Long time, no post. Summer was super busy. I‘m looking forward to some cozy fall reading. This book was a sale purchase on Kindle some time ago, and I‘m finally getting around to it. It has totally sucked me in. I love fairy tale retellings/reinventions. This one has elements from several tales, but it‘s an original fantasy story. 40% in and hooked. #highfantasy

I think this is the third time I‘ve read this book. It‘s so good. I wish this particular David versus Goliath story had a happier ending.

Wow, that was a wild read. Jennette McCurdy tells all about growing up with her psycho mom, who pushed her into an acting career and encouraged her to develop an eating disorder. Her mom was A LOT, like severe untreated borderline personality disorder a lot. Mom also had recurring cancer, so just imagine the guilt trips. And then she died, and Jennette had to fix her life. Well-written and entertaining, though I found the audio narration flat.

Finally got around to reading this. I liked it, but it felt unfinished. Loved the writing. Interesting concept: MC who is so rich he doesn‘t have to work, but instead flails around trying to find purpose in his life through volunteer work and his friendships. He‘s so oddly clueless, I wanted to shake him, yet he‘s somehow sympathetic too. Not easy to pull that off. tournamentofbooks #ToB2023

I‘m not doing the #LetsGetGraphic readathon this week, but I just happened to finish this graphic novel this week. Cute story about a girl who desperately wants a pet, but is desperately allergic to animal fur. Great subplots about making and keeping friends, and dealing with big life changes. I‘m going to pass this on to my 10 year old.

This is a great YA book about dealing with addiction in a family. I couldn‘t stop reading it. It‘s compelling, and the voice of the teenage narrator is authentic.

I just finished this charming little mystery which has no relation to any of my reading challenges, but caught my eye on Scribd. Now I want to read the whole series. Cozy mystery series set in 1920s England, with a spunky young heroine (Posie Parker) who was a nurse in the Great War and now runs her own private detective agency. Very enjoyable.

Latest secondhand #bookhaul for #readingtheamericas, which I have sadly neglected for a couple of months. Three countries here - El Salvador, Peru, Dominican Republic. I kept having to renew Salvador at the library due to getting distracted and not finishing, so I finally just bought a cheap used copy to read at my own pace. Trying to get back to reading paper books - much easier on my brain and eyes.

I liked this book. Some people think that it suffers by comparison with Anthony Marra‘s previous books, but I disagree. The writing is just as good, it‘s just that the subject matter is not as stark. I loved the intertwined stories of all the characters suffering from varying forms of oppression, and struggling to maintain their identities. I haven‘t read much about WWII Italy or the restrictions on foreign-born Italian-Americans - interesting.

It‘s taking me a long time to get through this book. I‘m enjoying it, despite my snail‘s pace. I guess it suffers by comparison with A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, but then, what book wouldn‘t? The writing is still wonderful.

Not everyone enjoys Ruth Ware, but I really liked this one. Even when I figured out who did the crime, I was hooked enough to keep listening just in case I was wrong. The narrator of the audiobook was so good. A book all about secrets between old friends, covering up even deeper secrets. Nice and twisty. #52bookclub2023 #titlebeginswiththe #bookaboutsecrets

The structure of this book was so interesting, with the four related novellas. I have always loved books within a book. I think the audiobook added to my enjoyment of the four stories, and the writing was a pleasure. I see why it made so many best of 2022 lists. Five stars. I‘d like to read other books by Hernan Diaz. #52bookclub2023 #roaring20s I haven‘t posted & tagged in awhile…I hope I got everyone for #52bookclub2023

I am enjoying this audiobook. So many secrets!

I‘m just starting this one. It‘s going to be an interesting read, I can already tell.

Overall good, but not quite the shocking story I was anticipating. Three and a half stars. #52bookclub2023

Listening to this audiobook little by little, dipping into the hardback when I have time. I love this series. #52bookclub2023 #meanttoreaditlastyear

I picked this up at the library as my #colombia entry for #readingtheamericas2023. It sounds intense but good. I hadn‘t heard of Ingrid Betancourt before I found this book. She sounds like a remarkable woman.

