Moneypenny's 2019 Reading Log

Hi there!

Welcome to my 2019 reading log! I'm a cybersecurity project manager and am married to a lovely man who works long, intense hours as a Toyota finance manager. We've got a feisty French bulldog (Bibi) and a sweet kitty boy (Poptart). If I'm not with them, I've got my nose in a book! I'll read anything and everything you hand me but am most at home in the fantasy/sci-fi realm.

I originally started tracking my reading here as a way to recover from the burnout of a particularly intense graduate program but quickly discovered that this is one of the best places on the entire internet. I've participated in this challenge every year since 2014. I hit 75 books read in 2016, 150 in 2017, and over 200 in 2018 (yes I'm shocked too).

I'm not aiming anywhere near that high in 2019. I'm anticipating a particularly grueling year at work and most excitingly Mr. Moneypenny and I are moving to my home state of Colorado! I left Colorado in 2014 to work on my master's degree and somehow wound up with a Hoosier husband and a job in Ohio. I'm definitely not a midwest kind of girl: I need mountains and low humidity to thrive and I couldn't be more excited to be moving my little family back to the most beautiful place on earth.

I'm also going to structure my reading more heavily this year. I read a lot of trash and plain not-good books in 2018. In an effort to combat this, I'm going to be heavily reading classics and will be participating in the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2019 reading challenge and the Carrots for Michaelmas (Haley Stewart's blog focused on Catholic living) CathLIT challenge. The Modern Mrs. Darcy challenge will hopefully help me read 10 sure-fire books and the CathLIT challenge will expand my religious/philosophy reading. I'll include details on all three challenges below.

As always, I'm going to continue to heavily utilize my excellent local library and the fine library that Mr. Moneypenny and I have built up over the years while keeping the book expenditure to a minimum.

Thanks for stopping by! Drop a note so I can follow along with what you're reading!

Classics on tap for 2019

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: I knew I wanted to include at least one Dickens on this list and it was an intense struggle between this and Bleak House. Ultimately I went with this one because I dimly remember reading it in high school and am hoping that the prior exposure will help ease me into Dickens' writing style.

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: To date, I've read 5 retellings of this but have never read the original. I figured it was high time to change that.

3. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: When my sister (a librarian and opera singer) found out that I was going to emphasize classics in 2019, she made a very strong case for including her favorite Austen in the list.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: I distinctly remember reading this in third grade and enjoying it immensely despite not really getting it. Here's hoping that adult Moneypenny likes it as much as baby Moneypenny did.

5. Middlemarch by George Elliot: Another sister recommendation as well as one I've seen floating around Catholic Instagram quite frequently.

6. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: This is Mr. M's second favorite book (and movie) so it was a natural pick for this list.

7. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott: Mr. M's all-time favorite book, how could I not include it?

8. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset: This has been recommended so many times by so many different church friends that I couldn't not include it.

9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo: It was a tossup between this or Les Miserables. Dense French literature for the win!

10. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: This has been on my TBR list for at least a decade.

So tell me, lovely LT readers, what have I missed? What are your favorite classics that I absolutely must read?

Welcome back! Those are some good ones!

Modern Mrs. Darcy 2019 Reading Challenge

I'm going to cheat and have some major overlap for both challenges and my classics list. I figure this is my log and I make the rules :D I'm still figuring out what to read for each of these, so consider this entry under construction.

1. A book you've been meaning to read: Anna Karenina

2. A book about a topic that fascinates you:

3. A book in the backlist of a favorite author: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

4. A book recommended by someone with great taste:

5. Three books by the same author: I think I'm going to cheat here. I've already got Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility in my classics list, so I'll round out this category with Persuasion.

6. A book you chose for the cover:

7. A book by an author who is new to you:

8. A book in translation: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

9. A book outside your (genre) comfort zone:

10. A book published before you were born: Great Expectations

Carrots For Michaelmas 2019 CathLIT Reading Challenge

The purpose of this challenge is to read more explicitly Catholic and philosophical works. This is an area of my reading life that I've sorely neglected so I was tickled to see Haley's challenge.

