Bookmas Day 30: Wrap-Up and Goals

 Hello Interwebs!

Today I'm going to recap my goals for 2021 and how they went and take a look at my plans for 2022. 

First up my goodreads challenge was 52 books, roughly a book a week. I read 90 (I'm pretty sure I'm not going to finish my current book before January 1st). Going forward I think I am going to keep my goodreads reading challenge at 52 books and see where that takes me. 

Second, my specific goals for 2021. 

1. Read more library books. I did really good with this one this year. I read 47 library books which is more than half. Some of these I have since purchased for myself but only ones that I really love and want to reread at some point. 

2. Read more nonfiction. I don't remember how many nonfiction books I read in 2020 but I read 12 in 2021. I have gotten into more food oriented nonfiction and essay formats instead of just memoirs and I hope to keep that going in 2022. 

3. Listen to more audiobooks. I didn't do so hot with these as I only listened to four audiobooks but I have more on audible that I'm excited about so I'll keep going with this in 2022. 

4. Buy less books. Yeah, this one didn't happen at all so let's just roll with it. 

So going into 2022, I am keeping my goal of books I want to read at 52 books or a book a week but I have some other goals I want to do as well. 

1. Continue to read more nonfiction, the equivalent of one book a month so 12 for the entire year. Considering I read that in 2021 I'm sure this is more than attainable. 

2. Listen to more audiobooks, especially ones I already own. 

3. Read more of my backlist collection. I have two shelves of mostly unread Book of the Month books as well as shelves in the bedroom of unread books. I'd like to pull from my own collection more and not just whatever new book I find tempting. 

4. Blog more consistently. I want to do at least a weekly blog, if not more frequent. I want to make sure I get every book I read reviewed on this in a little more detail and be more organized about it. 

Finally I hope that 2022 is a better year than 2021, my family went through a lot of changes this year and I'm hoping to have a calm and peaceful 2022. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Bookmas Day 29: Best Books of 2021

 Hey Interwebs!

Finally here are my best books of 2021. I had a hard time of narrowing it down to just 10 books so this is my top 15 reads of 2021, all 4.5 or 5 Star reads. I'm going to do this similarly to my worst books of 2021 and we'll start with my least favorite of the 15 and end with my best book of 2021. So without further ado, here's the best books of 2021. 

• That Summer by Jennifer Weiner (4.5 Stars): this is a contemporary fiction about two women, Daisy and Diana, who become friends but Diana has a secret, one that involves something that happened to her years before and is the reason she sought out Daisy's friendship. This book kept my attention and I just had to know how this story would turn out for both women as well as for the "villain" in both their stories. 
  
  
  
• Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke (4.5 Stars): this is a horror novella about a man and the boy who lives in his house, the boy who isn't his son. This book was delightfully creepy and succinct and this is one of my favorite covers. 
  
  
  
• Girl A by Abigail Dean (4.5 Stars): this is a thriller about a sibling group narrated by the oldest sister who was the one who escaped and saved them from their family cult. It follows hem piecing things together when they're left the house their parents held them captive in after their mother's death. It was intense and unputdownable for me. 
  
  
  
• White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson (4.5 Stars): this is a young adult horror/thriller that was billed as Get Out meets The Haunting of Hill House about a family that moves into a house that might be haunted in a town where something seriously weird is going on. I loved this book a lot more than I expected and I want to reread. 
  
  
   
• The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (4.5 Stars): this is a ghost story/thriller about a woman who comes to work at this titular hotel where her aunt disappeared from years before to find out what happened and discovers the haunted past of the hotel. This book had many twists and turns and I loved every minute of it. 
  
  
  
• Uzumaki by Junji Ito (4.5 Stars): this is a horror manga about a Japanese seaside town that is being taken over by a sinister spiral. This was my first manga in general and I fell in love with the art style of these books and the way he tells stories and now I've bought most of his backlist. 
  
  
  
• Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrick Backman (5 Stars): This is the first Backman book on here and it follows Britt-Marie who's left her husband and is piecing her life together while running a soccer club for children. I love Britt-Marie she's a complicated character who is so often unlovable but the message about leaving your mark on life was completely on point. 
  
  
  
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5 Stars): this is a TJR new release about the Riva siblings and the party they throw every summer and the secrets that are revealed in the wake of it all. I love everything I've read from TJR and was not disappointed by this family drama. 
  
  
  
• And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrick Backman (5 Stars): this is a novella narrated by a nameless grandfather who is slowly loosing himself to dementia and his relationships with both his son and his grandson as this process happens. It was beautiful and sad and just got more beautiful and more sad and I loved it. 
  
  
   
• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrick Backman (5 Stars): this is about a young girl whose grandmother has died and left her instructions to find and deliver apologies to everyone in her life and sends the girl on a journey of healing in the process. I loved the childlike fairytale framing of this story and the way everything comes together to reveal the basis of her grandmother's stories. 
  
