Arrianarose's 2021 Reading Adventure

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Arrianarose's 2021 Reading Adventure

1arrianarose
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 21, 2021, 6:37 pm

And once again, a new year is upon us! It's still shocking how quickly they seem to fly by. If there was little else good to say about this past year, it did amazing things for my reading life! I read more books - 81!! - than I've ever read before in one year. I'm thinking positively, and planning for good things in this fresh new year. My two best friends and I created our own "21 in 2021" reading challenge, which should prompt some great reads this year. And, as I've done so well the past few years (audiobooks!), I'm increasing my goal from 50 to 60.

2020: 81 Books
2019: 61 Books
2018: 69 Books
2017: 39 Books
2016: 46 Books
2015: 55 Books
2014: 49 Books



2arrianarose
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 2, 2022, 5:05 pm

Where has my reading taken me this year?



AFRICA
Kenya: Circling the Sun
Beyond the Sand and Sea
West with the Night
Mauritius: Silent Winds, Dry Seas
South Africa: The Woman Next Door

ANTARCTICA
The Stowaway

ASIA
China: Throne of Jade
Golden Lilies
Galilee/Judea (& Egypt): The Book of Longings
Hong Kong (China): The Expatriates
India: The Widows of Malabar Hill
The White Tiger
Climbing the Mango Trees
Iran: Darius the Great is not Okay
Japan: Earthlings
North Korea: The Last Exiles
Oman: Celestial Bodies
Saudi Arabia: Cities of Salt
Sri Lanka: Wave
Vietnam: Fireheart Tiger
Unnamed: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

EUROPE
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Zlata's Diary
People of the Book
England: Alice I Have Been
The Gown
Boyfriend Material
The Midnight Library
Below Stairs
Austenland
London Triptych
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake
Blackout
Atonement
All Clear
In This House of Brede
The Wind in the Willows
The Dig
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
Greece: Ten Greek Plays
Greenland (Denmark): Last Night in Nuuk
Italy: The Imperfectionists
Those who Leave and those who Stay
The Netherlands: Searching for Sylvie Lee
Poland: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Scotland: The Summer of the Bear
Spain: The Shadow of the Wind
Misc.: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

NORTH AMERICA
Canada: Station Eleven
Emily of New Moon
That Inevitable Victorian Thing
Seven Fallen Feathers
Before Green Gables
Emily's Quest
Dominican Republic: Clap When You Land
USA:
Alabama - Into White
California - Landline
The Bride Test
Desert Notebooks
Daisy Jones and The Six
In Search of Us
The Guncle
Colorado - Bellwether
Delaware - The Book of Unknown Americans
Illinois - The Time Traveler's Wife
Too Good to be Real
Indiana - The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat
Louisiana - The Vanishing Half
Massachusetts - The Invention of Miracles
Run
New York - The Thin Man
The Sound of Stars
Love Lettering
Anne of Manhattan
The Leavers
Ohio - Little Fires Everywhere
Oregon - The Postman
Pennsylvania - The Beauty in Breaking
Utah - A Canticle for Leibowitz
Desert Solitaire
Vermont - The Secret History
Virginia - Roots
March
Washington D.C. - Red, White and Royal Blue
Monday's Not Coming
Wisconsin - The Westing Game
Misc. - Rodham
The Bear
Sorrowland
Evicted
Nomadland
The Long Haul

OCEANIA
Australia: The Songlines
Extinction: A Play

SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil: Journey to the River Sea

All around the world
The Secret Annexe: An Anthology of War Diarists
This is How You Lose the Time War
The Souvenir Museum: Stories
The (Other) You: Stories
Eat Pray Love
The Alchemist
Love After the End

Unspecified
In the Quick
The Unmentionables
Unmentionable

Fictional Elsewheres
The Stillness - The Obelisk Gate
Esat Ekt - Only Human
Nikara - The Poppy War

3arrianarose
tammikuu 21, 2021, 7:42 pm

1. Bellwether by Connie Willis Jan 2
2. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin Jan 5: Jan 13 (audiobook)
3. Roots by Alex Haley Jan 3: Jan 16
4. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin Jan 16: Jan 19

First batch of the year!

