A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | AA | |
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1 | Title | Author | Date started | Date finished | Notes | Tags | |||||||||||||||||||||
2 | 4 | Beartown | Fredrik Backman | 1-25-18 | 2-4-18 | Manages to combine humor and poignancy. Many diverse perspectives within one small town. Deep and layered while also being a page-turner. Very good character development - everyone (with a few exceptions) is three-dimensional. Dark but not depressing or hopeless. Redemptive. Frustrating but ultimately satisfying. | Fiction; Sweden | ||||||||||||||||||||
3 | 3 | When Breath Becomes Air | Paul Kalanithi | 1-23-18 | 1-25-18 | Super sad but I didn't cry. Author had unbelievable clarity and frankness about his own death. Moving. | Memoir; non-fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
4 | 2 | How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids | Jancee Dunn | 1-20-18 | 1-22-18 | Thought-provoking. Made me feel good about my marriage. Loved that one thing dads should stop saying is "let's go see what mommy is doing." Lol. | Non-fiction; self-help; psychology | ||||||||||||||||||||
5 | - | Dead Wake | Erik Larson | 1-10-18 | Slow; I keep picking it up and putting it down. Story not grabbing me as much as I hoped. | Non-fiction; narrative non-fiction; history | |||||||||||||||||||||
6 | 1 | Deep Work | Cal Newport | 1-7-18 | 1-10-18 | Paradigm shifting, inspiring | Non-fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Daily Habits | 1-24-18 | Fascinating! I have been picking it up and putting it down. I do find it inspiring, in a weird way. It's fun to read in chunks when I need a boost. | Non-fiction; writing; art | |||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | 5 | Picnic at Hanging Rock | Joan Lindsay | 2-5-18 | 2-10-18 | Fun, compact little mystery, although the central mystery was never resolved. More about the impact of a mystery and how it affected one small community. | Fiction; mystery; Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||
9 | 6 | This Must Be The Place | Maggie O'Farrell | 2-10-18 | 2-19-18 | Good writing but I am not here for her Jennifer Egan-like experiments in form. Please spare us the precious footnotes! By the end of the book I was weary of the multiple perspectives and wanted more winnowing. Don't introduce Rosalind in the last 20% of the book. Either she matters as a perspective or she doesn't. I care about the main characters more and want to see their story in a more unfiltered way. Despite finding both Daniel and Claudette irritating at various points throughout the story, I did end up caring about their relationship and rooting for it to work, so... bravo, O'Farrell! | Fiction; Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||
10 | 7 | Crossing to Safety | Wallace Stegner | 2-19-18 | 2-28-18 | Absorbing without being hugely plot-driven. Very character-driven novel. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
11 | 22 | How to Break Up with Your Phone | Catherine Price | 3-1-18 | 3-10-18 | Good practical tips on changing relationship with phone. | Non-fiction; advice | ||||||||||||||||||||
12 | 8 | Force of Nature | Jane Harper | 2-28-18 | 3-6-18 | Thriller about woman who disappears on a corporate retreat in the Australian bush. Wondering if there were deliberate echoes of Picnic at Hanging Rock. | Fiction; Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||
13 | 9 | Lincoln in the Bardo | George Saunders | 3-6-18 | 3-11-18 | Confusing format at first, but the writing was enough to keep me reading. Once you adjust to the format, it goes fast. Extracts emotions so powerfully, so simply. Such well crafted characters. Moving, beautiful. | Fiction; experimental; Man Booker prize | ||||||||||||||||||||
14 | 10 | Death on the Nile | Agatha Christie | 3-11-18 | 3-16-18 | Great read. You see why Christie is the queen of mystery. Love a good Poirot! | Fiction; mystery | ||||||||||||||||||||
15 | - | Bored and Brilliant | Manoush Zomorodi | 3-16-18 | Can't really get into this. I think I've read too many self-help books in the last few months and I'm saturated. | Non-fiction; self-help; psychology | |||||||||||||||||||||
16 | 11 | More Than You Know | Beth Gutcheon | 3-16-18 | 3-21-18 | Creepy but also moving and sad. Should not have read this while trying to fall asleep! I liked the Maine setting and the historical details. | Fiction; ghost story; Maine | ||||||||||||||||||||
17 | 14 | State of Wonder | Ann Patchett | 4-1-18 | 4-7-18 | Wonderful writing. Patchett is so good at creating lush, intricate settings. Some of the characters are so well-drawn (others less so). I was totally engaged and WITH this book and rooting for Marina (and Anders, and Easter) but I HATED when Marina and Anders slept together. That felt unnecessary and untrue to their relationship and to who they were as people. It spoiled the whole ending of the book for me and I couldn't really let the rest of the story (and its conclusion) wash over me once I read that. | Fiction; Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||
