Friday Reads: 20 May to 26 May 2017

Currently Reading

- DragonHeart by Charles Edward Pogue (15%)
- The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (01%)
- Caraval by Stephanie Garber (01%)
- Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (52%)
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (14%)
- The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon (02%)
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (05%)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (13%)
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (02%)
- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (03%)
- To the Letter by Simon Garfield (24%)
- A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (70%)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (14%)
- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (17%)
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (71%)

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I've finished another book for the month. I still have next week (21-27) in my self-proscribed read-a-thon (not including the time I take to write in my reading journal), so maybe I can get more in? I'm pretty sure that I can finish Stalking Jack the Ripper pretty soon. I've read from page like 22 to page 170 in like three hours the other day. This would be a two sitting book if I had more discipline.

I really (really, why am I not listening to myself) REALLY need to stop adding books to my Currently Reading. I think I'm on thirteen right now? I want to get it down to six. Three physical and three digital. No more, no less. Do not add more until I finish one. Something tells me that The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (945p) and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (782p) will be on the list for quite a while.

That's ironically funny. I asked KS if she had any plays or memoirs I could borrow to complete the goal for the reading challenge. She walks in and hands me six plays. Among them, to my chagrin, is H.M.S. Pinafore by William S. Gilbert. This play was mentioned in the last novel I finished. Now then, I have only to find a graphic novel (got that, just have to actually FIND it), a memoir, and a book from my childhood. OH! I know the book from my childhood. One I had when I was like ten or so. Dorothy Return to Oz! No wait, I've changed my mind as I was walking up the stairs.....Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. LV gave it to me for my birthday back in 2001 (I would have been turning 12 at the time) and I adore horses.

Finished H.M.S. Pinafore yesterday around 10pm or so. It was uh....okay? I'm not sure how I feel about plays yet. That one was simply too short to get a good feel for them. I'll have to read more of the plays that KS left for me. 

I've been looking at my CR shelf, and I think I might put an effort into getting somewhere with the larger books. Firstly (for reasons unknown), I have picked out Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke as the first one I will attempt to finish. You'd think I'd try to go for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas instead, as I've been reading it for three years as of 01 April, and I'm just about 350p from the end of the book (926/1276 or exactly 350 pages, lol).

I finished Stalking Jack the Ripper this morning (23 May). It took me a bit, but I did actually figure out who the Ripper was early. Not really sure how she didn't figure it out after Mr Lees told her that she had spoken to the Ripper and was upset with him. The only person she had actually spoken to at the scene had been her brother. So far as I remember she hadn't actually said anything to her father. Not until she had gotten home. Audrey Rose did however, rail at her brother. That's when I realized it was Nathaniel. He seemed to have cracked completely.

I picked up three new books today. Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt, The American Mission by Matthew Palmer, and Influx by Daniel Suarez. Now I also know why that Josh Grobin song was stuck in my head on the walk home. I had subconsciously made the connection from the Barnhardt book. I'm wondering which one I want to read first. Hmm...I kind of feel the drive toward Influx, but I'm not sure. Maybe when I finish another book, I'll add that one to my list. I already put too many on.

I couldn't help it. I wanted a small mass market to take around with me, something I wouldn't mind losing or forgetting places. Of course we will not tell FP where DragonHeart came from. He would probably have a fit. He gets very upset with me if I bring a book into the house. Yet, he didn't say anything about me buying three massive hard backs from the Dollar General. Huh. Interesting.

Sort of writing and reading related, since I'll be using it to take pictures of my books....my new toy came in today. Nikon Coolpix L840 DSLR camera. I picked the color “plum” and it's such a pretty purple. SS said she wished her camera (same model) were that color. I think it's also available in black, blue, and white? 

Epic 2017 Reading Challenge

So I found a really epic reading challenge on Facebook the other day, and this is my thoughts on what I will read for each of the sections. I didn't put this up until after I finished, because I took a long time to actually find some books for the various prompts.

Some things I had to basically make a strategic guess on. Like, I don't know what book made me cry or what will. I have never actually cried while reading a book, not even with The Book Thief or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas which both made a lot of people cry. Oh well? Here's to that goal!!!

