we always had those educational workbooks that they bought that we worked on during the summer (so you don’t forget what you learn?  So you are prepared for the next grade?  Honestly, I have no idea, but they worked, whatever their purpose was).  I remember in Kindergarten when my teacher, Mrs. Kitt, whipped out the ‘read aloud’ books (Buffy and Mack!  Sun Up) for the students to practice on (probably to determine what reading level you were at?) and I was able to read the entire book aloud with no help.  I was so proud of myself.

 

We were also read to nightly.  My dad would read my sister and I the daily text each night.  He would always read us the verse and then ask my sister and I who wrote it and we would both say ‘Matthew-Mark-Luke-John-Paul’ super-fast trying to guess the Biblical writer.  Because the chances of it being one of them was high ha ha.  And when we moved into our white house (2 blocks from the library!), I remember my mom reading a Golden Book every night/day to me and my brother (we would always pick the longest one ha ha). 

 

And so it began.

 

I wish I would have started tracking my books as a pre-teen/teenager, but oh well.  I started tracking diligently in 2001.  Which is very interesting, because looking back at my reading habits, you can clearly see the years when things were bad, when things were busy, and when things were normal.

 

I tracked first in an old journal, then I transferred it to another notebook.  Then I transferred it to an Excel spreadsheet.  Then back to a notebook.  Then back to a spreadsheet.  And so on and so on.  Then finally back to a notebook, only this time I choose a nicer notebook that wouldn’t fall apart:    

 

https://nebulanote.com/product/casual-noteturquoise-dotted/350/?cate_no=108&display_group=1

 

(this is a Korean company, but I bought it from a local stationery shop)

 

And so far, so good.  It’s just the right size to fit on my bookshelves and with PLENTY of room to expand (at least another 20 years, if not more ha ha). 

 

I track the Month/Year read, Title, Author, Fiction/Non-Fiction, Publication Year, Page numbers, and my rating (stars, 1-5).  Now, I’ve not been great about tracking publication year or page numbers, but I plan to be better in 2022.  Everything else is really easy to track so that’s no big deal.  I don’t write reviews or anything, just the star-rating.  If I have anything substantial to stay, I write it on Goodreads.

 

My lowest reading years (from the past 20 years) as far as quantity were 2006-2008, which makes perfect sense if you knew what was going on with me personally then ha ha.  And my highest years (quantity wise) have been the last five:

 

2017:  78

2018: 159 (!)

2019: 86

2020: 120

2021: 82

 

These numbers are interesting.  My reading numbers were pretty low (except for 2004?) until about 2011.  They picked up a bit, but were still low-ish, until we bought our current house in July of 2017.  Did they increase then because I had a library in our new house?  A dedicated reading space?  More space in general?  Less stress because things were settled and we bought our ‘forever’ home?  Probably all of the above.  Anyways, I’m not complaining.

 

So now I give you my 5-star reads from the past 20 years.  But first…..a few disclaimers.  I’m only including adult/YA/middle grade books that are typically more than 100 pages.  ALSO….I had a few 5-star reads from way back when that I don’t even remember what the book was about so I probably won’t include those.  This list will only include the books I remember and I remember loving.  Just in case you decide to pick one up.  I was a completely different person in 2001 than I am now, and honestly some of these older ones may be rated completely different today if I read them again.

 

FICTION - Author, Title, Year Read

Kingsolver, B. - The Poisonwood Bible (2001)

Berg, E. – The Pull of the Moon (2002)

Berg, E. – Joy School (2002)

Austen, J. – Pride & Prejudice (2002)

Berg, E. – True to Form (2002)

Berg, E. – Talk Before Sleep (2002)

Brent, M. – Moonrakers Bride (2003)

MacDonald, A.M. – Fall on Your Knees (2003) – I can’t recommend this one, but I am STILL thinking about it 18 years later.  I have a copy on my shelf and plan to re-read it again.  It’s very heavy and dark.

