February 2022

Some very good reading this month. Also some not so good. All from the public library except for the ARC.

The End of Drum-Time by Pylväinen, Hanna 

Finished Feb 18, Finally finished this Advance Review Copy. (I rec'd two copies of this: one through GoodReads and one through LibraryThing.) I really liked this story of the Sami people of Norway/Sweden/Finland.

Checked out in Feb:

Cocoon by Zhang, Yueran

Finished Feb 24. Two former schoolmates reminisce  about their dysfunctional families, childhood, and young adult years in 1980s-90s Jinan China. Excellent!

In the Upper Country by Thomas, Kai 

Finished Feb 28. Liked this a lot until the last couple of chapter when I totally lost the thread.

Before the Ruins by Gosling, Victoria 

Finished Feb 26. Part coming of age, part mystery in an old manor house.

Clark and Division by Hirahara, Naomi 

Finished Feb 25. Mystery set in the Japanese/American relocation community in 1942 Chicago 

Looking for Jane by Marshall, Heather

Finished Feb 15. Well told story of adoption and abortion in Toronto in the 1960s-1980s

River sing me home by Shearer, Eleanor

Finished Feb 18. From Barbados to British Guiana to Trinidad runaway slave Rachel searches for her lost children. 

Victory city by Rushdie, Salman

Finished Feb 13.  Not my favorite Rushdie

Finna (LitenVerse, #1) by Cipri, Nino

Finished Feb 13. Short & sweet. alternate universes in an Ikeaish store.

Otherlands : a journey through Earth's extinct worlds by Halliday, Thomas

Finished Feb 16. 

Carried over from Jan:

The Torqued man by Mann, Peter

Finished Feb 8. Excellent!

The Shards by Ellis, Bret Easton Mann, Peter

Finished Feb 7. Liked it.

The World and all that it holds by Hemon, Aleksandar

Finished Feb 3. Overwritten war story

Anna May Wong : from laundryman's daughter to Hollywood legend by Hodges, Graham Russell

Finished Feb 2. Interesting bit of film history.

The Best American short stories 2021

Finished Feb 6. Not an impressive selection.

The Miniaturist by Burton, Jessie

Finished Feb 20. Liked it well enough, but reluctant to start the sequel.

The House of fortune by Jessie Burton

Finished Feb 22. The sequel to The Miniaturist was a must faster read than the first book. Not as good but it good enough. There were a couple of unanswered questions so maybe there will be a book three?

Moonrise over New Jessup by Minnicks, Jamila

Passed on this one--it just wasn't that interesting.

Mother ocean father nation by Batsha, Nishant

Returned to library; did not read

Insurrecto by Apostol, Gina

Returned to library; did not read

January 2023

Thirteen books read, and one DNF.  Plus I have eleven carryovers to read next month. Maybe I should slow down on my holds. Or spend less time surfing the net.  Also just rush in the library, pick up my holds and not browse.  I have a stack of there or four ARC's I must get to in February. So many must reads for such a short month!

All of these are library books except the DNF/ARC. 

ARC: did not finish:

This is how we love  by Moore, Lisa

I received this in September 2022 as a Goodreads giveaway.
This did not hold my interest at all. After several starts (and setting asides) I finally read about 100 pages and gave up. I felt like I was at someone else's class reunion and everybody was talking about people I didn't know nor care to know. I left early.

Carried over from last year:

Grand Hotel Europa by Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard 

Finished Jan 3. Loved it!

The performance by Petrucci, Claudia

Finished Jan 6. Interesting psychological puzzle.

The tally stick by Nixon, Carl

Finished Jan 6. Nicely paced suspense. Set in New Zealand

Checked out Jan 3:

The Villa by Hawkins, Rachel

Finished Jan 22. Murder(s?) at an Italian (Orvieto) villa. 

A quiet life by Joella, Ethan

Finished Jan 10.

Fuzz : when nature breaks the law by Roach, Mary 

Finished Jan 16

Stay with me by Adebayo, Ayobami

Finished Jan 13

The accomplice by Lutz, Lisa 

Finished Jan 29. A bit above "just ok"

The tatami galaxy by Morimi, Tomihiko 

Finished Jan 25. Fun parallel universe set in the university section if Kyoto.