  
   
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5 Stars): this is a backlisted TJR title and one that Malibu Rising was a loose spinoff of (Mick Riva, the siblings' father was one of Evelyn's seven husbands). I loved this story of love and loss and finding yourself when everyone else thinks they know who you are. 
  
  
   
• Beartown by Fredrick Backman (5 Stars): this is about a town obsessed with youth hockey and how it all falls apart when a girl is assaulted by the hockey star. I loved this story despite not knowing anything about hockey and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and getting into the show on HBO. 
  
  
  
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman (5 Stars): this is a story about an old man named Ove who wants to die to be with his late wife but keeps getting interrupted by his new neighbors who need his help with various things. This book was beautiful and I loved Ove and his grumpy old man vibes and his burgeoning relationship with the young mother next door and her children. 
  
  
  
• Outlawed by Anna North (5 Stars): this is an alternate history novel about a version of the American old west where any woman who does not fit into their particular model is branded as a witch and put to death including the main character who is training to be a midwife and ends up being infertile  so she goes on the run and joins a gang of other women in her position. This book was amazing! I got it from the library on a whim and I just absolutely found it delightful and I'm looking forward to more from this author. Plus this cover is absolutely amazing. 
  
  
  
• My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (5 Stars): and to no one's surprise this is my favorite book of 2021. This follows Jade who is obsessed with slasher movies and finds herself in the middle of one in her small Idaho town. This book is absolutely a love letter to slasher films and such a slow burn horror which are all things I absolutely adore. AND IT'S GETTING TWO SEQUELS!!!! 
  
  
  

So those are all my favorite books in 2021. It has quite a mix of books from horror to thrillers and historical fiction and contemporaries. I highly recommend any and all of these and will definitely read more by any and all of these authors. 

Tomorrow we will have a wrap-up of 2021 in general as well as my goals for 2022 as we wrap-up 2021 and head off into the new year. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Bookmas Day 28: Worst Books of 2021

 Hello Interwebs!

Happy Bookmas day 28! Today we're going to be discussing the worst books I read in 2021. Upon review of this year's books I realized that I only had two books rated 1 and 2 stars so I went through my list for my 3 star books and filled it out so I have a bottom 10 books of the year. This list will start at the top of the list (the best of the worst if you will) and end with the very worst book of 2021. Now, without further ado here are the worst books I read in 2021. 

• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (3 Stars): this is a novel about the aftermath of the Trojan war through the perspective of the women involved. This book wasn't bad by any means...it was just boring. Most of the stories being told were boring and repetitive and the interesting ones (like Odysseus's wife Penelope's) have been told over and over again. Not a terrible book but not one I intend to ever revisit. 
  
  
  
• In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead (3 Stars): I wanted to like this one but it just didn't work for me. This is a thriller about a group of friends at their college reunion as they piece together the events that led to one of their group's murder their senior year in college and who the murderer is. The overall story was good but there was something in the way it bounced from the present to the past and through the past that left it lacking for me. 
  
  
  
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (3 Stars): this was another one I really wanted to like. It's a classic haunted house story but I found it neither scary nor compelling and it got a big meh from me. 
  
  
  
• Lady Susan by Jane Austen (3 Stars): this was one of two Jane Austen books I read this year. This is written as letters between the varying players to tell a story and I ended up finding it rather hard to follow in the end. I think I prefer the Amazon movie of this (Love & Friendship). 
  
  
  
• Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (3 Stars): I think this book suffered from my not having read it as a kid and my love of not only the original Robin Williams film but also the two newest films in this world. It was fine but not one I'm clamoring to get for my own son. 
  
  
  
• Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse by Harper Lin (3 Stars): this is one of very few cozy mysteries I've read this year and while I listened to the whole thing on audio on my way to and from work I didn't find the story very engrossing and have absolutely no desire to read any of the other books in the series. Also there were a lot of unnecessary descriptions of the latte art the main character puts in the coffee drinks she makes. 
  
  
  
• Lover's Vows by Mrs. Inchbald (3 Stars): this is the play performed in Mansfield Park and I read it as one of the prompts for Jane Austen July. It was fine, it was a play, and it had very little actually story. 
  
  
  
• The Divines by Ellie Eaton (3 Stars): To be honest I'm not entirely sure why this book got a 3 star rating and the one below got a 2.5 as I think I disliked them about equally. This story also jumps back and forth between the present and the past where the main character went to a school where the students are known as "Divines". Everyone was unlikeable, the story was messy, and the dual timeline was not at all necessary. 
  
  
  
• The Power by Naomi Alderman (2.5 Stars): another book that I kind of wanted to like but found trite and predictable. In it, women get this mysterious power and then suddenly take over governments and religion and it was very, very predictable in the end. I finished it while in denial about whether or not it would get better.  
  
  
  
• The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher (1 Star): once again my worst book of the year is a Tarryn Fisher "thriller". I find her books boring and too far fetched and worst of all, they use mental illness as a trope for the villains in the story. I hate her books and this is going to be the last one of hers I read. 
  