I started off the year recommending Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog as an excellent and funny time travel novel (for our reading challenge), and thought, "Oh, perfect! I bought another two time travel novels of hers last year - I'll start the year off with Connie Willis time travel also!" Sooo...after rather confusedly begining Bellwether, and wondering why it took place in Colorado rather than London, it became apparent that it was not a time travel book, and that despite my very deliberate purchases, neither of my new books contained English historian time travelers... lol :) So much for my 2020 research skills.

I absolutely loved Roots, and somehow had no idea at all that it was a true family history. I was absolutely floored when, nearing the end of the book, I came across the sentence "and that baby was me." That made it all the more emotional and amazing a story. I was so moved I cried when Haley told of how he went to Juffure and, after listening to the griot tell his family history, he added his own 200+ years of history in America and the villagers called him Mister Kinte, welcoming home a lost relative. Just wow...

4arrianarose
tammikuu 23, 2021, 3:13 pm

5. The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin Dec 14: Jan 23 (audiobook)

I'd have finished this last year, but the Boston Public Library has a very short (14 day) loan time on Overdrive, and it got snatched back with less than an hour left to go. It finally was freed up for me again today, so I finished it first thing this morning before getting out of bed. :) I'm really enjoying this series, it's spectacular!

5L-Anne
tammikuu 24, 2021, 6:56 am

Congratulations on reading 81 books last year! That's phenomenal! Good luck with your reading goals for 2021.

I like your "global passport" tracking of the places you've visited through books. I'm also trying to read my way around the world. Last year I found an interesting and very helpful website with fabulous book suggestions by country.
https://taleaway.com/

6arrianarose
tammikuu 25, 2021, 5:50 pm

>5 L-Anne: Thanks so much, I was quite surprised by the end total!

Yes!! It's an amazing site, isn't it? It's given me a lot of book inspiration for more global reading.

7arrianarose
tammikuu 25, 2021, 5:53 pm

6. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk Jan 21: Jan 24

I'm having trouble articulating my thoughts on this book. Interesting? Different? Unique? I'm really not quite sure what I think of it.

8arrianarose
tammikuu 28, 2021, 6:03 pm

7. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld Jan 14: Jan 28 (audiobook)

I don't think I've ever read a speculative, what if? fanfiction-y novel on a current public figure. It's an odd experience. I didn't read the LibraryThing reviews until I'd finished, but someone wondered if either Hilary or Bill were approached for permission prior to the publishing of this book. Is anything like that required? Do either of them know about this book, and if so, what are their thoughts on it?

9arrianarose
helmikuu 4, 2021, 6:28 pm

8. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Feb 2: Feb 3

10arrianarose
helmikuu 13, 2021, 8:46 am

9. The Secret Annexe: An Anthology of War Diarists edited by Irene Taylor & Alan Taylor Jan 25: Feb 12
10. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez Jan 29: Feb 13 (audiobook)

One very large book completed from my tbr shelf! :) The diary entries are organized calendricaly, Jan 1 to Dec 31, with authors and years mixed in throughout. On first starting it, I thought it might be something I'd leave on my bedside all year, and read a bit here and there following the calendar theme. It ended up being too interesting to go that route, and much faster to read than the heft of the giant hardcover suggested.

11arrianarose
helmikuu 17, 2021, 6:22 pm

11. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Feb 13: Feb 15

I'm sad this was so short, I would have liked much more history and stories off all of the characters, especially post-flu. I really liked it, but wished there was more to each of them. Some one described it as a slice of life, and I agree, I just wish the slice had been wider.