Grisham, J. – A Painted House (2003)

Winston, L. – Good Grief (2004)

Steinbeck, J. – East of Eden (2004)

Chevalier, T. – Girl With a Pearl Earring (2004)

Smith, B. – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (2005)

**INTERESTING THAT I DIDN’T HAVE ANY 5-STAR READS FROM 2006 – 2009…OR IS IT HA HA???**

Korelitz, J. – Admission (2010)

Collins, S. – The Hunger Games (2011)

Mitchell, M. – Gone With the Wind (2013) (re-read…I read this a lot as a teen)

Zafon, C. – The Shadow of the Wind (2016)

Turner, N. – These is My Words (2017)

Zevin, G. – The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2017)

Doerr, A. – All the Light You Cannot See (2017)

Wood, M. – The One in a Million Boy (2017)
O’Farrell, M. – This Must Be the Place (2018)

Tinti, H. – The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley (2018)

Hannah, K. – The Great Alone (2018)

Montgomery, L.M. – Anne of Green Gables (2018) (re-read) – MIDDLE GRADE

Golding, W. – Lord of the Flies (2018) (re-read) – MIDDLE GRADE

Applegate, K. – The Wishtree (2018) – MIDDLE GRADE

Brubaker-Bradley, K. – The War That Saved My Life (2018) – MIDDLE GRADE

Miller, S. – A Lite Too Bright (2018) – YOUNG ADULT

Backman, F. – Us Against You (2018)

Steinbeck, J. – The Grapes of Wrath (2018)

Enger, L. – Virgil Wander (2018)

Zusak, M. – Bridge of Clay  (2018) – YOUNG ADULT

Meyer, M. – Cress (2018) – YOUNG ADULT

Stegner, W. – Crossing to Safety (2018)

Miller, S. – Caroline (2019)

Owens, D. – Where the Crawdads Sing (2019)

Keane, M. – Ask Again Yes (2019)

Waxman, A. – Bookish Life of Nina Hill (2019)

Nielsen, J. – A Night Divided (2019) – MIDDLE GRADE

Patchett, A. – The Dutch House (2019)

Stradal, J. – The Lager Queen of Minnesota (2019)

Hepworth, S. – The Mother-in-Law (2019)

Jewell, L. – The Family Upstairs (2019)

Shusterman, N. – Scythe (2019) – YOUNG ADULT

O’Farrell, M. – Hamnet (2020)

Baker-Klein, C. – The Exiles (2020)

Backman, F. – Anxious People (2020)

Young, A. – Fable (2020) – YOUNG ADULT

Cousens, S. – This Time Next Year (2021)

Young, A. – Namesake (2021) – YOUNG ADULT

Weir, A. – Project Hail Mary (2021)

Heiny, K. – Early Morning Riser (2021)

Maclachlan, P. – Skylark (2021) – MIDDLE GRADE

Davidson, A. – Damnation Spring (2021)

Adams, N. – The Reading List (2021)

 

Author, Title, Year Read – NON-FICTION

Kondo, M. – The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-Up (2015)

Kondo, M. – Spark Joy (2015)

Kalanthi, P. – When Breath Becomes Air (2017)

Durrell, G. – My Family and Other Animals (2018)

Mecham, J. – You Need a Budget (2018)

O’Farrell, M. – I Am I Am I Am (2018)

Park, Y. – In Order to Live (2018)

Bogle, A. – I’d Rather Be Reading (2018)

Mount, J. – Bibliophile (2018)

King, S. – On Writing (2018)

Cripe, E. – Big Dreams Daily Joys (2019)

Higginbotham, A. - Midnight in Chernobyl (2019)

Greger, M. – How Not to Die (2020)

Haig, M. – The Comfort Book (2021)

Patchett, A. – These Precious Days (2021)

 

I’m sure I inadvertently omitted some and added others, but nobody’s perfect.  Over the past 20 years, here are my standouts from the lists above:

 

Kingsolver, B. - The Poisonwood Bible (2001) – I was reading this the week of September 11^th when the towers fell.  I remember reading it in the break room one day and the next day we were all crowded around the TV in that same break room watching the news reports.

 

Berg, E. – The Pull of the Moon (2002) – A gut punch.  I remember reading this during some rough times in my 1^st marriage (only 3 years in to it) and just crying my eyes out.

 

Austen, J. – Pride & Prejudice (2002) – A classic-classic.

 

Brent, M. – Moonrakers Bride (2003) – Historical fiction with many twists and turns.

 

Steinbeck, J. – East of Eden (2004) – An investment in time, but worth it.  Amazing.

