2020 Reading Log, Quarter 1 (Jan - Mar)

2020 Reading List to Date (includes books read by myself, books read to the boys before bed, and audiobooks listened to during my commute).



Actual Books:
1) A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Diana Gabaldon. Trying to read through the entire Outlander series, even though I sigh and huff my way through most of the overblown sex scenes and incessant details that don't matter.

2) Dragonlance: Chronicles trilogy, Margaret Wise and Tracy Hickman. Read through these as a preview for potentially recommending them for B to read on his own. He's probably ready for them.

3) Mrs. Poe, Lynn Cullen. About a woman poet in late 1800s New York City who was supposedly the mistress of Edgar Allen Poe.

4) The Royal We, Heather Cox. It was as terrible as I had heard. A re-writing of the love story between Prince William and Kate Middleton, except now she's an American? And has a twin sister? And sleeps with Prince Harry? Blech.

5) Dragonlance: Legends trilogy, Margaret Wise and Tracy Hickman. Because I read the first trilogy, why not read the second? I always had a soft spot for Raistlin, but reading it now I kind of fell out with him.

6) About Last Night, Ruthie Knox. Time for a repeat of my favorite smutty novel. Still love it, even though I've read it probably 5 times by now.

7) Flirting With Disaster, Ruthie Knox. Since I like About Last Night so much, I decided to try another by the same author. Did not enjoy as much.

Books Read to Boys:

8) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling. After over a year reading this series to the boys, we finally finished and watched the last movie a week ago. Such a bittersweet milestone, but I'm planning to start reading the series to J and CC when they are 7 and 4, so I will have another go-around! Definitely choked up and cried while reading through the Battle of Hogwarts scenes; I'm such a softie!

Audiobooks:
9) The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan. Definitely cried hard tears at the end when the mother's loss of her first babies was revealed.

10) Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell. This was pretty good, although it took some time to adjust to each new character's story when it would abruptly jump.

11) Turtles All the Way Down, John Green. A teen with anxiety disorder solves a murder mystery. I hated this at first, but it got better.

12) Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes. On my reading list that I'm determined to finish, but HOLY COW THIS WAS TERRIBLE. Add on to this the fact that I download the audiobook for 21 days only and there was always someone placing a hold... I listened to this book on and off (unabridged) for FOUR MONTHS. Never again!

13) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz. Another on the recommended reading list and this one was FANTASTIC! A historical perspective of the Dominican Republic, its dictator, and immigration to the USA. So, so good.

Not sure when I will be able to finish another audiobook as we are under self-quarantine for the foreseeable future and I'm not sure when my daily commutes will begin again! Maybe I can listen to audiobooks while taking some self-care time and running as the weather continues to improve.

In 2017, my Quarter 1 total was 11, but I hadn't started listening to audiobooks during my commutes yet (only during long trips).
In 2016, my Quarter 1 total was 11, but that included through April because I forgot to tally in March.
In 2018, my Quarter 1 total was 14 (!), but I suspect that had a great deal to do with shorter books read (Jean Auel is very long!), or perhaps 2018 was an exceptionally good year for reading.
In 2019, my Quarter 1 total was 11, which was probably more due to long books read to boys and little reading time at night because we were still so tired with CC not sleeping through the night.