12arrianarose
helmikuu 19, 2021, 8:45 pm

12. The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee Feb 6: Feb 18
13. The Bear by Andrew Krivak Feb 15: Feb 19 (audiobook)

13arrianarose
helmikuu 21, 2021, 4:30 pm

14. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata Feb 20

OMG, no. I don't even know what happened here, it went off the rails so far, I have no words. It started off having a unique view on society and relationships I thought, but then veered so far off into crazy I honestly cannot believe this is a book anyone at all would recommended.

14arrianarose
maaliskuu 3, 2021, 6:14 pm

15. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman Feb 16: Feb 21
16. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett Feb 22: Mar 2 (audiobook)

I found The Imperfectionists to be well written, but rather depressing. It seems unlikely that one small newspaper would be peopled entirely by sad cases. Most people's lives are more of a mixed bag.

15arrianarose
maaliskuu 7, 2021, 12:36 pm

17. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain Feb 21: Mar 3
18. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon Mar 1: Mar 7

Good and excellent, respectively. When I had bookmarked Circling the Sun on Overdrive, I thought it was Beryl Markham's autobiography, and was a bit disappointed when I realized it was historical fiction. I'll certainly be sure to read West with the Night, but ended up being very pleased with this fictional version. Beryl was a woman who chafed at, and pushed back against the limitations society tried to impose on her for being a woman. She had a rough life, but had grit and tenacity that always drove her forward, no matter what.

I'd heard such good things about The Shadow of the Wind, and it did not disappoint. An excellent story of love, books, friendship, choices and consequences, all wrapped up in a riveting historical murder mystery. Absolutely recommended!

16arrianarose
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 14, 2021, 5:35 pm

19. Landline by Rainbow Rowell Mar 7
20. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. Mar 8: Mar 11
21. Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic Mar 13

Picked the first up from the free bin at the library, and the 3rd one in a little library I found on my walk yesterday afternoon. A free book week, I guess!

I'm back and forth on A Canticle for Leibowitz. I don't like to read reviews until I've finished something, so I just read over some of what other people had to say about it, and it seems that some others share my part yes part no takeaway. I like that the focus is something completely different than most post-apocalyptic stories - a church monastery and its residents over time. I feel that the final third of the book went awry, however. I'm fine with the concept - humans have brought themselves right back to where they started, pre-disaster, more or less, and shame on them for not doing better the second time around. But the characters seemed rushed, more caricatures than individuals. I was uninterested in being bashed over the head with one particular moral point - that did nothing for me, and I think could have been handled much better in the story. There were also two logical items that seemed like enormous plot holes to me - if an individual is so sick with radiation poisoning that there is no cure possible, I'm fairly sure it would be unsafe for them to be in physical contact with other people without getting them sick as well. Secondly, (and spoiler alert), if you plan to start again on a new planet/colony, I'm entirely certain that you would need more than a handful of celibate monks and nuns and a clutch of children. They specifically stated that the colonies were sparsely populated, and to be viable, the gene pool and number individuals of reproductive age would need to be large enough to prevent serious defects due to inbreeding (rather like the radiation-caused defects on their present Earth).

17rocketjk
maaliskuu 16, 2021, 3:33 pm

>16 arrianarose: Wow! A Canticle for Leibowitz! That brings me back! I remember enjoying that book very much, though I'm guessing I read it in high school or maybe even earlier.

18arrianarose
maaliskuu 28, 2021, 3:24 pm

>17 rocketjk: I'm a big fan of post apocalyptic books in general. I liked it too, for the most part.

19arrianarose
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 12, 2021, 8:31 pm

22. The Gown by Jennifer Robson Mar 14: Mar 16
23. Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard Mar 16: Mar 17
24. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall Mar 24: Mar 26
25. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Mar 3: Mar 27 (audiobook)
26. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone Mar 27: Mar 28

Two time travel books in a row! The Time Traveler's Wife was really long, and much better than I was expecting. I love time-travel, but for some reason I had an idea in my head (based on no actual basis) that it was a blah story. A few small bits were unnecessarily over the top, but otherwise I enjoyed it.

This is How You Lose the Time War was a "book concierge" chosen for me by my library, and Wow. I absolutely love it. Despite not knowing me personally (all the librarians I did know are now retired or moved elsewhere), they have done a stellar job of picking out amazing books I've thoroughly enjoyed.

20arrianarose
huhtikuu 12, 2021, 9:03 pm

27. Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel Apr 4: Apr 7
28. March by Geraldine Brooks Apr 10: Apr 12

Trilogy accomplished! Well, at least I think it's a trilogy. Hmm, I suppose I'll have to wait and see on that. We have a very different perspective in this book - the reality and aftermath of living on an alien planet for nearly a decade, how that changed our little group, and how Earth fares in aftermath of the massive alien attack from the prior book. Quirky and fast paced, just like the other two.

Really well done story, showing a slice of the Civil War told from the perspective of Mr. March, a mashup of the father from Little Women and Alcott's father, Bronson Alcott. I didn't realize until I saw the medallion on the cover that it had won the Pulitzer Prize. Funny to say, I don't think I actually like March - too dreamy, in a way that causes him to not really see or understand others, or how his own actions affect them, too self-pitying and self-absorbed - yet those flaws make for a unique look at the Civil War through a very specific, personal narrative.

21arrianarose
Muokkaaja: toukokuu 10, 2021, 7:37 pm

29. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Apr 17
30. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin Apr 17: Apr 22
31. Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok Apr 22: Apr 25
32. The Bride Test by Helen Hoang Apr 28: Apr 29

The first was for by BC book club. I'm not sure why it is so popular, it was a very predictable story. It was okay and easy to read, took me just one day, but it was clear from the very start how it was going to end, so there wasn't much in the way of anticipation.

The Songlines was interesting, but there was an entire odd section part way through consisting of snippets of random scenes, thoughts, memories, etc. with only slight relevance to the nomad theme of the book. It kept me occupied while waiting pre and post vaccine last week, but I could have done without it overall. The rest of the book was much more intersting.

Two more quick reads after that. I seem to prefer quick, snappy books when reading on my phone/tablet. Both were good.

22arrianarose
toukokuu 10, 2021, 8:35 pm

33. Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery May 1: May 2
34. Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif Mar 18: May 8
35. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey May 2: May 9
36. The Postman by David Brin May 9: May 10

A mixed bag of genres. I set myself a goal of three books off my own shelves before I could take out anything new from the library, though I did make an exception for ebooks. After The Songlines, Emily and The Postman were the ones I ended up choosing.

I really enjoy post apocalyptic novels, and though some seem harder to get access to than others, I'm determined to make my way through all of the must-reads and classics of the genre. Some are written better, or have a better premise or theme than others, but most have some interesting bit that's all their own. I'm all about the caveats, even on books that I like, so here goes my take on The Postman. I think it falls right in the middle - not amazing, not bad. It had a mostly good starting point, a guy who is at a low point in his life, physically and mentally, then finds something - the postman/Restored United States myth - that helps himself and others to hope and plan a bit more for a better future. But part of the good bit - internal struggles on how to balance empathy/decency/etc. against more violent survival needs - starts to go bad when Gorden gets overly whiny and self-centered about it. Was this book written in installments originally? At a few points the writing suffered, as Gorden's internal arguments or descriptions of Holnist or how Doomsday played out were repeated several time unnecessarily. Did he think we'd forgotten what was said 10 or 20 pages ago? I thought Gordon's reaction when he realized Cyclops was "dead" (as we readers could have told him from the outset) was bizarrely extreme. Was it supposed to be read as misplaced anger at himself for his own fraudulent mythologizing? I would have thought he'd be relieved that here were people he could confide in about his own struggles and guilt about the benefits/drawbacks of playing such a part, relieve some of his loneliness, that these were people who would understand him. Then there's the whole...are we calling it feminism? arc. Umm, what is this exactly? Awfully patronizing from my perspective. Though, actually, my main ugh moment was when the evil Captain America's arrived. Wow, a whole world of actual, real problems to deal with and you felt to needed to add genetically engineered super soldier bad guys? What was he thinking? Please just stop the idiocy. I assure you, ruthless ideologues with machine guns are quite awful enough on their own - 'augmentation' is not needed.
So, final takeaway is that it was mostly good, but veered off into zaney and/or annoying in a few instances.