1. A book with more than 500 pages - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

2. A classic romance - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

3. A book that became a movie - The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

4. A book published this year - Caraval by Stephanie Garber

5. A book with a number in the title - 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

6. A book written by someone under 30 - Eragon by Christopher Paolini

7. A book with non-human characters - Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

8. A funny book - Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

9. A book by a female author - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

10. A mystery or thriller - Esperanza by Trish MacGregor

11. A book with a one-word title - Horns by Joe Hill

12. A book of short stories - Modern Irish Short Stories ed. by Frank O'Connor

13. A book set in a different country - Circle of Stones by Catherine Fisher

14. A nonfiction book - To the Letter by Simon Garfield

15. A popular author's first book - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

16. A book from an author you love, but haven't read yet - The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

17. A book a friend recommended - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

18. A Pulitzer Prize winning book - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

19. A book basted on a true story - Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

20. A book at the bottom of your to-be-read pile - Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

21. A book your mom loves - To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris

22. A book that scares you - Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

23. A book more than 100 years old - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

24. A book based entirely on it's cover - The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

25. A book you were supposed to read in school, but didn't - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

26. A memoir - Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

27. A book you can finish in a day - Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield

28. A book with antonyms in the title - A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

29. A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit - Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

30. A book that came out the year you were born - The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

31. A book with bad reviews – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

32. A trilogy - His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

33. A book from your childhood - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

34. A book with a love triangle - City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

35. A book set in the future - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

36. A book set in high school - Looking for Alaska by John Green

37. A book with a color in the title - Black City by Elizabeth Richards

38. A book that (can) make you cry - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

39. A book with magic - Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

40. A graphic novel - Girl Genius (v1) by Phil & KaJa Foglio

41. A book by an author you've never read before - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

42. A book you own but have never read – The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

43. A book that takes place in your hometown - Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

44. A book that was originally written in a different language - The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

45. A book set during Christmas - Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

46. A book written by an author with your same initials - A Simple Murder by Eleanor Kuhns

47. A play - H.M.S. Pinafore by W.S. Gilbert

48. A banned book - Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

49. A book based on or turned into a TV show - A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

50. A book you started by never finished - The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Friday Reads: 13 May to 19 May 2017

Currently Reading

- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (14%)
- The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon (02%)
- Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan (25%)
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (05%)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (13%)
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (02%)
- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (03%)
- To the Letter by Simon Garfield (24%)
- A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (70%)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (14%)
- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (17%)
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (71%)

* * *

Found a really cool epic book challenge, and I'm adding it here eventually. It has 50 (technically 52, one of the challenges is a trilogy) books on it. I think a few of the books on my Currently Reading list are part of that. So far part of the list is The Night Circus, To the Letter, Long Black Veil, and probably.....Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The rest are books I've started by I don't want to give them up just yet.

Ah yes! I ought to tell you. I did get the majority of my Currently Reading books on my shelf on Sunday. One of them is unfortunately still not on the shelf. It was on on Monday of last week, but then when I went up to my boyfriend's house to play D&D, I forgot it on his desk. Oh well. He said he could send it down, but I was like "Why? I'm only going to be here again on Thursday anyway, just hang on to it and I'll pick it up then."

So far I've finished two books for the month. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, both fairly popular recently on the BookTube circuit. I liked them both pretty well. I think I gave Dark Matter a 4/5 and The Underground Railroad a 3/5. I have my reasons as you will see in the May Wrap-Up.

Review: Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

When you pick up this book, you expect only one story. That's not quite right. I wondered how exactly Judith Carrigan, a woman not spoken of as having been at the Penitentiary with the others, was supposed to help Casey out of the problem he was in. Then I read the book...and I understood. It's definitely better than I thought it was going to be. 

I've known a few people who struggled with the same issue as Quentin. I still talk to a few to this day (One moved out to Arizona and we haven't been in contact for a while). Judith reminded me very strongly of one of them, and I can see how people connect. 

I didn't quite understand what one half of the story had to do with the other, besides being the same characters. That was the only link between them after 35 years had passed. Everyone had pretty much moved on with their lives at that point. Judith didn't have to come back, she could have stayed where she was and just pretended like it never happened. 

I picked this to read for part of a challenge (#43 - A book set in your hometown) as a substitute, because I'm pretty sure there are few, if any, books set in my hometown that are not any more than pamphlets. The only book I've ever seen that was known to be set in my town was "self-published" in that it was printed at the high school library and stapled together. Anyway, moving on, near the end of the book when she goes into New Jersey, I smiled. I've been to those places. I know them. I've spent many summers going through these places. 

I thought Judith's struggle was something very close to home for a lot of people. Though her method of going about it was a little odd. I have no idea why she decided to take the route she did with the car in Nova Scotia. It was entirely unnecessary. I have never heard of anyone else doing it before. It was just bizarre.