18 | 12 | The Great Alone | Kristin Hannah | 3-22-18 | 4-1-18 | Absorbing story, although the writing was not the best. Lots of emotional twists and turns. Felt a bit too tied up neatly at the end. | Fiction; Alaska | ||||||||||||||||||||
19 | 13 | Single State of Mind | Andi Dorfman | 3-22-18 | 4-2-18 | Stupid. So, so stupid. | Non-fiction; memoir; reality TV | ||||||||||||||||||||
20 | 14 | Stay With Me | Ayobami Adebayo | 4-7-18 | 4-11-18 | Heartbreaking. Had to put it down and read something else at one point because it was too sad. At some point I wondered if the suffering was too much and what the point was. Felt hopeless. The ending was redemptive but damn, a lot of suffering! So sad. | Fiction; Nigeria | ||||||||||||||||||||
21 | 15 | Home Fire | Kamila Shamsie | 4-8-18 | 4-16-18 | Apparently based on Antigone, which I have no knowledge of. Sad and frustrating from both sides of the story. | Fiction; UK; Pakistan; Syria | ||||||||||||||||||||
22 | 16 | From Here To Eternity | Caitlyn Doughty | 4-17-18 | 4-24-18 | Book about the death industry in the US and death practices around the world. Doughty is really funny but the book's tone is very respectful. Food for thought in terms of why we do funerals and post-death practices the way we do. | Non-fiction; | ||||||||||||||||||||
23 | 17 | Fresh Complaint | Jeffrey Eugenides | 4-17-18 | 4-26-18 | Love Eugenides, even when I kind of hate him. | Fiction; short stories | ||||||||||||||||||||
24 | - | Peace Like a River | Leif Enger | 4-24-18 | - | Not for me. Read about 20% and was done. Can't with the "aw shucks" style. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
25 | 18 | Heads of the Colored People | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | 4-26-18 | 4-30-18 | Interesting and of-the-moment short stories/vignettes. Liked how many of the stories were connected/characters overlapped. Funny but also sharp. | Fiction; short stories; vignettes; African-American | ||||||||||||||||||||
26 | 19 | A Man Called Ove | Fredrik Backman | 4-30-18 | 5-6-18 | As I read, I'm worrying that it's treading too far into the maudlin/charicature, but I am enjoying it enough to keep reading. Backman is funny and I like the characters (especially Ove). In the end, I still feel that this book was a bit TOO feel good for me, although I did like it. | Fiction; Sweden | ||||||||||||||||||||
27 | - | One True Thing | Anna Quindlen | 5-3-18 | This might be too depressing even for me. Life is too short for depressing literature with no upside. | Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||
28 | 20 | An American Marriage | Tayari Jones | 5-6-18 | 5-13-18 | Very gripping story. She manages to make the reader sympathize with all three characters, even as all three are making mistakes. | Fiction; African-American | ||||||||||||||||||||
29 | - | The Largesse of the Sea Maiden | Denis Johnson | 5-13-18 | Not into it. Thought this was an Adam Johnson collection when I bought it. Oops. | Fiction; short stories | |||||||||||||||||||||
30 | 21 | Bachelor Nation | Amy Kaufman | 5-14-18 | 5-24-18 | Fun read! Nothing about this surprises me but I love reading it, anyway. | Non-fiction; reality television | ||||||||||||||||||||
31 | 23 | The Female Persuasion | Meg Wolitzer | 5-14-18 | 6-1-18 | I go back and forth on Wolitzer. Para to para, her writing is great but sometimes feels overworked. I always have complicated feelings about her novels and the characters she creates. This book, as I'm reading it, feels long. Sometimes it drags. There are long sections of character backstory that I want to skim through. I get what she's trying to do but the novel feels overstuffed. I came around on it by the end but could have done with less Faith Frank. Was more compelled by Greer and Cory. | Fiction; | ||||||||||||||||||||
32 | 25 | Pachinko | Min Jin Lee | 6-1-18 | 7-1-18 | Epic, beautiful family saga. So engaging, touches on so many human emotions. | Fiction; Korea; Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||
33 | 24 | The Magpie Murders | Anthony Horowitz | 6-3-18 | 6-20-18 | Bought this in the airport. Not great. In fact, mediocre. Don't know why I insisted on finishing it. | Fiction; UK; mystery | ||||||||||||||||||||
34 | 26 | Calypso | David Sedaris | 7-10-18 | 7-20-18 | LOVE THIS SO MUCH and did not want it to end. Sedaris is a genius. | Non-fiction; memoir; humor | ||||||||||||||||||||