23arrianarose
toukokuu 23, 2021, 12:24 pm

37. The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen May 11: May 15
38. Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon May 16: May 20
39. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey May 16: May 23
40. The Last Exiles by Ann Shin May 22: May 23

Looking over this small collections, I'm suddenly seeing a pattern of governmental distrust in these recently read books, though all were quite different in content and genre.

24arrianarose
toukokuu 31, 2021, 8:09 pm

41. The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow May 23
42. Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen May 25
43. The Secret History by Donna Tartt Mar 29: May 26 (audiobook)
44. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo May 27
45. The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang May 28: May 31

Wow, I am on a spree! I over-ambitiously (I thought) took out six books from the library, but I must have had some reading spree premonition, as I plowed through all six of them in two weeks. Yikes.

I also finally finished The Secret History, and I have to say, I don't know why it's been recommended as often as it has. Tartt seems to have a knack for creating mediocre, not particularly likeable young male protagonists. No one else was particular likeable either, and I honestly had trouble caring about the dead guy, since he seemed to be quite an asshole. Getting through it was definitely a slog. Overly long - the story seemed to be winding down and I checked to see how much time I had left, only to find I was less than half way through, which was disheartening.

25arrianarose
Muokkaaja: kesäkuu 3, 2021, 7:27 pm

46. Below Stairs by Margaret Powell Jun 1: Jun 2
47. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante Apr 26: Jun 3 (audiobook)

Only one book left in the Neapolitan series, I believe. I don't think I should leave as much time between them as I did, as I had forgotten where all the characters had ended up after book two.

26arrianarose
kesäkuu 6, 2021, 5:02 pm

48. Austenland by Shannon Hale Jun 6
49. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Jun 2: Jun 6
50. That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E. K. Johnston Jun 6

Wow, already at 50 in June. This is one lingering effect of COVID that I am completely on board with. :)

27arrianarose
kesäkuu 12, 2021, 6:38 pm

51. The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper May 23: Jun 9
52. Beyond the Sand and Sea by Ty McCormick Jun 7: Jun 9
53. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala Jun 10: Jun 12

28arrianarose
kesäkuu 25, 2021, 10:07 am

54. Into White by Randi Pink Jun 4: Jun 15 (audiobook)
55. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee Jun 13: Jun 16
56. West with the Night by Beryl Markham Jun 13: Jun 19
57. The Invention of Miracles by Katie Booth Jun 19: Jun 23
58. Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram Jun 23
59. The Souvenir Museum: Stories by Elizabeth McCracken Jun 24

Not much of a fan of the first and last here. Info White was a free YA AudioSync from last summer. The magical change from black to white had so many holes, it was hard to just go with it. I also found the main character to be vapid and self-absorbed, which never actually improved, even as the story went on. I don't think she ever apologized in any way to her brother for the awful way she acted and treated him. In the Souvenir Museum, I had a hard time finding a point to most of the stories. While I liked some of the characters, and the stories pulled me in initially, they mostly just petered out and went nowhere.

29arrianarose
heinäkuu 28, 2021, 2:48 pm

60. Evicted by Matthew Desmond Jun 25: Jun 26
61. The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore Jun 17: Jun 27
62. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng Jun 16: Jul 9 (audiobook)
63. The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso Jul 7: Jul 10
64. London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp Jul 11: Jul 15
65. The (Other) You: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates
66. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall Jul 23: Jul 27
67. Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn Jul 27: Jul 28

Whew, clearly I'm slacking in keeping track of my summer reads, but summer can be like that. I really enjoyed The Woman Next Door, Love Lettering and The Supremes etc.. I don't think enjoyed is the right word to use with Evicted, given the subject matter - thousands of people living in substandard housing, the problems of low wages vs. high housing costs, etc. - but the Pulitzer was most definitely deserved on this in depth and deeply personal (in that these issues affect actual people, not statistics, real families to keep in mind when trying to work out solutions to these societal issues) work.

