Cait86 Reads in 2019

Charlas75 Books Challenge for 2019

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Cait86 Reads in 2019

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1Cait86
Editado: Dic 30, 2018, 8:19 am

Hello, and thanks for visiting my thread!

My name is Cait, and I am a high school English teacher in Burlington, ON, Canada. I was part of this group in 2009 and 2010, and a few other years on and off, but I have a terrible habit of joining yearly challenges, posting until March, and then never returning. Every December, however, I feel the pull of LT. So I'm back, to try again.

I currently have 176 books on my TBR shelves, so my 2019 reading will be dedicated to making a dent in these books. I read mostly fiction, along with the occasional memoir or book of investigative journalism. In 2018 I read 76 books, which is a huge increase from the last few years. My plan is to continue this trend into 2019.

My five star reads from 2018 were (in reading order):
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Harry Potter: A History of Magic by the British Library
3. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by John Krakauer
4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (reread)
5. Columbine by Dave Cullen
6. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
7. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
8. The Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery (reread)
9. The Power by Naomi Alderman
10. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Besides books, I love to cook, travel, and attend theatre performances. I have a Siamese cat, Ariel, who is my favourite reading buddy.

Please drop by and say hi -- looking forward to rekindling old friendships, and meeting new readers!

2Cait86
Editado: Dic 26, 2018, 7:51 am

Book-Related Goals for 2019

1. End the year with less books on my TBR shelves than I started the year with
2. Complete the POPSugar Reading Challenge
3. Read every day

3Cait86
Editado: Oct 19, 2019, 11:00 am

Books Read in 2019

1. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein - 4.5 stars
2. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein - 5 stars
3. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick - 3 stars
4. Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue - 4.5 stars
5. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck - 5 stars
6. Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North - 1 star
7. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley - 3 stars
8. Transcription by Kate Atkinson - 4 stars
9. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - 4.5 stars
10. Women Talking by Miriam Toews - 4 stars
11. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas - 4 stars
12. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende - 3.5 stars
13. One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus - 3 stars
14. I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara - 4 stars
15. The Golden Road by Lucy Maud Montgomery - 3 stars
16. Winter by Ali Smith - 4.5 stars
17. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin - 5 stars
18. To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel by Harper Lee and Fred Fordham - 5 stars
19. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling - 3.5 stars
20. The History of the Rain by Niall Williams - 2 stars
21. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - 3 stars
22. Beartown by Fredrik Backman - 5 stars
23. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - 3.5 stars
24. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - 3.5 stars
25. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite - 4 stars
26. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - 5 stars
27. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood - 3.5 stars
28. MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood - 2.5 stars
29. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - 3.5 stars
30. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - 3.5 stars
31. Blindness by Jose Saramago - 4.5 stars
32. The River by Peter Heller - 5 stars
33. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - 3.5 stars
34. Warcross by Marie Lu - 3 stars
35. Touch by Alexi Zentner - 3.5 stars
36. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin - 4 stars - reread
37. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - 2 stars
38. The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald - 3 stars
39. Pat of Silver Bush by Lucy Maud Montgomery - 3 stars
40. The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame - 2 stars
41. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han - 3.5 stars
42. The Dry by Jane Harper - 3.5 stars
43. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - 3.5 stars
44. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling & Jim Kay - 5 stars - reread
45. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward - 4.5 stars
46. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - 4 stars
47. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - 4 stars
48. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden - 4.5 stars
49. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - 5 stars
50. Golden Age by Jane Smiley - 5 stars
51. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - 4 stars
52. Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott - 3.5 stars
53. Whisper Network by Chandler Baker - 4 stars
54. Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin - 4 stars
55. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - 4 stars
56. Bunny by Mona Awad - 4.5 stars
57. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn - 3 stars
58. Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy - 4 stars
59. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel - 4.5 stars
60. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman - 5 stars
61. Educated by Tara Westover - 4 stars
62. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine - 2 stars
63. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane - 3.5 stars
64. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim - 4 stars
65. Lanny by Max Porter - 4.5 stars
66. Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman - 3 stars
67. The Wall by John Lanchester - 4 stars
68. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke - 3.5 stars
69. The Other Woman by Sandie Jones - 3 stars
70. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn - 2.5 stars
71. East of Eden by John Steinbeck - 4 stars
72. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai - 4.5 stars
73. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - 4 stars
74. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory - 3.5 stars
75. The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory - 3 stars
76. One Day in December by Josie Silver - 3 stars
77. Normal People by Sally Rooney - 5 stars
78. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - 4 stars
79. A Better Man by Louise Penny - 3.5 stars
80. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling and Jim Kay - 5 stars
81. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - 4 stars
82. Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta - 3.5 stars
83. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - 5 stars
84. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott - 4 stars
85. Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead - 4.5 stars
86. The Library Book by Susan Orlean - 3.5 stars
87. The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory - 3 stars
88. Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke - 4 stars
89. The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda - 2 stars
90. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult - 3.5 stars
91. After the Flood by Kassandra Montag - 4 stars
92. Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory - 3 stars

4Cait86
Editado: Oct 19, 2019, 11:04 am

Books Obtained in 2019

1. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas - read
2. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin - read
3. Beartown by Fredrik Backman - read
4. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
5. The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
6. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - read
7. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman - read
8. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite - read
9. Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy - read
10. The River by Peter Heller - read
11. Magnified World by Grace O'Connell
12. Be Ready for the Lightning by Grace O'Connell
13. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim - read
14. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane - read
15. Bunny by Mona Awad - read
16. Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin - read
17. Whisper Network by Chandler Baker - read
18. Spring by Ali Smith
19. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - read
20. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
21. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult - read
22. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling and Jim Kay

5Cait86
Editado: Ene 13, 2019, 10:33 am

January Reading Plan

1. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante - completed!
2. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante - completed!
3. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick - completed!
4. Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue - completed!
5. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck - completed!

6crazy4reading
Dic 26, 2018, 12:03 pm

Hello and welcome back. I love your book related goals for 2019. I should add something like that to my thread.

7jennyifer24
Dic 26, 2018, 7:06 pm

Hi from Michigan (so we're sort of neighbors?!) I'm Jenny- it looks like we have some shared reading interests. Looking forward to see what you're reading this year.

8Cait86
Dic 27, 2018, 7:27 am

>6 crazy4reading:, >7 jennyifer24:: Thanks very much to you both for stopping by! I'll be sure to visit your threads too :)

9The_Hibernator
Dic 31, 2018, 3:35 am

Happy New Year!

10FAMeulstee
Dic 31, 2018, 9:13 am

Happy reading in 2019, Cait!

11ChelleBearss
Dic 31, 2018, 10:58 am

Happy new year and new thread!
I saw you on the introductions page and we are almost neighbours (I'm 30 minutes from London)
Have a great reading year!

12MickyFine
Dic 31, 2018, 4:25 pm

Happy to see you back again, Cait. Much luck with your goals for the year!

13Cait86
Ene 1, 2019, 7:11 pm

>9 The_Hibernator:, >10 FAMeulstee:, >11 ChelleBearss:, >12 MickyFine: Thank you all for dropping by, and for the best wishes! I will be following your reading as well.

14Cait86
Editado: Ene 1, 2019, 7:33 pm

And here we go! I'm not a full reviewer of books, but I will try to leave a few comments/impressions.

--------------------



Book #1: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein
PopSugar Category: A book by two female authors (I'm including the translator, because I don't think they get enough recognition!)

I love when the new year starts with an excellent book! What a pleasure it was today to immerse myself once again into the story of Elena and Lila; despite being three years since I read My Brilliant Friend, I quickly remembered their story and was swept away by Ferrante's narrative.

If you haven't yet read this quartet of novels set in Naples, Italy, please do! They are rich in character development, and beautifully written and translated. I find myself identifying a lot with Elena, as she struggles to find her place in an academic world that is very different from the neighbourhood where she was born. Lila, on the other hand, is stuck in a bad marriage, and she often takes out her unhappiness on Elena and the other people who love her. Both women are fascinating characters, and their friendship is even more interesting. While their life situations often push them apart, a strong bond continues to pull them back to each other. I'm looking forward to seeing how these characters evolve over the course of the next two books.

4.5 stars

15PaulCranswick
Ene 1, 2019, 7:41 pm



Happy 2019
A year full of books
A year full of friends
A year full of all your wishes realised

I look forward to keeping up with you, Cait, this year.

16banjo123
Ene 1, 2019, 9:42 pm



looking forward to following your reading in 2019!

17BLBera
Ene 1, 2019, 9:46 pm

Happy New Year, Cait. I also loved Home Fire and The Power last year.

18Caroline_McElwee
Editado: Ene 2, 2019, 9:10 am

Happy New Year Cait.

>14 Cait86: I'm in the minority, but I didn't get along with Volume 1 of this series, so DNF it or go on to the next. I'm not really sure why. It may have been a mood thing. I'm not big on 'coming of age' novels, which much of the first is, and I've been told it gets better from V2. At the moment no plans to give it another go, but never say never!

19norabelle414
Ene 2, 2019, 10:35 am

Happy New Year, Cait and Ariel!

20kidzdoc
Ene 2, 2019, 11:04 am

Happy New Year, Cait!

21Cait86
Ene 2, 2019, 3:47 pm

Thank you Paul, Rhonda, Beth, Caroline, Nora, and Darryl for the kind words! It really is a treat to find a thread full of visitors.

>18 Caroline_McElwee: If you aren't typically a fan of 'coming of age' novels, Caroline, you probably wouldn't like The Story of a New Name either. The two main characters are still quite young, navigating the transition from girlhood to womanhood, where the first book was about childhood-girlhood.

22brenzi
Ene 3, 2019, 7:23 pm

Burlington? Seriously. I live in Buffalo. I can practically reach out and touch you Cait. To say nothing of the fact that I have relatives in Burlington..

I loved the Ferrante series and I also enjoyed the first season of the HBO series last year. Have you seen that? Also I’m a huge MaryLawson fan and have read all her books. She needs to write faster lol. I look forward to following your reading.

23Donna828
Ene 3, 2019, 7:35 pm

It's so good to see you back again, Cait. I hope you stay with us all year this time. ;-) I have fond memories of Crow Lake in the past, and Home Fire made my Top Ten of 2017 list. I also really enjoyed the Ferrante series as audio books. I look forward to sharing more good books with you this year.

24Cait86
Ene 3, 2019, 8:49 pm

>22 brenzi: No way! We are so close! If you are ever here visiting your relatives, let me know and we can get together! I haven't seen the HBO series yet, bit I want to very much. I'm halfway through the third book right now and love it even more than the first two.

>23 Donna828: Thanks Donna, it is good to be back! I hope I make it through the year as well. I have read several of Kamila Shamsie's books now, and Home Fire is definitely my favourite. That ending... so powerful.

25Cait86
Ene 4, 2019, 3:30 pm



Book #2: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante, trans. by Ann Goldstein
PopSugar Category: A book that includes a wedding

Oh wow, what an emotional roller coaster! I loved this book even more than the first two, with its theme of the trials of motherhood juxtaposed with political upheaval and violence. Elena is such a complex character, and I go through periods of sympathizing with her, and periods of absolutely hating her. The same can be said about Lila, who shines when Elena is at her worst, and vice versa. Social concerns such as working conditions and gender politics come to the forefront of the narrative - one of the things I love about these books is the skillful way that Ferrante transitions between very private moments in Elena's life to much larger world issues that existed in Italy at the time. In this way, this story is of Elena and Lila, but also of their country.

5 stars

--------------------

I'm on a book buying ban for now, but I will definitely ask for the fourth Ferrante novel for my birthday in March!

Next up: Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick, which is a retelling of Henry James' The Ambassadors (which I have not read).

26Cait86
Ene 6, 2019, 7:25 am



Book #3: Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
PopSugar Category: A retelling of a classic

Foreign Bodies is the story of a fractured family, set in the early 1950s: Bea is a late 40s divorced teacher living in NYC who is ordered by her estranged brother, Marvin, to go to Paris to hunt down Marvin's son Julian, who has been living there for longer than planned, and shows no signs of coming home. Julian's sister, Iris, is the perfect child ready to shed that reputation, and their mother, Margaret, is at a "retreat" that is actually a centre for people struggling with their mental health. From that set-up comes secret after secret, lie after lie, told through chapters that alternate between the various characters, often in the form of letters to each other.

All of this sounds rather juicy and exciting, but in reality it wasn't. Ozick is a beautiful writer, but these characters were boring and I never came to really care about their problems. I didn't dislike this book, but it certainly didn't wow me.

3 stars

27Caroline_McElwee
Ene 6, 2019, 8:21 am

>26 Cait86: agreeing with your review of this novel Cait. I read it a while back, and was underwhelmed.

28BLBera
Ene 6, 2019, 10:16 am

>26 Cait86: I think I agree with your comments, Cait. I know I read this but have no memory of it.

29Cait86
Ene 9, 2019, 7:00 am

>27 Caroline_McElwee:, >28 BLBera: Thanks Caroline and Beth! I'm glad I'm not the only one who disliked this novel. I think I picked it up on a whim from a sale table at my local bookstore, which is something I never do. I really only ever buy books that I have read reviews of, or was nominated for an award, because I like to know that I'm purchasing something I'll like. I don't like to waste my time on 3 star books.

30Cait86
Ene 9, 2019, 7:05 am

Life update: I went back to work on Monday after two lovely weeks of vacation, and immediately got sick. I was out with some friends one night last week and one of my friends was coughing, and I just knew I was going to catch a cold from him. So, here I am at home on a sick day, only three days into the new year. I hate taking sick days, particularly in January when my students are stressed over final evaluations and exams, but I know that if I don't recover today, I'll be really sick by the end of the week.

My plan for today at home is still to get some work done, as I should really mark about ten essays, and I have to proofread all of the exams for my department before submitting them to the main office for photocopying tomorrow. Once that is done, I'm planning on reading a significant chunk of my current book, Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue, which I love so far.

Happy Wednesday!

31alcottacre
Ene 9, 2019, 7:32 am

>14 Cait86: I have at least one of Ferrante's books around my house somewhere. I really must get to it!

>30 Cait86: Sorry to hear that you are sick, Cait. I hope you get well soon!

32MickyFine
Ene 9, 2019, 12:09 pm

>30 Cait86: Sorry to hear about the sick day, Cait. Hopefully the day of rest has you feeling much more the thing tomorrow. :)

33Caroline_McElwee
Ene 10, 2019, 10:05 am

Get better soon Cait. I've had a low grade cough for ten days which is hanging on.

34brenzi
Ene 10, 2019, 6:57 pm

I hope you’re feeling better today Cait. I hate getting sick and as a teacher it seems you’re more susceptible

35ChelleBearss
Ene 11, 2019, 10:01 am

Hope your sick day helped you to not get any worse! Could you at least mark the essays from the comfort of bed?

36figsfromthistle
Ene 11, 2019, 11:29 am

Hope you get better soon!

37Cait86
Editado: Ene 12, 2019, 7:16 am

>31 alcottacre:, >32 MickyFine:, >33 Caroline_McElwee:, >34 brenzi:, >35 ChelleBearss:, >36 figsfromthistle: Thanks very much for the well wishes, Stasia, Micky, Caroline, Bonnie, Chelle, and Anita!

I ended up going to work on Thursday and coming home at lunch, and then taking yesterday off as well. I have never taken multiple sick days in a row in my ten years of teaching, but I was just so run down that I needed the rest. I am feeling back to almost normal today, and I'm off to my school to work with our robotics team as we build a robot to compete in this year's FIRST Robotics Competition. I know absolutely nothing about robotics or engineering, being an English teacher, but this group of students does such amazing things, and so I volunteered to help out. I'm not sure how much help I am, beyond paperwork and attendance and that sort of thing, but the few girls in the club do love that they now have a female teacher involved.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

38Cait86
Ene 12, 2019, 7:16 am



Book #4: Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
PopSugar Category: a book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover (a ribbon)

Slammerkin is the story of Mary Saunders, a real woman who lived in the 1700s whose story Donoghue imagines from a few mentions in historical documents. Mary is fourteen, living in London with her mother and step-father, and is very poor. She has an obsession with pretty things, including a prostitute who adorns her hair with a bright red ribbon. Mary desperately wants a ribbon just like that, which she sees as a symbol of a better life, and her desire leads her into a whole lot of trouble.

I won’t say any more about the plot, because the fun of this novel is in the ups and downs of Mary’s fortune. She’s a fascinating character living in a fascinating world — if you’ve ever watched a historical film or tv show and thought, I’d like to have lived in England in the 1700s... well, this book will change your mind. Donoghue is great at writing historical fiction that shows the good and the bad about history, instead of glorifying it, and her focus on female characters and their lot in life always reminds me how much I have to be thankful for, as a woman living in 2019. Our world isn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but it is certainly better than Mary’s.

Other Donoghue books I’ve read (all good, though this is my fav): Room, Frog Music, and The Wonder

4.5 stars

39Caroline_McElwee
Ene 12, 2019, 7:55 am

>38 Cait86: sounds like a good read Cait. I've Bly read Room which was quite a journey.

40kidzdoc
Ene 12, 2019, 1:50 pm

Nice review of Slammerkin, Cait. I loved Room, so I'll keep my eye out for this book.

41Cait86
Ene 13, 2019, 10:17 am

>39 Caroline_McElwee: I agree, Caroline; Room was quite the book. Slammerkin is very different in subject matter, obviously, but what is similar is that Donoghue always creates such vivid characters.

>40 kidzdoc: I would be interested in whether you would like this one or not, Darryl. It's very different from what I think of as your usual reading, though I don't think that means you shouldn't pick it up!