1. A spiritual memoir: My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell

2. A classic spiritual work: Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux finished 2/8; 5 stars

3. A book about Mary: The World's First Love by Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen

4. Book by a Catholic novelist: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

5. Book by a pope: Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI or Man and Woman He Created Them by St. John Paul II

6. Book by a Catholic woman: The Privilege of Being a Woman by Alice von Hildebrand or Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

7. Book about the liturgy: The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn or Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre

8. Book by an early church father: On Faith, Hope, and Love by St. Augustine

9. A conversion story: Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
Finished 1/15; 3 stars

10. A book about apologetics: Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton or Why I Am Catholic by Brandon Vogt

11. A book by an Orthodox Christian: Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

12. A hagiography: St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by G.K. Chesterton

13. A long Catholic book: In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden or The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien or Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

15. A book by a Catholic philosopher: Aquinas's Shorter Summa by St. Thomas Aquinas or After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre or Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

16. Book by a saint: Life of Christ by Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen

17. Book by a non-Catholic that all the Catholics are reading: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

18. Book about a Catholic monarch: The Once and Future King by T.H. White

19. A recently published Catholic book: One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler or Girl, Arise! by Claire Swinarski

ooh, I'm interested in your CathLIT challenge; I'll definitely be looking for those books in your thread and maybe getting some recommendations.

Emma is my favorite Austen, in case you really get on an Austen roll I'd definitely recommend it. Middlemarch is on my to-read list this year too.

Congrats on the upcoming move!

Fascinated by the CathLIT challenge. I’m so old I can vividly remember Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen being on tv weekly. He was beyond interesting, and a very charismatic man. And if ever a book had an intriguing title, it has to be Chesterton’s St. Thomas Aquinas: Dumb Ox.
Do you have a link to the challenge?

You’re in for a real treat with some of the classics you’ve chosen for the coming year. I particularly enjoyed Anna Karenina and Middlemarch of the ones you mention. I read Middlemarch, a very long book, three times in four years, and got something different from each reading.

Definitely dropping my 🌟 to keep up with you in 2019.

Happy New Year!

Happy reading in 2019!

>6 jennyifer24: and >7 Matke: Thank you! The challenge is at https://www.carrotsformichaelmas.com/2018/12/19/a-reading-challenge-for-catholic... I'm so glad to hear other people's love for Middlemarch! I'd embarrassingly never heard of it before this year and I'm excited to start.

>8 The_Hibernator: Happy new year to you too!

>9 FAMeulstee: Thank you! Same to you!

Happy 2019
A year full of books
A year full of friends
A year full of all your wishes realised

I look forward to keeping up with you this year.

Looks like you have some good reading on tap for 2019.

Happy New Year. Congratulations on your upcoming move.

>2 Miss_Moneypenny: You have some great reading ahead. Several of these are my favorites.

Holy cow. I feel like I blinked and January is over! I sadly don't have a lot of reading to show for it but here's what I've got:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
What a revelation! I did not expect this book to be compulsively readable or that it would suck me in, but it totally did. I was totally immersed in this and really, really loved it. Even Tolstoy's long-winded musings on Russian farming sucked me in. If even half of the classics I've got on my list this year are as good as this, it's gonna be a good year!
5 stars

2. Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
This was the first selection for the CathLit challenge and it completes the "conversion story" category. This was a super quick read clocking in at only 182 pages and covers the remarkable conversion of a Presbyterian minister and his devout wife. The turn from fiercely anti-Catholic to becoming a full fledged member of the Church was inspiring to read and I particularly loved the well-laid out, Scripturally based arguments they both laid out.
4 stars

3. I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
I rarely read true crime but this one had such great buzz I made an exception. I'm wishing I hadn't. The Golden State Killer raped over 50 women and killed 10 people. This was filled with grizzly (though not sensational) detail and the sexual violence was too much for me. The writing was great but the book was filled with odd autobiographical sojourns, which is understandable as McNamara died while writing this book. I think if she had lived, the book would have been much more smoothly plotted. I didn't like this due to my sensitivities, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a fan of the genre or of crime writing in general.
3 stars

February



And just like that, in a week I managed to read more than I did the entire month of January!