Short stories don't seem to be working my way lately - I only really liked one of the stories from The (Other) You, and was put off by the odd use of () parenthetic words throughout most of the stories. Not sure if this is indicative of Oates work or not, but I probably won't be trying another any time soon, if at all.

30arrianarose
elokuu 19, 2021, 6:18 pm

68. In the Quick by Kate Hope Day Jul 29
69. Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler Jul 31
70. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert Jul 9: Aug 2 (audiobook)
71. Blackout by Connie Willis Aug 1: Aug 7
72. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Aug 3: Aug 9 (audiobook)
73. The Stowaway by Laurie Gwen Shapiro Aug 7: Aug 14
74. Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga Aug 14: Aug 16

Wow, nearly 75 books and still only August...I don't even know what to think about that. I don't think I've read so many physical books from my local library since I was in school, too many years ago to think about with comfort. I've actually had to put some self-restrains in place to keep myself sensible. You can only renew books for so long, after all - don't get too many new ones if the prior ones are still unfinished!

Two of these were for our friends reading challenge - Eat Pray Love for a book everyone's read but you, and Seven Fallen Feathers for a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color (poached from Read Harder for 2021). The Stowaway happily gives me a book that takes place in Antarctica! Only South America left to go for books on all continents this year.

31arrianarose
elokuu 29, 2021, 11:15 am

75. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi Jul 30: Aug 21
76. Desert Notebooks by Ben Ehrenreich Aug 10: Aug 24 (audiobook)
77. The Leavers by Lisa Ko Aug 21: Aug 28

I wasn't much of a fan of Desert Notebooks - parts were good, but it was a bit of a jumble. I was under the impression it was going to be discussions on the desert and climate change, but instead it was mainly ramblings about the philosophy of time and history, which didn't much interest me. The parts about owl symbology, the desert and various historical/mythical stories were good. Most of the rest I could have passed on.

The Leavers is not a book I had heard of before, but was the current choice for my BC book club. From the brief plot summary I read beforehand, it didn't seem like something I wanted to read (I voted on another choice). It was better than I anticipated, thankfully, but parts of it made me extremely uncomfortable, which I suppose was the point. The part I particularly had issue with was that the foster parents felt the need, and had the authority (?) to change the name of a ten year old boy. Excuse me? Does this really happen? If so, how utterly horrific. Weren't they still under the oversight of child services? What social worker would ever approve of that? Not only did this child just lose their mother, family, home and community, but they are also having their identity taken away? I have several family members who were adopted, some both transnationally and transracially. I believe their names were changed, though some retain their birth names as middle names. However, all of those adoptions occurred when the adoptees were babies, and had never lived with or answered to those names for more than a few months of their lives. I feel like the adoptive family had a lot to answer for. My niece is about the age of Deming/Daniel when he was placed in foster care initially. In an alternate world where this happened to her, I would hope her foster family had the decency and human kindness to talk to her about her family, her home life and memories, to be sure that any photos or mementos they had access to were given to her. That she was able to keep in touch with anyone from her prior life who was still available and willing. The portrayal in the book seemed to be that such things made the foster family uncomfortable or less like "real" parents. Well, suck it up. You wanted an older child for an adoptee, that means they most definitely DO have two sets of parents, two lives lived, whether you like the idea or not. It's cruel to the child to pretend otherwise.

32arrianarose
syyskuu 4, 2021, 8:21 am

78. Atonement by Ian McEwan Aug 27: Sep 1 (audiobook)
79. Love After the End by various authors Aug 28: Sep 2

Both of these are for my reading challenge - the first for a book I had previously abandoned and the second for a genre novel by an indigenous, First Nations or Native American author (again, poached from the read harder challenge).