 

Smith, B. – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (2005) – When people ask me what my favorite book is, this is what I tell them. It’s 99% true.

 

Mitchell, M. – Gone With the Wind (2013) (re-read…I’ve read it multiple times)

 

O’Farrell, M. – This Must Be the Place (2018) (this cannot be read on a Kindle or audiobook.  It must be a physical copy).

 

Hannah, K. – The Great Alone (2018) Read if you want to cry.  It’s so good.

 

Stegner, W. – Crossing to Safety (2018) Another one that I want to re-read.  I think about it all the time.

 

Miller, S. – Caroline (2019) – Simplicity at its finest.

 

Keane, M. – Ask Again Yes (2019) – The author of this book liked my Goodreads review of it and I was shocked and thrilled.  The kids in this book grew up the same time frame that I did.  It was so nostalgic.

 

Nielsen, J. – A Night Divided (2019) – MIDDLE GRADE – Still one of the most suspenseful books I’ve ever read.

 

O’Farrell, M. – Hamnet (2020) – I think about this book on a weekly basis and can’t wrap my head around how brilliant it is.

 

Backman, F. – Anxious People (2020) – Frederik Backman has a special place in my heart.  I love his books, and I love how he is so open about his own mental health struggles.  I think that’s why I love this book so much.

 

Kondo, M. – The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-Up (2015) – Have too much stuff?  Read this.

 

Durrell, G. – My Family and Other Animals (2018) – This book made me laugh out loud like no other book has.

 

Mecham, J. – You Need a Budget (2018)  - This book and this budgeting system is the reason my husband and I are completely debt free (except for our house).  We have been living by this system/budgeting software for YEARS.  I recommend it constantly to everyone. 

 

Park, Y. – In Order to Live (2018) – One of the most haunting memoirs I’ve read.

 

I set a goal to read 100 books this year, and I’m pretty confident that I will meet (if not exceed) it.  I have lots of middle-grade books on my TBR shelf and I fly through those ha ha.

 

Yay for another year of reading!

Recommendations

 I've been compiling a mental list of things lately that I LOVE and would recommend to anyone.  So here it is.  Randomness at it's best.

1.  Mandolin.  This is an app that I have VERY little experience with, but what experience I HAVE had with it, I've absolutely loved.  So, a few weeks ago, my favorite band of all time (Of Monsters and Men) put on FOUR live concerts in Iceland celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their very first album.  Before they performed the first of four concerts, they announced that these concerts would be available on the Mandolin app to view (for purchase of course).  At first I was a bit hesitant, because I have never used this app before and wasn't sure what to expect.  So I made an account, signed in, and purchased 'access' for their four live concerts.  There were options to only purchase one or two or whatever, but I knew I wanted to see all of them.  So I bought them.  And it has been AMAZING.  Basically, OMAM (Of Monsters and Men) performed these 4 concerts in Iceland, and like two weeks later, they were available for viewing on Mandolin.  But not all at once.  So for the past 3 Wednesdays, I have enjoyed these concerts greatly.  The final one is on the 22nd of this month.  The great part is that I can watch it Wednesday night, and then it's available for replay the next day until midnight.

The first two concerts I watched twice.  The third concert I watched 3 times.  And then at midnight it's gone.  :(. Boo.  But it's AMAZING.  Fantastic quality.  I probably will only ever use it for OMAM because I am not a big 'music' person.  But being able to watch them perform their first album (plus more) with different concerts has been amazing.  I would highly recommend it if you love a band and want to see their concert but can't be there physically.  They aren't available indefinitely, it's a set date, and then like the 24 hours after that you can replay it.  But it is still totally worth it.  

Although I did tell my husband that if they ever do this again, I'm flying to Iceland to see them in person again ha ha.  (I'm serious).

It's so funny because their songs are all in English but they speak Icelandic in between.  :). 