4. Playing with FIRE by Scott Riekens
Mr. M and I have been working towards FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) since the fall of last year after reading Vickie Robin's excellent book Your Money or Your Life. We were sold on the concept immediately and are really enjoying working our way towards FI. Riekens' book however, leaves a lot to be desired. The author and his wife seem like deeply unpleasant people and they're less than 2 years into following this lifestyle. They had no real insights to offer aside from "make sure you and your spouse are on the same page, and it helps to have parents who are willing to take your entire family in for six months at a time." I'm glad this was a library book and not a purchase; not recommended.
2 stars

5. The Wondering Years by Knox McCoy
I wanted to flat out love this book. Knox McCoy is one half of the podcast "The Popcast with Knox and Jamie" and he is hilarious on the show. When he announced he had a book coming out, I figured it would be equally hilarious and that I would be in for a good time. And there are parts that had me absolutely laughing out loud: when he compares Jesus to Michael Jordan, the entire chapter on his attempts to force his family dog to accept Jesus as the dog's own personal lord and savior, his recounting of his crusade to get his neighborhood to boycott The Simpsons. All of these were hilarious and tied back to the thesis (his life-long struggle to understand faith and God) beautifully. But too much of this book was anecdotes (getting drunk for the first time, causing one of his business partners to have a heart attack) that were clumsily tied onto the thesis and had me going "Huh?" Even the transition sentences he uses to go from one of these anecdotes to the God points were clumsy and reminded me of being back in the 10th grade and having to write essays for school. This gets 3 stars because the funny/poignant parts are definitely worth the price of admission, but I was disappointed overall.
3 stars

6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I'm not sure how I made it to almost 33 without reading a book by Jane Austen, but for years I was a snob about it and about how much I hated the premise of this book and dismissed it as a stupid romance novel. My sister called me out on this in 2018, and it lead to a revelation that, just like any other genre, romance isn't always trashy and poorly written. I'm so grateful to her for that because this is a terrific book (she said, surprising exactly no one). It really is all the things I've heard about it: witty, tender, a clear-eyed look at marriage and love and class, absolutely terrific.
4 stars

>15 Miss_Moneypenny: Pride and Prejudice was written before "romance" took over literature and while to us it has many of the sine-qua-non of romance it's attitudes are quite different than the later full-embodiments of that genre. As to snobbery, Janites can be way snobbish about their (well, our) patron goddess, as to see her as as close to perfect as writing can get.

>15 Miss_Moneypenny: oh, I'm glad you like P&P! Anna Karenina has been on my want-to-read-but-it-seems-intimidating list for a while now. Hmmm...

>16 quondame: That's fascinating! I think I'm going to head down a rabbit trail of learning more about Austen, her works, and her time period.

>17 jennyifer24: Same here! What finally fixed it for me was getting the ebook version and turning off the pages/percentage marker on my Kindle. It was a revelation. I found I was able to enjoy the story without fretting about how many (seemingly thousands) of pages I had left. I heartily encourage you to give it a try!

7. Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux
I picked this up to read for the "Classic spiritual work" category in the CathLIT challenge. I hesitated before starting this because there's a lot of criticism about Therese's twee spirituality and sugar-coated sweetness. I didn't find this to be the case at all. Yes, the early bits about her family life are probably idealized (but her upbringing wasn't that far from mine and if I were to write an autobiography about my early years, it would probably read a lot like this). Therese puts true charity and a radical love of Jesus and others at the forefront of her life and actions. In this I found a treasure trove of spiritual practices to put into place in my own life. It's been a long time since I read something spiritual that fired me up like this.
5 stars

8. Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

9. The Phantom Menace
Yes, the Star Wars movie novelization. Mr. M and I are both huge Star Wars fans (we're planning our 5th wedding anniversary in 2022 around a trip to Disney World for the new Star Wars land (and also a trip to Harry Potter at Universal, obviously)) but while he's read many of the Star Wars books, I've never read a single one. I tried multiple times to start with his favorite series following the founding of the Sith order but couldn't get into it. He suggested I start with the movie novelizations to get a feel for how these are written: high literature they are not, lol. To my surprise, I loved it! There was just enough new detail and extra layers that a visual medium can't convey and I think I might be hooked. I'm planning on reading through all of the movie novelizations first but am looking forward to deep-diving into the rest of the SW universe.
4 stars