42Cait86
Editado: Ene 13, 2019, 12:39 pm



Book #5: The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
PopSugar Category: a book set in Scandinavia

The Moon is Down is set in an unnamed town in an unnamed northern European country, but it is generally assumed to be about Norway, since Steinbeck was awarded a major Norwegian war honour for writing it. Steinbeck wrote this book in 1942, as propaganda really, to inspire resistance in Nazi-occupies countries. It was distributed across Europe secretly, and reading it could result in death at the hands of Hitler’s army. I’m not really a Steinbeck fan, having only read Of Mice and Men and started East of Eden about ten times. So I didn’t exactly have high hopes for this one.

I was so wrong. I loved every page of this tiny book — its message about resistance is still applicable today, and the actions and words of the townspeople left tears in my eyes. It is a simple story, told in simple language, but wow does it pack an emotional punch. Highly recommended.

5 stars

43Cait86
Editado: Feb 1, 2019, 8:38 pm

January Reading Plan, Part Two

1. Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North - completed!
2. Transcription by Kate Atkinson - completed!
3. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - completed!
4. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley - completed!

I cannot believe that I have finished all of the books I listed in >5 Cait86: -- I never stick to a plan like that! Knock on wood that I can keep going for the rest of the month.

The Invisible Bridge is quite long, so it might bleed over into February. I'll borrow The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on audio from the library, and listen to it while I drive to work, and Romeo and/or Juliet is one I borrowed as well.

44Cait86
Ene 13, 2019, 12:41 pm



Book #6: Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North
PopSugar Category: a choose your own adventure book

Ridiculous. Read solely to complete this PopSugar category, which I think is so silly. At least it was short.

1 star

45Caroline_McElwee
Ene 13, 2019, 12:52 pm

>42 Cait86: ooo, a Steinbeck I've not read Cait. Actually I've probably only read half of his work so far, but I do have most of it.

46ffortsa
Ene 13, 2019, 12:53 pm

Burlington, Ontario would be on the way to Stratford if I ever get back to Stratford. I used to go every summer, but not for about 20 years now. When my partner retires (this year), we will have more time to indulge in summer theater trips. If we do, I'll certainly let you know! Maybe we can schedule one of those infamous meetups.

47alcottacre
Ene 13, 2019, 1:10 pm

>38 Cait86: That one sounds good. I have only read Room by Emma Donoghue and I loved it, so I will happily try another of hers.

>42 Cait86: I get to dodge that BB as I have already read that one. Whew!

48BLBera
Ene 13, 2019, 2:13 pm

I"ve had both Slammerkin and The Moon Is Down on my WL for ages, Cait. Maybe your wonderful comments will push them up to the top of the pile.

I hope you're feeling better.

49lyzard
Ene 13, 2019, 3:14 pm

Hi, Cait!

Like you I'm not a huge Steinbeck fan, though I have The Grapes Of Wrath on my best-of list for last year. I recently added The Moon Is Down to my Wishlist via the best-seller challenge---thank you for the recommendation.

50brenzi
Ene 13, 2019, 3:53 pm

Slammerkin and The Moon is Down are now on my Hope to Read sometime soon. Thanks Cait.

51curioussquared
Ene 13, 2019, 3:55 pm

Dropping off a star as I think we have similar reading tastes! I loved the Neapolitan novels when I read them a few years ago. Do you plan to watch the HBO series? I'm interested but haven't been moved to actual watching yet.

52socialpages
Ene 13, 2019, 5:56 pm

I've added Slammerkin and The Moon is Down to my wish list. I've never heard of this Steinbeck novel.

53vivians
Ene 14, 2019, 10:32 am

Thanks for the Slammerkin review - I'm adding it to my list. I really enjoyed The Wonder, even more than Room, because of Donoghue's terrific sense of place.

54aktakukac
Ene 14, 2019, 11:39 am

Hi Cait, dropping a star, and looking forward to what you think of The Invisible Bridge. It's long, but I remember not wanting to put it down when I read it.

55Donna828
Ene 15, 2019, 6:15 pm

>42 Cait86: I loved this lesser known Steinbeck when I "discovered" it a few years ago. I may want to visit it again someday.

I also have fond memories of The Invisible Bridge. It was a keeper for me and a real page-turner. It may go faster than you think!

56Cait86
Ene 19, 2019, 10:49 am

Oh dear, I am woefully behind on threads, including my own, after a very busy week. Luckily for me, today is our first real snowstorm of the year, so I have the perfect excuse to spend the day relaxing.

>45 Caroline_McElwee: Do you have a favourite Steinbeck from what you have read, Caroline? Besides having East of Eden on my shelves, I also own Cannery Row.

>46 ffortsa: That would be lovely! I am a regular Stratford patron; my best friend and I have been going multiple times a summer for over a decade. It's my favourite part of the summer. I hope you get back there soon!

>47 alcottacre:, >48 BLBera:, >49 lyzard:, >50 brenzi:, >52 socialpages:, >53 vivians: I hope you all enjoy Slammerkin and/or The Moon is Down as much as I did!

>51 curioussquared: I do want to watch the series, though I have essentially sworn off television for the moment. I'll watch Star Trek: Discovery every week, and Handmaid's Tale when it comes back, but I am really trying to limit my tv time, in an effort to increase my reading time.

>54 aktakukac:, >55 Donna828: I am really looking forward to The Invisible Bridge, which I have owned for years, so I am glad to know that you both enjoyed it so much!

I am currently about a third of the way through Transcription by Kate Atkinson, which I am really enjoying.

57Caroline_McElwee
Ene 19, 2019, 1:31 pm

>56 Cait86: I love Of Mice and Men Cait. Tortilla Flat. I've mostly read his shorter fiction, and Travels with Charlie. I've had a problem getting into East of Eden because, at least in the first 50 pages I read, there feels like such a misogynistic feel to it, there is nothing positive about the women, but I saw the film years ago, and will have another go.

58Cait86
Ene 19, 2019, 7:07 pm

>57 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks for the recommendations! I'll add Tortilla Flat to my list.

59Cait86
Ene 19, 2019, 7:09 pm



Book #7: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
PopSugar Category: a book featuring an amateur detective

This fun mystery was a harmless way to spend a very snowy day. I listened to the audiobook while I did a jigsaw puzzle, cooked, and cleaned my kitchen. It was relaxing and funny in places, but overall not my preferred genre or style.

3 stars

60PaulCranswick
Ene 20, 2019, 4:28 am

Wishing you a great weekend, Cait.

61ChelleBearss
Ene 20, 2019, 10:21 am

>59 Cait86: Glad to see you liked Flavia. I had a hard time getting into the third book but she has grown on me now and I just picked up the fifth book. I couldn't do them on audio though. I can't handle higher pitched female voices on audiobooks.

62jennyifer24
Ene 20, 2019, 11:47 am

>46 ffortsa: >56 Cait86: I try to get to Stratford with a group of friends each summer too. We missed last year but will hopefully get back this year. It's such a relaxing weekend away!

63Cait86
Ene 20, 2019, 1:01 pm

>60 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul -- the same to you!

>61 ChelleBearss: The narrator was pretty good, though it took me some time to warm up to her voice, which I found grating at first. Ultimately though the annoyingness fit Flavia's voice, so it worked in the end. My audio pet peeve is narrators who do different voices for different characters. An audiobook is not a radio play, in my view, so I don't like overly dramatized ones. I find it so off-putting when narrators create voices for characters who are very different in age than the narrator, or different gender. Jim Dale's Hermione voice in his Harry Potter audiobooks, for example, irritates me to no end.

>62 jennyifer24: I love that Stratford is such a vacation draw! It's such a delightful town, and the theatre is really wonderful. I'm looking forward to The Crucible and Little Shop of Horrors this season, as well as the Shakespeare plays,

64Cait86
Editado: Feb 1, 2019, 8:39 pm



Book #8: Transcription by Kate Atkinson
PopSugar Category: a book you think should be turned into a movie

Transcription is the story of Juliet, a young woman who works for MI5 during WW2, transcribing conversations between a British spy and secret Nazi sympathizers. The narrative jumps around in time a bit, with chunks of the book set in 1950. The reader knows from this later timeline that something alarming happened during the war, something that ten years later is still haunting Juliet.

This was a great book with a twisty plot that kept me on the edge of my seat. As with many books about spies, the reader is never really sure who is telling the truth, and for what "side" characters are really fighting.

Recommended!

4 stars

65banjo123
Ene 20, 2019, 6:38 pm

I need to read more Emma Donoghue. I should look for Slammerkin

66figsfromthistle
Ene 21, 2019, 11:02 am

>56 Cait86: I'm a regular patron of Stratford as well. They also have a wonderful used bookstore ( Book Stage).

>64 Cait86: Transcription looks to be a great book. I have two of her books on my TBR shelf.

Have a fantastic week :)

67vivians
Ene 21, 2019, 12:51 pm

>64 Cait86: So glad you enjoyed Transcription! There have been mixed reviews but I really loved it.

68BLBera
Ene 21, 2019, 11:27 pm

I was another fan of Transcription, Cait.

69Cait86
Feb 1, 2019, 8:36 pm

>65 banjo123: If you like historical fiction, Slammerkin is definitely a good one! I'm still thinking about Mary, the main character.

>66 figsfromthistle: So many Stratford fans! I'm always thrilled when someone else loves it as much as I do. I've never been to Book Stage before -- thanks for mentioning it!!

>67 vivians:, >68 BLBera: I can see why Transcription has received mixed reviews, with its slow start and an ending that is kind of... ambivalent maybe? I really liked it though.

Thanks to you all for keeping my thread warm while I was away! The past two weeks were exams weeks, which means tons of marking and report card writing for me. A new semester starts on Monday, so things will slow down a bit again. I should be back here more regularly in February.

70Cait86
Feb 1, 2019, 9:00 pm



Book #9: The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
PopSugar Category: your favourite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - a novel set during war time (2017)

The Invisible Bridge starts in 1937 in Budapest, Hungary. Andras Lévi, an ambitious young man, is about to leave for Paris to attend architectural school. Andras is excited, but nervous to leave behind his family, especially his older brother Tibor. In Paris Andras begins a new life full of learning, sees success as a student, and is pulled into the drama of a woman with a mysterious past. This Paris section of the novel is quite the love letter to the city, and despite obstacles, Andras does well for himself.

However, it’s the late 1930s, and Andras is Jewish, so the good times don’t last very long. From the glamour of Paris the reader is pulled into the labour camps of Eastern Europe, where Andras’ optimism is challenged again and again.

This was a beautiful, albeit very long, novel about humanity’s will to survive, the importance of family, and the power of love. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars



Book #10: Women Talking by Miriam Toews
PopSugar Category: a book that takes place in a single day (which is a cheat... it actually takes place over two days, but I value reading what I want over strictly adhering to random challenges)

Women Talking is based on the true story of a group of men from a Mennonite community in Bolivia, who repeatedly drugged and raped the women and girls in their town and convinced them that their injuries were punishments for their sins. Toews sets her story after the women have discovered the true cause of the attacks, as they are debating how to move forward.

Set over two days, Women Talking is narrated by August Epp, the community's teacher, who is asked by the women to keep written records of the their debate (because the women themselves cannot read or write). August listens as eight women of three different generations argue their options: to do nothing; to stay and fight; or to leave. To his minutes August also adds some of his own thoughts on the issue.

Women Talking started quite slowly, and I didn't love August as a narrator, but Toews' exploration of this story feels so important. This tale seems to serve as a metaphor for all of the discussions happening around women's rights, both past and present. The way she distills these complex issues into simple terms was kind of amazing.

I am so glad that I read this book.

4 stars

71Cait86
Editado: Mar 2, 2019, 8:55 am

January Wrap-Up

I read ten books in January, all fiction, for a total of 3,872 pages. Seven were by women; three by men. Four were by Canadian authors, three were by Americans, two were written by an Italian author, and one was by an English author. I really enjoyed or loved seven of them, thought two was okay, and disliked one.

Pretty great for the first month of 2019!

Plans for February

1. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende - completed!
2. The History of the Rain by Niall Williams - completed!
3. Winter by Ali Smith - completed!
4. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
5. The Magus by John Fowles
6. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus - completed!
7. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
8. The Golden Road by Lucy Maud Montgomery - completed!
9. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas - completed!

This is potentially too ambitious, especially given the size of The Magus and Seveneves, but whatever I don't finish will carry over into March. I'm going to see Angie Thomas speak at the end of the month, so I will make sure to read her book before that event.

72BLBera
Feb 2, 2019, 9:17 am

Both The Invisible Bridge and Women Talking are on my WL, Cait. Great comments.

>71 Cait86: Good luck with your Feb. reading plans. Lots of good ones on the list.

73Caroline_McElwee
Feb 2, 2019, 12:20 pm

>70 Cait86: it looks like you got two good hits there Cait.

>71 Cait86: it's years since I read The Magus. I once stayed on the Island of Spétses where Fowles taught and which inspired the novel. Now I regularly stay in Lyme Regis where he lived for many years, and where The French Lieutenant's Woman is set. Also one of the settings in Jane Austen's Persuasion.

74Cait86
Feb 3, 2019, 2:03 pm

>72 BLBera: I hope you like both books, Beth! Women Talking is quite short and quick to read, while The Invisible Bridge is more of a commitment.

>73 Caroline_McElwee: Hi Caroline! I'm looking forward to The Magus, which I've owned for ten years I think. In 2008 I read Fowles' The Collector and loved it, so I'm not sure why The Magus has sat unread for so long. Very cool that you've been to the island that inspired the novel!

75Cait86
Feb 3, 2019, 2:05 pm

I'm currently about a third of the way though Ines of My Soul, my first Allende novel. I feel like it isn't typical of her, given that it is straight historical fiction, without any magical realism (at least not yet). I am really enjoying it, and I'm planning on reading The House of the Spirits later this year.

76curioussquared
Feb 3, 2019, 6:09 pm

>75 Cait86: I loved The House of the Spirits when I read it several years ago but haven't read anything else by Allende aside from her YA novels. Thanks for reminding me to pick up something else by her!

77PaulCranswick
Feb 5, 2019, 7:31 am

>70 Cait86: I must get to read The Invisible Bridge soon, Cait. Really enjoyed your review of it too.

78Cait86
Feb 6, 2019, 1:20 pm

>76 curioussquared: I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The House of the Spirits, as I am a bit intimidated by it. I'm hoping to finish Ines of My Soul today; it continues to be an excellent, if dense, historical fiction novel.

>77 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! I hope you enjoy it!

79Cait86
Editado: Jul 8, 2019, 3:39 pm



Book #11: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
PopSugar Category: A book written by a musician

So... this book was only released yesterday, I bought it on my way home from work, and I finished it today. This should tell you how engaging and readable it is — thank you to my school board for having a snow day today, giving me the time to fly through this delightful book!

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’ second book after The Hate U Give. It’s set in the same neighbourhood of Garden Heights, and there are references throughout to “the boy who was killed by the cop” and “the riots” from THUG. Life in Garden Heights has not, unfortunately, changed since Starr worked to draw attention to police brutality, and this book deals with many of the same ideas, though in a lighter way.

The protagonist here is Brianna Jackson, a sixteen year old aspiring rapper living with her older brother and mother in Garden Heights. Bri’s mom is an eight-years sober former drug addict who struggles to find work, and her brother Trey is college educated but forced to work at a neighbourhood pizza place in order to help his mom pay the bills. Bri attends a local public school for the arts, and dreams of making it big in the hip hop world like her dad, who was killed by an opposing gang member just as his career was taking off.

At school, Bri and her friends from Garden Heights feel like outsiders who are targeted by the school because of their ethnicity. One day Bri is assaulted by a school security guard, and one half of the plot kicks into gear. Alongside the story of the fallout from this incident is Bri’s rap success. Angry at her treatment at school, Bri writes and records a song that gains her some fame. Suddenly Bri is being portrayed as a “hood” and a gang member, when really she is a frustrated girl trying to process her emotions.

All of this sounds quite heavy, and it is, but it doesn’t have the gravity of THUG. Bri is scrappier and funnier than Starr, and this book definitely feels lighter, despite having many sad, difficult elements. Don’t get me wrong — a lot of Bri’s life upset me, but I have more hope that her life is “on the come up” than I did at the end of THUG, where I felt like nothing was really improving for Starr.

I’m going to see Angie Thomas speak at the end of the month, and I’m so excited to gain more insight into her writing, and hopefully to hear what she has planned next.

4 stars

80curioussquared
Feb 6, 2019, 4:48 pm

>79 Cait86: I'm so excited to read this -- and jealous that you get to see her speak! I'll have to check if she's going to be in my area.

81BLBera
Feb 6, 2019, 8:45 pm

Cait - I love Allende's historical fiction - not all has magical realism, at least the ones I've read. My favorite one is Island Beneath the Sea.

I still have a friend's copy of The Hate U Give sitting here. Must get to it and return it soon.

82brenzi
Feb 6, 2019, 10:00 pm

Absolutely loved The Invisible Bridge when I read it in 2011, Cait. Seared into my brain is the building of the road to the East by the Jewish prisoners. Orringer is a brilliant writer. And she has a new book coming out soon😊

83socialpages
Feb 8, 2019, 11:52 pm

>70 Cait86: I really like the sound of Women Talking. I'm adding it to my Wish List.
>71 Cait86: I'm interested to hear how you fare with The Magus. It's a great book but without giving anyway any spoilers I found the ending frustrating. The Collector is a memorable and disturbing read. Loved it.