The torqued man by Mann, Peter

Carried over to Feb

Tiny imperfections by Frank, Alli 

Finished Jan 20. Light reading. Black admissions director at an elite private school in San Francisco

Under the whispering door by Klune, TJ

Finished Jan 26. A mysterious village tea shop is also a way station for those passing to the other side. Also has a gay love story. 

Checked out Jan 5:

Murder at the Majestic Hotel  (A Stella and Lyndy Mystery #4) McKenna, Clara

Finished Jan 7. Edwardian, sort of a locked room mystery. Set in York. 

Checked out Jan 10: (all carried over to Feb)

Anna May Wong : from laundryman's daughter to Hollywood legend

by Hodges, Graham Russell

The best American short stories 2021

Checked out Jan 18:  (all carried over to Feb)

The house of fortune : a novel by Jessie Burton

The miniaturist by Burton, Jessie

The shards by Ellis, Bret Easton

Checked out Jan 21:

Insurrecto by Apostol, Gina

Carried over to Feb

Night of the living rez by Talty, Morgan

Finished Jan 28. 

In the Time of Our History by Pari, Susanne

Finished Jan 30. Loved this story of Iranian/American family.

Checked out Jan 27:  (all carried over to Feb)

Moonrise over New Jessup by Minnicks, Jamila

The world and all that it holds by Hemon, Aleksandar

Mother ocean father nation by Batsha, Nishant

December 2022

A very strange month in which I finished only seven books!  But! I almost finished a long one (552 pages) which my housemate checked out on her card thinking I might like it. She was right:

Grand Hotel Europa by Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard 

After I finish it, I may get around to an end of year wrap up  -  or not.

A Curious Invitation: The Forty Greatest Parties in Literature by Field, Suzette 

Finished Dec 4. An enjoyable read. About time I got around to it. It's been on my kindle since December of 2014

This Is How We Love by Moore, Lisa 

Review copy via GoodReads giveaway. Not enjoying this at all. Probably won't finish it.

Checked out Nov 25

Agent Josephine : American beauty, French hero, British spy by Lewis, Damien

Finished Dec 8. Ok, but not the best.

Deer man : seven years of living in the wild by Delorme, Geoffroy

Finished Dec 10. Interesting read. Roe deer in France. 

Checked out Nov 28

Dogs of summer by Abreu, Andrea

Finished Dec 27. A short book that seemed to take forever to read. I kept setting it aside and forgetting about it. Meh girls coming of age in a boring summer.

Checked out Dec 10

Spaceman of Bohemia by Kalfar, Jaroslav

Finished Dec 12. Liked this one.

Checked out Dec 18

A dangerous business by Smiley, Jane

Finished Dec 20. Disappointing, rather boring "mystery" by an author I usually enjoy reading.

The performance by Petrucci, Claudia --carried forward into Jan

The tally stick by Nixon, Carl               --carried forward into January

Checked out Dec 22

The Bullet that misses (Thursday Murder Club #3)  by Osman, Richard

Finished Dec 26. Slightly better than the first two (which were pretty good).

Abandoned Airport near Athens, Greece, Set to be Transformed into Europe’s Largest Coastal Park by Maria-Cristina Florian

November 2022

Made some selection errors this month--several abandoned, skimmed, and ho hum books. BUT--there were two amazing biographies( Samuel Adams and George B.), a pleasant quirky mystery (The enigma of Room 622),  and a good enough family saga. My total read was a bit lower than usual but those two bios were long.

Carried over from October

France : an adventure history by Robb, Graham

  Decided not to read this (Nov12)

Girl at war by Nović, Sara

 Finished Nov 15. just ok

The enigma of Room 622 by Dicker, Joël

 Finished Nov 6. Liked it, liked it not, liked it, liked it not, liked it!

The marsh queen by Hartman, Virginia 

 Decided to skip this one--too slow. (Nov 3) Promoted "For fans of Where the Crawdads Sing..." Not!

Checked out Oct 29 

Maiden voyages : magnificent ocean liners and the women who traveled and worked aboard them by Evans, Siân

 Finished Nov 15. Fun somewhat gossipy account.