35 | Her Body and Other Parties | Carmen Maria Machado | 7-1-18 | The Husband's Stitch was recommended to me by fellow participants at Kenyon. I had trouble engaging with this story and kept putting it down. I read a few of the other stories. They are roundly creepy. Well-written but perhaps not for me. I am not able to engage fully with this collection. I gave it to Al in case it grabs him more. | Fiction; short stories | ||||||||||||||||||||||
36 | 27 | This Cake is for the Party | Sarah Selecky | 7-20-18 | 7-22-18 | Excellent stories. Was sad when this book ended. Where Are You Coming From, Sweetheart? is a masterpiece. | Fiction; short stories | ||||||||||||||||||||
37 | 34 | The Ensemble | Aja Gabel | 6-22-18 | 9-5-18 | Aja is a really good writer and I admire her character development and exploration of the inner lives of these four characters. I wished at times for more plot momentum. This book is very "literary," in that it focuses more on the emotional arcs of the characters than the forward movement of the plot. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
38 | 29 | Delicious Foods | James Hannaham | 7-1-18 | 7-31-18 | Fascinating and unique. The writing is so bold and descriptive and the voice is so one-of-a-kind, plus the story is gripping and disturbing. Hannaham manages to inject moments of humor into even the darkest scenarios. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
39 | 28 | Standard Deviation | Katherine Heiny | 7-23-18 | 7-30-18 | Recommended by Yohanca. Wasn't sure when I read the back copy but I am so sucked in by the characters and the intrigue. Heiny is super-funny, too. I have been LOL-ing as I read. A sweet portrait of an imperfect family. I want to read more of Heiny's work. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
40 | 30 | Circe | Madeline Miller | 7-31-18 | 8-18-18 | Fun, moves right along without being terribly plot-heavy. Evocative world-building. Interesting character. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
41 | The Pushcart Prizes 2018 | [Various] | The best of the best! I've read maybe 1/3 of the stories in here and it would probably take me several months to read the whole thing. The quality of these stories is so high; what a great collection. | Fiction; short stories | |||||||||||||||||||||||
42 | 31 | Less | Andrew Sean Greer | 8-18-18 | 8-23-18 | Funny and poignant. Quick read. Wonderful writing in the moment but I wonder if this book will stick with me. I did not totally buy the love story. | Fiction; Pulitzer Prize winner | ||||||||||||||||||||
43 | 33 | You Think It, I'll Say It | Curtis Sittenfeld | 8-15-18 | 9-1-18 | A mix. Some stories were very compelling and others, not so much. Too many of her characters are indistinguishable from each other and I am tired of the post-boarding school person in their 40s as MC. But, the stories where she struck out in a different direction were great (the girl with OCD, for example). Overall a quick and enjoyable collection. | Fiction; short stories | ||||||||||||||||||||
44 | 32 | Bad Blood | John Carreyrou | 8-24-18 | 8-29-18 | Un-put-downable! So fascinating and disturbing. True story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, | Non-fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
45 | 35 | Take My Hand | Megan Abbott | 9-1-18 | 9-7-18 | Good but I can already tell it won't stick with me. Not as gripping for me as her previous two books. Didn't care enough about either main character. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
46 | 44 | Florida | Lauren Groff | 9-8-18 | 11-6-18 | Can't decide how I feel about this collection. Some of the stories are unforgettable (the two little girls abandoned on an island) but others I did not enjoy and slid away from my brain once I was finished with them. Also some were just downright irritating/overdone/not good. Frustrating. I did love the last story because it touched on heavy emotions around parenting, anxiety, and loneliness. Some of the others felt shallower. | Fiction; short stories | ||||||||||||||||||||
47 | 37 | The Blind Assassin | Margaret Atwood | 9-11-18 | 9-25-18 | Love Atwood's writing. Gorgeous and deep while still carrying a gripping plot. | Fiction; Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
48 | 36 | Pure | Linda Kay Klein | 9-18-18 | 9-22-18 | Part memoir, part uncovering of the impact of the Evangelical purity movement on women's sexuality. | Non-fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
49 | 39 | Scythe | Neal Shusterman | 9-25-18 | 10-08-18 | Haven't read a YA book in a while. Took me some time to get into this book. The world-building is good (with some lingering questions) and the dilemma is interesting but for some reason I wanted to sink deeper into a stranger world and this one is not as compelling as, say, the world Lois Lowry created in The Giver. | Fiction; YA | ||||||||||||||||||||
