brewergirl's 75 book list 2014

Also see my thread in the 2014 Read Our Own Tomes (ROOT) group.

January ... 6 books (plus 2 abandoned) ... see message 4
February ... 7 books (plus 3 re-reads) ... see message 8
March ... 2 books ... see message 11
April ... 3 books ... see message 12
May ... 8 books (plus 2 re-reads) ... see message 13
June ... 5 books ... see message 16
July ... 4 books ... see message 17
August ... 1 book (plus 2 re-reads) ... see message 18
September ... 12 books (plus 1 re-read) ... see message 19
October ... 2 books ... see message 22

Welcome back!

Hi - I'm also a member of the ROOT group this year. First time for both groups for me.

January Progress

#1: The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough ... This is the first in a series and was highly recommended by my nephew. Very good.

#2: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman ... I picked this up after binge-watching the Netflix series.

#3: Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe ... I had forgotten how much I enjoyed his humor! Funny but unbelievable farce set in 1970s South Africa.

ABANDONED: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian ... This was my 3rd attempt to read this book ... I tried the audiobook as well. I got further this time but it just didn't capture my attention, so I've moved on.

#4: Shroder by Amity Gaige ... I heard her speak at the Boston Book Festival last fall. The book was okay. It is supposed to be a letter/explanation by a man to his estranged wife after he takes their daughter for 6 days without telling her, but the format didn't ring true for me. (I can't get the touchstone for the book title to work.)

#5: Queen's Own Fool: A Novel of Mary Queen of Scots by Jane Yolen ... A charming historical fiction about Mary Queen of Scots told from the perspective of her fool. Very enjoyable.

ABANDONED: The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates ... I just couldn't finish it. As I commented over on my ROOT thread, it kills me to say I have "abandoned" The Accursed because I read 510 pages (!) of this 667 page novel and just couldn't finish it. I enjoyed the first half but it lost me ... or I lost it ... who knows.

#6: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde ... I read this as part of One LibraryThing, One Book. Not bad. I will be curious to see what the discussion is like in the group.

Hey, I found and starred you!

Yay!

I updated message 4 with my January reading. Most of it is duplicated with my ROOT reading list.

February Progress

#7: One of Ours by Willa Cather ... Had this on the shelf and saw it referenced on one of the World War I reading links. I loved O Pioneers and My Antonia. This one was excellent as well.

RE-READ: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot ... I re-read this for my book group. Very interesting discussion of medical ethics and the impact on a particular family.

RE-READ: The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman ... I re-read this as part of my World War I reading for this year. Very good, but I skipped over a lot of the battle details and focused on the bigger picture.

#8: She Left Me The Gun by Emma Brockes ... An interesting memoir/biography of the author's mother and her life growing up in South Africa.

#9: Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks ... I love P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves books. This is a great homage to those works! Very entertaining!

#10: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks ... I found this on a World War I thread here on LT. Very good.

RE-READ: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell ... I read this years ago but re-read/skimmed it because my book group was reading it. Still very interesting. I had forgotten that it had a section on cultural/regional background. It reminded me of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America.

#11: Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar ... I heard him speak at the Boston Book Festival and so picked up his book. Nice suspenseful story set in Maine about your past coming back to haunt you.

#12: Taft 2012 by Jason Heller ... Entertaining book about President William Howard Taft appearing in 2012 and getting back into politics.

#13: The Dinner by Herman Koch ... I'm not sure what to say about it. Well written but disturbing.

Great list for February! I need to get back to Jeeves - such fun.

Updated my February reading in message 8.

March progress

#14: The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman ... Very interesting. Each chapter has a different focus on a different country/area. Some were more interesting than others. I really loved the chapter on the US, partly because it focused on a Congressman from Maine!

#15: Canada by Richard Ford ... A book group read. Pretty good.

April progress

Well, April was a bust as far as finishing books. I did plenty of reading but didn't get a book "finished." On to May! I found that I DID finish a couple of books in April!

#16: Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? by David Fromkin ... A good read. I really enjoyed his A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922.

#17: Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves ... A good memoir focusing on WWI.

#18: Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo ... Another WWI book telling of a soldier's experience in flashback.

May progress

#19: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson ... Another book group read. Not too bad but disturbing.

#20: Land Girls by Angela Huth ... Novel focusing on "land girls" in England during WWII, who went to work on farms while men were fighting.

#21: The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan ... A great history of various countries in Europe prior to and leading up to WWI. I also enjoyed her Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World.

#22: You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt ... Loosely based on the Samantha Smith story and her letter to Yuri Andropov in the 1980s.

#23: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson ... Excellent story of a girl/woman who is born over and over, with each life taking a slightly different path from the one before.

#24: The Good House by Ann Leary ... Heard her at the Boston Book Festival and picked up the book. Interesting story of woman struggling with alcohol.

#25: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline ... Based on real life event where orphans from East coast were sent on trains to be adopted by people in midwest. A book club read.

#26: The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty ... Picked this up ages ago and never read it. A man deals with his grief by riding his bike from Rhode Island to California.

RE-READ: Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers ... I would have sworn I never read this but my LibraryThing catalog tells me differently. Oops!

RE-READ: Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship by Clif Christopher ... I suggested this to my pastor a few years ago. Using it as a focus for our budget and stewardship committees at church.

I made some corrections to my entries for April and May. I thought I hadn't read anything in April, but I actually did finish some. So I'm still a bit behind schedule ... but not as much as I'd thought!

Nice list, Martha!

June progress

#27: Big Brother by Lionel Shriver ... Not as good as We Need To Talk About Kevin but better than So Much For That.

#28: One For The Money by Janet Evanovich ... My first time reading Janet Evanovich. I was inspired to read it by a co-worker. We had to interview co-workers for an exercise, and I asked her what literary character she would be. Her answer was: "Lula from the Stephanie Plum books ... but without the hooker part ... or the fashion sense."

#29: Regeneration by Pat Barker ... Picked this up as part of my World War I reading. Very good.

#30: Joyland by Stephen King ... I found a few Stephen King books on my shelf that I hadn't read yet.

#31: Secret Language by Monica Wood ... I enjoyed When We Were the Kennedys but hadn't read any of her fiction, so I got this at the library.

July progress

#32: Breathe: A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief, and Family Conflict by Kelly Kittel ... This is a memoir by a cousin of mine (2nd cousin once removed, to be exact). Her 15-month-old son was killed when a car backed over him in the driveway, and then another son died in utero just as she was preparing to give birth.

#33: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King ... Another that was on my shelf that I hadn't read yet. This is the sequel to The Shining.

#34: The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta ... Picked this up to read it before watching the series on HBO.

#35: Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle ... Read for book group. Very good.

August progress

RE-READ: The Giver by Lois Lowry ... Re-read this before the movie comes out. I also learned that she lives in Maine ... not sure how I never realized that before.

#36: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker ... Very good tale about a golem and jinni/genie meeting in turn of the century New York.

RE-READ: Tenth of December by George Saunders ... re-read for book group

September progress

#37: The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas ... Heard about this one on a BBC podcast. A man slaps a child (not his own) at a barbecue. Each chapter tells the viewpoint of a different person.

#38: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde ... First in a series aimed at younger readers. Perfect primer for future readers of The Eyre Affair et al.

#39: A Town Like Alice by Nevil Chute ... Not sure why I put this on my TBR list, but I enjoyed it. Listened as an audiobook.

#40: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy ... Read this at the suggestion of someone at book group. Very well written memoir of a woman who had part of her jaw removed as a child. Pairs well with Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Grealy's friend Ann Patchett.

#41: Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett ... Memoir of her friendship with Lucy Grealy.

RE-READ: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman ... Re-read quickly before book group. Originally read May 2013.

#42: Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach ... Meh. It was alright but not one of my favorites.

#43: Kings and Queens by Eleanor Farjeon ... This is a wonderful book of poems about the British monarchs. I discovered this through a librarian friend.

#44: Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth ... I loved the series on PBS, and the book was excellent as well. I found there are 2 more books in the series so will have to check those out as well.

#45: The Long Way Home by Louise Penny ... The latest in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. Not my favorite but still very good.

#46: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller ... Pretty good story about a post-flu apocalyptic US.

#47: The Treble Wore Trouble by Mark Schweitzer ... Another in the Liturgical Mystery series. Great fun!

#48: America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story by Bruce Feiler ... Very good look at the Moses/Exodus story as it relates to the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, the Civil War, etc.

Just discovered I forgot to list Triangle: The Fire That Changed America in my July reading. Updating now.

That is a very long list! Good job!

October progress

#49: Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi ... I'm not sure what to make of this one. Beautiful writing.

#50: A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink ... Very good look at left- and right-brain thinking.

Last quarter of the year was a bit of a bust as far as reading goes. On to 2015!