This widget is to keep track of what books I’ve read and to remind myself what they are about. I have a goal of two books a month. Not a lot, but sometimes almost impossible, depending on what other projects I’m involved with. It starts here…

November 2024

“The Women” by Kristen Hannah started out my reading for this month. It was recommended by a few sources that I follow and I had it on my holds at Libby. After waiting several weeks (maybe months) I finally gave up and bought it at Sam’s Club. I don’t like to read reviews about the novel I am going to start so I knew very little about this one, as usual. But. On the cover is a helicopter so I immediately assumed that it was set in Vietnam. “The Women” are Army nurses on the front line. Starting out with a naive wealthy young woman joining the army to be close to her brother who dies before she gets there. It continues with her life story, loves, family, the chaos of the war, the turmoil of the 70s, and the two nurses who served with her and became her best friends. It was an interesting book although I felt like Frankie needed to get over herself. Scheesh.

I had started the “The Lush Life” by Richard Price several times and just couldn’t get into it. Finally forced myself to read it by not having any other books with me on a airplane flight. It was an interesting book about life in the “projects”, murder, detectives, police, drugs, relationships. Anyhow, it was good. Glad I stuck with it.

Then I read “Death at the Sign of the Rook” by Kate Atkinson. I love her books and really enjoyed this one. This is the sixth book in a series about Jackson Brodie, a detective. I don’t know how I so often read the last book of a series instead of starting from the first book. But I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. It was fun to read.

I went back to Libby to get more of the series but they aren’t available at my library. Bummer. Libby did have “Normal Rules Don’t Apply”. The blurb about the book is that it is short stories that intertwine. I was on my return flight and this was the only book I had so I read the stories gain. It is hard to describe this book. Some of the stories are humorous with a bit of “tongue in cheek” appeal. Others are just weird. But I liked it a lot and I went to Barnes & Noble and bought the first book of the Jackson Brodie series. Guess I can’t get enough of Kate Atkinson’s prose.

October 2024

I read “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson. This is another of the top 100 books of the 21st Century picked by the New York Times. I’m still pondering on the meaning of the book. I would say that it is basically about the Prodigal’s son. Both the one that stayed home and the one who left and returned to open arms. There are a lot of biblical references in the book. This is one of a series and I might try to read the others in the future. But it is kind of deep.

I followed that up with “By Any Other Name” by Jodi Picoult. Wasn’t crazy about it. Seemed way too many words and an overdrawn plot for a simple story about a woman actually writing some of the Shakespeare plays.

September 2024

Started out the month by finishing “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith that I started in August. Her most well-known novel is “White Teeth” which I have not yet read. I’m not sure why I started with “On Beauty”–probably a recommendation from the Parnassus bookstore. I really like Ms. Smith’s style of writing. Also liked the story and the characters. I plan to read “White Teeth” soon but first I have several books from Libby that are calling me! Also, I started buying books again and one is sitting on the coffee table just waiting….

August 2024

“James” by Perceval Everett. This is the number one book to read this year on every book list. I put this on my Libby List long ago and it finally showed up on my in box. Back in June I read “Erasure” by the same writer. This is a return to “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain but told from the runaway slave’s side of the story. Wow. James, the slave, is very angry and for very good reason. Lots of sadness and violence. Then I read the original “Huckleberry Finn”. Gotta remember that Mr. Clemmons published this in 1884. It was very interesting comparing the two narratives. I want to say that Tom Sawyer was a jerk!

July 2024

“Twilight Territory” was my first novel for this month. By Andrew X. Pham, the book starts in 1942 with the Vincy French controlling Vietnam and the Japanese were taking over Indochina. I knew very little about Vietnam and its history so, while I wasn’t crazy about the writing style, I stuck with it because the story was so interesting.