50 | 38 | The Woman in the Window | A.J. Finn | 9-26-18 | 10-1-18 | Gripping read, well-written. I saw one of the main twists coming quite early in the book, but the next couple were more surprising (although I was suspicious of the character who turned out to be bad). Fun page-turner. | Fiction; thriller | ||||||||||||||||||||
51 | 40 | The Incendiaries | R.O. Kwan | 10-9-18 | 10-14-18 | This prose is not for me. Feels overwritten and florid. The plot drags. I hate all of the characters. I didn't HATE this book but I didn't like it and don't understand why her writing has been so lauded. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
52 | 42 | Alias Grace | Margaret Atwood | 10-15-18 | 10-29-18 | Love Atwood's writing, but took me a while to warm up to this one. Once I was engaged in the story and cared about Grace as a character, it started clicking. | Fiction; Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
53 | The Essex Serpent | Sarah Perry | 11-1-18 | This is dragging for me. 30% of the way in and I am not sure I can muster up enough enthusiasm to keep reading. | Fiction; UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||
54 | 43 | And Now We Have Everything | Meaghan O'Connell | 10-30-18 | 11-11-18 | Instantly so relatable and moving. The stuff about breastfeeding in particular, oof. One of the best accounts of what early motherhood feels like that I've ever read. | Non-fiction; memoir | ||||||||||||||||||||
55 | 41 | Priestdaddy | Patricia Lockwood | 10-24-18 | 10-28-18 | I could not put this down. Lockwood's voice is so unique, which is fitting, given her extremely unique family. I laughed out loud many times reading this, but other parts covered very difficult, emotionally taxing terrain. The writing feels poetic without being belabored. Fascinating. | Non-fiction; memoir | ||||||||||||||||||||
56 | The Little Book of Hygge | Meik Wiking | 10-28-18 | More of a book to browse than to read all the way through | Non-fiction; Denmark | ||||||||||||||||||||||
57 | 44 | Half of a Yellow Sun | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 11-11-18 | 12-10-18 | Love Adichie's writing. This book immediately absorbed me into its world. Her characters are so vivid and so relatable. There were several scenes toward the back quarter of the book that made me tear up - the subject matter is so intense and tragic, and the characters are forced into situations in which they don't always make the right choices. Really impressed with her ability to balance the character development with the overwhelming chaos/tragedy unfolding around them. | Fiction; Nigeria | ||||||||||||||||||||
58 | 45 | A Place for Us | Fatima Mirza | 11-13-18 | 12-11-18 | I am enjoying this book although it is not plot-heavy. It's more a collection of memories of this particular family. The characters are well-developed, the writing is good, but it does drag at points, especially toward the middle. Once the conflict becomes clear and the characters begin to confront each other, things pick up. And by the end I was fully invested in the life of this family. The ending was satisfying without tying things into a neat bow. Very emotionally resonant. | Fiction | ||||||||||||||||||||
59 | 46 | Radiant Shimmering Light | Sarah Selecky | 12-12-18 | 12-24-18 | Selecky is such an interesting writer. This book's perspective is so close first person that at first I found it claustrophobic, but it's an intentional choice to illustrate the extent to which Lilian's life is saturated by social media, self-criticism, and "self help" talk. The themes in the book are fascinating to me, especially considering the plot of the first novel I wrote. The ending of this book was unsatisfying and disjointed. I wanted more from Lillian, a stronger break from Eleven, and more certainty about what happened to Eleven. The ending felt abrupt. | Fiction; Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
60 | Spinning Silver | Naomi Novick | 12-24-18 | Cannot get into this. The book seems to revolve around one of the main character's efforts to turn silver into gold by selling things. The focus on commerce is dull and I am not engaged with the story or invested in the outcome. | Fiction; Fantasy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
61 | 47 | Kingdom of the Blind | Louise Penny | 12-25-18 | 12-30-18 | God, I missed these books! Louise Penny is a master at this form. One quibble: someone needs to tell her that the term "trannie" is not okay. She's clearly well-meaning and handles her transgender character(s) with sympathy but the terminology is off. | Fiction; mystery; Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
62 | And the Sea Will Tell | Vincent Bugliosi | 12-30-18 | Juicy true-crime thriller from the early '90s about a murder on Palmyra Atoll. | Non-ficton; true crime | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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