Walklover’s 75 Book Challenge 2022

Happy New Year, everyone!
May 2022 bring good health and happiness to us all!

Welcome back for another year!

This group always helps me to read; welcome back to the group, Debbi.

Happy reading in 2022, Debbi!

Enjoy your 2022 reads!

>2 drneutron: Thank you! Making a real effort this year to “allow” myself more reading time. Happy New Year!

>3 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul - a very Happy New year to you and yours. Trying to stay warm in Chicago today - looking at a possible -5 F on Tuesday - Brrrr!

>4 FAMeulstee: Thank you! Happiest of New Years to you!

>5 thornton37814: Looking forward to just that. Happy New Year!!

1. Pax: Journey Home by Sara Pennypacker - This is the sequel to Pax, a book both Joe and I loved - and it fully lived up to expectations. A beautiful story about chosen families. I would highly recommend it - but read Pax first.

Happy New Year, young lady.

I’m so glad you loved Pax: Journey Home as much as I did. I like your idea for a third book. I hope she does it.

>11 jnwelch: Fingers crossed for that third Pax.

2. The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan - I loved this book - full of great, well-defined characters (both nice and nasty). It follows the story of a gentleman who, because he lost something he promised he would always keep, collects all the lost things he finds in his travels - no matter how trivial. It intersects with many other lives and kept my attention all the way through (a definite improvement over my ability to focus in 2021).

3. Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - I have to admit - I chose this book from the Kindle library Joe and I share somewhere around 4:30 am when I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I’m very glad I did. It tells the story of a cafe in Tokyo that serves coffee, but also gives patrons the chance to go back in time (or to the future - which few choose). Each chapter is a story of one of those journeys - beautifully told.

4. The Midnight Lock by Jeffery Deaver - Becca and I are big Deaver fans - read this one on her recommendation and it was great. Excellent mystery with a good number of twists and a lot of my favorite recurring characters.

5. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams - A beautifully written story about the power of words - and how in times past (and even now), more importance was given to those spoken and written by men. Historical fiction, tracing the work done to compile the first Oxford English Dictionary, mingled with the fictional story of the woman who compiled a dictionary of words used by and about women.

Hi, beautiful. I still can’t believe you read and liked Tales from the Cafe. Me, too - but you’re the only other person I know who has. I hope your comments convince a few more.

You’ve intrigued me with The Keeper of Lost things.

Wasn’t The Dictionary of Lost Words a good one? “A beautifully written story about the power of words”- well said! And men - jeez louise, why the heck do we put up with them?!

>17 jnwelch: - Well, hello there! So far I’m really enjoying my 2022 books - hope it continues. I hope you give The Keeper of Lost Things a chance.

I found you! Your title doesn't' have your name in it. ; )

>16 walklover: That looks like a great one!

>19 Berly: Thanks for the heads up about my name not being in the title. Joe and I are going to try to fix it.

I highly recommend The Dictionary of Lost Words.

6. Ten Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak - This book has been sitting on my TBR shelf for way too long. I’m so glad I took it off - it was a beautifully written and amazingly conceived novel about the 10 minutes and 38 seconds after the main character dies and the memories that flood her mind before her brain shuts down for good. It also involves her friends - very well-developed characters. I’m putting this right on Joe’s TBR shelf.

7. The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson - A young woman moves her foster aunt (who has raised her for most of her life) and her niece back to the aunt’s hometown. She hopes her aunt, suffering from dementia, will be more comfortable in familiar surroundings and that she and her niece can make some roads to recovery from the death of her sister. She is determined to stay just one year and make no lasting relationships, but is proven wrong on both counts. A lovely story.

>20 walklover: Bought that one this week, Debbi, and hope to get to it soon.

Have a great weekend.

I get to take advantage of the time differences to be among the first to wish you a Happy Birthday.

>23 PaulCranswick: Can’t wait to hear what you think of it.

>24 PaulCranswick: Thank you so much! I had a great day!

8. Oolong Dead by Laura Childs - I love cozy mysteries and Laura Childs is my favorite cozy mystery author. This one was great - lots of my favorite characters plus some very interesting new ones.

>27 walklover: That one was a good installment back in the day. I probably overrated it at the time I read it, but I've kept up with the series over the years.

>28 thornton37814: - I’ve really liked every one of hers that I’ve read.

9. Sarah Meets Silas by Ruth Bass - The author of this book is my very favorite aunt. It’s a prequel to Sarah’s Daughter, the first in her series which is followed by Rose and A Silver Moon for Rose. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the entire series and am glad she chose to write the prequel so that the reader would know how it all began.