My biggest issue with the book was Dudley's just....refusal to believe that Jon didn't do it. They wouldn't even entertain the thought that a 300+ pound man would not kill his wife the day they got married. No one is that dumb. No one. I also didn't like the fact that they just assumed what Krystal was doing that lead to this whole problem in the first place. Instead of going to him and asking what was going on or asking Ben, they just decided what had happened and then thirty-five years later, shit gets real. 

I would probably have liked it better if Boylan had gone more into detail as to why Judith's life story after the incident was important. I liked that there were LGBTQ+ characters were included, I just didn't understand why.

I rated this book 4/5 stars and I think I'd likely re-read it (pending if KS gives it back....she wanted to borrow it). I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review. 

Friday Reads: 28 April to 12 May 2017

Currently Reading

- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (06%)
- The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon (02%)
- Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan (25%)
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (05%)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (13%)
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (02%)
- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (03%)
- Persuasion by Jane Austen (30%)
- To the Letter by Simon Garfield (24%)
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (50%)
- A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (70%)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (14%)
- The Clouded Sky by Megan Crewe (37%)
- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (17%)
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (71%)

* * *

I got my fifth review book in from Blogging for Books and I thought the author's name looks awfully familiar. I couldn't figure out why I recognized it. Until I looked up the author on Goodreads and realized that my bestie KS has read (and recommends) another of her books. I've gotten Jennifer Finney Boylan's Long Black Veil, published on April 11, 2017 by Crown and she has read She's Not There. No wonder I knew the author's name!

Yeah, I finally got around to organizing (mostly) my TBR shelves. The right picture isn't quite correct as I plan to put my print currently reading books up there facing out into the hall. I mean, why do I want to see them, I know they're there. The general plan is to eventually clean the old garbage out of my exceptionally spacious closet and put my "auxiliary library" (i.e. the boxes of books I have no room for) in there and then slowly bring them out to replace the books that are on the shelves as I finish them. I just have to think of something to do with the extra junk I have in the closet is all. I also have to eventually bring back the box that's made it's way to my dad's house along with my books from there so that I can sort them out and put what I want where to get all my reading done. I just hope my currently reading fits on the top of the bookshelf. Just ignore my giant Pinkie Pie mug....it's one of my favorites. 

Just now hopped onto the Diana Gabaldon and George R.R. Martin bandwagons. Sort of. I bought the first in both series (they're on the green shelf together haha) books. I haven't started either of them yet, and I have no idea when I'll get around to it. I just want to read the books and understand why BookTube is losing it's mind now. Maybe I'll eventually grab more if they strike my fancy.

Now that I think about it, there are actually quite a few of the more popular books on my shelf. I have Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (I don't know how this is hard for people to say...), The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoksi, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (leave me alone, I was broke when these first came out). uh.....what else.....Unwind by Neil Shusterman. Then there's the entire Guardians of Ga'Hoole series making me look like a giant nerd. I happen to love owls and this is a series where the main creature is a family of barn owls.

I've been getting rid of a lot of books recently. I have a good few that I plan to put up on eBay for sale as well, so interested parties can find them there. 

April 2017 Wrap-Up

It's definitely better than last month. This month I've read four books. Let's get to it!!!!

Book #1: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. As the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength are tested. With life changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Vianne and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.

I really liked this novel. For some reason I have been entirely enthralled with WWII. Not even in the last few months, but in the last few years. I don't know if its the German part of me, the Italian, or possibly the Jewish, but I devour everything I can get my hands on that somehow relates to it. This book was fantastic. I loved the way it would jump from third person in the past, to first person in the present. Made it so I had no idea which sister was the one still alive. Is it Vianne or is it Isabelle? The only one I knew it couldn't have been was Sophie because she was still too young when the war ended. I am very pleased with the way the story ended and I am glad to rate it a 5/5 stars. I'm going to recommend this to everybody I know who reads this type of book.

Book #2: The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis

 A richly textured coming-of-age story about fathers and sons, home and family, recalling classics by Thomas Wolfe and William Styron, by a powerful new voice in fiction. Just before Henry Aster’s birth, his father—outsized literary ambition and pregnant wife in tow—reluctantly returns to the small Appalachian town in which he was raised and installs his young family in an immense house of iron and glass perched high on the side of a mountain. There, Henry grows up under the writing desk of this fiercely brilliant man. But when tragedy tips his father toward a fearsome unraveling, what was once a young son’s reverence is poisoned and Henry flees, not to return until years later when he, too, must go home again.

I was unsure of this book when I first started it. It was full of words that you wouldn't know unless you grew up with a hobby of reading the dictionary in your spare time. He eventually does overcome this and stop using words that the common reader will not understand. The story was rather irrelevant almost until about 200 pages in. It was mostly random description that seemed to have very little to do with anything else. Once it got to the part where the father actually vanished from their lives, it picked up. I rated this story a 5/5 and I would probably re-read it. I've already suggested friends to read it. I forgot to mention in the original review, but I got this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.

Book #3: Persuasion by Jane Austen

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?

Anne seemed to be at first, thought of least among her family. Then out of nowhere everybody wanted her as a companion. I don't understand why that was. I thought reading more would clue me in, but no. Mary made me angry. She had a superiority complex and just could not stand if anybody did not give her preference over others. From what I understand, she was even upset that they were acknowledging a Viscountess before her. She had no actual rank of her own beyond daughter of a Baronet. I thought it was interesting that she held a grudge against Wentworth for 8.5 years not because of what he had done, for he had done nothing, but because a friend didn't think he would amount to anything at all and she held the opinion of her friend over her own. I'm sure if she would have just listened to her own judgment, she and Wentworth would have been married for the last eight years instead of wondering idly what had happened to him. This was a good book in general, but I highly doubt I am going to read it again so it's going to get 3/5 stars. Perhaps I will read another edition that might change my views.

Book #4: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

I don't really know how to start this review. I enjoyed this book. It was pretty good. The story line reminded me very much of a tale my friend told me about a book she read, at least I think that's what it was. I don't know. Anyway, the man got himself a wife but he was sad because he didn't have the time he wanted to devote to his experiments or whatever it was he wanted to do. Then in some other world a man had devoted his entire life to working on his experiments and he was upset because he didn't have anybody to go home to at night. I flew through this book. When I actually started reading it seriously, I finished it. I went from page 130 to 340 in like four hours. it was that good. I loved the way that his wife knew solidly which one of the men was her husband. She didn't even have to second guess it. I wish the ending would have been continued a little bit. It felt too much like a movie cliffhanger ending, very much like the end of the Knowing where the kids just wandered into the alien wheat field. They've left the end open for a sequel. Almost to the point where if there isn't one, I'd be highly disappointed. I want to know how the various threads actually wrap up. I've been wanting to read this book for a while. I heard about it on BookTube and I was very intrigued. Had to know what it was about. I gave this book a 4/5 stars. I enjoyed it very much and I am likely to read it again and recommend it to friends, but it just wasn't completely blown away by it. I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.  

April 2017 Book Haul

I think I'm going to give up on the Book Buying Limit I set for myself back in January. We all know that there's no way I'm going to be able to stick to that goal, so why bother with it? I've been sticking with the rest of them though!!!

In the month of April I have bought 18 books~


Book #1: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

I have wanted this for a very long time. I was so excited when I found it available on Blogging for Books. I grabbed it. I had to. 

Book #3: Lake Caerwych by J. Conrad

After finding what appears to be an ancient, Celtic necklace in a second-hand boutique, Bridget and her best friend Celena have the strange feeling that they've seen the pendant before, a long, long time ago. This, and the unusual familiarity they've felt ever since they met, leads them to ask questions and trace their find back to its source. Once in Wales, Bridget is compelled to an eerie, megalithic structure and suddenly finds herself in another time and place – as Enid, the dark-haired servant girl she was thousands of years ago. She is immersed in her horrid past and forced to relive it, helpless to avert the tragedy, save her dearest friend or even herself. Waking at dawn inside the ring of stones, she and Celena begin to embark upon the true adventure laid out before them. They need to right the past not only for themselves, but for a much higher purpose. And Paul, a mysterious stranger who jealously guards his own secrets, may be able to help them. 

It looks really good. I'm not sure really what to say. I mostly buy things when they look interesting to me. It centers around ancient Wales from what I gather and I enjoy books about Wales.