84jennyifer24
Editado: Feb 9, 2019, 10:40 am

Stopped by and added 3 books to my tbr pile. Slammerkin, Transcription and The Invisible Bridge all sound like books I need to read!

85Cait86
Feb 12, 2019, 7:22 am

>80 curioussquared: I'm really looking forward to seeing Angie Thomas speak about this book. It adds so much to a reading experience to have some input from the author on the creative process. I hope you get to this one soon!

>81 BLBera: I really enjoyed Allende's writing, though I had some concerns with Ines of My Soul that I'll put in my comments. I'm still going to read House of the Spirits later this year, and I'll definitely look for more Allende novels in the future - I've added your fav to my notes on books to try!

>82 brenzi: I am SO excited for Orringer's new book.

>83 socialpages: I have my fingers crossed that I will enjoy The Magus, though it sounds kind of weird LOL

>84 jennyifer24: I hope you enjoy them!

86Cait86
Feb 12, 2019, 7:54 am



Book #12: Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
PopSugar Category: a novel based on a true story

Inés of My Soul is based on the life of Inés de Suarez, a Spanish woman who followed her husband to the “New World” in the 1500s, and played a major role in the colonization of Chile. This book is really dense, realistic historical fiction; Allende does not hide the awful details of Spain’s tactics for colonization, so reader beware: there are lots of violent scenes.

I’m torn by this book, because ten years ago, when I bought it, I think I would have loved it. Allende gives a voice to a woman who has been largely ignored by history books, and shows how women play an important role in the creation of a society. 2009 Cait would have been all over that. 2019 Cait has had way more education on Indigenous issues in our world, and so I struggled to celebrate this powerful woman, since she was part of something so heinous. To be fair to Allende, she makes it really clear that the Spanish were vicious towards the Indigenous people, and Inés hates the violence. However, Inés doesn’t frown about colonization as a whole — she just wants it to be less torture-filled.

3.5 stars



Book #13: One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
PopSugar Category: a book told from multiple character POVs

I love the odd quick, fun YA novel. One of Us Is Lying has been all over my local bookstores lately, and so when a friend read it and enjoyed it, I decided to pick it up from the library. I loved most of this book; I was totally sucked in to the lives of Bronwyn, Nate, Cooper, and Addy, the four students who witness the death of a fifth student, Simon, during detention one afternoon. Bronwyn and Nate, in particular, had really engaging narratives for me, and I was hooked into trying to figure out how and why Simon had died.

And then the ending happened. I totally HATED the ending; the “plot twist” made me so angry at McManus for misrepresenting a serious issue (trying to avoid spoilers here). I flew through this book in less than 24 hours, and was totally on board to recommend it to students in my class, but now I won’t, which makes me sad because the first 4/5 of the book was really fun.

3 stars



Book #14: I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
PopSugar Category: a book published posthumously

Oh boy. If you like true crime or investigative journalism, or if you are interested in serial killers, read this book. Just not at night.

4 stars

87streamsong
Feb 12, 2019, 12:52 pm

Great reviews, Cait! I'm thoroughly caught up in The Story of a New Name and will happily go on with the series. Like you, I read the first one several years ago.

Ha! on your book buying ban. I try, I struggle, I buy books.

I do have Ines of My Soul on Planet TBR.

88thornton37814
Feb 13, 2019, 4:23 pm

>70 Cait86: I remember loving The Invisible Bridge when I read it a few years ago. Glad to see you enjoyed it so much.

89ChelleBearss
Feb 14, 2019, 1:42 pm

Happy Valentine's Day!! ❤️💚💗💙

90Cait86
Feb 17, 2019, 8:44 am

>87 streamsong: Glad you are enjoying Ferrante! My birthday is next month, and I am going to ask for the last book in the series, so that I can read it without actually being the one to buy it LOL

>88 thornton37814: I really did love it, Lori. It is a book I think about a lot, and I'm looking forward to Orringer's next book.

>89 ChelleBearss: Thanks Chelle!

91Cait86
Feb 17, 2019, 8:52 am



Book #15: The Golden Road by Lucy Maud Montgomery
PopSugar Category: a book that makes you nostalgic

I’m slowly trying to read all of Montgomery’s books, since I’m such a fan of her Anne and Emily books. This one, the sequel to The Story Girl, is about Sara Stanley and her King cousins; the two books formed the inspiration for the tv show Road to Avonlea, which I watched as a child. I don’t love these characters the way I do Anne and Emily, but it is still classic Montgomery — lots of descriptions of PEI, everyday stories of quirky people, and the right amount of sentimentality.

3 stars



Book #16: Winter by Ali Smith
PopSugar Category: read a book during the season it is set in

I wanted something really literary after some less than stellar books, and this novel seemed perfect for another snow day. Ali Smith is always fabulous, though super challenging with her use of language. I think of her as a contemporary Virginia Woolf; I don’t always fully know what’s going on, but I am happy to let her gorgeous sentences wash over me. Her writing is far more important that the plot, and like Woolf, she plays with time and the idea of memory.

Winter is the second book in her quarter of season novels, after Autumn (which I read two years ago). Spring comes out this year, and Summer in 2020. These books are very “of the moment,” as they comment on the politics and world issues of present day. Autumn was called the first post-Brexit novel, and this one in similar, with direct references to British and American politics.

I wonder how well these novels will age, given how rooted they are in their published year, but I do think that Smith will be an author English majors are reading in 100 years.

4.5 stars



Book #17: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
PopSugar Category: a book you meant to read in 2018

Friends, this book. Oh my. It broke my heart. It’s short, but not easy. Please read it.

5 stars

92Caroline_McElwee
Feb 17, 2019, 9:05 am

>91 Cait86: I just saw the film of If Beale Street Could Talk Cait, and they did a great job. I need to reread the book soon, I read it first as a teenager, long ago.

93Cait86
Feb 17, 2019, 2:07 pm

>92 Caroline_McElwee: I am really looking forward to seeing the movie, Caroline. Have you read other books by Baldwin that you would recommend?

94Caroline_McElwee
Feb 17, 2019, 3:18 pm

I love Baldwin's work Cait, I read most of his work (novels and essays) in my late teens and 20s, and am slowly rereading him. You might like Giovanni's Room and the semi-autobiographical Go Tell it on the Mountain.

95mdoris
Editado: Feb 17, 2019, 8:43 pm

Great first time visit over here Cait and getting some good ideas for future reading from you.

I have read several of Emma Donoghue books and thought they were very good. Local library system sadly does not have Slammerkin.

I read Women Talking in the fall and it was one of my top reads for 2018. There is a documentary 'Ghost Rapes of Bolivia' in 2 parts about this.
HERE

Interesting, Toews wrote this book in 2016 before the #MeTooMovement (published in August 2018).

96Cait86
Editado: Feb 18, 2019, 6:59 am

>94 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline -- I've added both to my list of books to seek out. Being Canadian, I have quite the gap in my American Literature reading, as my English degree focused on Canadian and British Literature. Before I learned about the movie version of If Beale Street Could Talk, I had never even heard of Baldwin.

>95 mdoris: Hi Mary, thanks for visiting! I am definitely going to watch that documentary; thank you for telling me about it. I cannot believe that Toews' book is based on a true story. It seems too horrible to be real.

97Cait86
Editado: Feb 18, 2019, 6:18 pm



Book #18: To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel by Harper Lee and Fred Fordham
PopSugar Category: a reread of a favourite book

This beautiful book was a Christmas gift from a lovely student who knows my reading tastes well. I loved rereading TKAM for the umpteenth time in this new format.

5 stars

98FAMeulstee
Feb 18, 2019, 4:35 pm

>91 Cait86: Added the Dutch translation of If Beale Street Could Talk to my library wish list.

99Cait86
Feb 18, 2019, 6:22 pm

>98 FAMeulstee: I hope you enjoy it, Anita!

100Cait86
Editado: Feb 18, 2019, 6:25 pm



Book #19: Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
PopSugar Category: a book with a question in the title

I’m in the middle of a really boring literary novel, and also the longest sci-fi book ever, and so while I really wanted to read today, I just couldn’t read either of those books for longer than a half hour at a time.

Mindy Kaling’s second book of memoir essays was totally the antidote I needed — quick, funny, and surprisingly relatable. I didn’t love her first book, but I found this one far more engaging, particularly the piece on her struggle to feel good about her body. This was lazy holiday Monday fun reading at its best.

3.5 stars

101BLBera
Feb 20, 2019, 11:30 am

I loved your comments about Inés of My Soul, Cait.

What a lot of good reading you've been doing. I also loved Winter and want to read all of Ali Smith's books. I would like to reread If Beale Street Could Talk for Black History month -- it's been so long since I read it.

102Cait86
Mar 2, 2019, 8:50 am

>101 BLBera: Thanks Beth! So far 2019 has indeed been an excellent reading year, and I am reading way more than I ever have before. It feels amazing to have read 20 books already!

103Cait86
Editado: Mar 3, 2019, 10:18 am



Book #20: The History of the Rain by Niall Williams
PopSugar Category: a book about a hobby (reading and writing)

Reading much more frequently over the past year and a half has really helped me to define what I like and dislike in a book. High on my list of dislikes is overly detailed, descriptive writing, and characters who spend their time contemplating the meaning of life. This book, which was technically very beautifully written, contains both of those things. It is about a girl named Ruth, who is confined to her bed in her mother’s house in Ireland. Ruth spends her days reading her father’s library of books, writing her own book about her family history, and contemplating her existence. The actual family history parts were interesting, but they did not outweigh the elements I dislike in my books, unfortunately.

2 stars

Note: For a totally different opinion on The History of the Rain, which I know many people absolutely love, visit Donna's thread -- she also just read it, and she rated it very highly.

104Cait86
Editado: Mar 3, 2019, 10:17 am

February Wrap-Up

I read ten books in February, eight fiction and two nonfiction, for a total of 3,044 pages. Seven were by women; two by men; one was a collaboration between a male and female author. Five were by American authors, the collaboration was between an American and an English author, and the others were by authors from Canada, Chile, Scotland, and Ireland. I really enjoyed or loved five of them, thought four were okay, and disliked one.

While January was better overall in terms of pages read and stars awarded, February was no slouch!

Plans for March

1. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
2. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - completed!
3. The Magus by John Fowles
4. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
5. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
6. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
7. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

March will probably be a slower reading month, as I am traveling to Spain and Portugal for March break on a school trip. I find I don't have a ton of time to read on these trips, though I will bring one of the above books with me in hard copy, and one on audio, in hopes that I can steal an hour or two on the bus or plane.

105BLBera
Mar 2, 2019, 2:55 pm

Lucky you, Cait, to be traveling to Spain and Portugal. Where are you going?

You have some great reading planned for March. I loved The Magus when I read it years ago, and I read my first book by Aminatta Forna last year, Happiness and loved it. I definitely want to read more by her.

106Cait86
Mar 3, 2019, 8:34 am

>105 BLBera: We are staying in Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon, with stops in Zaragoza and Merida. It's my first time in Spain and Portugal, so I am very excited!

I've only read Forna's The Hired Man, which I really liked. I have Happiness on my TBR for next month!

107Cait86
Mar 3, 2019, 10:19 am



Book #21: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
PopSugar Category: a book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title

This Victorian classic, billed as the first detective story, has lots of the tropes found in modern mysteries: a well-regarded professional detective, red herrings, a scene where the crime is reconstructed, etc. I really liked the first half, which was the events leading up to and including the night of the crime. The second half, which was the solving of the mystery, was told by multiple narrators, and I didn’t enjoy it very much. Still, I’m glad I got this one off my TBR shelves, where it has languished since I bought it second hand in 2009.

3 stars

108BLBera
Mar 3, 2019, 12:39 pm

>106 Cait86: That sounds great, Cait. Is your itinerary pretty planned? I love the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid. It has the Guernica and lots of modern stuff. It's also small, unlike the Prado.

>107 Cait86: I read this in college and don't remember much. I do have The Woman in White on my shelves and hope to get to it one of these years.

109streamsong
Mar 4, 2019, 12:16 pm

Wow - a trip to Spain and Portugal sounds wonderful! Have you been before?

You've added If Beale Street Could Talk to my TBR list. I've only read Giovanni's Room and should read more by Baldwin.

110kidzdoc
Mar 6, 2019, 10:45 am

>108 BLBera: I heartily second Beth's recommendation of the Museo Reina Sofía. Have a great time in Spain and Portugal, Cait!

111Cait86
Mar 7, 2019, 12:33 pm

>108 BLBera: Our tour group, EF Tours, is really good at balancing whole group activities with free time. We have two chunks of free time in Barcelona, one in Madrid, and one in Lisbon. I really want to see the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and definitely the Reina Sofia in Madrid! The Prado and the royal palace are on our Madrid itinerary, and in Barcelona we are seeing La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. I'm not sure what we are seeing in Lisbon, because it is less familiar to me.

>109 streamsong: This is my first time in both Spain and Portugal, and I am super excited! On our way home we also have a long layover in Frankfurt, which is also a new city for me.

>110 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl! Our hotel is right around the corner from the Reina Sofia, so I am going to do my best to get there!

112PaulCranswick
Editado: Mar 9, 2019, 9:21 am

>107 Cait86: I don't remember being blown away by it either. Worthy and wordy.

Wish I was in your suitcase for Iberia.

113Nickelini
Mar 9, 2019, 1:43 pm

>75 Cait86: I'm currently about a third of the way though Ines of My Soul, my first Allende novel. I feel like it isn't typical of her, given that it is straight historical fiction, without any magical realism (at least not yet).

Actually, Ines of My Soul is completely typical Isabel Allende. She wrote House of the Spirits early in her career and it became one of the most popular examples of magical realism. If she ever wrote another MR book again, I don't know what it is. But because she has that connection, her novels here all get flagged "magical realism' when they aren't at all. In addition to Ines of My Soul, I've also read Portrait in Sepia and Island Beneath the Sea -- both straight forward historical fiction, and I've been to my bookclub meetings where they had read The Japanese Lover and Ripper-- no MR there either. And I read Paula, which is a memoir.

>81 BLBera: I love Allende's historical fiction - not all has magical realism, at least the ones I've read. - Do you know of any that have magical realism?

I think MR is just a label Allende can't shake, even though she moved on decades ago.

114Nickelini
Mar 9, 2019, 8:00 pm

>38 Cait86: and others back in January (I'm slow to catch up)

I read Slammerkin and Room a few years ago, and enjoyed both, but I had forgotten that they were written by the same author. I would have trouble finding a similarity between the two apart from "strong female protagonist" and "good books".

115BLBera
Mar 22, 2019, 9:10 am

Your itinerary sounds great, Cait.

116kidzdoc
Mar 27, 2019, 11:41 am

Belated Happy Birthday, Cait! Are you still in Iberia? If not, how was your trip?

117Cait86
Mar 30, 2019, 7:50 am

>112 PaulCranswick: I'm glad to have read it, and to have it off my TBR shelves finally, but it's not a book I'll be rereading. Have you read The Woman in White? I wouldn't rule out another Collins in the future.

>113 Nickelini: Thanks for the info on Allende, Joyce -- you are right, because of The House of the Spirits, I assumed that magic realism was central to her works in general. Now I'm more eager to read her novels, since I definitely prefer historical fiction over magical realism!

>114 Nickelini: Room is a bit of an outlier in the Donoghue books I've read, as it is the only one that is set in a contemporary setting. Besides Slammerkin, I also really liked Frog Music, which in set in San Francisco in the 1870s, and The Wonder, which is set in Ireland in 1859.

>115 BLBera: Thanks! It was a wonderful trip!

>116 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl, happy belated to you too! I've been home for a few weeks, but they've been action-packed so I haven't had any LT time.

118Cait86
Mar 30, 2019, 7:53 am



Book #22: Beartown by Fredrik Backman
PopSugar Category: a book revolving around a puzzle or game

Beartown is a hockey town. Everyone lives and breathes the game, from the youngest child to the oldest, most respected adult. This year the junior team is set to be the best team in the country (Sweden), all because of one star player. Kevin Erdahl, golden boy.

Except Kevin isn’t such a golden boy after all, and hockey maybe isn’t the saviour of this town, as so many believe. Maybe, instead, it’s the root of a lot of problems — of corruption, hatred, violence, and prejudice. When something bad happens, the townspeople need to decide between hockey, or what is right.

I loved this book. From an explosive first page to a satisfying conclusion, I thought it brilliantly captured the claustrophobia of small town life. Backman’s latest book is a sequel, and you can bet I’ll be reading it soon.

5 stars

119SandyAMcPherson
Mar 30, 2019, 9:41 am

>118 Cait86:, wow! a fabulous review and definitely a BB for me.

I'm running out of the 'PopSugar Category' which I always need on hand for my reading-in-bed addiction at night. My other currently reading books are a bit weighty for that.

120kidzdoc
Mar 30, 2019, 9:47 am

>116 kidzdoc: Good to see you back, Cait. I hope that you enjoyed Portugal and Spain.

Great review of Beartown; I've added it to my Amazon wish list.

121figsfromthistle
Mar 30, 2019, 11:27 am

Glad you liked Beartown! I read it this year and enjoyed it as well. So far, all books by Backman have been great.

Have a wonderful weekend

122Nickelini
Editado: Mar 30, 2019, 12:26 pm

>118 Cait86:

Great review of Beartown. I bought a copy last summer and was quite excited to read it, but then a friend told me that I'd hate it because I complained about the abundance of hockey game scenes in Indian Horse. Did you read Indian Horse? How does the hockey compare? I don't mind reading books with a sports setting if they're not about the actual sports, but there is nothing more boring than reading play-by-plays of sporting prowess.

123PaulCranswick
Abr 7, 2019, 2:49 am

I must get to Bear Town soon, Cait.