Did some traveling so had time to read! “Long Island” by Colm Toibin. It was recommended by a magazine or newspaper and I didn’t realize that it was part of a series. I’ve got a hold on the first book, “Brooklyn”, at the Libby. The story is about an Irish/American woman and her relationship with family and acquaintances. The ending of this book was not an ending. No decisions made. So I’m guessing that there will be a third book!

The last book was “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett. I love her writing style and stories. This was on the 100 books of the 21st Century by the NYT. I’ve read her books, “The Dutch House” and “Tom Lake” and really liked both so was eager to read this book. basically, the book is about terrorists and their hostages and how their relationships change during the ordeal. There are no good guys or bad guys. Ms. Patchett makes me like all the players although we all know what will eventually happen.

June 2024

Well, it’s been more than a few months since I added to this page. But I have been reading. I did finish “The Covenant of Water” in March. It was very long and very good. I think about it often.

I also read “Yellow Face” by R. F Kuang 

An Asian woman writing from a white woman’s view about Asians and the problems in the writing and publishing world. Lots of referencing all of the social media. I found the book slow after the first several pages. Didn’t really get interested until I was about half finished. Then I was disappointed in the end.

Next up was another book about writing and publishing. “Erasure: A Novel” by Percevil Everett. This was an interesting and entertaining book. I enjoyed the clever bickering between Monk and his sister Lisa but she was gone too soon. The movie “American Fiction” was based on this book.

And I have to ponder, do writers really make that much money when they make it big?

Possibly my favorite book thus far for 2024 is “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt. I found it delightful and made me only want to read happy books in the future. The characters are fun and I especially liked the clever octopus. And I just read yesterday that an octopus in an aquarium escaped his habitat and returned to the ocean through a drainage pipe. Cool.

Then we started our big move from Florida to North Dakota. I gave almost all of my books away. And I had a lot. Makes me sad but I really didn’t want to pack them nor ship them. I hope someone out there is enjoying them.

Decided to not read anything heavy and finally finished “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamont. Ms. Lamont wrote this book as a self-help for writing a book. It took me forever to finish the book because I had a lot going on and I’m not really interested in writing a book. But it was very interesting and she is a clever and humorous writer.

And my last book for March through June was “Good Material” by Dolly Alderton. I really had a hard time getting through this one. Like I said a few paragraphs ago, I really have got to quit reading these depressing stories. Plus I didn’t understand a lot of the references because it is based in London and everyone is under 35. They have a whole different way of looking at things. Am I getting old?! Yikes! Most of the book is told from Andy’s side of a breakup. The end of the book is from the ex-girlfriend. Anyhow, I had to totally agree with the woman’s side of the story.

February 2024

Back in November 2023, I started “the Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese. It was an ebook from the elibrary. Was almost finished when my two weeks were up and it was removed from my library. I enjoyed what I had read and had just got to a crucial part when it disappeared. I bought the book. The real book. And was quite determined to read it from the beginning until the end. I put off starting it because it is a BIG book. Not just in size but in scope. Finally started it about the middle of February. I’ll let you know in March how it went…..

January 2024

I pulled “American Dirt” by Jeanne Cummins out of our community Little Free Library. This was an Oprah Book Club pick from a few years ago and I recall there was some controversy about the author. The book was about illegal immigration of Mexicans and migrants from other Central American countries that were running from cartels and other criminals. Something I didn’t know was that many of the migrants traveled on the top of trains before the “coyotes” smuggled them across the border to the north. It all sounded crazy dangerous to me. I thought the book was interesting and easy to read. After I was finished I did the research to find out what the problem was with the book. The controversy was that the author was not Mexican and was writing about a Mexican problem and her characters had no empathy. Huh? Okay, that’s the cliff notes version but really. It’s just a fictional novel. About an awful situation.