  
  

So there you have it, my worst books of 2021. Tomorrow we'll discuss the best books I read in 2021 to finish the wrap-up of the year. 

Happy Reading,

Richelle

Bookmas Day 27: Challenge Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

For today I'm going to detail my success in completing the 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge. This is the only reading challenge that I really tried to do and I finished it! I'm so proud of myself! So without further ado here are all the prompts and my books for this challenge. 

1. Set in a School: My Own Two Feet by Beverly Cleary (Cleary's autobiography, starting with her college days) 
   
   
   
2. Featuring the Legal Profession: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (Mark Darcy is a solicitor)
   
   
   
3. A Dual Timeline: 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard (bounces back and forth through time in respect to the pandemic)
   
   
   
4. An Author that is Deceased: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
   
   
   
5. Published by Penguin: Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams 
   
   
   
6. A Character with the Same Name as a Male Family Member: Beartown by Fredrik Backman (Kevin-my younger brother; Benjamin-my partner)
   
   
   
7. An Author with Only 1 Published Book: In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead 
   
   
   
8. A Book in the 900s of the Dewey Decimal System: Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper
   
   
   
9. Set in a Mediterranean Country: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (set in the UK and in Greece)
   
   
   
10. Related ot the Word "Fire": The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor (Burning is related to fire)
    
    
    
11. Book with Discussion Question Inside: The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict 
    
    
    
12. Title Starting with the Letter "D": Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
    
    
    
13. Includes an Exotic Animal: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (dolphins)
    
    
    
14. Written by an Author Over 65 (When Published): The Mistress by Danielle Steel
    
    
    
15. A Book Mentioned in Another Book: Lover's Vows by Mrs. Inchbald (the play is mentioned in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park)
    
    
    
16. Set Before the 17th Century: If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley (many bits of the history take place prior to the 1600s). 
    
    
    
17. A Character "On the Run": The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
    
    
    
18. Author with a 9-Letter Last Name: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
    
    
    
19. Book with a Deckled Edge: A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes 
    
    
    
20. Made into a TV Series: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton on Netflix)
    
    
    
21. Book by Kristin Hannah: Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah
    
    
    
22. A Family Saga: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
    
    
    
23. An Ending that Surprises You: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
    
    
    
24. A Book You Think They Should Read in Schools: A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (I think this would be an interesting and unique nonfiction/essay choice for high school or college literature)
    
    
    
25. A Book with Multiple Character POV: The Power by Naomi Alderman
    
    
    
26. An Author of Color: White Smoke by Tiffany D Jackson
    
    
    
27. First Chapter Ends on an Odd Page Number: Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
    
    
    
28. Includes a Historical Event You Know Little About: Moloka'i by Alan Brennert (the Moloka'i leper colony in Hawaii)
    
    
    
29. Featuring the Environment: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
    
    
    
30. Watch Out for Dragons!: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik 
    
    
    
31. Shares a Similar Title to Another Book: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (very similar to The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton)
    
    
    
32. A Selfish Character: The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins (literally every character)
    
    
    
33. Featuring Adoption: The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup
    
    
    
34. A Book You'd Rate 5 Stars: My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
    
    
    
35. Set in a Country that Starts with the Letter "S": My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (Sweden)
    
    
    
36. A Nameless Narrator: And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
    
    
    
37. An Educational Read: The Best American Food Writing 2020 by J Kenji Lopez-Alt
    
    
    
38. Recommended on BookBub: Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (bought on my kindle from a BookBub link)
    
    
    
39. An Alternate History Novel: Outlawed by Anna North (alternate version of the American west)
    
    
    
40. Found via #Bookstagram: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
    
    
    
41. An Endorsement by a Famous Author on the Cover: The Troop by Nick Cutter (endorsement by Stephen King on the cover)
    
    
    
42. An Epistolary: Lady Susan by Jane Austen (written in letters)
    
    
    
43. A Character with a Pet Cat: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James (the bookstore owned by the main character's family has a resident cat)
    
    
    
44. Includes a Garden: Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams (main character lives on a hobby farm)
    
    
    
45. A Coming of Age Novel: The Divines by Ellie Eaton 
    
    
    
46. Winner of the National Book Award-Any Year: Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
    
    
    
47. A Character with a Disability: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Ove's wife has a disability)
    
    
    
48. A Cover with a Woman Who is Facing Away: That Summer by Jennifer Weiner
    
    
    
49. A Flavor in the Title: Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse by Harper Lin (Cappuccinos and Cupcakes are both flavors)
    
    
    
50. A Shoe on the Cover: Things My Son Needs to Know About the World by Fredrik Backman
    
    
    
51. Published in 2021: The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
    
    
    
52. Redo One of the Previous 51 Categories from this 2021 Challenge: The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer (prompt 49 a flavor in the title; prompt 51 published in 2021)
    
    
    

And there's all the books I read in this year's challenge and I'm so proud of myself for actually fitting in something for each and every prompt this time around. Tomorrow is the worst books that I read in 2021, which I'm excited about. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle