AGAIN, I Didn't Get to My 100 Book Goal for 2021, But...

...I improved on 2020, when I only read thirty!

Last year had a lot of the same issues as 2020, like That Knee That Wouldn't Cooperate, the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic mess, and another major appliance replaced.  Ugh.  The funk I was in at the end of 2020 let up for a few months, then came crashing back down on me later in the year.  But I read 57 books - a big improvement.

I read two of Betty MacDonald's (The Egg and I) memoirs; she wrote four, and I have read every one now.  All are well written and, at times, hilarious!  

Another set of memoirs - two from Beverly Cleary, who died last March at the age of 104!  She's the genius behind the books about Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby, Ribsy, et al; they should be required reading for elementary-aged kids.  

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is basically a gorgeous picture book ostensibly for children, but adults will get something out of it, too.

The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu is about the struggle to collect and preserve the art, culture, and literature of Timbuktu in the midst of war and genocide - which nobody seems to hear anything about.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a novel based on the real-life "Blue People of Kentucky."  Search for information on these people who live way back in the hollers of Appalachia, and read the book.  There are a couple of anachronisms (on purpose) in the book, but they are explained in the Afterword.

Here are recommendations from my 2021 reading list:

• The Bridge Ladies - Betsy Lerner
• Onions in the Stew - Betty MacDonald
• The Plague and I - Betty MacDonald
• D-Day Girls:  The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII - Sarah Rose
• The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts - Joshua Hammer
• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy
• Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - Eric Metaxas
• On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King
• The Girl from Yamhill:  A Memoir - Beverly Cleary
• My Own Two Feet - Beverly Cleary
• The Diversity Delusion:  How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture - Heather MacDonald
• Irreversible Damage:  The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters - Abigail Shrier
• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - Kim Michele Richardson
• Tisha:  The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness - Robert Specht
• Dewey:  The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World - Vicki Myron
• A Single Thread - Tracy Chevalier

If you want to see the full list, click here.

Books I Read in 2019

It's early 2020 (not as early as I would prefer!) and time to look back at last year's reading accomplishments.

My goal this past year was again 100 books, and I did NOT even get close!  I read 59 books.  Again, I got irritated by several books - a lot more than last year (poor choices on my part, or misleading synopses, perhaps), and so quit reading them before I got all the way through, but I finished most of them.:

So here's the overview of my reading this year, plus some recommendations - both books to read and books to avoid, just like last year.

Memoirs were again a big part of my reading this past year - sixteen!  Last year, I read seventeen, but read twice as many books, so the percentage of memoirs this year has nearly doubled!  Recommendations:  Mr. Ding's Chicken Feet:  On a Slow Boat from Shanghai to Texas; Cleo:  How an Uppity Cat Helped Heal a Family (make sure you have a couple of skids of tissues for this one); The Old Ways:  A Journey on Foot; Thunder Dog:  The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero; and Don't Sing at the Table:  Life Lessons from My Grandmothers.  Memoirs to avoid at all costs:  Not Taco Bell Material (I got really tired of Adam Corolla); Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube:  Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North (I couldn't even make it through the first few pages - life is too short to spend on something like this); and Midnight Chicken:  & Other Recipes Worth Living For (not terrible, but not at all what I expected - an okay premise - cooking saved her sanity - but not well executed).

Shockingly, NO books on religion or kids' books this year!  I wonder why that is?  Have to cogitate on that.

As usual, lots of cozy mysteries.  I read a TON of cozies from M. C. Beaton and Marion Chesney (they're the same person!) - not great literature, but fun to read and a little addictive.  I'm still reading her stuff, especially the Agatha Raisin series.  The main character is kind of a train wreck, but I just can't quit!  I want to know what's next.

I got on a knitting kick later in the year, so there were several books, both fiction and non-fiction, with knitting/wool themes.  Recommendations:  The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society and At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much (not as serious as it sounds - some of the entries were hilarious!).   To avoid:  Craft Activism:  People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In (how to make political and social statements with handmade items and to "bring awareness" to issues, but NOT how to actually HELP anybody as you might by making hats, gloves, and scarves for the homeless - pompous and self-congratulatory - UGH).

I read several non-fiction/history books.  Recommendations:  A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War (how WWI influenced the work of J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis); The Almost Nearly Perfect People:  Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia (the title says it all); The Indifferent Stars Above:  The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride (WOW);  Ravensbruck:  Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women; The Last Jew of Treblinka; and The Case for Nationalism:  How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free (EXCELLENT!).  To avoid:  We Two:  Victoria and Albert:  Rulers, Partners, Rivals (this got really repetitious - okay, we get it - Albert was smarter than Victoria, and actually made most of the political decisions of her reign after they were married - geezo Pete).  

Again, there were some surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant.  First the bad.  The Curse of the Bridal Chamber is a mystery - both its plot and how it ever got published.  UGH.  Two spunky old ladies, their gay nephew and his partner, and a bulldog, set at a mermaid convention in Florida.  Sounds like fun, but...!  As I said in my Goodreads review, "the characters were all annoying and did illogical things. The dog was a prop, and contributed nothing to the story."  Just pitiable.  And I did read the whole thing.  My mistake.  I kept thinking it would improve.  Alas, no.

Gingerbread, by Helen Oyeyem.  What can I say?  Weird.  Just.  Too.  Weird.  A total waste of time, although there were plenty of fabulous reviews.  

Now for the good.  Several novels:  The Colors of All the Cattle (The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series - always a good choice!); Leopard at the Door; and A Column of Fire (Ken Follett - great as always).  And a collection of essays and articles, Things That Matter:  Three Decades of Passions, Passtimes, and Politics, by Charles Krauthammer.  Great writing.  Good humor and baseball.  Intelligent, insightful, and logical political analysis.  I actually got this as an audiobook from the library, and more than half was read by the author himself.  I thoroughly enjoyed them all.  Krauthammer died last June.  A great loss.

If you want to see the complete list of the books I read this year, click here.

Books I Read in 2018

It's the beginning of the new year and time to look back at last year's accomplishments.

My reading goal this past year was 100 books, and I beat it!  I read either 108 or 105 books, depending on how you want to count The Spiderwick Chronicles since they are technically four separate, but very short, books.  I'll admit I got irritated by a few books, and so quit reading them before I got all the way through, but I finished almost all of them.

So here's an overview of my reading adventures this year, plus some recommendations - both books to read and books to avoid.

I had a thing for books about World War II this year, and I didn't get stuck with any dogs.  The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, The Baker's Secret, Dear Mrs. Bird, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society are all books I'd recommend.  All.  Of.  Them.  I think Dear Mrs. Bird was the best, though, closely followed by The Baker's Secret.

Memoirs were a big part of my reading this past year - seventeen books!  Hiding in the Light, As You Wish, Belles on Their Toes, I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had, and Reasons to Stay Alive are at the top of my recommendations.  Hiding in the Light (Rivqa Bary) is about a Muslim girl who converted to Christianity and her escape from her family - in the United States.  As You Wish (Cary Elwes) is about filming The Princess Bride - inconceivable!!!  I'd Like to Apologize (Tony Danza - yes, THAT Tony Danza) is about the year he spent as a history teacher in an inner-city high school - excellent!  Reasons to Stay Alive (Matt Haig) chronicles his struggles with mental illness and how he has been able to deal with it.

Religion included Hiding in the Light (TWO categories!), Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, Answering Jihad, and three more.  The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) is not only long, but dense and repetitive.  I just couldn't get through it.  I admit I gave up.  Probably something to do with the translation from German.  And German theologians.  Whew!

Lots of cozy mysteries.  I found a new author to follow - Sophie Kelly's Magical Cats series is just plain fun.  And I found a couple of authors to avoid - Miranda James and Maddie Day.  Miranda James's main character is boring.  That's the only way I can describe him.  Ugh.  And I thought I'd enjoy Maddie Day's books because they're set in southern Indiana.  The plots aren't bad, but the reader is beaten to death by the heavy-handed way she gives clues.  Again, ugh.

Several self-help type things.  Top of the list is The ONE Thing (Gary Keller) - WOW.  The Art of Thinking Clearly (Rolf Dobelli), not so much.  In fact, the bottom.  He can't get past his own biases, saying that anyone who believes in God or practices a religion can't think clearly.  The Art of X-Ray Reading (Roy Peter Clark) is an excellent look at how to read great books in order to improve your own writing.

A few books for kids.  I enjoyed Nim's Island (Wendy Orr), and I re-read Henry Huggins (Beverly Cleary) - WOW.  I'd forgotten just how great this book is.  I plan to work my way through her books this year.  I can hardly wait!

Another book I re-read is Christy (Catherine Marshall) - another great book I'd kind of forgotten about.  It's the story of the author's mother, who went into Appalachia as a young, single, female missionary (unheard of!) in the early 1900s.