I realized partway through Atonement that it was an abridged version - no where on the cover or blurb on Overdrive did it mention this fact, I had to really dig to find it mentioned, once I suspected something off. While normally I find that movies, even when really well done, don't do justice to the full scope of a book, in the case of Atonement, I would rank in order of preference: the movie, the abridged audiobook and in last place the full novel. The reason I had abandoned it in the first place was that I found the portrayal of the pre-teen main character Briony to be unrealistic. If memory serves, I think I also had issue with the inner thoughts of Cecilia as well. Thankfully, that that awkwardness is what was cut out in the abridged version, which also is mostly faithfully what was used to make the movie, with one tweak in the matter of presentation/publication.

Love After the End is a collection of sci fi stories set in the future, most with a love story aspect. I suppose it doesn't quite fit my challenge, not being a novel, but we're rather flexible in that regard. The stories were original and inventive, and I enjoyed nearly all of them. However, they could have been much improved by better editing. Save for one, which stood out as of much higher quality writing than the others, I felt that I was reading from a fascinating but amateur collection. I just wish someone had taken the time to help the authors polish up their stories to a more professional level. I'd happily read more from these authors in the future.

33arrianarose
syyskuu 12, 2021, 11:00 am

80. The Magdalen Girls by V. S. Alexander Sep 6: Sep 7
81. Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery Sep 8: Sep 12

I can't imagine why I never read the Emily series when I was young and enamored with everything written by Montgomery. I've had a battered, withdrawn library copy of the first book forever, but for some reason never read it. Maybe I didn't get it until my PEI fascination had waned? It's been a bit odd, reading them for the first time as an adult. Emily is such a different character than Anne, despite all their similarities. I'm enjoying them, and interested to see where Emily's path leads.

The Magdalen Girls was, simply put, depressing. It certainly couldn't be otherwise, given the subject matter, and still be realistic, but I think it may have gone a bit over the top on a few key items (the fire and Mother Superior, namely).

34arrianarose
syyskuu 21, 2021, 8:16 pm

82. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson Sep 3: Sep 13
83. Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid Sep 2: Sep 15 (audiobook)
84. The Unmentionables by Karen Ranney Sep 15
85. All Clear by Connie Willis Sep 12: Sep 20

It's driving me batty, but as I was reading Blackout and All Clear, I could swear I'd read them before, they seemed so familiar. But at the same time, I thought To Say Nothing of the Dog was the first Willis book I'd ever read, and that was in 2011, and I've kept track of books I've read since that same year. These were published in 2010, so is it really likely that I read a this massive two part novel the year it came out, but forgot about it until now? I must have done, but it just seems so bizarre.

35arrianarose
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 10, 2021, 7:13 pm

86. Unmentionable by Therese Oneill Sep 16: Sep 21
87. Too Good to be Real by Melonie Johnson Sep 23
88. Ten Greek Plays by misc. authors Jun 26: Sep 23
89. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Sep 24
90. Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson Aug 25: Sep 28 (audiobook)
91. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo Sep 30: Oct 6 (audiobook)
92. Extinction: A Play by Hannie Rayson Sep 29: Oct 7 (audiobook)
93. Silent Winds, Dry Seas by Vinod Busjeet Sep 25: Oct 10

I think I'm almost horrified by the number of books I've read this year, though that's really not the right sentiment. Confused and uncomprehending, perhaps? I look at these numbers and think, who is this 90+ books person masquerading as me? How is this utterly bizarre situation true?

Two more boxes ticked off on my 21 in 2021 challenge "a book of poetry or a book in verse" with Clap When You Land and Ten Greek Plays for "a book published before 1900," yay! Journey to the River Sea, from the last batch, also filled one in, for "a book that takes place in South America." Several left to go - hopefully I'll stop being so indecisive and settle on what I want to do for each of them.