10. Storytellers’ True Stories About Love edited by Anne E. Beall and Judi Lee Goshen - I’m very excited to have an essay in this book - and honored to be among so many talented writers.

>31 walklover: Congratulations on being published, Debbi, and between other writhers worthwile to read.

>32 FAMeulstee: Thank you so much, Anita. I just finished reading all of the other essays yesterday - and they are so good - and they dealt with the theme from so many different angles.

Oh cool! Glad you’re in print!

Congratulations again on getting your memory of your brother published in Storytellers’ True Stories About Love (this touchstone failure is so frustrating!). I loved your story, and now need to read the others. Thanks for tipping me off to Keeper of Lost Things. What a charmer. I’ve got to read the Elif Shafak next. Glad you enjoyed Last Chance Library. Me, too.

>34 drneutron: Thanks so much! It’s pretty exciting - and great to be in the company of so many excellent writers.

Thank you so much for fixing my 75 Challenge - I really appreciate it!

Hope all is well with you and yours.

>35 jnwelch: Thank you, kind sir. It’s pretty exciting and I’m so glad Mark finally knows about the story. We’ve been finding some pretty great books, haven’t we?

11. The Singles Table by Sara Desai - Neither Joe nor I remember putting this book on our Kindles (we share our libraries). I started it early one morning when I was having trouble sleeping. I checked the reviews after I finished it - and almost half of the many reviews were 5 Star. Unfortunately, I can’t give it that because I found it very predictable and many of the characters fairly one dimensional. It’s a romantic comedy with some pretty steamy sex scenes, but I don’t think I’ll be reading any more on the series.

12. The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer by Krista Davis - Unfortunately, it looks like I’m not a fan of this Paws and Claws mystery. There were way too many characters and couples (which seemed to change almost every chapter), some of the characters were one-dimensional and the mystery itself wasn’t that interesting for me. I know there are many who like this mystery series, but I’m just not one of them.

13. The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas - Thank you to Joe for this recommendation. I really enjoyed this romance novel - interesting and well-rounded characters, enough venues to keep my interest, romance - and pretty steamy sex scenes.

I’m glad you enjoyed The Spanish Love Deception. I liked it for all the reasons you give. I promise to keep track of March Madness for you this weekend.😀

14. Unlucky 13 by James Patterson - This is from Patterson’s The Women’s Murder Club series - and I enjoyed it. The four main characters are recurring - and, as always, they are well-developed and interesting. It was a well-written mystery.

15. The Telling by Zoe Zolbrod - I was introduced to this book as a member of the book club from The Read/Write Library in Chicago - and had the opportunity to meet and hear the author discuss the book and her writing process. It is a memoir whose center is the sexual molestation the author was a victim of at 4 years old. To quote a review by Melissa Febos, “The job of the memoirist is to draw our gaze to the things that most scare us, and to hold it. In this way, they show us that it is possible to hold our own truths. Only the most brave and honest writers can withstand this….Zoe Zolbrod is one such writer.”

16. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz - Both Becca and Joe (highly) recommended this book to me - and I know they’re a bit disappointed that I didn’t like it as much as they did. That said, once I got a few chapters in, I found it an interesting read - I can’t recall reading another book where the author is a major character quite like Horowitz was in this one.

17. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey - Once again, it really works to share a Kindle library with Joe. This is a lovely easy reading romance novel which involves a flighty rich girl and a hard-working fishing boat captain. It’s a perfect read when you just want to get lost in someone else’s story - and it leaves the door open for another romance to occur (see my next review).

18. Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey - And here’s the next romance - this time the sister of the flighty young woman and another fisherman. An equally enjoyable story.

Popping in to say Hi!

19. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler -
This is the second of two novels (which were originally intended to be one) by Butler beautifully and expertly describing the world post 2032 when it was “a divided and dangerous nation”. So much of the storyline touches on what we are seeing in our world - in our country - today. Quite unsettling, but so glad I read it.

>47 Berly: - Hi right back atcha! I hope all is well with you and yours. We’re all fine - just dealing with temperatures in the high 90s (with a heat index in the triple numbers).

20. The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson - The sequel to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. this follows the life of Honey, daughter of the blue-skinned packhorse librarian - and her trials, tribulations and successes as she makes her own way after her parents are arrested. I would highly recommend this book, but definitely suggest that you first read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

21. Run, Rose, Run: A Novel by Dolly Parton and James Patterson - I’m a big fan of Patterson’s Alex Cross and Women’s Murder Club series, so I’m willing to give any of his books a chance. I love Dolly Parton and all she stands for - so having her as co-author was a big incentive for me to read this one. It’s not of the Cross or Murder Club quality, but it was an “okay” read.

22. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr - This is classified as a middle-grade reader, but i feel it’s appropriate for any age to read. It’s the story of a Jewish family and their lives as refugees during the Holocaust. It’s beautifully told and I would wholeheartedly recommend it.

23. How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry - Another “I’m glad Joe put this in our Kindle library” books. A charming story about love, loss and family (both blood and chosen).

24. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo - This is a fabulous book about a young woman - a senior in high school with a young baby with a love of cooking and food that permeates all she does. She is on the cusp of choosing the direction(s) her life will take and the reader is swept up in it all. I loved Acevedo’s Poet X and I’m sure I will love everything else of hers I read.

>51 walklover: So I am in a family bookclub and the group selected one book and my dad read Run, Rose, Run by mistake! LOL. Not the right book, but he enjoyed it. I am sure I will get around to it one day. I love Dolly and Patterson.

>55 Berly: - What was the book he was supposed to read? I’m a big Patterson fan, particularly the Alex Cross series (I’ll be listing the most recent I read below).

25. The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths - This is the 14th book in the Ruth Galloway Mysteries series and I enjoyed it just as much as I have enjoyed all the rest. For some reason, my Kindle would not show that we had it, even though Joe and I share our libraries - so we switched Kindles for a few days. Griffiths did a fabulous job of incorporating the pandemic into the story. I highly recommend this series - and should you be interested in it, you should start from the first in the series as there are lots of storylines and subplots that build from book to book.

26. Slow Man by J. M. Coetzee - I can’t remember how this book came to be in my possession, but I chose to read it because it fit a category in the Pop Sugar Challenge, which I decided to attempt this year. I’ve never read anything by Coetzee before. The story of a photographer who loses his leg in a bicycle accident, it follows Paul Rayment as he begins his new life without his leg and “struggles with bouts of hopelessness, reluctantly adapts to his dependency on others and finds himself falling in love”.

27. Fear No Evil by James Patterson - This is the newest in Patterson’s Alex Cross thriller series - my favorite series and character he writes. It didn’t fail to engage me and I look forward to the next in the series.

>56 walklover: My Dad was supposed to read What Happened to the Bennetts? LOL.

Oooh! All 3 of those recent books sound good. Dang you. ; )

28. Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis - I decided there were too many books on the coffee table and I found this one when I started sorting. Neither Joe nor I remember where this middle-grade novel came from, but I’m very happy it appeared. A terrific story about a young neurodivergent girl who struggles with just about everything until she finds people who accept her for just what she is - loving, smart and fun to be around.

29. Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero by E. Lockhart - I became interested in reading this after I read it was about a Jewish superhero. I was disappointed in it because other than a few Hebrew/Yiddish words and a Jewish delicatessen, this was in no way an established Jewish identity for Whistle. I was also disappointed in how slow and underdeveloped much of the story was - and I really had no desire to invest in the characters. Truly wish I had liked it more.

30. A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll - “Being different doesn’t mean your voice doesn’t count”. This is a wonderful middle grade novel about a neurodivergent girl who campaigns for a memorial in her town for the women who were unjustly tortured and burned after being accused of being witches. The author brilliantly links the way the women were treated with the way this young girl and her sister were treated for their autistic behaviors. I think everyone would benefit from reading this.

31. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang - Stella has Asberger’s and has always been badly treated by any man she has gone out with. After deciding she needs to hire an escort to teach her what she needs to know, she falls for him and the story takes us right along as their relationship develops. It’s not my favorite book, but it turned out to be an enjoyable read. Thanks to Joe for recommending it.

Hey, you wondrous one! I love all your comments on your reading. I just recommended Emma-Jean Lazarus to Amber. Such a good one. (And mysterious - where the heck did it come from?)

My new one: https://www.librarything.com/topic/345189

Thank you as always for books, thank you for this group and thanks for you. Have a lovely day, Debbi.

>65 jnwelch: Sometimes those “where did that come from? books are the best.

>67 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. As I’m sure you know from Joe’s thread. Thanksgiving gave way to Covid in our house - but I still have so much to be thankful for.

32. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - This was a great choice for me to read during my bout with Covid (thank you, Joe, for the recommendation). I really liked the theme of unpredictability that ran through all of the storylines.

33. 2 Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson and Candice Fox - The Covid has left me a bit foggy and very tired - so a James Patterson novel with very short chapters was exactly what I needed. It was a enjoyable story.

34. Triple Cross by James Patterson - I’m a sucker for the Alex Cross series - and this addition was really good. Great characters - new and those I’ve come to love (and hate) - good mystery - interesting subplots.