2023 Reading Log, Quarter 2 (Apr-Jun)

Ended Quarter 1 with 17 books read. Onto Quarter 2!

Actual Books:

18. A Court of Thorns and Roses series (Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 and 4); Sarah Maas. I understand a lot of where the criticisms of these books comes from- in some cases she has not modified the classical fairy tale AT ALL while repurposing for her own novels. In the later books, I did appreciate how some characters grew and evolved. Still not loving the whole "male as protector knows better than fragile female" trope that so many romance books tend to have. 

19. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption; Laura Hillenbrand. An Olympian track star who survived adrift in a raft in the Pacific and then a Japanese POW camp? Wow. Truth can be stranger than fiction. 

20. Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid. Not my favorite of her novels so far.

21. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus. A sassy, sharp-tongued chemist takes a turn on daytime television, arousing a nation of feminist housewives while fighting for recognition of her own scientific progress against 1960s-era stigma and roadblocks. I loved it. 

22. Haven, Emma Donoghue. A trio of monks leave the mainland Ireland to set up a monastery "apart from the world" which is fine in theory, but doesn't work out in principle if the lead monk has no idea how to actually feed his people. Not my favorite Donoghue book, either. 

23. The Belgariad series, David Eddings. Had to re-read again after a few years hiatus. Still a favorite. 

24. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Lisa See. About the tea trade in China in the late 1990s, ethnic minorities and adoption and immigration. 

25. Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by one of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, Chester Nez. Again, truth stranger than fiction. What an amazing group of people!

26. Artemis, Andy Weir.  I liked The Martian better, although I did enjoy the sarcastic wise-cracking female heroine. 

27. Once, Morris Gleitzman. A Jewish boy abandoned in an orphanage as a safe place by his parents invents stories to understand what's happening to him. Ends up running away, being marched to a ghetto, befriending a dentist who also cares for abandoned children, and on a train bound for a concentration camp. YA focus.

27. This is Where it Ends, Marieke Nijkamp. On recommendation from B, another YA about school shooting. 

28. The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern. A re-read, just as good as the first time! May have to actually purchase this one to re-read often.

E-books/Audiobooks:

29. The Children on the Hill, Jennifer McMahon. Thriller set in a psychiatric hospital where the lead physician is also performing terrible experiments on her adopted children. 

30. The Cruelest Month, Louise Penny. Listened to the first in this series last summer, this is book 3 we listened to on our 15 hours of driving back and forth at the end of the school year. Not as good of a mystery plot. 

Books Read to Kids:

31. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder. While I recognize the significance to children's literature Wilder made, I did have to censor some of the racist and judgemental text surrounding the interactions with Native Americans. 

 To compare, at the end of Quarter 2 in:

2016-- I had finished 17 books

2017-- I had finished 25 books

2018-- I had finished 37 books

2019-- I had finished 28 books

2020-- I had finished 27 books

2021-- I had finished 38 books

2022-- I had finished 26 books

2023 June DITL: The Jimmy Awards!

We made a 24-hour whirlwind trip to NYC for The Jimmy Awards, where JP had a student nominee! What an exciting time. 

2023 May DITL

 
Not entirely certain how to title this DITL, so we'll just jump right in!

2023 March/April Mash-Up

In both March and April, I've tried to take photos for a whole day, but end up missing large chunks. Here's a March/April mash-up.

2023 Reading Log, Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar)

 It's time for my quarterly recounting of the books I've read in the past three months. I set an initial goal of 60 books for 2023, but recently increased that to 65 (as in the previous few years). I think I can make that goal.

Here's what I've read thus far:

Actual Books:

1. Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel; pandemic writer, very immersive and the storyline grabs at you. Still very difficult to read apocalyptic/pandemic setting literature though. 

2. Gentleman Jack: The real Anne Lister, Anne Choma. This has been made into a streaming platform (not sure which one) miniseries and I thought I'd read the background before watching the show. Now that I've read it, I'm not very interested in a Victorian-era lesbian who smashed gender roles but simultaneously reinforced classism and other stereotypes. Meh.

3. American Gods, Neil Gaiman; after listening to an audiobook of his, I decided to revisit a novel I hadn't read since college. Still good, and I think I connected more of the interweaving storylines and background details this time. 

4. The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue; borrowed from the local library, let G-Nana read this first while she was staying in January. She liked it so I picked it up as soon as she was finished. A fast-paced, interesting read set in the 1917 influenza pandemic in a L&D ward of an Irish hospital. Did NOT see the tragic ending coming. 

5. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser; picked this up from the bookshelf at the Mount Snow townhouse and continued to read after requesting from the library when we got home. A well-researched historical narrative of the Ingalls family and their placement in the greater cultural and societal changes of the late 19th century. Interesting to put together some of the fragments inserted into the children's novels-- how much was actual lived experience, how much was written by Ingalls' daughter Rose Wilder Lane, how much was completely fabricated? We'll likely never know.