Book #3: The Raven by Adelyn Wood

When a foreign tribe attacks the peaceful Onan people, a lonely outcast is forced to reveal her secret Gift — but will such power bring acceptance? It is the darkest time in winter, when suns, moons, and stars, all wane from the sky. In the Wolf clan, a baby is born with a powerful Gift, but dangerous omens brand her an Outcast, and the Elders name her Iluna. Orphaned since birth, Iluna struggles to find her place in the proud and distrustful Wolf clan, but as her powers bloom, she discovers a mysterious friend. Dark magic, war, and treachery soon jeopardize the life of every clan member; many suspect Iluna and her Gift. Is this Outcast girl to blame, or is she salvation?

Besides it being a cool magical book, I've got nothing. I liked the cover and the premise. One of the things that popped into my head was "Are the Onan really as peaceful as they say they are?" I don't know why. It's something that I'll like because it falls right into the category of books that I fawn over. No idea where in the reading list it will fall. 

Book #4: The Book of Moon by George Crowder

It coulda been worse. That's the "working epitaph" of 15-year-old Moon Landing. Not that Moon's death is imminent--far from it--but his thoughts have turned to gallows humor, as his world disintegrates along with his parents' marriage. His older brother skateboards through life with ease, but Moon is deeply troubled. Just as he is solving for romantic unknowns with a gorgeous older girl, Moon must contend with his dad's sudden absence, his mom-gone-wild's sexcapades, and his best friends' curious penchant for self-destruction. Not to mention his newfound role in agitating to end an African guerrilla's bloody rampage. To make sense of it all, Moon embarks on a quest to unravel the riddle of God's injustice to man.

I liked the cover. And the synopsis sounds great. I really think there's something ironic in his name being Moon Landing. I wonder why everything is always so hard for fifteen-year-olds? Is that like the go to age for books like this? Fifteen? He's barely had time to learn what problems are. I would hate to see the poor kid at like twenty-five or thirty. I might put this one closer to the top of my TBR than to the bottom. Who knows?

 Book #5: Winterskin by C.M. Estopare

The Path. Perilous. Brutal. Deadly. It is said that if a man journeys in alone, he’ll never return and there will be no corpse to bury. Thousands of lives hang in the balance. Braving the Path is the key to saving them, but their survival is not guaranteed. For the Path is brimming with flesh ravenous monsters and the threat of a sinister presence known only as “the Lady”, an eerie entity dwelling deep within the confines of the black forest. Escorted by a chosen few, the Chaperon is prepared to move forward to preserve the lives of a mountain town planted deep within the forest. But even in the dead of winter, the dark creatures prowling the surrounding forest remain unsettled and are bent on decimating any who encroach upon their territory. Katell Maeva, one of those assigned to escort the Chaperon, will have to prove herself on this journey if she wants to be deemed a full-fledged shieldmaiden. But even her unique abilities may not be strong enough to withstand the brutal attacks they’ll face. Can this young woman, desperate to save her own family, complete her mission to escort the Chaperon and lead the convoy to safety? For her, this journey is more than just a challenge; it’s the key to her future.

This sounded like a fantastic story. I like the Viking culture (my boyfriend currently exemplifies what is a Viking) and I love stories of empowered women. So an empowered Viking woman? How could I possibly turn it down? It won't be very high up on my list, but it will definitely be up there enough to maybe get to in June or July this year.

Book #6: Mystic Tea by Rea Nolan Martin

A community of quirky, mismatched, and endearing women struggle to find meaning and purpose on a ramshackle monastery in upstate New York. Having spent their lives in service to a church that seems to no longer serve them, they are confused about their own futures and the future of the entire monastery. Led by Mike, the practical no-nonsense prioress, and Augusta, the grand ancient mystic hermit, they are joined by Gemma, a self-punishing novice, and Arielle, a firebrand jailhouse conversion who was sent there out of rehab by a “sort of angel.” The personalities, commitments, philosophies and beliefs of these and all the characters conflict and converge in ways at once perilous and enlightening. Throughout the tempestuous journey, Augusta's magical sacred teas draw the inevitable closer and closer. Mystic Tea is a contemporary love story between young and old, franchised and disenfranchised, pedestrian and mystic. Most of all, it is a story of female empowerment as the women find the courage to confront epic challenges, creating a surprising future from the oppressive ashes of the past. It will make you smile as much as it will make you think. 

It sounds interesting. I don't know what else to say about it. I liked the cover and the synopsis very much. I don't think this will be going incredibly high up on the TBR, but I will definitely do my best to get to it as soon as I can.