The Whalebone Theatre by Quinn, Joanna

 Finished Nov 3. Had a bit of trouble getting into this family saga but ended up really liking it 

The revolutionary : Samuel Adams by Schiff, Stacy

 Finished Nov 14 (a bit of skimming here and there) Enjoyed this though it covered a lot I already knew.

The singularities by Banville, John

 Abandoned Nov 8 (halfway through). The first half was  ok with interesting (singular) characters, but I just wasn't at all curious about where this was going.

We are the light by Quick, Matthew

  Abandoned Nov 11 (page 35). Too much Jung. And I didn't care for the slow reveal of what happened at the theater. 

Checked out Nov 15

Mr. B : George Balanchine's 20th century by Homans, Jennifer

 Finished Nov 29. Whew! (and I mean that in a good way.)

The rabbit hutch by Gunty, Tess

 Finished Nov 20. First 75 pages went rather smoothly and then it started to disintegrate. I find it hard to believe I only had it for five days; it felt like it took me a month to finish. Tedious.

October 2022

All books this month were from the public library. Some were great, many were good, and there were a few I just couldn't make it through.

Carry over from Sep  

The books of Jacob by Tokarczuk, Olga

 Abandoned Oct 12.  Read about 100 pages and enjoyed it, but not enough to want to read 800 more pages.

Checked out Sep 29 

Lucy by the sea : a novel by Strout, Elizabeth 

 Finished Oct 2. If, in a few years, anyone asks what the Pandemic Lockdown was like.....

Odinary grace : a novel by Krueger, William Kent  

 Finished Oct 11. Liked this much better than the Krueger I read last month.

Shrines of gaiety : a novel by Atkinson, Kate 

 Finished Oct 4. Overall a good romp, but a trifle slow at times.

The pastor by Ørstavik, Hanne; translated from the Norwegian by Aitken Martin

 Finished Oct 4. Meh...but it did make me curious about the Sámi.

The slow march of light : a novel : inspired by a true story of resilience and hope by Moore, Heather B.

 Finished Oct 10. Didn't care much for the mix of fact and fiction.

 

Checked out Oct 6 

Invisible ink : a novel by Modiano, Patrick

 Finished Oct 9. Of course I liked it; it's Modiano!
Jollof rice and other revolutions : a novel in interlocking stories by Ogunyemi, Omolola Ijeoma

 Finished Oct 8. Liked most of this one (except maybe the final story set in the future)
The Book of goose by Li, Yiyun

 Finished Oct 14. Really liked this one!
The sixteen trees of the Somme by Mytting, Lars

 Finished Oct 16. Really enjoyed this.
 

Checked out Oct 15

The Marriage Portrait by O'Farrell, Maggie

 Finished Oct 29. Lovely writing but too much of it. It felt "padded."  Also, I really get annoyed when writers of historical fiction change the names of historical characters to "...avoid confusion with other characters in the book." Seems a bit lazy--a good writer can write it so there is no confusion.

Nights of plague by Pamuk, Orhan

 Finished Oct 23. Excellence! 
The hero of this by book by McCracken, Eli

 Finished Oct 17. A slightly fictionalized memorial to her mother.
The village idiot by Stern, Steve

 Finished Oct 27. Nice bio-fic of the artist Chaim Soutine.
We spread by Reid, Iain

 Finished Oct 26. Excellent.

Checked out Oct 25 (last 4 carried over to November)

Art of the chicken : a master chef's paintings, stories, and recipes of the humble bird by Pépin, Jacques  

 Finished Oct 28.  Love the illustrations! A delightful surprise every time you turn a page. 

The cook by Kerangal, Maylis de

 Finished Oct 30. This fictional story of a cook was no where as good as the  Pépin book.

France : an adventure history by Robb, Graham

Girl at war by Nović, Sara

The enigma of Room 622 by Dicker, Joël

The marsh queen by Hartman, Virginia  (may not read this one)

 

Online:

The Untold Truth Of Fig Newtons by Mikaela Bloom

The Sami

Sharing Stories: A Brief Introduction to Sámi Literary History by Mathilde Magga