6. I'm Glad my Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy; memoir detailing a child in show business with an abusive, narcissistic mother

7. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving; another re-read, this time from high school. I remember this book being wonderful but this time I found it a little dry and obsessive in it's hyper-focus on the Vietnam War being the worst thing to ever have occurred, ever in history. Which I recognize some people likely feel that way (especially those directly impacted), but this hyper-focus to the exclusion of everything else makes the book less relevant to any other/future traumatic incidents

8. The Ring of Solomon, Jonathan Stroud; B's book from Christmas that I borrowed once he was finished. I really enjoy the Bartimaeus books!

9. Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear, Carl Hart; some parts absolutely brilliant, some parts preachy, but made me re-think my stance on drug use and abuse and refocus toward a more harm-reduction goal

10. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, Laura Hillenbrand; a non-fiction history of an Olympic mile runner who was drafted into the US Air Force in WW2, was shot down over the Pacific Ocean and spent almost 2 months drifting at sea, only to be passed through Japanese POW camps... it was too incredible to be real, but he actually did all those things. 

11. Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid; I've read other books by her that I enjoyed more and was actually looking for a different novel of hers that was unavailable. This one was ok.

Books read to Kids:

12. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder; the littles enjoyed listening to these childhood stories of a little girl who lived a simple life a long time ago.

E-Books/Audiobooks:

13. Quiet in her Bones, Nalini Singh; have read her smutty rugby romance novels but this was a murder mystery set in New Zealand. Fairly good plot and kept me guessing at the killer for a while. 

14. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman; listened to on our trek to NH and MA in January. As always, great to listen to!

15. A Consuming Fire, Laura E Weymouth; young-adult fantasy about a group of "pure" young women who are sacrificial lambs to a terrible god/demon and one woman's quest to bring that god down. Some parts good, some parts "meh"

16. The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood; romance set in a graduate-school, science lab setting and obviously written by someone who has research and science background. A good, fast read

17. Belladonna, Adalyn Grace; Another fantasy, young adult, romance-ish book about a girl who has been chosen by Death and can take on the powers of death (namely, can pass through walls and be invisible) but the overarching plot (why do you need these powers) was a little thin

How did I stack up? At the end of Quarter 1 in:

2016, I read: 11 (included April); 

2017, I read: 11; 

2018, I read: 14; 

2019, I read: 11; 

2020, I read: 13

2021, I read: 18

2022, I read: 15

2023 February DITL: A Magical Vacation Week

Instead of just one day, here are some especially wonderful photos from our mid-winter vacation week to Florida.

2023 January DITL: Snow Day Monday!

 

A Wintry Wonderland

2022 Reading Log, Quarter 4 (Oct-Dec)

 My goal for 2022 was 65 books this year and ended Q3 at 45. Here's the final tally of books read this year:

Actual books:

46. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice. For my annual "it's October and I should read some classic thrillers". I didn't enjoy this re-read as much as I remember enjoying it the first time. 

47. Before we were Yours, Lisa Wingate. About adoptions during the early 20th century, where children were stolen from impoverished parents and placed with wealthy families. Based loosely on actual happenings in Tennessee. 

48. In Five Years, Rebecca Searle. A woman has a dream placing her 5 years in the future, carefully upsetting all her preconceived notions of what her life will look like. This was great to read how the dream came to reality, but not in the way she initially thought it would. 

49. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, Jill Bolte Taylor. On the recommendation of a student, this is a memoir of a neuroscientist who had a stroke and recovered. Fascinating insight into what she experienced both during and immediately after the stroke. Her conclusion about the roles of the different hemispheres of the brain was a little far-fetched, but meshed with her experiences.

50. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. A perennial favorite and I hadn't read it again in at least a decade. I'm glad I did. A masterpiece in a very slim volume, with insight and cautions for today's world. 

51. It ends with Us, Colleen Hoover. A story of an abusive relationship, loosely based on the author's own mother's experience. A good read, however some of the character's immediate reactions, or explanations of why they acted in that way didn't mesh with the career she'd given them (like, someone who has done extensive medical training and specialized in neurosurgery would probably not be able to practice if they experienced blackout rages where they hurt the people around them-- that would have been triggered by the intense stress of residency/fellowship and the person would have either learned to deal with it or been discovered). 

52. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women, Kate Moore. I knew about this book and then listened to a podcast about it and finally read through. Incredible book, very carefully researched and these women were role models. They are why we have OSHA today and the safety precautions on the job, paid for with their health and lives.

53. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile, Candice Millard. Historical narrative non-fiction about the British explorers searching for the Nile's source in 19th century Africa, but crucially highlights the important role that native African guides and porters played in the success of these colonial explorers/exploiters. 