Have a lovely weekend.

124Cait86
Abr 13, 2019, 12:35 pm

>119 SandyAMcPherson: Thanks Sandy! I just bought the sequel to Beartown the other day, and I am itching to read it. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit any of the PopSugar categories that I have left, so I'm going to have to wait a bit before I read it.

>120 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl! I loved Spain and Portugal, especially Madrid. We only had a day in Lisbon, so I feel like I barely scratched the surface of it -- I definitely want to go back. March was a great time to visit, because it wasn't too hot or too crowded. Traveling with students is fun, but I am looking forward to seeing more of Spain and Portugal on my own one day.

>121 figsfromthistle: Have you read the sequel yet? I am interested to see how Backman continues to develop these characters.

>122 Nickelini: I loved Indian Horse, even with all the hockey scenes. I felt like Wagamese wrote about hockey in a way similar to how I would want to write about books and reading, or about travel, so even though I couldn't care less about the sport itself, I understood the passion behind those scenes. Beartown is different; there are lots of scenes about hockey, but not play-by-plays -- more about the culture that surrounds the game. There's a bit about the feel of being on the ice, and maybe two or three game scenes, but mostly it's about what hockey brings to the town. It hit home for me, because my small Ontario hometown could be the town in the book, in the way that everyone knew each other, and athletes were looked at as gods, etc. Still, a lot of the book is devoted to the sport. If Indian Horse was too much for you, I think this would be, too.

>123 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, you too!

125Cait86
Abr 13, 2019, 12:40 pm



Book #23: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
PopSugar Category: a book with a title that contains "salty," "sweet," "bitter," or "spicy"

Sweet WW2 story about a Chinese-American boy and Japanese-American girl who fall in love. Nothing special I thought, but enjoyable enough.

3.5 stars



Book #24: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
PopSugar Category: a book becoming a movie in 2019

Theo Decker is thirteen and living in New York City with his mom, who is his whole world. One day while at the Met, Theo survives a terrorist attack. In his panic and hysteria, he steals a small painting called The Goldfinch. This day, this decision, and all of the consequences, change the trajectory of Theo’s life dramatically.

I do not understand how this monster of a book is going to be a movie. At 780+ pages, they are going to have to cut out a LOT of the plot to turn it into a two hour film.

3.5 stars

126Cait86
Abr 13, 2019, 12:44 pm

I failed miserably at my reading plans for March, but that's not stopping me from creating goals for April.

Plans for April

1. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
2. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - completed!
3. The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

I've been reading Seveneves since mid-February, so it is time to buckle down and concentrate on finishing it this month!

127Caroline_McElwee
Abr 13, 2019, 1:28 pm

>125 Cait86: I think I liked The Goldfinch more than you Cait, but agree, they are going to have to leave a lot out to turn it not a good movie.

128Cait86
Abr 15, 2019, 6:17 pm

>127 Caroline_McElwee: I looked up the casting for the film, and it looks very good; I loved Ansel Elgort in Baby Driver, and Luke Wilson seems perfect for Theo's dad, plus I really like both Nicole Kidman and Sarah Paulson. Still, I'm guessing huge chunks of the novel will have to be cut.

129Cait86
Abr 15, 2019, 6:20 pm



Book #25: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
PopSugar Category: a book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America

This weird little book was on a lot of “best of” lists for 2018; that fact plus the intriguing title was enough for me to pick it up yesterday at Indigo. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, My Sister, the Serial Killer is exactly what the title promises. The narrator’s stunningly beautiful sister has a nasty habit of killing her boyfriends, and then calling her sister to help clean up the mess. So when the love of the narrator’s life is interested in her sister, what’s a girl to do?

Though this novel wouldn’t make my “best of” list, I did read it in only two sittings. It was engaging, fast-paced, and darkly comic.

4 stars

130Nickelini
Abr 15, 2019, 8:12 pm

>124 Cait86: I loved Indian Horse, even with all the hockey scenes. I felt like Wagamese wrote about hockey in a way similar to how I would want to write about books and reading, or about travel, so even though I couldn't care less about the sport itself, I understood the passion behind those scenes. Beartown is different; there are lots of scenes about hockey, but not play-by-plays -- more about the culture that surrounds the game. There's a bit about the feel of being on the ice, and maybe two or three game scenes, but mostly it's about what hockey brings to the town. It hit home for me, because my small Ontario hometown could be the town in the book, in the way that everyone knew each other, and athletes were looked at as gods, etc. Still, a lot of the book is devoted to the sport. If Indian Horse was too much for you, I think this would be, too.

Actually, that makes me feel better about reading it. I can tolerate hockey, but I can't stand baseball or football, and I've read books and seen movies with those backgrounds, but the story really is about something else, and I've liked them. It's the play-by-play that instantly bores me. So if it's about the culture, then I think I can find something to like. Also, I love skating, so descriptions on that feeling might be pretty cool.

It hit home for me, because my small Ontario hometown could be the town in the book, in the way that everyone knew each other, and athletes were looked at as gods, etc.

And I think I could appreciate that -- even though I live in the big city of Vancouver, our little corner is known for lacrosse, and all the kids here play lacrosse. I spent a lot of time as a lacrosse-mom (and also a soccer mom) and I get that world.

Thanks for your detailed response. I'm actually looking forward to Beartown.

131Cait86
Abr 20, 2019, 7:50 am

>130 Nickelini: Happy to help! Glad you are going to give it a go. I'm like you in that I'm not a sports fan, but I do like stories about sports culture, especially ones that show the good and the bad like Beartown does.

132Cait86
Editado: Jul 27, 2019, 11:58 am



Book #26: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
PopSugar Category: a book recommended by a celebrity you admire (Reese Witherspoon, who I have always liked as an actress, and now like even more since she is doing such great work promoting reading, even though the books she chooses are not often ones that I would read myself)

A fictionalized oral history of a ‘70s rock and roll band, Daisy Jones and the Six is tailor-made for my reading tastes. I love classic rock music, anything set in the '60s or '70s, interesting narrative structures, and books about complex female characters; this novel has all of those things. I devoured it in two days, and it is hands down my favourite reading experience of 2019. The way Reid splices together the interviews with each of the band members, and their managers, producers, etc., highlights the fact that memory is unreliable, and that a group of individuals can all experience the same moment in very different ways. It might not be the most literary book I've read this year, but it is certainly the most entertaining.

I finished this last night while listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and if a more perfect reading moment exists, I don’t know what it is.

5 stars

133Cait86
Abr 21, 2019, 11:30 am



Book #27: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
PopSugar Category: a “cli-fi” book

I’ve owned this book since it came out in 2009, and for some reason it has languished on my shelves since, despite the fact that I love Margaret Atwood, and I enjoyed the first book in this trilogy, Oryx and Crake. So when I saw the “cli-fi” category in the PopSugar challenge, I figured it was time to finally dust this one off and read it.

The Year of the Flood continues the story from Oryx and Crake in that it is set in the same world, but it takes a while for the new characters to interact with the ones from the earlier book. I didn’t like this as much as Oryx and Crake, for two reasons. One: the main characters (Ren, Toby, and Zeb) are less interesting than Oryx, Crake, and Snowman. Two: interspersed between chapters are sermons from a religious leader character, coupled with hymns. I often dislike songs in novels — they are the parts I skip over when I reread Tolkien, for example. In this book, I found them unnecessary, and they slowed down the pace of the novel, which was already pretty slow.

That said, an Atwood novel is still an Atwood novel. This was full of interesting ideas and tongue-in-cheek sentences. While The Year of the Flood isn’t my favourite novel by my favourite author (that would be The Blind Assassin), I’m still immediately going to pick up the third book, MaddAddam.

3.5 stars

134classic7866
Abr 22, 2019, 1:42 am

Este usuario ha sido eliminado por spam.

135PaulCranswick
Abr 28, 2019, 2:21 am

>133 Cait86: I have always found Ms Atwood a bit hit and miss for me but I really need to get back to her soon. That trilogy would be a good place to reacquaint myself I guess.

Have a lovely weekend, Cait.

136Cait86
Jul 8, 2019, 3:00 pm

Ooof, I have been gone for a long time! The last two months of the school year are always extremely busy, and this year was no exception. However, I have been reading a ton, and now that I am a week into summer vacation, I'm excited to be back to posting and reading threads. Giant book update coming!

137Cait86
Jul 8, 2019, 4:08 pm



Book #28: MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
PopSugar Category: A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature

Definitely the worst of the trilogy.

Though, to be honest, I read this during a week full of distractions, so I’m not sure how much of this I actually internalized. I just might reread it in the future to give it another chance.

2.5 stars



Book #29: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
PopSugar Category: A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads

Heartwarming story about the power of female relationship, set in the southern US. This is one of our book club choices in grade ten English, and I’ve never been very good at selling it, since I hadn’t read it. I liked the story a lot, but I didn’t really enjoy the main character, Lily, very much.

3.5 stars



Book #30: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
PopSugar Category: A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent

Nao is a teenage girl living in Japan, writing her life story in her diary. Years later, this diary washes up on the shore of an island off the coast of British Columbia, where it is found by Ruth, a Japanese American author. Ruth reads the diary and becomes invested in Nao’s very tragic life, just as Nao becomes invested in the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun.

This was a weird book. It was good, but it was also just too much, like the author threw in every literary technique possible. The last straw for me was the inclusion of magical realism out of nowhere near the end. I don’t mind magical realism, but it needs to be used consistently rather than like a token technique.

Recommended only for fans of Japanese culture, overly stylized novels, or Booker Prize fanatics (that’s how I came across this book, which was nominated in 2013).

3.5 stars



Book #31: Blindness by Jose Saramago
PopSugar Category: A book with no chapters/unusual chapter headings/unconventionally numbered chapters

Blindness is another book that I’ve had on my unread shelves for ten years. I randomly decided to pick it up one morning, and ended up reading the entire thing in one day. That’s actually pretty rare for me — I often spend an entire day reading, but I usually jump between two or three books. It takes a very engaging book to hold my attention for multiple hours.

Blindness is a dystopian novel set in an unnamed city in an unnamed country where everyone suddenly goes blind. The one person not afflicted is the doctor’s wife (none of the characters have names), but she pretends to be blind when her husband, the doctor, who is one of the first to fall victim to blindness, is taken into quarantine, so that she can go with him. In quarantine they meet the first blind man, his wife, the woman with dark glasses, the old man with the eye patch, and the boy with the squint. Together this group of people fight to survive in this very frightening new world.

Saramago’s writing style is challenging. He loves commas, but does not use other punctuation beyond periods. One sentence might contain dialogue between multiple people, all without quotation marks or clear delineation between speakers. This eschewing of grammar conventions became more pronounced as the world in the novel devolved, which I found fitting. I quite enjoy when content and writing style work in tandem like they do here.

The doctor’s wife is a badass protagonist. Initially I was skeptical if her portrayal because of her name — I mean, “the doctor’s wife”? It puts her entire existence in relation to her husband’s identity — but she is the real hero of this book, constantly fighting and doing whatever is necessary for survival.

There is quite a bit of graphic content in this book, including a brutal rape scene, and some instances of general violence. It is not a pretty world that Saramago paints — but it is a really freaking interesting one.

4.5 stars



Book #32: The River by Peter Heller
PopSugar Category: A book that's published in 2019

Initially I had On the Come Up as my book for this PopSugar prompt, but when I heard Angie Thomas speak she talked about how she used to be a rapper, so I changed her book to “a book written by a musician.” This opened up the 2019 category, which is probably my favourite. I love reading the newest buzzy book; I bought The River yesterday after hearing about it in the latest episode of the “What Should I Read Next?” podcast, during which the host said it was the best book she’s read all year. I’m still reserving that title for Daisy Jones and the Six, but this was definitely a close contender.

The River is about two best friends, Jack and Wynn, university students who grew up on opposite sides of the US, both with a love for the outdoors. They decide to take a break from school to go on a month-long canoe trip down a river that culminates in Hudson Bay (does this sound like fun to you? It sure doesn’t to me!).

About a third of the way into their trip, Jack and Wynn catch sight of a giant forest fire that is raging their way. Around the same time, they hear a man and a woman fighting offshore, and also encounter two drunk Texans making the same trip. The lives of these six people slam together in tragic and unexpected ways, in this suspense-filled novel. I was on the edge of my seat many times, as Jack and Wynn battled the elements and the humans around them. At other moments, The River is a quiet contemplation on the beauty of nature, friendship, and the value of life. I really liked these shifts in tone, which mirror the shifting conditions of a river that is equal parts serene and dangerous.

5 stars

138Cait86
Jul 8, 2019, 4:09 pm



Book #33: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
PopSugar Category: A book set in space

Seveneves is the story of what would happen to humanity if we knew the world was about to end. One day, the moon explodes — just breaks into seven pieces that continue to float around up in space. Scientists figure out quickly that those pieces are going to bang into each other, and that eventually moon debris is going to enter the Earth’s atmosphere, heat up our planet, and destroy all life. So world leaders band together to create a habitable location in space, designed around the International Space Station. People from every country are selected to help carry on the human race, and up into space they go. Already at the ISS are a group of experienced astronauts who just happened to be in space when the moon exploded. Now, I don’t think it’s a revelation that putting lots of humans in a small space during what is the most stressful situation possible doesn’t turn out well. Eventually humanity is down to seven people, all women — hence the title — and each decides to make her own race of descendants. Then the book jumps forward 5000 years to see how this all turns out.

This is a giant book; 861 pages to be exact. It took me over three months to read. The reason it took so long, besides the length, is Stephenson’s commitment to explaining every single piece of science necessary to understand his world. I read about the physics behind flying a spaceship, how simulated gravity works in the ISS, why the moon debris broke out of its orbit, and hundreds of other topics. I cared about exactly zero of them. What I did care about was the people in the book, and whether or not humanity would survive. Those parts of Seveneves — you know, the actual story — were really engaging. If you are interested in the science behind space travel, you’d probably love all of this book. I liked about half.

3.5 stars



Book #34: Warcross by Marie Lu
PopSugar Category: A LitRPG book

Fun, fluffy YA novel set slightly in the future, when our world is obsessed with a virtual reality game called Warcross. Of course, our protagonist is an underdog who has significant untapped skills, who finds herself in a new world, fighting for survival. It’s Hunger Games meets Super Mario Bros. If you liked Ready Player One, this is the female equivalent, without all the 80s references.

3 stars



Book #35: Touch by Alexi Zentner
PopSugar Category: A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore

Touch is set in the fictional logging town of Sawgamet, BC. The narrator, Stephen, is an Anglican priest who has brought his family back to Sawgamet because it is where Stephen grew up, and where his mother still lives. Most of the novel is Stephen recounting the stories his father and grandfather told him throughout his childhood, many of them demonstrating the age-old Canadian theme of struggling against nature. There is a touch of magical realism in some of the stories, as Stephen’s grandfather, and how he founded the town of Sawgamet, has become local legend.

I enjoyed this historical fiction, though it didn’t grab me as much as I wanted. Still, a good read on a lazy Saturday!

3.5 stars



Book #36: Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
PopSugar Category: A debut novel

As a general rule, I don’t read romance, or chick lit, or really very much that can be considered light and fluffy. This book, however, is actually a reread, and one that I enjoyed very much.

Rachel is about to turn thirty. At a surprise party planned by her best friend Darcy, Rachel thinks about how she has lived her life according to the rules, done all the right things, and yet here she is leaving her twenties behind her, single and unhappy. Darcy, on the other hand, smashes rules and is about to be married to the perfect guy. Darcy leaves the party early, and Rachel continues to hang out with Dex, Darcy’s fiancé. One thing leads to another, and Rachel finally breaks the rules, and sleeps with Dex. Uh oh.

I really love Rachel and Dex’s story, and Rachel’s narrative voice. She is a textbook people-pleaser who can be annoyingly passive at times, but I identify with a lot of her thoughts and the way she views herself. This book isn’t great literature, and I know I shouldn’t buy into the “it’s okay that we cheated because we love each other” message, but it was June, and work was tough at the time, and this slightly cheesy romance made me smile.

4 stars (reread)



Book #37: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
PopSugar Category: A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom

Catch-22 is about WW2, and a group of bomber pilots who are stationed mostly in Italy. It’s a satirical look at the ridiculousness of war, with some really intense flying battle scenes to contrast the bizarro camp life.

I disliked most of it, to be honest. The structure is nonlinear, which I like, but I didn’t care at all about any of the characters, and with the focus on the satire, I felt like the characters weren’t developed very well — most are one-dimensional. Also, I understand that this was published in 1961, but the flippant way that sexual assault is addressed was sickening. I see why it’s considered a classic, and I respect that, but it was not at all the book for me.

2 stars

139Cait86
Jul 8, 2019, 4:10 pm



Book #38: The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald
PopSugar Category: A book set on a college or university campus

Short novel set in Cambridge in 1912, about a young man who gets into a bike accident with a mysterious girl. Thoroughly meh.

3 stars



Book #39: Pat of Silver Bush by Lucy Maud Montgomery
PopSugar Category: A book with a plant in the title or on the cover

One of the few LMM books I hadn’t read. Cute and heartwarming, as always.

3 stars



Book #40: The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame
PopSugar Category: Two books that share the same title (1)

Kenneth Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows, which I read last year. This is a collection of memories from his pastoral childhood. It was a total snooze, but I read it (on audio) solely because I have a book on my TBR shelves with the same title, so it fulfilled this challenging category.

2 stars



Book #41: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
PopSugar Category: A book with "love" in the title

The Netflix movie is better.

