I love listening to audiobooks, and audiobooks about the presidents are some of my favorites. Here are some that I find myself recommending over and over. (I’ve included one VP and one alternate history here just because.)
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It’s Friday! I know it’s been a while since I have posted. Life took over. I’m hoping things are getting a little back to normal?
This month’s #FoodAndLit challenge from Litsy focuses on Vietnam. YUM. I got a few cookbooks out of the library, and we all have really been enjoying my efforts. This is my first dinner- hoisin chicken and sweet potatoes. I’m hoping to make pho from scratch this weekend if I can find the ingredients.
This past weekend was a two readathon weekend- my favorite kind!
I opened my Valentine’s swap box on Sunday. The candy is all gone, but the books will keep me company for a while!
I needed something to listen to while I was painting my son’s room over the long weekend. I have a ton of books already downloaded, but comfort reading won!
Have a great weekend! Happy reading!
Linked to The Sunday Post at the Caffeinated Reviewer and It’s Monday What Are You Reading
My motivation to walk continues- helped on by a yearly physical and a walking competition at work.
This week I listened to:
And I saw:
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It’s winter and we actually have winter weather. This has been great for my reading, although my mindlessness of 2020 still creeps in from time to time. There are a few book on my January list that I had no memory of until I looked them up. Granted January was a really bad month for my family, and a stressful time to live just outside DC, but I was really hoping to leave that kind of thing in 2020.
Oh well, there were quite a few excellent books that I do remember, so I’ll just focus on those.
I had two five star reads in January- one that I read on a whim and one much anticipated audiobook.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - The story of Olive, a cranky old lady living in Maine. Her story isn’t so much of a story as a series of vignettes in which she touches other people’s lives in various ways. In reading reviews this seems to be one of those books that people either love or hate, and I loved, loved, loved this book.
Gone Crazy In Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia - When I found out I would be driving from Cleveland to DC with my kiddos I knew I had to have this audiobook to get me through. We all love this series about three sisters just trying to grow up. This is the third and final (for now?) book in the series, and I think it was the best. You can tell kids what it was like for African Americans in the 60’s but these books show in a way that is humorous and engaging for them, and powerful and sobering for adults. I can’t recommend these books enough no matter what your age.
These were all library holds that I had to binge read in the few days before they were due back. That rarely works out for me, but I’m happy to say it did in January.
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter - I had to get over the fact that this was different from Beautiful Ruins, but once I did I enjoyed this book. I loved how Spokane, Washington almost became another character, and it’s now on my post COVID travel list. I’m a great lover of epilogues and this had an amazing one.
The House In The Cerulean Sea - The most heartwarming book featuring the anti-Christ I’ve ever read. This book deserves all of the hype it has gotten.
The Awakened Kingdom by NK Jemisin - I wasn’t sure I’d understand this Novella since it’s a sequel to a trilogy I haven’t read yet. But it was what the library had when I was looking for a book by Jemisin so I took it. Turns out I really loved the young godling Shill, and all of her mischief. This was a fun way to spend an afternoon.
These were both books from last year’s Project Re-Read that I didn’t get to. Why? They’re so good.
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith by Tom Rob Smith - Two Londoners can’t afford to retire, so they sell their business and move to a farm in Sweden. Things don’t go so well. This book is creepy and atmospheric- give it a go on your next snow day.
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi - Two women separated by 100 years in Afghanistan. This book will punch you in the gut. It’s long, but I could have kept reading for another 200 pages.
Linked to: Show Us Your Books and Quick Lit
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All of the snow this week has re-awoken my walking routine. It’s so pretty and I love it. Winter In Paradise popped up on my holds list, and the timing is making me smile.
This week I listened to:
And I saw:
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Finally gave in and set up a home office, and the cats wasted no time in taking it over.
Read: 18 books (11 audiobooks, 7 print)
Challenges:
Reading Asia: 1 Book
Reading Europe: 1 book
Food and Lit: January was Brazil. I bailed on the one book I tried, ate Brazi bites, and listened to some Brazilian music which I enjoyed.
Bookspin BINGO: 15 read, 2 bails, 2 BINGOs
Chunkster Challenge 2021: 30% through Les Miserables (Really love this book)
Beginning TBR: 843
Ending TBR: 839
Overall a prolific month, but I still feel distracted. I was hoping to leave that in 2020, but the year is young.
Show Us Your Books is next Tuesday, so I’ll share favorites then!
A lot of my walking has been in my basement this week, and all of my walking buddies have abandoned me until Spring! I did make it out a few times though.
This week I listened to:
And I saw:
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January has passed in the blink of an eye, so it’s time to plan for February. Here’s my TBR. See anything you like?
Goofball cats
December feels like a million years ago, but here are my favorite books from the month of December 2020.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle — I loved this book. I stayed up half the night and read it just to see what happened. I thought it would be a fluffy December romance, but it turned out to be about friendship and the cost of perfection.
Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson -- I absolutely loved this book of short stories, recipes, and essays. It’s really hard to explain, but it’s worth reading.