Books read to kids:

54. Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren. I thought this would be a nice, light read to the kids about an irrepressible young girl but ended up having to censor large parts of some of Pippi's stories for racist themes. Some classics don't age well. 

55. Stuart Little, E.B. White. This one was much better for the kids.

E-book/Audiobooks:

56. The Bridgerton Collections, vol 1-6, Julia Quinn. I have watched the first 2 seasons on Netflix, so decided that I should probably read the novels. It seems the show has paralleled the books for the most part, and the rest of the series is pretty formulaic (there's a Cinderella-esque plotline in one, etc). Decent reads, nothing too thrilling.

57. The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling. Thriller mystery with some paranormal twists thrown in. Not sure I entirely understood exactly what was happening by the time the book wrapped up at the end. Sometimes the characters made me want to bang my head against the wall, always assuming the worst about others without even having a conversation! Ugh. 

58. Darkfever, Karen Marie Moning. Have read different time traveling/fae series by her before, so wanted to try out this one. May dip my toes in for book #2 in the future.

59. Soulless, Gail Carriger. Victorian-era snobbishness meets vampires and werewolves with a sharp-tongued heroine who refuses to marry. I rather liked it. 

60. The Iron Duke, Meljean Brook. Another steampunk/Victorian-type setting, only this time there had been an invasion of "the Horde" who used micro-robots to enslave the European population. Now they're dealing with the aftermath of freedom and traveling hijinks. 

End-of-year comparisons:

In 2017, I read 55 books through the year.

In 2018, I read 70 books through the year.

In 2019, I read 57 books through the year.

In 2020, I read 61 books through the year.

In 2021, I read 69 books through the year.

In 2022, I read 60 books throughout the year (although I'm counting several series as one), so I'd say I met my goal for this year! 

2022 December DITL: A Busy Monday during the Holiday Season

A Busy December Monday

2022 November DITL: Work @ Home and Basketball

 
Our Not-So-Little-Anymore L has decided to join a boy's travel basketball team. He's been asking for WEEKS to get some court shoes, and we finally managed it today!

2022 October DITL: Mash-up

A DITL in which I take photos over the course of two days, stitching them together. Can you guess which photos are from Day 1 versus Day 2?

2022 Reading Log, Quarter 3 (Jul-Sept)

 

At the end of Quarter 2 (June), I was at 26 books. Starting Q3 with...

Actual Books:

27. Generation Warriors (Planet Pirates #3), Anne McCaffrey. Apparently, she had "finished" this trilogy with a book I'd never heard of. It was... ok. I liked Sassinak the best.

28. Dune Messiah & Children of Dune, Frank Herbert. Following up my reading with my favorite books of the quartet. I still think Dune Messiah is the best. Will need to finish off with God Emperor of Dune soon, and apparently there are more books in this universe written by Herbert's son that I've never touched.

29. Wild Beauty, Anna-Marie McLemore. On Desiree's bookshelf. About a family of women who have plant-growing powers but have been mis-characterized as witches for generations.

30. The Jason Bourne Trilogy (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum), Robert Ludlum. I had previously read this trilogy when the movies were coming out. I thought I liked them better, upon re-reading they were tiresome and with a lot of circuitous logic.

31. The Rise of Magicks, Nora Roberts. Finished off the trilogy, the 1st book was the best.  

32. Cinder, Marissa Meyer. Re-imagining classic fairy tales in a modern, cyborg world. It was passably good

33. The Tower & Hive series (The Rowan, Damia, Damia's Children, Lyon's Pride, The Tower and the Hive), Anne McCaffrey. Another good re-read.

34. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett. LONG (over 1000 pages) historical fiction about the building of cathedrals in Middle Ages-era England. Some was decent, the characters were bland and one-dimensional.

35. Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption, Jennifer Cannon-Thompson and Rob Cotton. Memoir written from two perspectives: one a rape victim who mistakenly identified the perpetrator in a line up, the other an innocent man found guilty and imprisoned for nearly two decades.

36. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson. An in-depth overview of the Columbian Exposition of 1892 in Chicago and the serial killer operating in the midst of the fair. 

37. The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides. I could not put this book down. It was a page-turner and I was stunned at the end with the killer. 

38. Verity, Colleen Hoover. A struggling author is tasked with finishing a multi-book series for an incapacitated author. During her research into the author's notes, she finds a memoir manuscript which shows the author is a pretty terrible wife and mother. Chaos ensues.

39. Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead. I like this author's works. This one wasn't my favorite, but it was real and I could envision the characters and their environment and understand/identify with their choices.

E-Books/Audiobooks:

40. Still Life, Louise Penny. Listened to this on our family vacation to Hershey, PA. Great thriller, even though Jake guessed the murderer in the first hour.

