I had this great plan to read so many more books this year and was optimistic that I might need a book post every month-HAH! Still, I did mange to finish more than zero, some I really liked!
I'm leaning in hard to the cat pictures. This series is all photos of Spock sleeping
-by Stuart Turton
7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: Love this!! Agatha Christie meets time travel. (I bought this book in Denver in March 2020, just before getting on a train that was our last trip before shut down)
-by Terry Pratchett
Monstrous Regiment: Great story in the Discworld. It can be read totally independent of any other books. Might even be my favorite so far.
-by Madeline Miller
Circe: Loved this. A retelling of the classic Greek stories but from a minor character.
-by Suzanne Collins
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: Loved this. When it first came out I remember people being upset that it is a sympathetic showing of Snow, but I like the complications.
-by Kate Di Camillo
Flora and Ulysses: Love this writer, cute story about the love between a girl and her super intelligent squirrel. Elementary age readers.
-by The 14th Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
The book of Joy: Excellent for people looking for this type of book. Uplifting and confounding at the same time. Best read a little at a time because it is kind of the same message over and over.
Snakes spiders and sharks: The nephew got into dangerous animals for a bit and so I read up on these in order to prepare to talk to him. The electronic library has a great selection.
-by Nnedi Okorafor: She is on my list to read, tried a couple
Binti: Fantastic! Short sci-fi story. The cover is amazing. No reason to not read it.
La Guardia: Graphic novel. Not as good as the the short story, but pretty fun.
-by Elizabeth Gilbert
Big Magic: About the creative life. A fast read, not much stuck with me, but at another time it might be helpful.
-by Lisa Mosconi
The XX Brain: How women's brains are not men's brains and there is not enough research on the effect of hormones on all brains. I thought I would take more notes than I did. Not really anything I didn't know before. There are some nice exercises for folks who want to take a look at their overall risk. Great topic, but it felt like too many of the answers were "We are working on it, maybe we will understand in a decade or so."
-by Graeme Simsion
The Rosie Result: Last in the trilogy! Not nearly as funny as the first two, but a satisfying tie up of all the loose ends. No reason not to read it if you read the first two.
He likes sleeping on the crinkly cardboard packing material
Books I abandoned: 2020. I've had a hard time finishing things and decided that was okay! Maybe even good. My list of books I want to read is in the hundreds, so I don't have a chance at finishing them all.
-by Helen Hunting
Meet Cute: I liked something else by her, but I started this and after 15 minutes couldn't even. Maybe another year.
The shelf is not quite wide enough for the bed, awww.
-by Renee Ahdieh
The Wrath & the Dawn: On my list of retellings, this is of Arabian nights. I got maybe a quarter of the way into it and it just wasn't drawing me in. So many people like this, maybe I had too high expectations.
-by Claire North
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August: Time travel books....I have read a lot of them lately and this one was not the best for me. Maybe if I hadn't just finished the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
-by Nnedi Okorafor
Akata Witch: First in a trilogy and I might go back to finish it. Will see if it stays in my mind.
-by Ann Patchet
State of Wonder: Really good! I just got started late and others were waiting for it, so I went back to the library. I put in a hold and will finish the last chapter. Fantastic mix of biotech and the Amazon.
-by Johnathan Metzl
Dying of Whiteness: I like the concept that he focuses on specific issues in specific states. Brings in lots of evidence, but I'm not learning enough about the why of the individuals. But I didn't finish it in the 3 weeks, so maybe not for me.