How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny -- My favorite book from my favorite series. It takes place around Christmas time, which adds to my annual December re-read.
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis -- I read about this thanks to the Show Us Your Books link up! This is the Alaskan legend of how two elder women survived after they were abandoned by their people. Old ladies for the win- you should read this one!
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo -- I feel like I’m the last person on Earth to have read this, but I’ll add to the chorus that it was really good.
Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan -- A wonderful memoir about motherhood and life in the 90’s. I read this before, but it’s totally different now that my kids are a little older.
Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon -- Based on the true story of Nancy Wake aka WWII‘s Socialite Spy. I really enjoyed this book, and was inspired by Nancy. I‘ll have to add more by Ariel Lawhon to my TBR.
Linked to: Show Us Your Books and Quick Lit
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Happy Friday everyone. We made it through the first work week of 2021. How has your reading week been?
I’m still not sure what I feel about this. Stay tuned for Show Us Your Books in January when hopefully I’ll have figured it out.
My latest chapter a day read is The Italian by Ann Radcliffe. Catherine from Northanger Abbey loved this book, and while a lot of it goes over my head I love imagining Catherine reading it.
I saw this on Litsy and loved it. Basically we’re celebrating Jane’s sister’s birthday because she did all the stuff that allowed Jane to write. I’m in!
Have a great weekend! Happy reading!
Welcome 2021! Here’s to more walking and reading!
This week I listened to:
And I saw:
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I’m looking forward to starting the Food and Lit challenge from Litsy this month. Basically we read books and eat food from a different country each month. This is a challenge that isn’t really much of a challenge for me!
This month we’re traveling to Brazil. I plan on reading My German Brother by Chico Buarque and I plan on cooking Feijoada and drinking Brazilian Lemonade. YUM.
If you’re on Litsy and would like to join please do. This is a fun group and a fun “challenge”.
So, I don’t really care about my stats this year. I read 208 books, but for some of them I was so distracted and checking Twitter every 1.5 seconds. It’s a high number, but it doesn’t mean much. Still it is interesting to me to see what my reading year looked like so that next year I can compare.
I like to binge read certain authors
There were 8 authors that I read three or more books from this year. In 2020 these eight authors made up 18% of my reading: Stephen King (8), LM Montgomery (7), Louise Penny (7), Jane Austen (4), Frederik Backman (3), William Kent Krueger (3), Ann M Martin (3), Colson Whitehead (3)
Audiobooks Were My 2H2020 Coping Mechanism
I went crazy with the audiobooks this year, mainly in the 2nd half of the year. When I couldn’t sit still to read I could put my ear buds in and listen while I walked or puttered. In 2020 45% of my reading was via audiobook.
I Felt Like All I Did Was Re-Read, But It Wasn’t As Much As I Thought
My re-reading this year wasn’t as high as I thought it was- only 17%. I don’t take issue with re-reading like some people do, but I am glad to see that more than 80% of the books I read helped take some of the stress off my TBR.
Non-fiction Isn’t That Hard
Again, this stat surprised me. I didn’t think I would have had the patience to read much non-fiction this year, but it was actually 22% of my reading.
2020 Challenges
No I’m not talking about the challenges of a crazy year. I’m talking about the challenges I signed up for.
I read books from 20 countries and 34 states
I read and cooked from 9 different cookbooks (dropped this one when getting groceries got hard)
I read books from 11/12 #AuthorAMonth authors from Litsy. I skipped Mary Roach. One of her books almost made me vomit on metro once. This was my favorite- it was challenging and fun at the same time.
I read books that started with every single letter of the alphabet.
2021 Goals
I set my overall goal for 200 books again, but in 2021 I want to read more chunky books, be more intentional about reading from my TBR, take part in #AuthorAMonth again, and take part in various Litsy challenges like Litsy A to Z, Food and Lit, Reading Asia, and Reading Europe.
I’m looking forward to a better year in all sorts of ways for 2021!
Usually my favorite books are those that grab my heart and twist it in a good way that keeps me up after my bedtime. This year my favorite books are different. I didn’t have a lot of heart twisting feelings this year. The whole world is a heart twist, and if I stop too long to think about it my heart will be wrung dry. Heart twisting was not what I looked for in my books for most of 2020. Instead I looked for books that explained the world to me.
My favorite was Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. I’ve never read anything that made the Vietnam War feel so real. It wasn’t always a pleasant experience- I had to read it slowly from November 2019 to May 2020. I started it right around the same time I read The Great Alone, and I could see a straight line from the soldiers in Matterhorn to the troubled father in The Great Alone. As a child of the 80’s I felt like I better understood a lot of the men I knew growing up after reading this book.
When I read it in May I wrote:
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes - This novel about the Bravo Company, a unit of young Marines during the Vietnam War, is unforgettable. Karl Marlantes is a veteran himself, and the details he incorporated into this book were visceral and captivating.
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld - What if Hillary had never married Bill? This book got me through some dark days this summer.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - Two half sisters in Ghana separated by circumstances. Each chapter skips a generation until it all comes together spectacularly in the end.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid - The part that struck me the most was how everyone was talking, but no one accurately heard what the other person was trying to say.