Funny enough, the book I liked best in this batch was Red, White and Royal Blue, which feels a bit embarrassing to admit, given that it's such a fluff romance, but I really enjoyed it. Though I do have a complaint to lodge with the author on one point. When you have your characters correspond with one another and actually use the line (paraphrasing here) "See attached bibliography is the sexiest thing you've ever written to me" and then the author does not include a bibliography for all of the quoted love letters said characters use.... Really?? I was extremely disappointing and a bit annoyed. I was actually interested to delve more into the correspondence, but no such luck, apparently. Even in fiction, it seems only appropriate to properly cite your sources, folks.

36arrianarose
lokakuu 20, 2021, 6:01 pm

94. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik Oct 11: Oct 14
95. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden Oct 14: Oct 19

I'm so glad I decided to follow up on a recomendation from the Modern Mrs. Darcy website to read In This House of Brede, which I had never heard of before hearing it mentioned there. It was something completely different, which is always refreshing. I wasn't sure how a book set in a monastery was going to be presented, but really it's about people. A group of people, living and working together across time, with all the dramas and interactions that arise amongst them, all happening in a place that is its own additional character. It was lovely.

37arrianarose
lokakuu 27, 2021, 7:59 pm

96. Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson Oct 20: Oct 25
97. In Search of Us by Ava Dellaira Oct 9: Oct 27 (audiobook)

The first was good, but not great. I felt like she was trying a bit too hard on everything. I'm not sure why she felt the need to make Anne into some sort of child savant. The orphanage headmistress was similarly given a rather unnecessarily extreme persona, albeit in the opposite direction. However, I did like getting a new, more fleshed out view of Anne's parents and the various people and families she interacted with pre Green Gables.

My audiobook is one of the free YA AudioSync titles from either this year or last. I liked the mother/daughter parallel stories, showing them both at same age, with some similar issues and life experiences, some very different. I thought Angie was a bit too unnecessarily angsty and self-absorbed, but overall was happy with the story.

38arrianarose
marraskuu 23, 2021, 9:40 pm

98. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga Oct 28: Nov 9 (audiobook)
99. Golden Lilies by Kwei-Li Oct 20: Nov 13
100. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd Oct 23: Nov 23

Wow. Umm, so 100 and still going, apparently. This is surreal. I'm not sure what else to say about this, shall we call it a situation? Anyway, moving on.

I was reading Golden Lilies for our 21 in 21 challenge of a book or collection of letters, only to realize, upon finishing the audiobook of The White Tiger, chosen more or less at random from the available Overdrive audiobooks I'd flagged, that by coincidence it too was in letter format! The Book of Longings is the current selection for my alumni book club.

39arrianarose
joulukuu 12, 2021, 8:26 pm

101. Nomadland by Jessica Bruder Nov 10: Nov 27 (audiobook)
102. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Nov 19: Nov 27
103. The Long Haul by Finn Murphy Nov 29: Dec 8 (audiobook)
104. Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey Nov 24: Dec 12

Two very similar audiobooks, both nonfiction accounts of life on the road and living in the margins. I just saw over the weekend that Nomadland was made into a movie or TV show of some sort - I'll have to check it out.

The two others both fulfilled prompts for my 21 in 2021 reading challenge, 'a classic you did not read in school' and 'a food memoir by an author of color.'

40arrianarose
joulukuu 19, 2021, 10:12 am

105. The Dig by John Preston Dec 8: Dec 17 (audiobook)
106. Run by Ann Patchett Dec 13: Dec 19

Two good ones. I'd watched the movie made of The Dig on Netflix earlier this year and enjoyed it. I was happily surprised to find that Run took place in Boston, on a snowy week in winter, which matched right up with my week reading it, minus the various traumas and family situations, thankfully! I'm unconvinced though, that T tokens were still in use at that time. I think they had already been phased out before I graduated college in 2004.

41arrianarose
tammikuu 2, 2022, 5:04 pm

107. Emily's Quest by L. M. Montgomery Dec 24: Dec 25
108. The Guncle by Steven Rowley Dec 26: Dec 31
109. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal Dec 20: Jan 1 (audiobook)

And the year is over! Happy new year!