This was SO good. I loved the Mayan mythology, and the refs to Mexican history and society of the period (1928). Lots of rabbit hole side Googling, which I always enjoy. I knew how this novel had to end, and yet I *had* to keep reading *just* to be sure - the mark of a really good writer! A+ for the young spunky heroine, and for the plot that didn‘t devolve into a predictable love story. #readingtheamericas2023 #mexico #52bookclub2023 #mythology

Definitely going to have to re-read this one in hard copy form. The audiobook was good, but it‘s the kind of book where you say “wait, what?” and have to flip back to an earlier part of the book to tie threads together. I‘m eager to read all the rest of Helen Oyeyemi‘s books. What a unique talent! The magical realism feel won‘t be for everyone, but the writing is so good and engaging. Weird in a wonderful way. #52bookclub2023 #startswithG

If you‘ve only read Agatha Christie‘s novel-length murder mysteries, you‘re missing out. She wrote tons of atmospheric, even downright creepy short stories. This collection has some good ones. I highly recommend exploring Christie‘s short stories to gain a deeper appreciation of her talent. #52bookclub2023 #publishedposthumously

This book is so quirky, and so fun! I‘m listening to the audiobook, read by the author. The only thing is, I may need to re-read this in book form, because I feel like I missed a few things. I‘ve been meaning to read Helen Oyeyemi for a long time - glad I finally picked this one up. #startswithG #52bookclub2023

That feeling when you get excited about a book review on a Facebook group, and go to add the book to your Want To Read list in Goodreads, only to find that you already added that book to your Want to Read list…in 2015. In my defense, I gave birth to my second child that year, so I was pretty busy.

I finished this book weeks ago. I needed some time to process it. Pretty horrible that the US government could engineer a coup in a foreign country, then fail to help its citizens stay safe in the resulting unsafe conditions. I am appalled at the Cold War era “organization men” who were careless in the aftermath of the coup, deliberately delayed helping US citizens who they felt were of an objectionable stripe, then tried to cover it up.

This is a good one! I didn‘t mean to start on #Mexico so soon for #readingtheamericas2023, but Amazon suggested this for me and it hooked me. This is a good intro to the author. I‘ve been meaning to read her book Mexican Gothic for a long time. Also works as a mythology book for #52bookclub2023.

This book was great. I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, which made it even more real to me. Carmen‘s parents were socialist revolutionaries. They fled Chile after the 1973 coup, when she was six, settled in Canada, then her mother and stepfather moved the family to Bolivia to work with the Chilean resistance. Carmen grew up and worked for the resistance herself, from Argentina. Amazing story. #readingtheamericas2023 #bolivia

Getting drawn into this lovely book. About the healing power of books, and their ability to connect people. I think I‘m going to like it a lot.

Holy moly, I will never get out of this #Chile rabbit hole! I just found this book and it sounds amazing. It‘s a first-person memoir of resistance activity in Chile in the 1980s. The author reads the audiobook version. When I was in high school, she was only three years older than me, but married and flying missions across the Andes to fight a dictatorship. I have to hear this. It‘s on Hoopla. #readingtheamericas2023 #bolivia #argentina #peru

Script of the author‘s one-woman show. A monologue that shifts between a torrid affair in the near past, and her young adult years in the anti-Pinochet underground in Chile. Warning: strong sexual language and content. Short but good.

It turns out that I‘m not such a fast reader when I‘m on nonfiction. Still reading this one. Still fascinating. I keep highlighting and making notes, and I‘ve gone down several rabbit holes researching the Chilean coup of 1973 and subsequent years of misery, especially the human rights violations. I knew, but I didn‘t know everything. I‘ll be lucky if I ever get past #chile in #readingtheamericas2023.

This book has been on my bookshelf since college. It was required reading in a course I took on US security policy after 1945. I believe I took that course in the 1989-90 school year. #old I *may* not have completed all the reading assignments in this course, because college. 😉 But I hung on to this book because it was good. #ReadingtheAmericas2023 is a perfect reason to reread it. #guatemala #nicaragua #elsalvador #honduras #costarica

Alice McDermott captures the complicated life of an alcoholic and those who loved him. Set in the Irish Catholic community of Queens in the mid-20th century, it‘s a portrait of a culture. Prompt 28 for #52BookClub23, #IncludesaFuneral.

I think this is going to be my #chile read for #readingtheamericas2023. True story of an American journalist who went missing in the wake of the Pinochet coup. I remember when the movie based on this story came out (starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek), but I was too young to be interested. I had no idea it was about a political disappearance in Chile. I‘m so interested in this history that took place during my childhood, while I was oblivious.

I enjoyed this collection of stories and poems set in island countries. Portraits of modern life, some reflections on the legacy of colonialism. #tonga #malta #barbados #mauritius #fiji #jamaica #kiribati #singapore #bermuda #niue #trinidadandtobago #samoa #stvincentandthegrenadines #grenada #cyprus #stlucia #readingtheamericas2023

This book feels like cheating for #readingtheamericas2023…it has short stories from almost all the Caribbean islands. I‘m reading it anyway, because the stories are good, but I will only use it for one country. Sure, I could knock ten island countries off my list at once, but that‘s not really playing the game. I haven‘t gotten far enough yet to see if there‘s a #turksandcaicos story - that would be a perfect use! Available on #scribd.