Book #7: Memories of the Heart by Felice Stevens

Ruthless, Controlling, A Loner. All words used to describe Dr. Micah Steinberg by the hospital staff for their next head of surgery. When a letter arrives from his grandmother’s friend at the assisted living facility, his orderly world tilts dangerously out of control. Josh Rosen had everything until it was revealed much of his world was a lie. Forced to re-evaluate his life, Josh gives up his career and returns home to New York City to care for his beloved grandmother. What Josh didn’t figure on was an attraction to a man who on the surface, appears to be exactly like the life Josh chose to leave behind. As Micah struggles with the reality of his grandmother’s illness, the bond these two share deepens, as Josh helps Micah heal, then open his heart. Micah discovers there is more to life than work, control and success. Josh is in deep but has yet to tell Micah who he really is. When the fight for the hospital’s head of surgery turns ugly, Josh’s past and present collide. Micah must let go of the past and accept who he is, if his life is going to move forward. Life is full of surprises, and as both Micah and Josh learn, love can happen whether you plan for it or not. 

This one was definitely not a cover buy like many of the other books I read. It's one of those sad sort of books that makes you want to have that box of Kleenex nearby. It's about overcoming our own life and realizing that we are not the most important person in the world. 

Book #8: A Molly Maguire Story by Patrick Campbell

On June 21, 1877, ten Irish-Americans were executed in the mining areas of Pennsylvania. All were accused of being members of a terrorist group called the Molly Maguires, and all were convicted of planning and carrying out the murder of a number of mining officials. Ten more Irish-Americans were executed in Pennsylvania in the next 18 months on the same charges. One of the men executed on June 21, 1877, was Alexander Campbell, grand-uncle of the author. The Molly Maguire executions generated a great deal of controversy in Pennsylvania from the 1870s to the present, with Irish-Americans claiming the Mollies were framed by the mine owners, while some other ethnic groups believe that they were guilty as charged and deserved the punishment they received. The author first heard about the execution of his grand-uncle back in the late 1940s in Dungloe, County Donegal, Ireland, and in the early 1970s, while living in New Jersey, began a fifteen year investigation into the entire Molly Maguire controversy in order to determine if Alexander Campbell was guilty or innocent. A Molly Maguire Story is an account of that investigation. 

I found a super bookish reading challenge and one of the challenges is to read a book set in your home town. Problem is I live between the woods and farmland. Literally the middle of actual no where. So I picked a book that I'm interested in that's set as close to my town as I can get. The Molly Maguires trials and executions took place just on the other side of a mountain from me. It was as close as I could get. 

Book #9: Runaway Girl by Emily Organ

A missing girl. The treacherous streets of Medieval London. Only one woman is brave enough to try and bring her home. If you like a compelling read that keeps you turning the pages then you'll love this first installment in Emily Organ's historic thriller series. After the death of her family, grieving Alice has chosen a quiet life of seclusion in a monastery. But she is hit by a personal tragedy which forces her to confront the dangers of medieval London. When her 14 year old friend, Constance, vanishes, Alice's life is turned upside down. Is Constance's disappearance linked to a dead girl pulled from the Thames? Another girl is on the run - but who is she running from? Alice's desperate search stirs up something sinister and soon her own life is in danger. Powerful forces want to ensure the truth will never be uncovered, can Alice find Constance before her time runs out? 

I bought it because medieval London. I don't even care about anything else really. It looks interesting for the fact that this girl who has literally just lost everything decides to go out and look for her friend instead of grieving for the family she has just lost. How can it be anything other than good?

Book #10: Belmary House by Cassidy Cayman

Tilly Jacobs thinks spending a month in London helping her history buff cousin catalog antiques in a possibly haunted mansion that’s slated to be torn down will be the perfect thing to help her get over being fired from her job. Possibly proving the existence of ghosts will just be icing on the cake. When her ghost turns out to be a living, breathing, Regency era earl who mistakenly drags her into his century, she thinks she’s in for the best vacation of her life. All she has to do is enjoy the scenery, which includes the hunky Lord Ashford, until he can get her back to her own time. She doesn’t count on getting caught up in finding his missing sister, or on a murderer being after them, or the fact that if the house gets destroyed, so do her chances of ever getting home. Least of all, she doesn’t count on the undeniable attraction she feels to the mysterious and brooding Lord Ashford, or the fact that his life involves things far more difficult to believe than she ever thought imaginable. 

This looks amazing. It's half ghost story half Lost in Austen. I love the Regency era and I adored the movie Lost in Austen. So....I have to read this eventually. I think it's a romance, but I've been getting more accustomed to them.

Book #11: Shortfall by William Bowman

The Mollos had come to England to start a new life, buying a small farm in the heart of Devon, only to have their dream cruelly snatched from them. Now their teenage daughter has risked the family farm in a desperate attempt to preserve her parents’ legacy, betting everything on a new type of crop. But the country is in the midst of a financial crisis, and with more trouble looming, a Machiavellian mandarin has cooked up an outlandish scheme to manage what might otherwise be a difficult situation, threatening the young girl’s plans. Shortfall is a fictional tale of light drama inspired in some small part by events now thought lost to time. 

A family thought they were getting in on something good. I have no idea what exactly happened, but it turned out to be not so good as they were thinking it would be. I think it's a literary fiction about the girl trying to save her family farm and I want to know if she succeeds or not.

Book #12: Unclaimed by Erin McCole Cupp

Born not in a past of corsets and bonnets but into a future of cloning and bioterror, could Jane Eyre survive? This Jane is an “unclaimed embryo,” the living mistake of a reproductive rights center–or so her foster family tells her. At age ten she is sold into slavery as a data mule, and she must fight for freedom and identity in a world mired between bioscientific progress and the religions that fear it. What will happen to a girl without even a name of her own?

I like classic novels and I even own a wonderful Dalmatian Press edition of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I just haven't read it yet. Hopefully this spurs me on to actually reading the book. I can't really read a reimagining unless I've read the original first. This looks amazing though. I can't wait to get to it. It's almost like Jane Eyre meets the Matrix. I am excited to get to the original and then to this one.

Book #13: The Darkest Thread by Jen Blood

When teenage sisters go missing in the mysterious “Bennington Triangle” of Vermont, an area renowned for its disappearances and strange occurrences over the past hundred years, FBI agent Jack Juarez brings K-9 handler Jamie Flint and her dog Phantom in to assist with the search. When Jack realizes the case shares haunting similarities with the murders of the missing girls’ aunts ten years before, it becomes clear that he and Jamie are dealing with much more than two girls who simply wandered off the beaten path. 

I just watched a program on Amazon about the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts. It was creepy and wonderful and I can only assume that this book will be the same. If it wasn't based on the Bridgewater Triangle, it's damn close and that surprised me. I am so into this kind of stuff. Dad says no, but hey, to each their own I guess. I also kind of like the fact that the author's name is Blood.

Book #14: Today is Too Late by Burke Fitzpatrick

A reluctant villain starts a rebellion. Dark armies burn the greatest city in the world. A girl is born who might end their dominion, but only if a fearsome warrior protects her from the demons of the Nine Hells. An infamous warlord, Tyrus of Kelnor helped demons conquer a continent, but the birth of a princess tests his loyalties. The child is marked for death, and her fate is in his hands. Old memories haunt him, from before the sorcery and monsters, when honor and service had value. Torn between the empress he loves and the emperor he serves, he defies the empire he helped build. 

I...yeah...I like fantasy nonsense. It's the sort of book that the stereotypical nerd would read. That guy who's overweight and sweaty sitting in his parents' basement. In my defense I live with my grandma...in all seriousness, I like books like this and have a fairly decent sized collection of them. I hope to get to this one soon. It's the exact type of book I tend to blast through.

Book #15: Edwina by Willow Rose

Marie-Therese is about to take in another child in foster care. But Edwina is no ordinary girl as Marie-Therese is about to discover. Stories of death and destruction follow her trail and soon events in the small Danish town will take a decidedly macabre turn on one horrifying and endless night. 

I have a bizarrely large collection of Willow Rose books, but none of them are connected to one another that I know of. Now I don't remember if I bought this because it's Willow Rose, or because it sounds really interesting. It's a horror novel about a kid that goes missing or something. I don't know. I don't remember. It looked really good and I just couldn't pass it up. I have to read it. It won't be up far on my list, but it will be read relatively soon?


Book #16: The Odyssey by Homer

'Muse, tell me of a man: a man of much resource, who was made to wander far and long, after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy. Many were the men whose lands he saw and came to know their thinking: many too the miseries at sea, which he suffered in his heart, as he sought to win his own life and the safety of his companions.' Recounting the epic journey home of Odysseus from the Trojan War, The Odyssey -alongside its sister poem The Iliad- stands as the well-spring of Western Civilization and culture, an inspiration to poets, writers and thinkers for thousands of years since. This authoritative prose translation by Martin Hammond brings Homer's great poem of homecoming to life as Odysseus battles through such familiar dangers as the cave of the Cyclops, the call of the Sirens and his hostile reception back in his native land of Ithaca. 