2.  Wyze.  I believe they were a kick-starter company that hubs supported a few years ago, and now they have grown by leaps and bounds.  Anyways, we have MULTIPLE products from them and I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan.  For example....they have a cordless vacuum that I choose over my Dyson cordless vacuum all the time.  And the Dyson is like twice the cost.  I LOVE the Wyze vacuum.  Our video-doorbell is Wyze.  We have Wyze 'smart' plugs for all of our lamps.  And, probably my most favorite thing is my noise-cancelling headphones which hubs got me.  They are amazing.  Especially for watching the OMAM concerts.  The great part about all of these things is that they are affordable.  I will never buy a Dyson vacuum again.  I think the Wyze cordless vacuum is $149?  Maybe?  The Dyson is like $250?  I will never again by a Dyson.  Anyways...they make great products.  So if you're in the market...just check them out.  They also tie-in with Alexa, so all of our Wyze products are connected to our Alexa app so we can talk to Alexa and tell her to turn on our outside string lights (that are Wyze) and she'll turn them on.  Technology is amazing!

3.  Mint Mobile.  This is our mobile provider.  We don't have Verizon or Sprint or anything.  Well, I take that back. We do have T-Mobile for mine and my mother-in-law's iPads each month...I think we pay $40?  But for all of our phones and everything else...we use Mint Mobile.  It's Ryan Reynolds company.  I'm not kidding.  It's amazing.  And super affordable.  I guess they use multiple 'towers'.  Like it uses Sprint and T-Mobile towers, kind of whatever is available in your area.  We've been using them for years.

What's super funny is that every now and then we'll get random voice mails and actual mail from Ryan Reynolds (he is hilarious).  Our most recent piece of mail was like a 10" cutout of him standing on a platform with a note that said to use him as a replacement for the popular 'elf on a shelf' that is everywhere this time of year.  Ha ha.  Anyways. If you're in the market for a new cell phone provider, check them out. Totally worth it.

4.  Neutrogena Hydro Boost.  Okay I know this is not groundbreaking.  But I have problem skin and always have, and my dermatologist here has recommend Neutrogena Hydro Boost products since I've moved here in the land of no rain/no humidity and my skin is doing great in this incredibly dry climate.  So it's pretty much all I buy, with the exception of this for my 'after-shower' lotion:

https://www.amazon.com/OGX-Creamy-Coconut-Miracle-Moisture/dp/B01MCTTDJS

Not sure if that link will work and I'm too lazy to check, but it's the OGX Coconut lotion.  I get it at Target.  Along with all of the Neutrogena Hydro Boost products.  They are amazing.  Hubs uses them too.  It actually simplifies things greatly by sticking to just one brand.

5. Essence Mascara.  This is like an Amazon cult-favorite.  I didn't believe it until I tried it.  I'm a fan of Benefit products (foundation and mascara and brow products) but after seeing incredible reviews of this $5 mascara on Amazon, I thought I would give it a try.  And I will NEVER again pay $20+ for Benefit mascara at Ulta.  I am a huge fan.  

https://www.amazon.com/essence-Princess-Effect-Mascara-Cruelty/dp/B00T0C9XRK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=15AGGY50AEAOQ&keywords=essence+mascara&qid=1639711870&s=beauty&sprefix=essence+mascar%2Cbeauty%2C127&sr=1-2

I'm still fan of the Benefit foundation and their brow stuff, but I'm never buying their mascara again after using this $5 from Amazon.

6.  Wild Basin.  If you are in to spiked sparkling water, this one is the best.  I've tried them all.  It beats White Claw and Truly and all of the other brands....no contest.  The flavors are unique and actually have quite a bit of taste (for sparkling water).  I believe they are all 100 calories.

That's all I can think of for now.  :)

Hi

Wow.  May 7th was the last time I blogged.  Oops.  I'm not even going to pretend that I have a good reason for the big pause, just life in general I guess.  I've been going through a lot both physically and mentally.  It's been rough, but it's getting better.  :).  Probably won't go into a lot of it, but that's okay.

I finally feel that after 19 months of working from home (how is that possible??), I have my groove down.  Well, I had it down quite a while ago, but I haven't blogged in forever.  Anyways.  It's finally feeling 'normal'.  And I LOVE IT.  I really do.  I feel completely blessed to work for a company that supports their employees 100% and has a fantastic flexibility and so much mental/emotional/work-life support.

I'm working from home full-time.  Hubs is working from home 3 days per week.  He goes into his office here in town 2 days per week.  Occasionally he will go to his Santa Fe office, but for now, he only has to go to this office here in town.  Which is only 2 miles from our house which is awesome.