3.5 stars



Book #42: The Dry by Jane Harper
PopSugar Category: A book with a two-word title

Australian mystery set in a small outback town during a two year drought. Twisty enough to keep me reading, but nothing earth-shattering. I’d read another by this author.

3.5 stars

140Cait86
Jul 8, 2019, 4:11 pm



Book #43: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
PopSugar Category: A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie

Jennifer Aniston reads this is Office Christmas Party (not going to lie, I just wanted to read this book and did some research to see if it appeared in a movie). I really liked it up until the ending, which I thought totally sucked. The movie, which I watched right after, was worse, IMO.

3.5 stars



Book #44: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling & Jim Kay
PopSugar Category: A book about someone with a superpower

The fourth HP book is coming out in illustrated form in October, so I want to slowly reread the first three in anticipation. This one checked off a PopSugar category that I was dreading, and it’s such a fun reread for me at a busy time of year. The illustrations are gorgeous.

5 stars (reread)



Book #45: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
PopSugar Category: A book about a family

Salvage the Bones takes place over twelve days — the ten days leading up to, the day of, and the day after, Hurricane Katrina. Fifteen year old Esch lives with her father and three brothers in Mississippi, and as a family they struggle. Their father is an alcoholic; the oldest brother, Randall, really wants to go to college on a basketball scholarship, but the family can’t afford to send him to a summer camp where he might get noticed by scouts; the next brother, Skeetah, has a pit bull named China who is about to have puppies that will be worth some serious money, if they live; Esch isn’t feeling so well lately, especially in the mornings, and can’t figure out why; and the youngest, Junior, is just a little kid trying to have some semblance of a childhood.

This is not a happy novel.

But it is a fantastic one — heart wrenching, suspenseful, and maybe - just maybe - ultimately hopeful. It’s a look at a part of the US that we see a lot on the news, but not often in fiction. Ward lived through Katrina and wrote this book in 2011 because she felt like the world forgot about the horrific impacts of the storm too quickly. She does an amazing job bringing the horror of the hurricane to the page.

Note: this book has several scenes of bad things happening to dogs, so readers beware. I definitely skimmed a long dogfighting scene because the descriptions were too vivid.

4.5 stars



Book #46: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
PopSugar Category: A ghost story

After loving Salvage the Bones so much, I immediately picked up Ward’s most recent novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing. It is also set in Mississippi, and takes an honest look at the life of another very complex family.

This book has three narrators: Jojo, a thirteen year old boy; Leonie, his drug addict mother; and Richie, a ghost of a young boy who was in Parchman Prison with Jojo’s grandfather, Pop, many years before, and who is struggling to leave Earth. Jojo lives with Pop, and also his grandmother, Mam, who is dying of cancer, and his little sister, Kayla, who he loves dearly. Their bond is one of the most beautiful parts of this book. Leonie cycles in and out of their lives. One day, Leonie gets word that Michael, her partner, is being released from Parchman, and so she drags Jojo and Kayla on a road trip to pick him up. This road trip is fraught with disaster from the beginning, and Ward uses this physical journey of a few days to delve into the history of African American incarceration in Mississippi.

Again, this is a tough book, but so good. Ward is a gorgeous writer, and her characters are well-developed. Switching narrative perspectives helped me to empathize with all the characters, even Leonie, who at first glance is pretty awful. I’m looking forward to reading Ward’s first novel and memoir later this year.

4 stars



Book #47: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
PopSugar Category: A book with "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title

This giant historical fiction novel takes place in the early 1800s, just before the First Opium War, and centres on a group of characters sailing from Calcutta to Mauritius on a slave ship called the Ibis. I knew next to nothing about this time period and location, but I was quickly caught up in Ghosh’s damning portrayal of colonialism.

If you like long, involved novels with lots of historical details, this one is for you (plus there are two sequels that I will eventually seek out).

4 stars

141Cait86
Jul 8, 2019, 4:11 pm



Book #48: Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
PopSugar Category: An "own voices" book

Through Black Spruce continues the history of the Bird family that started in Boyden's Three Day Road. Like in TDR, this novel has two narrators, each with their own separate but intertwined story. One narrator is Will Bird, son of Xavier from Three Day Road. Will is an aging bush pilot who is lying in a coma, remembering his past as he moves between life and death. The other is Will’s niece, Annie, who is sitting in her uncle’s hospital room, telling him of her adventures in Toronto, Montreal, and New York, where she was searching for her missing sister. Both Will and Annie slowly make their way to the telling of how Will ended up in a coma, and their stories overlap in surprising ways.

Like in Three Day Road, Boyden again explores Indigenous history and issues through two different generations. Will touches on his time spent in a residential school, and the toll it took on his relationship with his father, while Annie grapples with maintaining her traditional culture and knowledge in contemporary society. Both characters were equally interesting, and their chapters alternated, which meant that I always wanted to keep reading. I know Boyden has become a controversial figure of late, but man can he write. Controversy aside, he tells complex stories about Indigenous Canadians that are, as far as my reading experience goes, unparalleled.

4.5 stars



Book #49: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
PopSugar Category: A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter

Sooooo good!! This Gothic classic is a total masterpiece — suspenseful, creepy, gorgeously written.

The unnamed narrator of Rebecca is an orphan middle class young woman who is the traveling companion of a gossipy American lady; the two of them are spending time in Monaco, and the narrator finds it all rather dull. One day, a handsome man named Maxim de Winter sits at the table next to them in the hotel restaurant, and two weeks later, our narrator finds herself married to the dashing, older, very wealthy Maxim. Suddenly she is Mrs. de Winter, lady of the much revered estate of Manderley.

Except, she’s not the first Mrs. de Winter. Maxim was married to a woman named Rebecca, who by everyone’s account was perfect. Rebecca drowned about a year before the start of the novel, and her presence lives on in Manderley, from her decorating taste, to the way she ran her household, to the frightening figure of Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper who was devoted to Rebecca.

Lots of plot twists occur, as is the norm with Gothic literature, all leading to an ending that left me breathless. One of my best reading experiences of the year.

5 stars



Book #50: Golden Age by Jane Smiley
PopSugar Category: Two books that share the same title (2)

This is the third in the Last Hundred Year Trilogy that started with Some Luck (read in 2016) and Early Warning (read in 2018). All three books follow the lives of the giant Langdon family, who started out on a farm in Iowa, and now live all across the United States. Each chapter covers one year, and the entire trilogy runs from 1920-2019. This last book, which started in 1987, was written in 2015, so the last few chapters are Smiley’s speculations of where the world was headed (made all the more interesting now as readers can see what she got right!).

The Last Hundred Years Trilogy has so many of the things I love in books: a sprawling cast of characters (complete with family tree as a reference); lots of family drama; a blend of historical and contemporary; characters who experience big world events; an importance placed on setting (the farm is a character); musings on the meaning of life and other existential questions; and fantastic, challenging writing.

5 stars



Book #51: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Noah's memoir of growing up in South Africa is equal parts funny, sad, and thought-provoking. He talks a lot about the power of language, both as a uniter and divider, and in a system built on racial lines. Noah dedicated the book to his mom, and he really paints her as this larger than life figure who was instrumental in his personal development. A quick read that balances harsh reality with hope and comedy.

4 stars



Book #52: Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Fun YA book that is more than a bit of a rip-off of The Fault in Our Stars, but enjoyable nonetheless. I read it because it was the buzziest book - and film - among my students this past year.

3.5 stars



Book #53: Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

The latest Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick is a very contemporary look at workplace harassment. Sloane, Ardie, and Grace are three friends who all work in the legal department of an athletic wear company. When their CEO dies, they worry that their boss, Ames, will be promoted to the head of the company. All three women have had bad experiences with Ames, and they really want to prevent him from gaining any more power.

Whisper Network opens with a death, and then flashes back three weeks to tell the story of that death, and the resulting investigation. Each chapter starts with a second-person narrator, kind of like a Greek chorus, commenting on the issues women face in the workplace, before transitioning into the voice of one of the main characters. I found this jarring at first, but quickly grew used to it, and even to like the collective voice Baker creates. A solid summer read about an important topic, told in a twisty, mystery style.

4 stars

142curioussquared
Jul 8, 2019, 4:53 pm

Welcome back! You've been reading up a storm -- and a lot of stuff on my TBR, too! You've inspired me to pick up Blindness soon -- it's waiting for me on my shelf :)

143ocgreg34
Jul 8, 2019, 6:25 pm

Great selection of books so far!

144Nickelini
Jul 8, 2019, 8:07 pm

>137 Cait86:
Book #29: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
PopSugar Category: A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads


Wow! I had no idea there were any books with even close to a million ratings on Goodreads

145Nickelini
Jul 8, 2019, 8:29 pm

>137 Cait86:
Blindness -- ugh! I hated this one soooooo much, mostly because of the entirely gratuitous rape scene. I'm always surprised when others like it.

>138 Cait86:
Something Borrowed - I believe it's a very healthy thing to read these lighter books once in a while. I've never read this author, but will keep her in mind for when I need something like this.

>138 Cait86:
Catch 22 -- I've owned this for probably 40 years. I can't imagine I'll ever read it, so why am I still packing it around?

>139 Cait86:
Gate of Angels -- I'm reading a Fitzgerald right now, and I'm feeling very "meh" about it too (Innocence). I've liked other stuff by her better.

>141 Cait86:
Born a Crime was my best read so far this year

Your reading is impressive. Enjoy your reading summer :-)

146Caroline_McElwee
Editado: Jul 9, 2019, 3:33 pm

You've had some pretty good reading Cait. Blindness is quite an extraordinary read.

147PaulCranswick
Jul 8, 2019, 10:47 pm

Wow that is some update, Cait.

I can reveal that I am not indigenous to Canada or to Malaysia and possibly not even to England but I do recognise a great storyteller in Joseph Boyden.

148kidzdoc
Jul 9, 2019, 7:48 am

Wow, indeed, Cait! Well done on your profigious reading output. I'm glad to see that you enjoyed several of my favorite novels, Blindness (sorry, Joyce, that was a 5 star read for me), Salvage the Bones, Sing, Unburied, Sing, and Sea of Poppies...which reminds me, I need to read Flood of Fire and finish Ghosh's Ibis trilogy.

The Booker Prize longlist will be announced two weeks from tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing what books are chosen, as this year's judges are especially promising.

149BLBera
Jul 10, 2019, 4:28 pm

Welcome back, Cait. You have been doing a lot of reading. I like your short, to-the-point comments. I love Jesmyn Ward. I loved Blindness, but it's been so long since I read it that I feel due for a reread.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

150PaulCranswick
Jul 13, 2019, 5:11 am

>148 kidzdoc: I am looking forward to the list too, Darryl.

Have a great weekend, Cait

151Cait86
Jul 17, 2019, 1:30 pm

So many visitors! Thank you all for dropping by and commenting!

>142 curioussquared: I look forward to what you think about Blindness! It seems to be a book that causes strong feelings.

>143 ocgreg34: Thank you!

>144 Nickelini: It was hard to find one that I hadn't read, because there aren't very many, and most of them are super popular contemporary novels like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or classics like To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye.

>145 Nickelini: That scene in Blindness is definitely a tough one to read, but I'm much better at stomaching violence in a book than I am in a tv show or movie. Reading isn't a visual experience for me -- it's much more auditory, like I hear the reading of the book in my brain -- whereas the visuals of a tv show like Game of Thrones are just too much for me to handle.

Re: Catch-22, I'm also purging my shelves of my oldest unread books. Some I bought because they were nominated for a literary prize, for example, but then after reading more about them, I know that they aren't for me. So I'm donating them to a local Free Little Library.

I hope you're having a great summer, too, Joyce!

>146 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline! It has continued to be a wonderful summer of reading over the past week.

>147 PaulCranswick: I love Joseph Boyden too, Paul, and I look forward to reading The Orenda later this summer.

>148 kidzdoc: I'm looking forward to the Booker Longlist too, Darryl. Only one week to go!

>149 BLBera: I love Jesmyn Ward now, too! I want to read Men We Reaped later this year.

>150 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, it was lovely! Hope you're having a wonderful week so far!

152Cait86
Jul 17, 2019, 1:53 pm



Book #54: Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Ayesha at Last is a Pride and Prejudice retelling set in a Muslim neighbourhood in Scarborough (a Toronto suburb about an hour from where I live). It’s also the cutest, sweetest book I’ve read this year. Turns out that the romantic rules of Austen’s 1800 England actually translate pretty well to Jalaluddin’s contemporary Muslim community (arranged marriage vs. love match, minimal physical contact, parents who are heavily involved in their children’s lives, the value of social class, etc.). Jalaluddin incorporates enough of the P&P story without being redundant, and I really enjoyed how the characters processed through how to maintain the traditional aspects of their religion in modern-day Canada. Ayesha is an fiery as Elizabeth Bennett, Khalid is as misunderstood as Mr. Darcy, and their relationship drama would make Jane Austen herself smirk in sympathy.

4 stars



Book #55: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Roy and Celestial, married for a year and a bit, are visiting Roy’s parents in Louisiana. They have normal marriage problems (I think) - do his parents like her? Are they ready to have kids? - but they clearly love each other. Then Roy is arrested for raping a woman, and is convicted, even though there is no question he is innocent. He’s sentenced to twelve years in prison, and their status as an up-and-coming, stereotype-breaking African American couple is shattered.

As Roy sits in prison, the narrative switches to letters between the two of them, letters that show how quickly a marriage can disintegrate. Then, just when things seem at their bleakest, Roy’s conviction is overturned after five years. He is unsure of what to do; does he still have a life with Celestial? Or is their once so promising marriage irrevocably damaged?

Jones switches the narration of her book between Roy, Celestial, and Andre, Celestial’s childhood best friend and next door neighbour. All three of them, to be honest, are pretty unlikeable people. However, Jones’ alternating points of view helps the reader to understand the truly terrible choices that they each make. Her writing is lyrical and rhythmic, and the themes she tackles are complex. An American Marriage just won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, an award that celebrates female authors writing in English, and I think it is a worthy winner for its timely look at issues of justice, race, and the limits of love.

4 stars



Book #56: Bunny by Mona Awad

Samantha is an MFA Creative Writing student at a prestigious university in New England. Her class is made up of her and four other women, who form a clique that Samantha calls “the Bunnies,” because that is what they call each other — “Hi, Bunny!” “I love you, Bunny!” “You look so cute today, Bunny!” Eleanor, Caroline, Victoria, and Kira are everything Samantha is not (rich, girly, happy), and she can’t stand them. Outside of school, Samantha has one friend, Ava, who manages to make the rest of Samantha’s life bearable.

Then one day, Samantha receives an invitation from the Bunnies to their infamous “Smut Salon,” and she goes. Soon Samantha is pulled into the Bunnies’ dark, twisted circle, leaving Ava behind.

This is hands down the weirdest book I’ve ever read. The description sounded to me like the movie Heathers, or a darker Mean Girls, and it certainly started out that way. However, Bunny evolved into something very different from what I expected. It’s straight up bonkers. But also maybe kind of brilliant.

4.5 stars



Book #57: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

On the island of Nollop there is a statue of Nevin Nollop, the man who came up with the phrase "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." One by one, the letters in the phrase are falling off of the statue. The island council is convinced that this is a message from Nollop's spirit, and outlaw the use of the letters that fall. This book, which is a series of letters between the citizens of Nollop, thus becomes more cumbersome to read, as more and more letters are outlawed. Dunn is clearly making a point about censorship, which I appreciated, but I also found his premise rather gimmicky.

3 stars



Book #58: Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

Late in Anne of Green Gables, Marilla and Anne have this exchange:

“Gilbert Blythe is going to teach too, isn’t he?”
“Yes”—briefly.
“What a nice-looking fellow he is,” said Marilla absently. “I saw him in church last Sunday and he seemed so tall and manly. He looks a lot like his father did at the same age. John Blythe was a nice boy. We used to be real good friends, he and I. People called him my beau.”
Anne looked up with swift interest.
“Oh, Marilla—and what happened?—why didn’t you—”
“We had a quarrel. I wouldn’t forgive him when he asked me to. I meant to, after awhile—but I was sulky and angry and I wanted to punish him first. He never came back—the Blythes were all mighty independent. But I always felt—rather sorry. I’ve always kind of wished I’d forgiven him when I had the chance.”
“So you’ve had a bit of romance in your life, too,” said Anne softly.
“Yes, I suppose you might call it that. You wouldn’t think so to look at me, would you? But you never can tell about people from their outsides. Everybody has forgot about me and John. I’d forgotten myself. But it all came back to me when I saw Gilbert last Sunday.”

That conversation became the basis of Sarah McCoy's novel, which imagines Marilla's life at Green Gables, and sheds light on how both Marilla and Matthew remained unmarried at a time when this was most unusual. McCoy spent a lot of time on PEI doing research into Montgomery's life, and it shows. While I didn't love every event in this book -- there is a moment near the end that really irked me -- overall it was a beautiful book about a turbulent time in pre-Confederation Canada. Certainly it doesn't have the innocence of an Anne book, or the wild imagination, but it does add another layer to the Anne saga that I have loved nearly my entire life.

4 stars

153MickyFine
Jul 17, 2019, 3:23 pm

Well, you've convinced me to put Ayesha at Last on The List and made me feel better about eventually reading the Marilla book, which I was gifted by a friend last year at Christmas. So thanks! :)

154SandyAMcPherson
Jul 17, 2019, 7:58 pm

Wading in to the book commentary ~ I'm irresistibly drawn to the many reviews of a lot of books listed here since the beginning of July!
So at >137 Cait86:, The Secret Life of Bees, I wanted to heave a sigh of relief, because I didn't like the Lily character much, either! It is difficult for me to run counter-current in the face of so much love for The Secret Life of Bees. In fact, last year, this was a DNF and sat in my graveyard pile for months. My overwhelming reaction is that I just don't cotton onto this type of "Southern girl coming of age" genre.