Next up was “Let Us Descend” by Jesmyn Wars. Yikes! I’ve got to start reading books that are a little less dark. This was about a young slave woman, her mother, and grandmother and their trials. A very sad and disturbing tale. The owners were cruel and merciless—even the king in Africa sold his disobedient wife and sent her in a slave ship to the new world. The white owners beat their slaves and didn’t feed them. The slaves were forced to walk for months from their southern homes to New Orleans to the slave market. There is not an uplifting moment in this entire book.

And now I’m going to say WOOZA for “Strange Sally Diamond” by Liz Nugent. I requested this book months ago after I saw Harland Cobain (fun author of cool easy reading books) recommend it on the Today show. I have to admit every time it came back up on Libby I paused it because I was reading some other elibrary book. Finally. I said. Gotta read it. I read this book in TWO days. Which is pretty amazing since I have so many other projects and volunteering opportunities. I enjoyed this book so much. Can’t tell you what it is about. Just read it!

And the last book I read in January was “The Christmas Guest” by Peter Harrison. It’s actually a novella and I finished it in one afternoon. A quick read and not depressing but not all that interesting, either. I believe it was supposed to be a gothic mystery. Not so much. Now onto February.

December 2023

“The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride was my first book for December. This was a story about Jews, blacks, whites, and a deaf black boy set in 1936. I struggled getting through the beginning of the book, as in “Where is this going?” But was glad I stuck with it. Got it finished the day Libby was going to take it back! Not again Libby, Not again!

Then I quickly read “The Guest” by Emma Cline. This one was strange. About a very young prostitute that made lots of bad decisions followed by weird rationalizations. I kept wondering what she would do next that was even worse than what crimes that she already had committed. The ending is very unsatisfying. I get it, but …… If you read this book let me know what you think.

I didn’t have a book coming up on Libby so I turned to the stacks of unread books in my bedroom. “The Vacationers” by Emma Straub. As I worked through the book I kept thinking, have I read this before? Have I seen the movie? Where did this book come from? Anyhow, I finished it. It put it in the category of “beach read”. Everyone goes on vacation. Family and best friends. Unhappiness ensues. Some of the problems resolved. Mostly a happy ending. And I think I read it before and it was largely unmemorable. Something light and easy after reading “the Guest” which was most certainly not a happy book. But I probably won’t forget that I already read it.

Book FOUR! “Chain Gang All Stars” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Another Dystopian novel. Prisoners that are murderers and/or rapists have a chance to fight it out in the battlefield for three years to obtain their freedom. Unfortunately, someone has to die in each battle. Another unhappy ending. I told Jes, I need to find some happy stories!

Anyhow, between being sick and traveling, I had more time than usual and actually read FIVE books this month. The last was “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. I love scary stuff. There was nothing scary about this book. Guess I’ll have to watch the Netflix version to be scared.

November 2023

In November I started “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese. This is a really long and very detailed book set in India. I haven’t read many books about India and I found it fascinating. It covers many generations of the same family. And I didn’t get it finished. The library took it back when I was about 85% done. Like I said, it was very long and there were a lot of terms that I had to look up to understand the concept and I didn’t quite get it done in the two weeks that I was allotted. I was quite upset and went out and put it on hold again. I have to wait 20 weeks to find out WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MOTHER! Oh well, I might have to buy this one and move it with the rest of my library.

Next up was “Holly” by Stephen King. Long book but I read it really fast. I’ve learned my lesson! Holly Gibney is a private detective that has been in other King novels. No supernatural stuff in this book which was kind of nice. I loved it. I need to go back and read the books she appeared in. Holly’s mother recently died from Covid which she didn’t believe existed. Even scoffed at people that wore masks and there is a lot of that in this book. This book is SO GOOD!

October 2023

I only finished one book in October—“Trust” by Hernan Diaz. This was a big book with big ideas. Actually four different stories which were supposed to be related and I didn’t get the connection until the third story. It was quite a revelation to me as I figured out what was going on. I like plot twists that actually surprise me so I enjoyed this book quite a bit. This book was a Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction. I wish I had bought this book to add to my library but I read it in Kindle plus I’m supposed to be moving so I’m trying to NOT buy more.