I'm just doing whatever and my friend, we'll call her RC (no not the cola), sends me a picture. Then a second. She says she has these books that she got from the thrift store she works at and she doesn't want them any more. Would I be interested in them? I opened the pictures and actually dropped the cup I was holding. Nineteen leatherbound books from an expensive publisher. Hells yes I want them! This one is the first book in the lot that she sent.


Book #17: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

Moby-Dick is the story of Captain Ahab's quest to avenge the whale that 'reaped' his leg. The quest is an obsession and the novel is a diabolical study of how a man becomes a fanatic. But it is also a hymn to democracy. Bent as the crew is on Ahab's appalling crusade, it is equally the image of a co-operative community at work: all hands dependent on all hands, each individual responsible for the security of each. Among the crew is Ishmael, the novel's narrator, ordinary sailor, and extraordinary reader. Digressive, allusive, vulgar, transcendent, the story Ishmael tells is above all an education: in the practice of whaling, in the art of writing.

This is the second of the books she sent up this time. I already had a copy of Moby-Dick, but it's an old falling apart paperback that I'm probably going to toss up on eBay or something. I don't know. I like this edition much better than that one and I'm already reading it. I like how rambly Ishmael is. He goes off on a tangent that has nothing to do with anything at all around him.

Book #18: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

The procession that crosses Chaucer's pages is as full of life and as richly textured as a medieval tapestry. The Knight, the Miller, the Friar, the Squire, the Prioress, the Wife of Bath, and others who make up the cast of characters -- including Chaucer himself -- are real people, with human emotions and weaknesses. When it is remembered that Chaucer wrote in English at a time when Latin was the standard literary language across western Europe, the magnitude of his achievement is even more remarkable. But Chaucer's genius needs no historical introduction; it bursts forth from every page of The Canterbury Tales. If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer intended that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. He never finished his enormous project and even the completed tales were not finally revised. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Canterbury Tales has been passed down in several handwritten manuscripts. 

The third and final book that came in this batch. She said she could only fit up to four books per box so there are a grand total of four more boxes coming. I've always wanted to read The Canterbury Tales and I am so pleased that I got a verse copy.

Review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

I don't really know how to start this review. I enjoyed this book. It was pretty good. The story line reminded me very much of a tale my friend told me about a book she read, at least I think that's what it was. I don't know. Anyway, the man got himself a wife but he was sad because he didn't have the time he wanted to devote to his experiments or whatever it was he wanted to do. Then in some other world a man had devoted his entire life to working on his experiments and he was upset because he didn't have anybody to go home to at night. 

This book is very similar to that story in where one of the men was very upset that he didn't pursue the love interest that he had and instead chose to work on his experiments. Everybody wonders what it would be like to see what would have happened if you just stepped into another version of your life where you took a different path. That's this. 

Jason reminded me of your average sort of professor. Smart, driven to do wonderful things, but happy with the life he's got. I know a lot of people like this and it seemed to be while not perfect, the best sort of life for him. He understood that. I liked that he understood that life was what you make of it, not what you're given.

I didn't understand really any of the actual quantum physics stuff he talked about. I'm not that sort of smart. I'm sure I could understand it if I put more time into reading books about it. It just went over my head now while I was reading. It was really interesting though, and you would think I would be all about that science stuff after reading The Martian by Andy Weir. Oh well. Let's move on. Crouch didn't write in a way that was super science-y, but it was a bit beyond my current ability to grasp.

I flew through this book. When I actually started reading it seriously, I finished it. I went from page 130 to 340 in like four hours. it was that good. I loved the way that his wife knew solidly which one of the men was her husband. She didn't even have to second guess it. I wish the ending would have been continued a little bit. It felt too much like a movie cliffhanger ending, very much like the end of the Knowing where the kids just wandered into the alien wheat field. They've left the end open for a sequel. Almost to the point where if there isn't one, I'd be highly disappointed. I want to know how the various threads actually wrap up. 

I've been wanting to read this book for a while. I heard about it on BookTube and I was very intrigued. Had to know what it was about. I gave this book a 4/5 stars. I enjoyed it very much and I am likely to read it again and recommend it to friends, but it just wasn't completely blown away by it. I received this book from Blogging for Books in return for an honest review.