I have a tentative list of 127 books for #readingtheamericas2023. I‘ll need to narrow it down a little. 🤣 You know how it is when you‘re browsing. Thank goodness I was on Goodreads, not at a bookstore! I‘m super interested in starting on El Salvador, but I got distracted by this #SaintLucia play by Derek Walcott while searching Scribd for even more #readingtheamericas ideas.

Soft pick, 3 and a half stars. It‘s a locked room mystery on a train stopped in the snow. Yes, the setup is like Murder on the Orient Express, but the solution is different. I like Roz, the main character. She‘s a flawed middle-aged heroine, just like me. 😊 Trigger warning for characters‘ backstories of domestic abuse and rape, though thankfully not described at length.

So good! If you didn‘t know Monica Ali‘s previous work, the title could lure you into thinking it‘s chick-lit fluff (which I do love). It isn‘t. It‘s about a young professional woman struggling to come to terms with her identity - child of immigrants, doctor, bride-to-be - and it tackles some interesting issues about honesty and life choices. I‘ve put off reading Brick Lane forever, but it‘s moving to the top of my list now!

My #booked2022 reads, part 2:
14. Set in a Canadian province - Women Talking
17. New in 2022 - Love Marriage
23. Adapted for the Small Screen - Faithful Unto Death (Inspector Barnaby #5)

I only completed 9 #booked2022 prompts. Possibly I can squeeze in one more before 2023.
1. Cult/religion - After We Were Stolen
4. Weather Term - Klara and the Sun
8. Written by Journalist - American Baby: A Mother, A Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption
10. Make Your Own Prompt - Based on a true story - The Lost Girls of Willowbrook
11. Nautical - The Sunken Sailor
12. Murder Mystery - The Killing of the Tinkers
Continued in next post…

I guess it‘s my month for depressing but gripping books. This one has drug addiction, human trafficking, and child neglect. Delightful! It also won the PEN/Faulkner award. So I don‘t think it will end hopefully, but the writing will be good. It already is, just a few chapters into the book. I see that James Hannaham has a book on the #ToB 2023 longlist this year, and I‘m looking forward to checking that one out, too.

This book is fiction, but every awful thing in it about the Willowbrook State School is true, based on interviews and testimony at the time when the state finally started shutting Willowbrook down. The place was a living nightmare.
I got so caught up in this book that I couldn‘t see how there would ever be a happy ending. Definitely a pick, but TW for sexual and physical violence, child abandonment/abuse, and non-treatment of mental illness.

I found this intriguing audiobook on Scribd, and it‘s already led me to two new authors. This is a series of essays by mystery writers in which they talk about their main characters and how they came to be. Ken Bruen‘s essay on his character Jack Taylor was interesting enough that I‘ve started reading the series. I‘ve already listened to the Harry Bosch and Jack Reacher essays…looking forward to hearing about Precious Ramotswe!

I‘ve been working my way through the Jack Taylor series. They are bleak, and I‘m not sure I like some of the writing quirks, but the books improve as you get further into the series. I‘m enjoying reading about Galway. Supposedly my ancestors are from that area of Ireland. Three and a half stars on average so far.

Also I just binge watched “Derry Girls” in combination with these books, and now I think in an Irish accent 😆

I am loving these stories. Maude does not suffer fools, and dispatches them neatly. 😂

Eco-dystopian novel. The oceans are so full of plastic that they appear semi-solid, animals have undergone all kinds of frightening mutations, and humans are divided into castes. The highest caste lives on the ring, a settlement that floats above the earth. The novel centers on a half-caste girl discovering what is truth and what is disinformation, in her society and her family story. It kept me reading, trying to put the pieces together.

I am delighted that my boys enjoyed reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as much as I did when I was their age. They thought it was so funny! We read it in chapters before bed every night, and they clamored for more. It‘s so great to share a beloved childhood book with a new generation of kids.

Love this opening.

The rest of my half price hardback splurge arrived yesterday. Happy New Year to me! #tob2022 #TournamentofBooks

No one is better than Ishiguro at describing the point of view of someone whose understanding is slightly out of step with the rest of the world. He specializes in the lonely outsider who is trying hard to navigate with a flawed map. And that is why I love his books. They are heartbreaking but wonderful. Unlike other reviewers, I found this book both fascinating and poignant, with a creepy sci-fi undertone. Loved it. #tob2022 #tournamentofbooks

Hello, lovely #PaperbackSwap books! I don‘t when I‘ll read you, but I‘m excited to see you!