September 2023

My first book for September was “Small Mercies” by Dennis Lehane. So good! A woman was wronged and took revenge. Couldn’t quit reading it. Set in 1974 in South Boston, Mary Pat deals with racism, drug abuse, and the mob. I have read several books by Dennis Lehane and this is one of the best.

Then I actually bought a book–“Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett–I had it on hold on Libby but then I saw it at Sam’s Club and I couldn’t resist. Another really great read. I’m glad I bought it because it is a great addition to my library. Basically, it’s placed during the pandemic and three daughters have come home to their parents and their life is put on hold. They are farmers and while picking cherries and other basic chores, the mother tells them the PG version of her life at “Tom Lake” when she was about their same age.

Okay. I’m going to say that the first two books were great reads. My next book “Gone Tonight” by Sarah Pekkenan was just good. A mother and daughter story. The daughter, Catherine, slowly discovers everything her mother has led her to believe about her life was a lie. I liked the book but it could have been a little shorter. The mothers obsession with keeping her daughter safe and the mother’s concerns about how her daughter is turning out is kind of creepy. But it was entertaining.

August 2023

Back to Libby, the electronic library in August.

I started with “When Breathe Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. It is a memoir about his discovery of his cancer and how he processes it. He dies before completing the book and his wife finishes the very sad ending. I typically don’t like non-fiction. I would rather read a mystery or a love story but this is actually a little bit of both. The mystery is how long will he live and the love story is about his wife and their newborn daughter plus his extended family. It’s very sad but worth reading. I found this book on the blog “Cup of Joe”. (One of my favorites) The writer was the bloggers brother-in-law.

Then I read another nonfiction, “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann. I found this recommended by several sources and put a hold on it on Libby months ago. Gotta say it’s long. And there are a lot of characters to keep track of. It took me the full two weeks that the library allows to read it. I might have stopped quit after the first chapter but I heard that Brendan Fraser will be starring in the movie. Had to finish it!

I’m glad I made it to the end of the book. Basically it is the telling of the murders of numerous people from the Osage tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s for their oil rights. The FBI was newly created and agents were sent in to investigate. The biggest takeaway for me was how poorly the Osage people were treated and how easily it was to murder them and not get caught. Even when one murderer went to trial the jury didn’t convict him because it was an Indian that was murdered. They were expendable.

The book is slow and the story is horrific, but it’s worth reading. I’m looking forward to the movie!

And finally, waiting since April 26th, Libby lent me “DEMON COPPERHEAD” by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s really good. The beginning moved very fast…and then it slowed down….and then it got good again. It’s a BIG book and I’m a slow reader so was very happy that I finished it several days before the two week deadline.

Quickly I will try to give you a very short review. It’s an update on David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Abused foster kids in the Appalachians, poverty, opiod addiction, bad people, good people. Kind of a happy ending. Short enough? Read it. It’s good.

July 2023

All my books in July came from Libby, the library app.

I continued the trilogy by Jojo Moyes and read the second book—“After You”. You might remember that I read the third and first books last month—“Still Me” and “Me Before You”. They were all fun reads but if you want to read them, I’d suggest you read them in the correct order!

Next I started “The Last Goodnight” by Kat Martin. It was awful. I think they used to call these “bodice rippers.” I found the book on some “must read” list. It was so bad I couldn’t finish it. I don’t often give up on a book but I…..just….couldn’t.

Then I started “ A Very Typical Family” by Sierra Godfrey. This was part of the Big Library Read, the global book club. This book is available immediately from Libby—no waiting, no limited copies. It was another fun easy read. Highly recommend!

June 2023

I started out June with reading the “The Judge’s List” by John Grisham. My neighbor lent this novel to me back in April and I wanted to return it before we left on our driving vacation. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed John Grisham’s writing style and stories. This was a fun book to read. (If you call fun reading about serial killers and attorney’s and such.)

Next up was a book from my own bookshelf—a Christmas gift. “Fairy Tale” by Stephen King. 598 pages. I liked the story but it was hard to get through. Seems like it could have been condensed by 200 pages. As a child I read all the fairy tales. Especially the Brothers Grimm. Those were stories that were often grisly and horrific. I could definitely relate to the dark side of this “Fairy Tale”. But seriously, the kid was a super sports star at his high school and gave that all up to help an old guy and then take a dog to a different world to save the dog and he had to battle all kinds of weird stuff. Cause he loved the dog. Seriously. I know. It’s fiction.

I read “Still Me” by Jojo Moyes. My friend Terry left it at my house way back in December. I liked it. But it was the third book of a trilogy. While I could understand the premise, I really wanted to know more so I then downloaded the first book. “Me before You” from my local library. I understood the story a little better. Perhaps there is a reason you are supposed to read the first book FIRST! Anyhow. I’m waiting on the second book from the library. I’m on the waiting list. Four weeks.

I read FOUR BOOKS THIS MONTH. That’s gotta be a record.

May 2023

The first book I read in May was “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zezin.

My daughter sent me this book for Mother’s Day. I had never heard of it.

I loved this novel.

It is all about gaming. The digital kind—not sports betting. I know nothing about gaming. I love Tetris and that’s about my extent of knowledge. Oh yeah, when I was in school it was pinball. That’s it. And I didn’t play much of that.

But it didn’t matter that I didn’t know video gaming to love this book. It was more about the relationship between the two main characters and how it developed through the years. And I was able to understand enough of the gaming through the descriptions that I could relate.

Anyhow, I had to compare this book to Passengers. In that book there was a lot of discussion about math and physics. Deep deep discussions. Pages of them. A lot of characters that went by different names. I know the book was about loneliness and suffering. But. I had a really hard time having any compassion for the characters because I just couldn’t relate.

Like I said, I loved “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”. Highly recommend! Something I could relate to was they were the youngest people in the room when they started the company and then they were the oldest (in their 30s) when thy were approached about partnering with another video gaming company at the end of the book. I was in the computer industry—starting with programming on a TRS-80 and ending with being the Networking support on Novel and Windows NT. By the time I “retired” at 44, I was definitely the oldest person in the room!

The second book was the “The Book Woman’s Daughter” by Kim Michele Richardson. It was the continuation of the story in the “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” that I read in April. It was a hard life living in that era and in the mountains. Interesting read.

April 2023

I read two books in April. “The Love Songs of W.E.B DuBois” by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers and “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” by Kim Michele Richardson. While both were totally different, I learned quite a bit from each one and recommend both.

I downloaded “The Love Songs of W.E.B DuBois” from Amazon Prime for free back in March. I didn’t realize that it was such a long book. 790 pages. Besides being long, it jumps around in history and between characters so I quite often had to go back through the pages to refresh my memory about the African, European, and Creek ancestors. (I really thought I’d never finish it!) I liked the book. I have to admit that I had no idea who W.E.B DuBois was before this novel. I had read about Booker T. Washington and they were contemporaries and both were discussed in depth by the characters.

I also didn’t know anything about the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project during the depression nor that there were blue people. I thought at first that these two themes were totally fiction but after a little research found that both were real in the mountains of Kentucky. Due to cousins marrying cousins a recessive gene was passed down and children of parents who both had the gene could be white or blue. Two other subjects covered were how poor the mountain people were and the intolerance to anything or anyone that was different. They often starved to death–especially the children. Black and Blue people were both treated poorly. I purchased this book last year at Barnes & Noble at the suggestion of the woman working there and finally took the time to read it. I really liked the story and learned quite a bit. I have already went out to the elibrary–Libby–and put the second book on hold. “The Book Woman’s Daughter”. Looking forward to learning where the main character, Cussy Mary goes next.