On the 3 days that we are home together, our work spaces vary.  Most of the time he works downstairs in our sunroom (his choice) and I work upstairs in our joint office.  But sometimes it's the opposite.  It all depends on what meetings we have going on that day.  Like today we both worked upstairs in our joint office for a few hours.  If he has an on-camera meeting, I will grab my laptop and head downstairs.  And vise-versa.  We've made it work.  Thankfully, neither of us has a lot of meetings, let alone 'on-camera' meetings.

I still have a lot to work on as far as my general routine goes, but it's pretty good right now.

I'm still reading a lot, but have obviously failed at updating my reads here.  I'm on Goodreads though!  So all (well, most all) of my reads are tracked there.  I'd like to say I'll go back to the monthly reads blog, but that probably won't happen.  I think it's more likely that if I read a fantastic 5-star book that I will mention it here.  Maybe ha ha.  I have a lofty reading goal for next year, mostly to get my TBR down.  It's too humiliating to mention how many books I have on my shelves to be read.  Yikes.

We haven't traveled at all, mostly because I am paranoid about Covid still.  And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  I see the horrific numbers and am just still super cautious.  We still have strict mask mandates here.  We are going to Arizona next month (a whopping whole state away) and I'm even a little paranoid about that.  But we really need a get away.  We haven't been anywhere just the two of us since December of 2019.  It's time!!!

Let's see...that's probably all for now.

April Reads (15)

2-STARS 

**Summerwater (Fiction, S. Moss)

Sarah Moss wrote an amazing memoir of her time living in Iceland called 'Names for the Sea'.  So I was excited to pick up this little big.  And then was big time disappointed.  There was ZERO dialogue in this book.  Each chapter was told from a different perspective of a person staying at a cabin park in Scotland.  It's like one giant stream of consciousness.  

3-STARS

***The Girl From the Channel Islands (Fiction, J. Lecoat)

Just....kind of boring.  Or maybe I've just read too many WWII novels lately.

***Dawn and the Impossible Three (BSC #5, Fiction, Ann M. Martin)

4-STARS

****Beezus and Ramona (Fiction, B. Cleary)

Revisiting these books from my childhood!

****Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona the Pest (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona the Brave (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona and Her Father (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona and Her Mother (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona Forever (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona the Brave (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****The Mouse & the Motorcycle (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Mary Anne Saves the Day (BSC #4, Fiction, Ann M. Martin)

****The Berlin Girl (Fiction, M. Robotham)

2 journalists from England head to Germany in the summer of 1938, right on the brink of war.

****The German Midwife (Fiction, M. Robotham)

4.5.  Wow.  A midwife working in the prison camps is called upon to deliver Eva Braun's child.  Yikes.  

March Reads (9)

1-STAR

 *The Secret History (Fiction, D. Tartt)

Donna Tartt has a knack for writing the most UNLIKABLE characters ever.  This was about 6 rich kids (well, 5 rich kids and 1 who pretended to be) who killed one of their own because they were worried that he would run his mouth about another murder they committed.  All 6 of them were so incredibly terrible that I just didn't care what happened to them.  Well, I guess I can't say that because NOTHING HAPPENED TO THEM and that infuriated me.  No major consequences for their actions.

All they did was sit around and get drunk, do drugs, and talk about how smart they were and would throw in a Greek sentence or two (in case we forgot they were intellectual people).  Oh, and they killed people.

The sad thing is that Donna Tartt is an excellent writer.  Had even ONE of these characters been even the tiniest bit likable, this probably would have been at least a 3-star read for me.

*Home Front (Kristin Hannah)

I just need to stop reading books about veterans, the spouses of veterans, and war-related PTSD (and the spouse of someone with war-related PTSD).  Because they never. get. it. right.  Or even CLOSE to right.  

I realize that every person and every situation is different.  But I just could not get past the cringe-worthy clichés about PTSD and veterans in this book.

And the children were HORRIBLE.  Don't get me wrong, I love a book with a well-written 4-year-old and the drama of a 12-year-old.  But these kids were just terribly written.

Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors.  But this book was not for me.

2-STARS

**The Hunting Party (Fiction, L. Foley)

This book started off strong for me, but as it went on I hated each character more and more.

3-STARS

***Uglies (Fiction, YA, S. Westerfield)

1st part of a quadrilogy.  Is that a word?  Anyways.  I liked it.  I think.  I'll keep going with the series.  Typically the first book is never the best one.

***The Light in Hidden Places (Fiction, YA, S. Cameron)

I think the biggest problem that I had with this book was that I listened to it on audio.  And the narrator was fantastic....however the book is told from a teenage girl's perspective and the narrator sounded like she was in her 40s or 50s.  If that makes sense.  It just felt so....distracting.

***The Shell Seekers (Fiction, R. Pilcher)

Had this been 100 pages shorter, I probably would have liked it better.

4-STARS

****The Lost Apothecary (Fiction, S. Penner)

ALMOST a five-star read.  I loved this book.  There were parts of it that felt a bit rushed though, so I deducted a star.  But I'm still thinking about it.  So maybe I shouldn't have been stingy with my stars.

****The Art of Making Memories (Non-Fiction, M. Wiking)

From the author of the Little book of Hygge and the Little book of Lykke.  I really enjoyed this one, especially because he stresses the importance of getting out of 'digital photo hell' by organizing and printing off your pictures (whether it be actual pictures or in a printed book from a website).  I sooooooo need to work on this big time.  It's one of my goals for this year.  I'm going to work backwards, so my first book will be for the year 2020.  It will probably be thin ha ha.  Also, Mark Wiking's books are just so cute.  They look adorable all lined up.

5-STARS

*****The Namesake (Fiction, YA, A. Young)

The sequel to Fable, one of my favorite books last year.  It did not disappoint, and I was NOT ready for this story to end!  I want more books!  And these books win all the stars for their covers.

February Reads (7)

Total Books Read:  7 (7 Fiction)

 

5-STARS

*****This Time Next Year (Fiction, S. Cousens)

A light, not-too-cheesy rom-com. 

 

4-STARS

****The Four Winds (Fiction, K. Hannah)

Super depressing, but I didn’t expect it to be a ray of sunshine.  The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.  But I read this book in less than 48 hours…it was a page turner for me, even though it was difficult.

 

****The Paris Library (Fiction, J. Skeslien)

This was excellent, and based on a true story of the American Library in Paris.  I almost gave it 5 stars, but it was VERY easy to put down, so it lost a star.

 

3-STARS

***Invisible Girl (Fiction, L. Jewell)

Lisa Jewell is hit or miss for me.  This one was just okay.

 

***A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow (Fiction, YA, L. Taylor-Namey)

Had a hard time getting into this one, but parts of it were very endearing

 

***The Age of Miracles (Fiction, YA, K. Thompson-Walker)

It’s been done before.  The Earth slowed down, making daylight extend for up to 60 hours and of course throwing everything else off in the process. An easy audio listen, but nothing spectacular.

 

2-STARS

**Midnight Blue (Fiction, S. Vandervlugt)

2 stars because of the descriptions of Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities.  The story and character development…not great.  It felt like it was trying to be ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’, but failed.

 

DNF:

All the Bright Places (Fiction, YA, J. Niven)

Ivory and Bone (Fiction, YA, J. Eshbaugh)

January Reads (6)

 

Total Books Read:  6

4-STARS

****The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History (Non-Fiction, A. Greene)

Die hard fans of The Office (like myself) will LOVE this book.  Loads of behind the scenes info about the show, the actors, the storylines, the staff, etc.

****Evvie Drake Starts Over (Fiction, L. Holmes)

This one was a 3 star read up until the last quarter or so.  I liked the way the author handled the mental health portions and therapy.

 

3-STARS

***Watching You (Fiction, L. Jewell)

I’m a fan of Lisa Jewell, but this one was pretty disturbing and creepy.  But I still liked it!

***Call Your Daughter Home (Fiction, D. Spera)

I think if I had read this at a different time I would have liked it more.  It was EXTREMELY heavy.

***To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fiction, C. Paolini)

Sci-fi, aliens, and about 300 pages too long.  But still enjoyable!

***Evening and the Morning (Fiction, K. Follett)

My first Follett book, which is good because it’s a prequel to his World Without End Series.  It’s DEFINITELY not for everyone and I wouldn’t recommend it, but I also am still thinking about the first two chapters.  Probably the best ‘first’ couple of chapters I’ve ever read.