Book #37, Catch-22. An embarrassingly long time ago that I read that, so probably should not comment... but I think I never realized it was a satire. Is it well-enough written for a re-read effort? You know, Life is short and there's so many other books to choose, no?

155Cait86
Jul 18, 2019, 2:43 pm

>153 MickyFine: I think you will really like Ayesha at Last! It's such a feel-good book. I resisted Marilla of Green Gables as well, but it was getting good reviews on LT, and it was the end of the school year, so I decided to buy it. I'm glad I did.

>154 SandyAMcPherson: Re: The Secret Life of Bees, I don't love when suicide feels like a manipulative plot device, which it did here.

I would say a definite "no" to Catch-22, but I know that lots of people, including a good friend of mine, love it.

156Cait86
Jul 22, 2019, 12:31 pm



Book #59: This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

I’ve decided to read all of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club books, and this one was the first that came available from my public library. It’s a beautiful, moving, funny, incredibly sad, and yet ultimately hopeful portrayal of a family whose youngest member is transgender. Claude is five when he becomes Poppy, and parents Rosie and Penn move their five children across the country to start over. Flash forward four years, and Poppy is a happy little girl about to start middle school. The problem is, the entire family has kept Poppy’s origins a secret, even from their closest friends. They know it is only a matter of time before this secret gets out, before puberty will necessitate some big decision-making, and each of the family members deals with this is their own way.

Frankel’s daughter is transgender, and while she makes it clear that she is not telling her child’s story, I do think that her life experiences made this novel feel very authentic. There are a few times when the family is a bit too perfect, especially in contrast to basically every other person they encounter, but the various reactions that the kids and parents have to Poppy, and the way they work through their emotions, felt realistic to me. The last third takes a bit of a left hand turn, plot-wise, but overall I thought this was an extremely worthwhile read.

4.5 stars



Book #60: Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

Us Against You is the sequel to Beartown, which I read back in March. I’m not going to summarize it, because that would mean spoiling Beartown pretty thoroughly.

However, I am going to encourage you to read these two books. The writing is beautiful (made more impressive by the fact that it is a translation), the narrative voice strikes the right balance between philosophical musings and raw emotions, and the characters are all fascinating. I can’t tell you how many times I cried over their various fates.

5 stars



Book #61: Educated by Tara Westover

Excellent memoir — I think I'm the last person to read this much hyped book. I felt that the last quarter needed a good edit, but overall Westover is an excellent writer and storyteller.

4 stars



Book #62: The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

After so many amazing books, I was bound to hit on a stinker. This was it. I’m not normally a reader of domestic thrillers, but this was a Reese Witherspoon pick.

Amber Patterson is determined to marry a very wealthy man — not just any man, but Jackson Parrish, a gorgeous CEO. To make this happen, Amber becomes friends with Jackson’s wife, Daphne, and slowly works to insert herself into their life. Amber is a despicable person, and really so is everyone else is this novel. The narrative was super engaging, but also really icky. Witherspoon’s book club is supposed to be about telling women’s stories is an effort to show how our lives are more complex than what classic media portrays. This novel, however, reinforces the worst stereotypes possible. It pits women against each other, rather than demonstrating how we should support each other, and worst of all, it does so without ever providing believable backstories and motives.

There are other domestic thrillers in the RW backlist, and I hope they aren’t all as awful as this one.

2 stars

157Deedledee
Jul 22, 2019, 10:54 pm

Catching up on your thread and I was hit by two BBs. I've added American Marriage and This is How it Always Is to my TBR list.

158Cait86
Jul 26, 2019, 7:24 am

>157 Deedledee: I hope you enjoy them both!

159BLBera
Jul 26, 2019, 11:47 am

>156 Cait86: One of my colleagues also loved This Is How It Always Is, Cait. I hope to get to it soon.

160Cait86
Jul 30, 2019, 9:22 am

>159 BLBera: It's a great book, Beth, and I think you'll really like it!

161Cait86
Editado: Jul 30, 2019, 9:09 pm



Book #63: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Brian Stanhope and Francis Gleeson are both rookie police officers in New York City in the 1970s, newly married and starting their families. They aren’t really friends, just colleagues, but then they move in next door to each other in a suburb outside the city. Francis’ wife, Lena, who misses the city, is excited to become friends with Anne Stanhope; however, Anne immediately seems sort of... off, to Lena, and she rebukes Lena’s attempts at friendship. Nine or so years later, Lena’s daughter Kate and Anne’s son Peter are inseparable, despite their parents best efforts to keep them apart.

One night, a terrible act of violence changes the lives of both families, and Kate and Peter are ripped apart. Can the two of them find their way back together?

Ask Again, Yes was an interesting look at how mental health concerns were viewed in the 1970s and 80s, and how two families dealt with some pretty serious actions. I wish Keane hadn’t jumped forward in time so often, as I felt like I missed important developments in the characters’ lives, and the ending was a bit too pat, but overall this was an engaging family drama.

3.5 stars



Book #64: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Miracle Creek opens with a tragedy - at an experimental wellness facility fun by Pak and Young Yoo, new immigrants to the US, a fire and explosion result in the deaths of a young boy with autism, and the mother of different special needs child. The rest of the book is the trial that follows this event, as the mother of the deceased boy has been accused of both murders. Over the course of four intense days, what seems like a cut and dry case turns out to be full of secrets and lies.

I really enjoyed this courtroom drama. The themes of the challenges of immigrating, and of having a child with a disability, made this a more literary take on a genre that I don’t normally gravitate towards.

4 stars



Book #65: Lanny by Max Porter

The Booker Prize Longlist was announced last week, and I like to read as many of the books as I can before the winner is announced in October. Lanny is my first one, and it was spectacular.

Set in a small English village, Lanny is the story of a bright young boy named Lanny whose mother arranges art lessons for him with a local famous, if rather eccentric, artist. The village is watched over by a spirit named Dead Papa Toothwort, who has moved among the village since its inception.

This is a highly experimental novel that is more about the writing than it is the plot or characters. It’s short and lyrical and so beautiful.

4.5 stars



Book #66: Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

Something in the Water opens with a woman named Erin, who is digging a grave for her husband, Mark. The novel then flashes back a few months to explain how this seemingly very happy couple ends up in such a tragic situation.

This thriller was definitely less offensive than The Last Mrs. Parrish, though I’m still not sure that I enjoy the genre very much.

3 stars

162Cait86
Jul 30, 2019, 9:26 pm



Book #67: The Wall by John Lanchester

The Wall is a short dystopian novel set in the near future after a climate disaster. An island that I assume is Britain is surrounded entirely by the Wall, which Defenders stand on 24 hours a day guarding against the Others who come from the sea. Joseph Kavanaugh is just starting his two year mandatory term as a Defender as the novel opens, and the first part of the novel is Kavanaugh and the reader learning about the rules and routines of the Wall. Kavanaugh waits for an attack by the Others, worried and also a bit excited. If an Other manages to cross the Wall, the Defender most responsible for the breach is cast off onto the sea, to become an Other themselves.

I enjoy dystopian fiction quite a lot, and The Wall was an excellent example of a realistic dystopian society, where climate change has forced us to become increasingly afraid of other people. This idea of a wall and being afraid of people trying to enter a country illegally are obviously quite contemporary themes, and I enjoyed Lanchester taking these ideas to their extremes.

The Wall is on the Booker Longlist, and while I wouldn't rate it as highly as Lanny, it is still a worthwhile nomination.

4 stars

163Nickelini
Jul 30, 2019, 9:50 pm

>162 Cait86:

I hadn't heard of this one. Sounds interesting. I like John Lanchester.

164PaulCranswick
Ago 3, 2019, 8:33 pm

>161 Cait86: & >162 Cait86: Well done for nailing 2 Booker longlisters already and both of them look intriguing.

Have a lovely weekend.

165BLBera
Ago 4, 2019, 9:49 am

You are on a roll, Cait. >161 Cait86: With the exception of the thriller, all of these sound good. The Lanchester also sounds good -- and I'm always up for a good dystopian novel.

What's next for you?

166Cait86
Ago 4, 2019, 8:59 pm

>163 Nickelini: I hadn't heard of Lanchester before, so I have the Booker judges to thank for bringing him to my attention! What else have you read by him?

>164 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul! Both were very good and I can see why they were nominated for the Booker. Unfortunately, I tried to read a third nominee, Lost Children Archive, and only made it about 50 pages in before I decided it wasn't for me. If it makes the shortlist I may give it another chance.

>165 BLBera: I promised myself a very relaxing summer vacation this year, and it has certainly been good for my reading! I've finished three more books since my last update, and I'll type up some comments about them tomorrow. Up next is The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai and An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma. After that, I'm not too sure... though I do know that I want my 75th book to be The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante, because I'm sure to love it and want a great book for 75.

Thank you all for visiting and commenting!

167Nickelini
Ago 5, 2019, 1:48 am

>166 Cait86:

I read 2 John Lancaster books in 2015 -- one novel and one non-fiction. Here is my review of the novel Capital. The other was What We Talk About Wehn We Talk About the Tub: The District Line:

I bought this book two summers ago at Daunt Books in Cheapside, London, which is sort of fitting since one of the main characters in Capital is a banker in the City. Roger Yount lives in south London with his vacuous wife Arabella and their two young sons. Arabella, who is a stock-character from one of those Real Housewives of ____ shows, may be one-dimensional, but I found her highly amusing. They live on Pepys Road, a recently gentrified neighbourhood where we meet the rest of the huge cast of characters in this sprawling novel.

There is the old woman who has lived her entire life on the street, the Pakistani Kamal family who run the corner grocery, a Polish builder who works on various houses on the streets, an educated Zimbabwean refugee working illegally as a parking warden, a young soccer star from Senegal with his father and minder, a Hungarian nanny, an anonymous installation artist in the style of Banksy, and a smattering of other characters. The title, Capital, refers to the city of London itself, and also to the money that drives these characters lives.

Capital immediately reminded me of a book I read earlier this year: A Week in December, by Sebastian Faulks. The first third of Capital is set at the same time (December 2007), they're both novels about London, and they share some of the same character types: the wealthy banker and his wife, the Muslim maybe-terrorist, the Polish immigrant, and the immigrant soccer star. It also reminds me of one of those jam-packed Dickens novels with the omniscient, visible narrator.

Overall, I found Capital to be an entertaining, enjoyable read. I particularly liked the authorial voice. At 577 pages, I think it was over-long, but I'm a big fan of the 200 page novel, so that might just be me.

Recommended for: I think Capital would be a great vacation book. The writing is satisfying but not too taxing, and the book is structured in short chapters, so easy to pick up if you're interrupted, or conversely, easy to read "just one more chapter" if you're not. I also recommend it to anyone who--like me--loves London novels.

Why I Read This Now: it's been at the top of my TBR since I bought it. No trip to London this year, so I have to visit through books. Also, I recently read Lanchester's very short What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube and it was so readable, I wanted to hear more of his voice.

Rating: If I wanted to criticize and pick apart this book, I could. But I had too much fun reading it to do that, so for me Capital gets four and a half stars.

168PaulCranswick
Ago 5, 2019, 3:37 am

I read his debut A Debt to Pleasure which the critics raved over and I thought only ok. I will definitely look out for the latest one though.

169figsfromthistle
Ago 6, 2019, 8:03 am

Hope you are having a fantastic week so far! You have been getting some excellent reading done :)

170crazy4reading
Ago 7, 2019, 11:44 am

You are having a wonderful year of reading!!

171PaulCranswick
Oct 12, 2019, 10:07 pm

Happy Thanksgiving, Cait.

172Cait86
Oct 19, 2019, 9:33 am

>171 PaulCranswick: That is so lovely of you, Paul, thank you! Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday, because the food is excellent and there are no presents, so it is pretty low stress.

Thanks to everyone above who check in way back in August. I'm sad to have been away for two months, but I'm hoping to be an active member again for the last ten weeks of the year. Giant reading update coming!

>167 Nickelini: Thanks for your review, Joyce. 577 pages sounds really long to me (I prefer 275-375 page books generally), but it also sounds quite good, so I'll be on the lookout for Capital.

173Cait86
Oct 19, 2019, 9:44 am



Book 68: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

Darren Mathews is a Texas Ranger who really wants to focus on race-based crimes. As a black man who has lived in Texas all his life, Darren loves the state and wants to make it a better place for people who are continually discriminated against because of their skin colour. So when Darren’s buddy in the FBI tells him about two murders in a tiny East Texas town — one black man who isn’t from the town, and then, a few days later, a young white woman who is a local — Darren takes a drive down there, despite being on suspension. Darren is sure the two murders are linked, and that they have something to do with a neo-Nazi group in the area, and he is determined to find justice for both victims.

I really enjoyed this well-written and very timely procedural. Darren is a complex character with more than a few flaws, but with a sense of justice that I find compelling.

3.5 stars



Book 69: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

Spoilers below, so don’t read my comments if you plan on reading this book.

Another Reese Witherspoon Book Club thriller. I liked this one the best of the three I’ve read so far this year, though I have realized a few things about the thriller genre that I don’t love:

1. The woman always has the most perfect male partner, who is good looking and smart and successful. They have lots of the best sex ever and everything is perfect.

2. That perfect man is always the bad guy.

3. The woman is always an idiot who sees none of the very obvious warning signs.

So how are these thrilling? The ending is always the same! Even this one, which set you up to have a very different villain, falls into the perfect man villain trap in the end.

And yet I keep reading them....

3 stars



Book 70: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

Shonda Rhimes is making Julia Quinn’s eight-book Bridgertons romance series into a series for Netflix, and a book podcaster I listen to is hosting a read of the series on Instagram, so I decided to give the first book a go. I’ve never read a romance novel before — like a real genre romance, from the romance section of the library — and now I know why. The Duke and I was compulsively readable and total escapism, because who doesn’t want to live a sexier version of a Jane Austen novel, but it was also ridiculous.

Daphne Bridgerton is the forth of eight children, is 21, and has very few marriage prospects. She believes that this is because the men in her social circle see her as a buddy, as one of the guys, as she has three older brothers and has grown up around all their friends. So when a duke named Simon Basset moves back to town, and really wants to avoid all the nosy mothers who are trying to marry him to their daughters, Daphne makes a pact with him: they’ll pretend to be a couple. This keeps the mothers away from Simon, and makes Daphne more attractive, since such a wealthy, handsome duke is courting her. Then, of course, they start to have real feelings for each other, and a clandestine tryst at a party forces their fake romance to become a very real marriage.

I was enjoying this book well enough for all its fluffiness, until a really awful scene involving a lack of consent that totally grossed me out. The Duke and I was written in 2000, and I really don’t think that this scene would be in the book if Quinn was writing it in 2019, so I’m interested in how Rhimes with approach it in the Netflix series. Also, I know this series is set in the early 1800s, but Daphne’s total lack of knowledge of sex is stupid — she has three older brothers, and four younger siblings. Surely she would have some knowledge. Her wedding night scene where Simon delights in her innocence, and promises to teach her all that he knows, was soooo cringeworthy.

2.5 stars



Book 71: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I’d sort of sworn off Steinbeck after thinking Of Mice and Men was just okay, and being totally bored by the first half of Cannery Row, but then I read The Moon is Down back in January and loved it. So when I wanted a long audiobook to listen to, I went with East of Eden, which I’ve owned in paper form since 2009. It was very good, if a bit in need of an editor.

The first third of the book is the life story of Adam Trask, his younger half-brother Charles, and their father Cyrus. Adam is the good brother, and Charles has more than a little evil in him. They live on a farm in Connecticut; not far from their farm lives a girl named Cathy Ames, who the narrator describes as having a “malformed soul.” Cathy seduces Charles, marries Adam, and becomes pregnant with twins. Adam and Cathy move to the Salinas Valley in California, and have two boys, Aron and Caleb. True to family form, Aron is the good son and Caleb does a lot of evil things. Cathy wants nothing to do with motherhood and takes off, eventually becoming the owner of a brothel. Near Adam’s farm in California is the sprawling Hamilton family, who also play significant roles in the plot.

That’s quite a thin plot description — a LOT happens in this book, though it’s also slow-moving because Steinbeck spends a lot of time on description and philosophical discussions, and then races through the action. Cathy Ames was definitely my favourite character, and while she is the main antagonist and not a good person, I found her fascinating. I think a modern feminist theory reading of her character would suggest that her evil actions are her only way to gain power and take control over her own life, something that women were sorely lacking in the late 1800s-early 1900s. East of Eden is an allegory for the Cain and Able story in Genesis, and Cathy is Satan and Eve combined — not a very nice depiction of the only well-developed female character in this 600 page novel. Steinbeck is pretty heavy-handed with his symbolism (two characters actually discuss Cain and Able at length. I mean, come on!), including the naming conventions where characters with A names are pure and kind, and those with C names are manipulative and destructive. However, he also clearly states that our actions are our choices, and that humans are not predestined to be evil. I found these concepts compelling, and if not for a very slow middle third, I would have loved this book. Still, I definitely enjoyed it, and it gave me a lot to think about, which was nice after my bout of rather trashy novels.

4 stars



Book 72: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

The Great Believers alternates between two timelines: the late 80s-early 90s in Chicago, and 2015 in Paris. In the earlier timeline, Yale Tishman is watching as all the men around him die of AIDS. His good friend Nico’s memorial opens the novel, and one by one Yale’s friends get sick. Through it all, Yale leans on Nico’s younger sister Fiona, who continues to support her brother’s friends while dealing with her own grief. In 2015, Fiona is in Paris trying to find her missing daughter Claire, who ran away years ago after a very fraught relationship with her mother.