41. The Other Side of the Sky and Beyond the End of the World (duology), Amie Kaufman. YA romance about two civilizations who diverged centuries ago and inhabit different regions of the world (sky versus ground). Interesting read about how the different cultures evolved and their oral/written history.

42. The Midnight Library, Matt Haig. A woman between life and death can choose to inhabit and experience different lives based on the multitude of different choices she could have made throughout her existence.

43. Child of Light, Terry Brooks. *Yawn* It passed the time, but I was not invested in the characters or their story line at all.

44. Grave Peril, Jim Butcher. Another audiobook to keep us awake through the long hours of driving here, there, and everywhere this summer. There's enough funny one-liners to keep us smiling, and the plot (while incredulous at times) is varied enough to keep things interesting.

Books read to Kids:

45. The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes, Peter Brown. It took us all summer (and all of September!), but we read through these two books with James and Celia. 

I'm on track to reach my (revised) goal of 65 books for this year. 

Comparisons for the end of Quarter 3:

In 2016, I had read 28 books at this point

In 2017, I had read 35 books at this point

In 2018, I had read 59 books at this point (nursing infant CC all hours of day and night!)

In 2019, I had read 39 books at this point

In 2020, I had read 43 books at this point

In 2021, I had read 55 books at this point

2022 September DITL: Appointments and Soccer Thursday

A busy September Thursday full of appointments, work, school, and evening soccer

2022 July DITL: A Busy Summer Tuesday

A busy summer Tuesday at the Lake and with friends!

2022 Reading Log, Quarter 2 (Apr-Jun)

 My 2022 goal is to read 65 books. At the end of Quarter 1, I had finished 15 books. Here's Quarter 2!

Actual books:

15. Infidel, Ayaan Hirsan Ali; memoir of growing up in an African Islamic family

16. The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos, Judy Batalion; narrative non-fiction of Jewish women resistance fighters who lived, worked, and fought back in various WW2 ghettos in Poland. Some survived, most did not.

17. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens; This one is being made into a movie, thought I'd get a head start on reading it. Decent murder mystery.

18. The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah; Another WW2 women resistance story, this one fiction and set in France. 

19. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, Jon Krakauer; Another one to read in advance of a Netflix series dropping. I generally enjoy Krakauer's work and have read several of his books. This one did a little more historical referencing to the origins of the Mormon faith and mythology before analyzing how the Lafferty brothers went off the deep end into cultism.

20. The Girl with the Louding Voice, Abi Dare; a girl in Nigeria who is married off by her father, escapes into working as a housemaid, only to break free of that and pursue her own education. 

21. Sassinak, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon; a re-read picked up from my parent's house during a visit. Still just as good decades later.

Books read to the kids:

None. Super J had his own reading that he needed to do aloud each night, and those stories were generally pretty short. 

E-books:

22. The Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), Steig Larsson. A re-read and still just as good.

23. The Witch's Kind, Louisa Morgan; Post-WW2 Pacific Northwest, a woman and her aunt who have magical blood adopt a half-mer baby; also some domestic violence woven in

24.The Widow of Pale Harbor, Hester Fox; a woman recluse suspected of murdering her husband (spoiler: she is partially responsible) and an actual murderer setting up victims in line with Edgar Allen Poe poems and short stories

25. Of Blood and Bone, Nora Roberts; 2nd in the pandemic-magic trilogy, this one is about the mythically foretold "the One" growing up and beginning training in both the martial and magical arts. 

26. Duke of Midnight, Elizabeth Hoyt; finished last night so just in time. Romance with some smut set in 1700s England with all the class restrictions and lack of women's ability to do anything on their own. *yawn*

I currently have 2 books in progress (and didn't include 2 here because I'd rather list them as a trilogy as above), so I'm making decent headway toward my yearly goal. Once my summer course is finished (looking forward to Friday!), I should have more time in the hottest parts of the day to lazily read and get caught up. Also starting to read aloud to the kids again at night, so am excited for those books to join this list!

 To compare, at the end of Quarter 2 in:

2016-- I had finished 17 books

2017-- I had finished 25 books

2018-- I had finished 37 books

2019-- I had finished 28 books

2020-- I had finished 27 books

2021-- I had finished 38 books

2022 June DITL: Last day of school!

 

Time to Celebrate! It's the last day of the school year!

2022 May DITL: Summer Course and 5th Grade Fine Arts Night

 

It is the end of May... time for final concerts and summer term classes!

2022 April DITL: Half of a Thursday during Spring Break

A Sunny Thursday during Spring Break where I forget the camera half the day.

2022 Reading Log, Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar)

 My 2022 goal for books is 65... just over 5 per month. Let's see how things stacked up.

2022 March DITL: St. Patrick's Day

An Unsettled St. Patrick's Day