March 2023

I’m trying to schedule travel time to see my out of town grandkids more in 2023. Which means less time in my creative cave but more time to read!

I started March out with the Gwendy’s Button Box trilogy by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar—my North Dakota family gave them to me for Christmas.

All three books are set in Castle Rock—the same small fictional Maine town that Cujo and The Dead Zone took place, along with several other short stories and novels. The first book was interesting. Written and edited by both authors. it was kind of like young adult literature. Not many bad words, some violence, a little bit scary. I liked the young person that was the hero.

The second book was by Richard Chizmar. Have to say, it was a slog getting through the book. I only finished it because I wanted to read the third book. That one was again written by both authors but I’m giving Stephen King the credit. There were references to “It” in Derry. Creepy fun. It was more his style. And much more interesting. The conclusion to Gwendy’s button box ordeal and her life was “underwhelming”.

Have to say that there were a lot of references to The Dark Tower which I have never read. So I guess that will have to go on my list of books to read in 2023.

I read some reviews of the trilogy and had to agree with most of them. But there were a lot of reviewers that complained about Stephen King inserting his political views. Which I found amusing. WAY back in Dead Zone, mr. king had a reference to the main character touching Jimmy Carter’s hand while he was running for office and the goodness that he felt. Sorry. Most of Stephen Kings books lean to the liberal side.

All three Gwendy stories are easy reads So if you are in the mood for an easy kind of scary read but not the best of Stephen King, go for it!

February 2023

After finishing “Stella Maris” last month, I wanted to read something a bit lighter. But. Libby, the electronic library kept sending me messages that “Our Missing Hearts” by Celeste Ng was available from my holds. I delayed it a few times then finally gave in and started reading it. OMG. That book was SO GOOD! And SO SAD! It takes place in a dystopian future. Where everyone is suspect and it is very easy to lose custody of your child. I couldn’t put it down. And I cried.

Since I enjoyed it so much, I checked out “Little Fires Everywhere” also by Celeste Ng. I loved this book too. I would have kept reading Celeste Ng books all month but she has only published three and I had already read “Everything I Never Told You” (Also an excellent read)

Next up was “Happy Go Lucky” by David Sedaris. One of the books my daughter gave me for Christmas. I love reading his books. This one was much darker than the others that I have read by him. His father dies in this book and David Sedaris lets us know what an awful father he was. This guy was very very bad.

Then I read a fourth book. This one also from Libby. “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn. I read “Gone Girl” several years ago and loved it. This one is a little strange. Another very bad parent but this time it’s the mother.

Back to my bookshelf for March. I have a lot of books there just collecting dust!

January 2023

The two books I finished this month were “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris”, both by Cormac McCarthy. My daughter gave me the first and I purchased the second because they are a pair. One about the brother–Bobby. The other about the sister–Alicia.

I read “The Road” several years ago which was Cormac McCarthy’s take on a post-apocalyptic world. I enjoyed the prose of this story–the rhythm of how he put his words together. The main characters are father and son but never named. Simply called man and boy.

“The Passenger” opens with the sister’s suicide; “Stella Maris” is the institute that the sister commits herself to. Both books deep dive into physics and mathematics which are totally beyond my grasp. But I finished them (skimming over the scientific discussions) assuming that these subjects were not what the books were really about.

I try to never read a synopsis or review of any book I intend to read because I want to form my own opinion. I really want the book to be a revelation or a surprise. I’ve read several reviews now that I’ve finished the books. Both novels were a “dense read” as one review put it. Mr. McCarthy eschews apostrophes and quotations marks which makes his novels even more difficult to read.

Having said all that, I intend to read “The Passenger” again and have already reread different sections of it. I don’t think I’ll go back to “Stella Maris”–it’s the sad telling of a beautiful and brilliant young woman who has nothing to live for.

And for February, I think I will read something fun!