Makkai goes back and forth between these two timelines, with the overarching message that the AIDS crisis — and I’ll extrapolate to any major widespread trauma, because one of the side plots is about the aftereffects of WW1 — had consequences that reached far beyond the deaths of thousands of people. Trauma lives on inside the survivors, resurfacing in unexpected ways. All of this sounds quite sad, and certainly this is an emotionally difficult novel in a lot of places. But it is also freaking beautiful. Yale and Fiona and their friends form a family at a time when traditional families were rejecting AIDS victims. In this way, Makkai also shows how trauma can bring people together and create bonds of love that never die.

Highly recommended. I borrowed this from my local library, but I’ll be buying a copy for my own shelves so that I can read it again.

4.5 stars

174Cait86
Editado: Oct 19, 2019, 9:55 am



Book 73: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

One of the things I’ve learned this year through my reading is that when I read a lot, I need variety. In a year where I read 40ish books, I want them all to be literary; this year, however, where I think I am going to surpass 100, I am enjoying alternating heavier novels with lighter fare. It’s quite the shift for me.

Red, White & Royal Blue is definitely in the lighter fare category, and it’s the best fun book I’ve read all year (I actually read it twice, back to back, over the course of one weekend). It’s escapist fiction at its best: the protagonist, Alex, 21, is the son of the first female US president, who won in 2016 and is up for re-election soon. Alex has an older sister, June, and a best friend, Nora (who is the VP’s granddaughter), and the three of them are the darlings of the US media. Across the pond is Henry, the younger grandson of the Queen of England, who is as handsome and intelligent as Alex, but who Alex really dislikes. At the royal wedding of Henry’s older brother, Alex and Henry get in an argument that results in a bit of a media scandal. Their PR teams decide that they need to spend more time together, to fake for both of their countries that they are good friends.

Soon, they actually are good friends, texting and talking late at night, their conversations full of witty banter and... maybe something more?

Alex is a fantastic narrator, just the right mix of likeable and flawed. Henry is freaking perfect, and I defy anyone who has ever dreamed of taking Kate Middleton or Meghan Markle’s place to not fall head over heels for him. His dad was James Bond, for goodness sake! Both guys are so perfect that they could only be fictional, and the plot is obviously far-fetched and wrapped up in a neat little bow, but I seriously did not care. I grinned all the way through this.

4 stars



Book 74: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory - 3.5 stars
Book 75: The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory - 3 stars
Book 76: One Day in December by Josie Silver
- 3 stars

I was in a reading slump for about ten days in August. I started several books, made it to the fifty page mark, and stopped. I binged several seasons of Orange is the New Black. I did some school work. I went to a conference. I missed reading, but I just couldn’t settle into anything.

These rom-coms helped cure me of my slump — all are fast, escapist reads where I knew exactly what was going to happen, and everyone lived happily ever after. Not a bad way to spend three days as summer was coming to an end.

(The best one was The Wedding Date, ICYW)



Book 77: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Normal People is definitely in the top five books I’ve read this year (so far, at least!). It’s a short novel rich with sparse prose and two very memorable characters. It was freaking beautiful.

Connor and Marianne both live in a small town in Western Ireland. Connor is popular; Marianne is not. At school, they never interact. Outside of school, however, Connor’s mother cleans Marianne’s mansion of a house, and Connor spends time with Marianne whenever he goes to pick up his mom. They become friends, and then very quickly become involved.

At school they continue to ignore each other, and as their senior year comes to an end, their relationship dissolves. Months later, they are both at the same university in Dublin. Marianne has thrived, both socially and academically, whereas Connor is lonely and struggling. They re-enter each other’s lives, and their connection deepens. As the years pass, this pattern continues — together, apart, together, apart — as they navigate school and figure out what they want from their lives.

I know this sounds like a pretty typical YA novel, and plot-wise, I guess it is. Rooney’s writing, however, is way beyond anything you would find in a YA novel. This is literary fiction at its finest. Her style reminds me of Michael Ondaatje, as she uses three words where most authors would use eight, and she leaves a lot of things unsaid, for her readers to infer on their own. After reading several light books in a row, it was lovely to sink into some gorgeous, challenging prose.

5 stars



Book 78: The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is an earlier novel by the author of Daisy Jones and the Six, and they share a lot of similarities: a focus on celebrity and the effects of fame; gossipy secrets; and a story within a story narrative style. It was a really engaging novel, and while I didn’t love it like I did Daisy Jones, I think you can see how this book is a bit of a precursor to Daisy Jones, in both thematic exploration and narrative style. It’s also worth reading for its own sake, and for the complex character of Evelyn.

Evelyn Hugo is a retired cinema superstar who rose to fame in the late 50s, and stayed pretty popular for several decades. Now 79 years old, Evelyn wants to tell her life story to Monique Grant, a low-level journalist at a Vanity Fair-esque magazine. Monique goes to Evelyn’s apartment every day for two weeks to listen to Evelyn’s story; she wonders why Evelyn asked for Monique specifically, but Evelyn promises that once they are finished, her motives will become clear. Monique becomes fascinated by Evelyn — her beauty, her fame, and her seven marriages.

Evelyn, like the band in Daisy Jones, is a fictional creation, and so you have to be okay with this alternative history of Hollywood that Reid creates. She doesn’t mention actual Hollywood personalities, instead inventing famous actors, producers, and directors who make up Evelyn’s world. Reid obviously takes inspiration from real life 60s Hollywood (Reid based Evelyn on Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner), just like Daisy Jones has a lot of similarities to Fleetwood Mac and other 70s rock bands. I like this type of alt history, because while the people are fictional, the details of the time period — the way Hollywood feels — are very accurate.

4 stars

175Cait86
Oct 19, 2019, 10:06 am



Book 79: A Better Man by Louise Penny

This is the latest instalment in the Three Pines mystery series, which is set in Quebec. It’s not one of the stronger books, but it was a perfect comfort read — it’s number 15 in the series, so by now I know these characters so well, and the mystery really takes second place to their lives. If you are looking for a great mystery series, the first book is Still Life.

3.5 stars



Book 80: Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling and Jim Kay

Reread this because the illustrated version of book 4 is came out this year — I’ll be reading Prisoner of Azkaban before the end of the year too. CoS is my least favourite HP book my a long-shot, but the illustrations are so gorgeous.

5 stars



Book 81: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Really great first book by the author of Little Fires Everywhere (which is on my TBR for this year). The first sentence tells us that Lydia, the favourite daughter of James and Marilyn Lee, is dead. The book explores how and why Lydia died, uncovering family secrets and broken relationships in the process. Recommended!

4 stars



Book 82: Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta

Frying Plantain is on the Giller Longlist this year, and I had high hopes for it. It’s a novel that is a collection of short stories all about the same character, Kara, who lives in Little Jamaica in Toronto. The stories span her childhood and teen years, with the last one sent during university.

The main theme Reid-Benta explores is feeling pulled between two cultures, and never feeling a sense of belonging to either. Kara goes to fancier schools in “better” neighbourhoods, but also has friends on her street who make fun of her. She visits Jamaica and feels out of place, yet comes home and still feels separate from the other kids.

I enjoyed these stories, but I didn’t love them. Each one had a strong premise, but then the ending failed to deliver that punch that I love in a short story. In the end, I’d only guardedly recommend this one.

3.5 stars



Book 83: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me in real life that I was counting down the days all year until this book’s publication date. Atwood is my favourite author, I love The Handmaid’s Tale, and I’m a devoted watcher of the tv series. So September 10 was a big day for me. My friend and I drove down to our local independent bookstore at lunch to buy our copies, and I read the first third that day. Over the next eleven days I unfortunately had to read this in small amounts, because September is always busy and rough on my reading brain. Finally I was able to sit down with the last fifty pages. Of course I loved every minute of it.

The Testaments has three narrators: a girl who grew up in Gilead; a girl who lives in Toronto and learns about Gilead in school; and Aunt Lydia, the most tyrannical of all the Aunts in Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t want to give away the plot points, especially if you aren’t familiar with Handmaid’s Tale, but I will say that if you’ve read the first book, most of your questions will be answered in this one. You’ll also see lots of links to the later seasons of the show, though according to Atwood, this is because she is a producer and gives the writers ideas, and not because she worked to integrate the show into her new novel.

The writing and structure is less complex than most Atwood novels, and overall I think it’s more hopeful as well. Atwood joked in an interview that this is probably her last novel, as she is almost eighty, and if that is true, I think it’s an optimistic, crowd-pleaser of a way to finish what I think is one of the greatest modern literary careers.

5 stars

176Cait86
Oct 19, 2019, 10:15 am



Book 84: The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Doctor Zhivago is one of my very favourite movies — a sweeping epic love story set in Russia pre, during, and post WWI. It’s also a book by Boris Pasternak, which I’ve never read because while overly long classic movies are very much my thing, overly long classic Russian novels are not (I mean, it took me almost an entire year to read Anna Karenina). However, this book might have forced me to read Doctor Zhivago after all, because it has a seriously fascinating publishing history.

Pasternak’s novel is very anti-Soviet, and he was writing it during the peak of Soviet power in the USSR. The Secrets We Kept opens with Pasternak’s mistress, Olga, being arrested by Stalin’s police for refusing to tell the authorities just what Doctor Zhivago was about — somehow, Stalin knew it was anti-Soviet, but the book never really explains how he knew that. Olga is sent to the Gulag for five years, and when she returns, Pasternak is still writing his book. He knows it will never be published in his own country, so he starts to look abroad for publishers, despite how dangerous this is for both him and Olga.

Meanwhile, in the US at the same time, a woman named Irina gets a job as a typist for the CIA. As a daughter of Russian immigrants, Irina is fluent in Russian and anti-Stalin — the perfect person to become a bit more than a typist. She is trained by the glamourous Sally Forrester, who has long put her skills of persuasion to use for the US government. As Sally and Irina grow closer, they also become entwined with Pasternak, Olga, and Doctor Zhivago.

The Secrets We Kept was an excellent piece of historical fiction. I don’t know a ton about the Cold War era, so it was fascinating to learn more about the US-Soviet tensions at the time, as well as how one of my favourite movies came to be. I thought that there was a bit too much plot for the length of the book, but other than that, I very much enjoyed this debut novel.

4 stars



Book 85: Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead

Joan Joyce is a member of the corps de ballet of a professional American ballet company. She loves to dance, but she also recognizes that she is not talented enough to become a soloist or principal. She’s also just ended a turbulent affair with the best dancer in the company, a man who she helped defect to the US from the USSR (the book starts in the mid 70s). This man, Arslan, is about to marry his dance partner, and so Joan really doesn’t feel like sticking around. Instead, she marries her high school best friend, with whom she just had a one-night stand, and together they raise their son in Southern California, and lead a pretty normal life. However, Joan teaches ballet, and eventually it becomes evident that her son is a very gifted dancer. This, of course, brings Joan back into contact with the ballet world that she left many years before, and with Arslan.

I am a huge ballet fan, complete with favourite National Ballet of Canada dancers (Guillaume Côté and Heather Ogden), ballets (Swan Lake all the way!), and soundtracks (The Nutcracker is on repeat in my car every December). So this book is right up my alley. The depictions of ballet life were fascinating, as were the emotional and romantic dramas between the dancers, choreographers, and company directors. If you are at all interested in the ballet world, this book is for you!

4.5 stars



Book 86: The Library Book by Susan Orlean

I liked this book fine, as far as nonfiction goes (I generally don’t like nonfiction that isn’t true crime or about a world issue about which I’m passionate). I just think a novel about this library fire would be so much more interesting... ;)

3.5 stars



Book 87: The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Guillory’s romances always follow the same plot: two people meet in some charming way; neither of them wants a relationship; they are attracted to each other and decide that things between them will stay purely physical and fun; through a series of events they actually fall for each other; one of them freaks out and a huge breakup occurs; they get back together in a charming way; they live happily every after.

The couple in The Wedding Party are Maddie and Theo, who have the same best friend (Alexa, the main character in The Wedding Date) but really dislike each other — until one night when suddenly they like each other quite a lot. They swear it was a one-time thing, but of course it isn’t, and of course they decide to keep it a secret, because they don’t want their friends to assume that they are actually in a relationship together. Then Alexa asks them both to be in her bridal party, and Maddie and Theo have to figure out how to be together, without being together.

It’s sometimes super reassuring to know exactly what you’re getting when you pick up a book, especially during a week when you’re unreasonably stressed and not getting any sleep. I really like that Guillory’s books are all set in the same world, so that a side character from a previous book becomes the main character in a later book. Her books are a great option for when I next need something fun.

3 stars

177FAMeulstee
Oct 19, 2019, 10:18 am

>174 Cait86: Congratulations on reaching 75, Cait!

178Cait86
Editado: Oct 19, 2019, 10:28 am



Book 88: Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

Heaven, My Home is the second book in the Highway 59 series that started with Bluebird, Bluebird, which I read earlier this year. If you are looking for a mystery series with a complex hero and some bigger social justice themes beyond just the central mystery, this is the series for you. I hope Locke is busy working on a third book!

4 stars



Book 89: The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

I avidly disliked this thriller (shocking, given my track record with this genre, I know). Sorry Reese Witherspoon, but your taste in this type of book does not match mine. I thought the main character was very poorly developed, and the plot twists were so ridiculous that they were beyond plausible. Not for me.

2 stars



Book 90: A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

A Spark of Light is Picoult’s newest novel, and while I haven’t read all of her stuff, I have read a fair bit. I think of her books as easy but serious, and they would be perfect for a book club.

This book is about a shooting/hostage situation at the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. Picoult tends to write from many characters’ points of view, and this novel follows that pattern. We get the voices of the police officer who is trying to end the hostage situation, the shooter, and several of the people inside the clinic, one of whom happens to be the police officer’s teenaged daughter, who was at the clinic to get birth control.

Unusual for Picoult, she tells this story backwards, with each chapter relating the events of the previous hour. I honestly thought that this was gimmicky and unnecessary to the story, as it decreased the suspense around who would survive and who wouldn’t. I also thought that the “twist” at the end was obvious from very early in the book.

However, what Picoult does really well is engage with the various sides of the abortion debate. The many characters all have different views, and Picoult presents them, I thought, very evenly and without a ton of bias (though she discloses her own views in the afterword). A woman’s right to choose is something I am very passionate about, but I also don’t think there are a ton of easy answers in this discussion, and that’s exactly what Picoult demonstrates through this book. So, not perfect, but still a good read.

3.5 stars



Book 91: After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

Like a book I read earlier this year, John Lanchester's The Wall, After the Flood is a dystopian novel set after climate change has drastically altered our planet. Here, water levels have risen so high that nearly the entire planet is under water. People live in small colonies on mountaintops, or survive by perpetually sailing from port to port. Myra, the protagonist, lives on a small boat with her young daughter, Pearl. Myra’s husband, Jacob, deserted them before Pearl was born, taking with him their older daughter, Row. Myra is on a perpetual hunt for Row, asking about her whenever she stops at a port to sell the fish she has caught.

One day, a raider (essentially a pirate) tries to capture Pearl, and Myra kills him. Before killing him, she learns that Row is in a colony called the Valley in the far north, and that the raiders who run that colony enslave young girls as “breeders.” So Myra and Pearl head north to try to save Row. Along the way they meet other people, and their circle widens beyond the two of them.

Lots happens in this book — that summary is less than the first 100 pages — and it clips along at a great pace. The characters are well drawn, and the dystopian world feels eerily real. There’s a lot of violence in this book, so reader beware, and it’s not the most literary of writing, but it is a great story, well told.

4 stars



Book 92: Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Another fluffy contemporary romance from Guillory, who is now my most-read author of the year. This one is about Vivian, the mother of one of the main characters from The Wedding Party, and her vacation romance with Malcolm, personal secretary to the Queen of England. Perfect fun book for the Friday night of a very challenging week.

3 stars

179Cait86
Oct 19, 2019, 10:29 am

>177 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita! I'm hoping to make it past 100 this year, which would be the first year ever for me!

180FAMeulstee
Oct 19, 2019, 11:02 am

>179 Cait86: Looking at your numbers now, Cait, 100+ is within reach this year.

181BLBera
Oct 19, 2019, 11:31 am

Cait! That was a massive reading update!

Congrats on reaching and passing 75.

The Great Believers and Normal People are two of my favorite reads this year as well. You liked After the Flood more than I did, and you are certainly correct about the writing.

Atwood rocks!

182Nickelini
Oct 19, 2019, 12:43 pm

>172 Cait86:

Wow, look at you go! Lots of fun reviews here.

577 pages sounds really long to me (I prefer 275-375 page books generally),

Oh, that's SO me too. 200 pages even. Capital, however, is one of those long books that read really fast (sort of like some of the chunkier Margaret Atwoods)

>173 Cait86: : Steinbeck - I'm definitely not a fan, but I loved Cannery Row. Maybe it was my mood (I read most of it hanging out in San Francisco)

>176 Cait86: : The Wedding Party, etc. I've never noticed this author but sometimes that sort of book is perfect. I'll look out for her. Is there one I should start with?

I'd comment more but my family is calling me . . .

183Cait86
Oct 19, 2019, 2:26 pm

>182 Nickelini: Hi Joyce! I'm going to try Cannery Row again at some point, now that I've enjoyed/appreciated two Steinbeck novels. In terms of Jasmine Guillory novels, I'd start at the beginning with The Wedding Date. It's the first one, and while they aren't a series, the main characters are all connected. Plus, I think it's the best one (though maybe because it was the first one I read, so the format was still fresh). Just as an FYI, because I know these things vary greatly for each reader, but these are fairly "open door," though in a really healthy way, in my opinion.