Devotions by Mary Oliver - I never thought I’d be a person who reads poetry, but in the last few years I’ve become one. Mary Oliver is my favorite.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker - There are some hard things in this book, but also beautiful things about found families and purple flowers.
All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny - This was a really satisfying continuation of my favorite series.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - Sad, dreamy, and magical. I’m so glad I finally got around to this one.
11/22/63 by Stephen King - If you think Stephen King is all about horror and killer clowns I invite you to read this book that shows the dangers of political extremism.
A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry - I’ve loved this play since my Mom brought me to see it in high school. Seeing it on stage again is one of my post Covid to dos. Until then I’m glad I got to read it again this summer.
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding - This was a sacred text in my 20’s, and reading it again this year reminded me of how wonderful it is.
So, that’s 2020. I’m hoping for many things in 2021, one of which is that reading feels normal again.
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Just finished up The Third Birds! Any one have any walking goals for 2021? My step goal plummeted when we first went full time remote. I’d like to start building it up again.
This week I listened to:
And I saw:
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I finished listening to all of the nominees for the 2020 History/Biography this month. Here are short reviews of the last two I listened to:
I loved the idea of this book- Theodore Roosevelt goes to court to save his legacy- but in practice this was really bogged down by all of the court transcripts. I wish Abrams had used his words to tell the story instead.
I absolutely loved this book when I read it in print, but then I was disappointed that the audio didn’t really add anything.
So there you have it. Blame 2020, but I didn’t love any of these nominees. I have high hopes for 2021 though!
Still working on my 2020 cookbook project. This slow cooker book by Williams-Sonoma is gorgeous, but the recipes are involved and not really what I cook day to day. I was flipping through the other day though and found an amazing looking recipe for Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff. I decided to give it a try!
It wasn’t as exactly pretty as the picture but it was absolutely delicious as an early winter Sunday dinner. The beef was so tender, and I really liked the sauce. My kids liked it too!
None of this is anything I would make on a weeknight when I need a fast dinner, but I would probably try another recipe on a weekend when I have time to putter.
My TBR Shelf
November was a really weird reading month for me. It started with the election (no ability to concentrate whatsoever) and ended with a Covid exposure (complete cocooning with Thanksgiving food for ten people that of course we couldn’t see and tons of reading.) It was really about three months in one. So now it’s December, my house is a complete mess, but at least I have stopped scouring Twitter all night for election news and my reading mojo is back.
Normally I just pick one favorite book per month, but I liked all three of these in such different ways I couldn’t choose.
Above Us Only Sky by Michele Young-Stone - This book was magical, mystical, and musical. I read it over Thanksgiving and the story of a girl being born with wings tracing the roots of her family with her cranky grandfather was perfect for that holiday.
She Come By It Natural by Sarah Smarsh - Dolly is everywhere these days! This short book about Dolly as a nontraditional feminist and business woman really made me like her even more. They tried to turn her into a boob joke, but the joke is on them.
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - This Jane Austen classic is really underrated. It’s funny and Catherine is a heroine you can relate to and root for. If you’re doing a classics challenge in 2021 you can’t go wrong with Northanger!
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes - This historical novel about a horseback lending library in rural Kentucky had me on the edge of my seat worrying for the ladies in the book. I really liked it, but thought the ending was rushed.
American Royals by Katherine McGee - I surprised myself by how much I liked this alternate history of George Washington’s royal descendants. I didn’t even mind when my dishwasher broke on Thanksgiving and I had to spend hours hand washing because it meant more hours with this on audio. If you read it be ready to turn to part two right away! My copy just came in from Libby and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Savage Summit by Jennifer Jordan - A non-fiction book about the first five women to climb K2. You find out in the first few pages that none survived very long after summiting, and I was left with the question of how someone can be so driven they’re willing to throw their life away to climb a mountain.
That’s it for November reads, but SUYB Best of 2020 is coming on Dec. 29! It’s been such a weird year, I’m not really sure how I can do a wrap up, but I’ll give it my best!
Linked to: Show Us Your Books and Quick Lit
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I decided to start doing a weekly Friday Top Five to have a place to talk about all of the random bookish nonsense I get up to during the week.
It’s full on Christmastime. It’s a weird year, but there’s still books.
I made one last trip to the library before they close again. (Not complaining. I like to see an employer who actually cares about the health of their staff.)
Looking forward to this new Litsy challenge.
My to-do list completely went out the window over Thanksgiving. I read so much!
I had to pick everything left in the garden this week. Daisy inspected the lemongrass.
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Linked to The Sunday Post at the Caffeinated Reviewer and It’s Monday What Are You Reading
Stay safe my friends!
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Linked to The Sunday Post at the Caffeinated Reviewer and It’s Monday What Are You Reading
Have a great weekend!
Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
Linked to The Sunday Post at the Caffeinated Reviewer and It’s Monday What Are You Reading
We have a brief return to normalcy this week before the next holiday’s craziness begins. I’m hoping for a lot of salad and walking!
This week I listened to:
And I saw:
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