184Nickelini
Oct 19, 2019, 4:19 pm

>183 Cait86:
I'll let you know how I do with Jasmine Guillory. Thanks for the recommendation.

185Caroline_McElwee
Oct 20, 2019, 5:52 am

Welcome back Cait. Some great reading and reviews. And you've sailed past your 75, congratulations.

186MickyFine
Oct 21, 2019, 1:52 pm

Felicitations on surpassing the magic number!

187PaulCranswick
Dic 7, 2019, 9:11 pm

Dropping by to wish you a wonderful weekend, Cait.

188PaulCranswick
Dic 25, 2019, 8:37 pm



Thank you for keeping me company in 2019.......onward to 2020.

189Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:03 pm

Thanks to everyone who visited this year, even after I stopped being a regular visitor myself. I'm going to do one last update tonight, and then give a 2020 thread a go :)

190Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:37 pm



Book 93: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Dr. Paul Kalanithi was a prominent neurosurgeon about to finish his residency when he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. As he battles the disease, Paul’s oncologist asks him to think about what he values in life — surgery? Family? Having a child? A new career path? When Breath Becomes Air is his answer to that question: a memoir of how to live, and how to face death when you know it is imminent.

When Breath Becomes Air was published posthumously, and the epilogue was written by Paul’s wife, Lisa. This was actually, for me, the most affecting part of the book, because Lisa details the end of her husband’s life, and the messages he hoped he would send to the world through his writing. This definitely wasn’t an easy listen — please don’t listen to the last hour while driving! — but it was very worthwhile. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars



Book 94: Dominicana by Angie Cruz

Ana is fifteen when her parents force her to marry thirty year old Juan, a prominent man in their small town in the Dominican Republic who can ensure Ana’s immigration to the United States. It’s the early 1960s, and the Dominican Republic is experiencing political unrest. Ana’s parents believe that if Ana marries Juan and moves to New York City, it will only be a matter of time until their entire family can immigrate as well.

So off Ana goes to a new country with a man who she finds equal parts scary and kind. In New York she isn’t allowed to leave their apartment, and her world becomes very small — just Juan, his brother César, and the customers who come to buy stolen suits from their apartment. When tensions back home escalate, Juan travels back to the Dominican Republic. Ana suddenly has more freedom, and begins to build an actual life for herself. Always looming, however, is the thought of what will happen when Juan returns.

Dominicana is an excellent novel that was inspired by Cruz’s mother’s life. Ana is very realistic; she is a teenager who is forced to be an adult, and that teen mentality is definitely part of her character. This is not a YA novel though. Much like Normal People, which I read earlier this year, this is an adult novel that just happens to start a teen protagonist. The writing is gorgeous and the themes are complex. Anyone looking for narratives about immigration, or with an interest in NYC in the 1960s, should definitely pick this up. I loved it.

4.5 stars



Book 95: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant is a highly intelligent, socially awkward woman who works in accounts at a graphic design firm. She is highly organized and loves routine, including a once a week phone call with her mother, the same dinner every day, nighttime reading, and a bit too much vodka to get her through the weekend. She has no friends or really much human contact at all, until some unexpected circumstances lead to a friendship with a coworker.

Eleanor, like Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Oskar from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, has a voice that is equal parts funny and shocking. She is very blunt and speaks plainly, including about really challenging, traumatic moments of her life. I found this jarring at first, but quickly got caught up in her life. If you liked either of the two books I mentioned above, I think you’ll like this one too.

I had heard that this book was comedic, and it definitely is, but it also has more difficult content than I anticipated. Please know that abuse, trauma, and mental health challenges are all key elements of the plot, so while Eleanor will make you laugh a lot, she will also make you cry.

4 stars



Book 96: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

No need to give a plot summary for this, since it's a very popular book. I really liked it a lot, but I didn’t fall head over heels in love with it. I found the beginning quite slow, and while I appreciated the role the marsh plays, I thought the level of description was too much for me. Then it picked up and I was totally engrossed by the characters in the middle. By the end, however, I was disappointed in the quick way it wrapped up, and the stilted dialogue throughout. Still definitely a book I’m glad I read and would recommend, but not a favourite for the year for me.

4 stars



Book 97: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere takes place in the late 1990s in Shaker Heights, a perfect planned community near Cleveland. The Richardsons — Elena and Bill, kids Lexie, Trip, Moody, and Izzie — are a perfect family who exemplify Shaker Height’s values. When they rent their second house to an artist named Mia and her daughter Pearl, the two families become intertwined in increasingly complex ways.

I loved this book so much. I was invested in every character and every storyline, and I really liked how Ng filled in the back stories of Mia and Elena. Definitely recommended to anyone who hasn’t read this yet!

4.5 stars

191Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:38 pm



Book 98: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Super fun romance about Stella, an econometrician on the autism spectrum, and Michael, the “professional” she hires to teach her how to be good at, erm, dating. Perfect “my brain is broken from marking two class sets of essays in less than a week” fluff.

3.5 stars



Book 99: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

The Bride Test is another fun romance from Hoang, who continues her trend of writing characters who are on the autism spectrum. Khai is certain that his autism stops him from feeling big emotions like love. His mother, wanting him to get married, travels home to Vietnam to find him a wife. Esme jumps at the chance for a better life for herself and her daughter, and hopes along the way that she’ll fall in love. Bet you can guess what happens!

3 stars



Book 100: The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Passage is a dystopian novel about genetically engineered vampires who take over North America. The first quarter of the book is set in our lifetime, and revolves around an FBI agent named Brad Wolgast, who is tasked with finding a little girl named Amy. Brad realizes that Amy is destined for whatever fate meets the death row prisoners that he’s been picking up all over the US, and he’s not okay with that. Chaos and battles and vampiric violence ensues, and then the book jumps forward ninety years to a failing colony in California that has managed to survive the vampire onslaught. We meet Peter, Sarah, Alicia, Hollis, Michael, Theo, Mausami, and Caleb, young adults in the colony. More chaos and battles and vampiric violence ensues, and the cast of characters know that they need to figure out a way to destroy the vampires.

The Passage is a reread. I first read it in 2010, but then I never read the other two books in the trilogy. I want to finally get around to them, but I couldn’t remember enough of the details of this giant book to feel confident going into number two. So I’ve been slowly reading/listening this for nearly two months, in little bits here and there, and finally finished it this morning. I’ll start the second book, The Twelve, soon; again I’m going to read it slowly alongside other books, rather than try to tackle it all at once.

4.5 stars



Book 101: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Love in the Time of Cholera is the book that I have owned, unread, the longest. I’m fairly certain I bought it in 2007 when the movie adaptation was released, with the plan to read it and then watch the movie. I remember getting about twenty pages in and deciding it was too slow, and that was that. Finally this year I picked it up, and I read it and listened to it on audio slowly over the past two months.

I really disliked this book. It’s the story of two young people in Colombia who fall in love, but then don’t marry. The girl, Fermina, marries someone else, and the boy, Florentino, vows to love her forever. He has many relationships in his life, but he never marries. Instead he patiently waits for Fermina’s husband to die, and then sets out to win her heart.

I cared not one bit about either of these characters, and I found the writing overly dense and unnecessarily complicated. Every so often the prose would turn unexpectedly vulgar, which was jarring against the rest of the ornate language. Definitely not recommended, but at least it is finally off of my shelves!

2 stars



Book 102: Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur

Adrienne Brodeur is in publishing (she runs the Aspen Words organization), and this is her memoir of her formative years. It centres on her relationship with her mother, and is focused on how family forms your personality and life trajectory.

At fourteen, Adrienne is woken up in the middle of the night because her mother has just kissed her husband’s best friend, and she wants to tell Adrienne all about it. The two adults start a years-long affair that Adrienne knows all about, and often helps to cover up. She’s conflicted because she loves her stepfather and hates lying to him, but she is so tied to her mother that she can’t stop. This web of lies has major repercussions for Adrienne, long into her adult life.

This book got a lot of hype, but I thought it was just okay.

3 stars

192Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:38 pm



Book 103: Elevation by Stephen King

Elevation is a novella from last year. It’s set in Castle Rock, a small town in Maine that is the setting for many of King’s novels. The main character, Scott, is a middle aged man who is rapidly losing weight, but his body isn’t changing. He steps on the scale fully dressed, and weighs the exact same as when he undresses. Scott’s retired physician friend is flummoxed by this, but Scott is resigned to eventually dying from weight loss. Next door to Scott lives Deirdre and Missy, a married couple who are not really welcomed to Castle Rock. These two storylines converge in unexpected ways.

3 stars



Book 104: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

This novella is about the Queen of England discovering the joy of reading. It is frequently mentioned as a fantastic book for avid readers, as it celebrates this beautiful pastime we all love so much. However, I found the style awkward and some of the humour really off-base. Not recommended.

2 stars



Book 105: Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher is one of the few celebrities I actually care to read about, and luckily for me, she wrote three memoirs. This one, her second, is about her foray into electroconvulsive therapy, which she credits with stabilizing her mental health. A side effect of ECT is memory loss, so this memoir is also moments from her past that she doesn’t want to forget. There’s lots about her relationship with her father, plus stories about the many famous people who have played a role in her life (Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Ted Kennedy). It’s a bit less interesting than her last memoir, The Princess Diarist, but no less funny. I think you can see the impacts of ECT in her writing, mostly in the lack of organization, but her voice is still a powerful one, especially if you are a fan.

3 stars



Book 106: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone is an excellent book about a family that moves to the Alaskan wilderness in the 1970s. Leni is thirteen when her dad, Ernt, is left a cabin and land in Alaska by a friend who died in Vietnam. Her mother, Cora, hopes that this move will help with Ernt’s PTSD (though this being the 1970s, no one calls it that), and Leni dreams that they might finally settle down somewhere. They are quickly welcomed by the inhabitants of the tiny village, and begin to learn the harsh realities of life in Alaska. As winter approaches, Ernt’s behaviour becomes more erratic and dangerous.

This is a sprawling book that covers lots of years of Leni’s life. It’s also a love letter to Alaska, and an unrelenting look at mental health and abuse. It starts slowly, and definitely took me a good hundred pages to be invested, but once I was, it sucked me in to the end. Definitely recommended!

4.5 stars



Book 107: Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood

Moral Disorder is a collection of short stories about a woman named Nell. They span her life, and many are semi-autobiographical. I listened to this on audio today as I was cleaning and doing other mindless chores, and it was super enjoyable. Nothing earth-shattering; just good, quiet storytelling.

3.5 stars

193Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:39 pm



Book 108: The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

Olivia Rawlings is the pastry chef at a fancy club in Boston. She works way too much, lives a transient lifestyle, and has very few real connections to people in her life. When she drops a giant flaming dessert and sets the club where she works on fire, she hightails it to her best friend’s house in the tiny Vermont town of Guthrie. There she takes a job as a baker at a local inn, and begins to become part of the town.

This book is basically every Hallmark movie ever made, complete with quirky small town characters, folksy town events, and a handsome man for whom Olivia falls. There’s also a lot of food, particularly bread and desserts, and apple pie plays a major plot point (complete with recipe in the back). It was super enjoyable, and I definitely recommend it if anyone wants a light read.

3.5 stars



Book 109: The Huntress by Kate Quinn

The Huntress is told in alternating chapters by three different narrators: Nina is a pilot in Russia who joins the Red Army during WWII; Ian is a British journalist on the hunt for escaped Nazi war criminals five years after the end of the war; and Jordan is a young woman living in post-war Boston with her dad, who has just started dating a woman who has recently immigrated from Germany. These three storylines are united around a brutal Nazi killer nicknamed the Huntress — a woman who escaped paying for her crimes, and who is on the run.

My colleague read this earlier in the year, and she said that it started slowly, so when I wanted to abandon it around 100 pages, I remembered her comments and persevered. I’m so glad I did, because The Huntress is such a rich piece of historical fiction, and I loved the majority of it. If you’re looking for a WWII story that goes beyond the typical Western Front setting, I highly recommend this one.

4.5 stars



Book 110: The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

The Light We Lost is a Reese Witherspoon book club pick about Lucy and Gabe, two college students who first meet in a class on September 11, 2001. It tracks their relationship over the next fifteen years or so, both together and apart.

It took me a while to get into the narrative style of the book, which reads like Lucy is telling their story out loud. Once I settled into it, I came to really like Lucy, even if I never understood her feelings toward Gabe.

If you’re looking for a Nicholas Sparks type book (but better written, in my opinion), this is one for you.

3.5 stars



Book 111: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Olive Torres’ twin sister Ami is getting married, and Olive is her maid of honour. At the wedding reception, everyone gets terrible food poisoning from a seafood buffet, except for allergic Olive and germaphobe Ethan, the best man and brother of the groom. With the newly married couple down for the count, Olive and Ethan are gifted the honeymoon vacation in Maui. Trouble is, they totally hate each other. Until, of course, they don’t.

Christina Lauren is the pen name of two authors (Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings), and together this write contemporary rom-coms. This one was hilarious and sweet, and perfect for creating a stress-free weekday night.

3 stars



Book 112: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing starts in Ghana in the late 1700s. The first chapter is about Effia, the beautiful daughter of an important man in a small village. Effia is married off to an Englishman, and lives in Cape Coast Castle, the fancy compound — and also prison — where the British run their slave trade. The second chapter is about Esi, Effia’s unknown half-sister who is captured and waiting in the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle to be sent to the Americas. The following chapters alternate between Effia and Esi’s descendants, with each chapter being a new person in a new generation. Effia’s line remains in Ghana through brutal wars, while Esi’s family lives through slavery, the Civil War, jazz clubs, the growth of Harlem, etc., in the US. The last two chapters take this family nearly to present day.

Gyasi is a beautiful writer, and I came to care about each of the characters. The structure, however, was challenging. Because the book alternates between the two family lines, I started each chapter thinking, “who are you? Whose kid are you?” and had to go back to the family tree at the beginning of the book to refresh my memory. I don’t love this kind of break in my reading; once I’m into a book, I like to remain fully immersed in it, and I couldn’t with this one. That said, the ending was wholly satisfying in a not too tidy way. While I didn’t love Homegoing, I will read Gyasi’s new book, which comes out some time in 2020, as she writes about important themes from an authentic perspective.

3.5 stars

194Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:39 pm



Book 113: Conviction by Denise Mina

Really not good thriller that was this month’s Reese Witherspoon pick. The main character was nasty and unlikeable, and the plot soooo far-fetched, plus there were numerous editing errors.

2 stars



Book 114: Half Spent Was the Night by Ami McKay

Magical novella that is a follow-up to The Witches of New York, set in the days between Christmas and New Years.

3 stars



Book 115: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling and Jim Kay

My fav HP book was the perfect way to spend an afternoon. Looking forward to reading the fourth illustrated book in the new year.

5 stars



Book 116: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

City of Girls is narrated by Vivian Morris, an old woman who received a letter from a woman named Angela that asks, “what were you to my father?” Vivian responds by telling Angela her life story, and the books takes the form of that letter.

Vivian starts her story at the age of nineteen, in 1940. She’s from a good family who has clear expectations of her future, but she has just been kicked out of Vassar after failing everything in her first semester. Her parents send her to New York City to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a dilapidated theatre in Midtown. Vivian is quickly wrapped up in the theatre world, with its showgirls and parties and scandals.

I loved this book. It’s glitzy and frothy and 100% fun, and it was the perfect way to close out my reading for the year. Highly recommended!

5 stars

195Cait86
Dic 31, 2019, 7:41 pm

2019 Reading Wrap-up

I read 116 books this year. That’s the most I’ve ever read in a year, and the first time I’ve read over 100 books since 2009. Those 116 books totalled 39,949 pages, with the shortest (Half Spent Was the Night) at 92 pages, and the longest (Seveneves) at 861 pages. Average book length was 344.39 pages, which is right in the sweet spot of my preferred page range of 275-400. The oldest book I read — The Moonstone — was published in 1868, but the majority of my books were published in the last five years, and only twelve were published before 2000.

I read books by 101 authors this year, from seventeen different countries. By far the majority were American, which isn’t the norm for me. I‘m hoping to read more widely, or at least have a greater Canadian representation, in 2020. Nearly three quarters of my books were by women, which is typical. 28% were by authors of colour — another stat that I wish was higher. I read four books by both Margaret Atwood and Jasmine Guillory, which I think illustrates the blend in my reading between challenging literature and fun, easier reads.

107 of the books I read were fiction, and nine were nonfiction. Of that 107, most were the generic category of “literature”, but I also read books from the horror, thriller, science fiction, humour, romance, mystery, dystopian, children’s lit, and YA genres. My nonfiction were all either memoirs or investigative journalism.

The biggest change in my reading this year was the source of my books. In the past I bought nearly every book I read, but this year I started using the library. Five of the books I read were rereads, sixteen were new purchases, thirty-two were from my TBR shelves, and an overwhelming sixty-three from borrowed from the library. My budget welcomes this change, though there are a few books I read that I would like to own, because I know I will read them again.

Top Five (okay, six) of 2019:

5. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
3. Beartown + Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
2. Normal People by Sally Rooney
1. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

These were six exceptional reading experiences that did everything I think a book should do — they helped me escape everyday life, they made me think, and they made me feel things.

Looking forward to starting this all over again!

Happy 2020 Everyone!

196Caroline_McElwee
Ene 1, 2020, 8:18 am

Some great reading Cait. I especially loved 'Homegoing'.

197blissnickrot
Ene 2, 2020, 5:01 pm

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