10. Attack of the Clones
The second prequel movie. The budding romance between Anakin and Padme is just as awkward on page as it is in the move, sadly.
3 stars

11. Revenge of the Sith
This is shockingly good. This is the best of the prequel movies and seeing the new nuances to Anakin's descent into the dark side made a pretty good story even better.
4 stars

12. A New Hope
13. The Empire Strikes Back
14. Return of the Jedi
These on the other hand are cringe-worthy. This is what I used to think of when I'd hear someone was reading a Star Wars novel: cheesy dialogue, bad writing, and fanboy service. Sadly, that also sums up the original trilogy novelizations. I'm really glad that I read through the prequel novelizations first so I could see that not all Star Wars books are this bad.
Two stars a piece.

15. The Force Awakens
16. The Last Jedi
Oh man. I really, really did not like either of newest movies. Like to the point where I walked out of The Last Jedi shaking my head and seriously considering not watching Episode 9. But I had heard that these books helped to flesh out the story line and provided more detail to these weak storylines. Nope, nothing new to see here. What a waste of time!
One star each

17. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam
Productivity and organization have always fascinated me (in high school, my dream job was basically Joan's job in the series Mad Men) and when this came up in a BookBub email in 2017 I jumped at it. This was pretty fascinating. I love Vanderkam's insistence that we look dispassionately at how we're spending our time and forcing ourselves to account for each minute. When doing her time log, I was unbelievably shocked to see how much time I spend scrolling through my phone instead of reading, working on orders for my calligraphy shop, or spending time with my family. I've got some big goals for 2019 and if I want to get them completed, I have to get real with how I'm spending my time. I wasn't thrilled with her solution for freeing up more time, which basically comes down to focusing on your core competencies and outsourcing everything else. This smacks of privilege to me and doesn't really feel workable for anyone not in the upper middle class. She notes that everyone has somehow found a way to pay for a $200 a month cell phone bill and as such can find a way to pay for housecleaning, laundry service, a meal service, etc. I would argue that the cell phone bill is a necessity in today's life in a way that laundry service isn't. Other than that, it was a solid productivity book.
4 stars

>18 Miss_Moneypenny: oooh, I've never thought of that. I might have to give it a try!

April



Holy cow. March was both the quickest and longest month of my life. By February 15, I had three job offers: one in Ohio, one in Chicago, and one in my hometown in Colorado. By February 18, I had accepted the job in Colorado. By February 20, we had signed a lease on our first actual house (not an apartment!) and had paid a deposit for movers. We drove out of Ohio on March 8 and did a slow road trip across the country. We moved into the new house on March 18 and both started new jobs on March 25. That's a lot of life in one month!

Needless to say, March disappeared with only two books read. I've been in the new job for a week and a half now and am loving it. I'm especially loving that since it's working for the county, the hours and workload are incredibly more manageable. I've been able to actually take breaks for lunch! I take walking breaks during the work day now! I don't recognize this new, laid-back Moneypenny but I like her.

With that out of the way, here's what I've been reading.

18. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
Wheel of Time 5 done! Jordan starts to overuse certain mannerisms (braid tugging, skirt smoothing, etc), and you can see the beginning of the plot being driven by characters' refusal to talk to each other, but it was still a good ride.
4 stars

19. Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
The deeply, deeply satisfying conclusion to the excellent Winternight trilogy. Vasya has to find a way to save Russia while also saving herself. There was an event that happened in the first 10 pages that almost made me stop reading (a main character dies and I had some FEELINGS about it), but I'm so very glad I powered through. This was truly excellent as a stand alone story and a really perfect conclusion to Vasya's story. I've already ordered paper copies of all three and am plotting a re-read later in the year, maybe around Thanksgiving to really tie into the winter theme. Highly recommended!
5 stars

20. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
Wheel of Time 6 done! The Dragon Reborn has long been my favorite WoT book, but this and The Shadow Rising definitely give it a run for it's money. So much happened in this book and the concluding battle scene was truly fantastically written. I really enjoyed this one.
4 stars

21. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
WoT 7 is in the bag! There's a lot that jumped out at me in a negative way this go-round: there's an awful lot of physical punishment for women, the male/female bickering and nonsense is intensified, and Mat is sexually assaulted at least twice. I think this last bit is written for laughs or maybe a weird/twisted bid for female empowerment, but I'm not sure if that makes it worse or not. I really, really wish that this series had been written by someone who didn't have such weird issues with women and male/female relationships. I've heard that a WoT tv series is being worked on by Amazon and am more than a little leery of how this will translate especially in today's climate. Putting that aside, quite a bit happened in this book and despite its length didn't really drag. I've already got the eighth book queued up and am excited to see what happens next!
3 stars

22. Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
WoT 8! Again, a solid entry. A lot happened in this book and thankfully there was a LOT less weirdness in the male/female relationship department. I missed Mat's chapters and am hoping that he shows up in the next book. Egwene's chapters are a standout for me. I think she's a fascinating character and I love seeing how the White Tower works (it's reminding me quite a bit of the Catholic church, now that I think about it). Hopefully the siege on Tar Valon starts in the next book!
4 stars

23. Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
WoT 9! I can't believe I'm more than halfway through this series. The internet says that books 8-11 are a slog and boring, but I'm not finding them that way at all. Could each book be cut down by at least 50% with a stronger editing hand removing most of the clothing descriptions, furniture descriptions, and insistence on switching the viewpoint to named characters we're never going to see again? Yes. But Jordan is a master at world building and that's exactly what this all is. His descriptions are vivid and detailed and they're going a long way toward making me be invested in the series and these characters. And the plot continues to move; there was so much that happened in this book! Sadly, the Tar Valon siege didn't happen yet, but it was another solid entry in the series.

24. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
WoT 10! This book is notorious for being the worst out of all 14 books, but I truly didn't find it that bad. Yes, the plot doesn't move forward by a whole lot; but after the world-altering end of Winter's Heart, I think it makes sense to go back to the main characters and see their reactions to it and how that changes all of their individual plans.
4 stars

25. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
WoT 11! This was the last book written by Jordan before his death and finishing it was bittersweet. I know that Sanderson finished it using Jordan's copious notes, but I'm afraid that he won't be able to truly capture the characters' dialogues. Bless him and Harriet Jordan for finishing the story though. This was a true return to form: major plot points happening in nearly every chapter, and a wrapping up of a lot of dragging plots (Elayne's seemingly never-ending campaign to win the throne of Andor; she's also my least favorite character in the entire series so that might have something to do with my distaste for her plot). The Last Battle is surely coming and I'm so ready to see what happens next.
4 stars

26. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
WoT 12! So close! I'm so thrilled with how this book turned out. Sanderson did an excellent job of taking Jordan's world and running with it. You can tell that someone else is writing, but it's not a bad thing at all and a good sight better than leaving the series unfinished. Sanderson picks up the pace enormously and shit starts to get real as the characters begin the march to the Last Battle. I loved this and am sprinting through the next book.
5 stars

27. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
WoT 13! Man, this book started with a bang and didn't let up for nearly the entire 900+ pages. Sanderson was the best choice to finish up this series. I finished this book and it ended on such a cliffhanger that I immediately had to start the next one. I can't even imagine reading this series as it was released; what sweet agony that must have been!
4 stars

28. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
WoT 14! And just like that, I'm finished. I originally started reading Wheel of Time in 2008 and left off around book 5. Eleven years later, I've closed the book for the last time and said goodbye to a (huge) cast of characters that I really wound up loving. I really loved how Rand's story ended, but I have some pretty big critiques. Over 95% of this nearly 1100 page book is battle scenes. Reading this, I suffered from the same fatigue I felt while watching the third movie in The Hobbit trilogy: constant battle is wearying to the reader/viewer and I found myself skimming pages upon pages. There were two new characters introduced in this book that stole attention from the already huge cast. Several characters were mentioned in passing and their storylines never totally wrapped up. I get that Sanderson was working from notes and that it would have been impossible to give a cast of hundreds of named characters their due end, but it was deeply irritating to continue to reading about the new characters plot when I just wanted to know what Morgase was up to, damn it. All total, I'm so glad this book exists but I can't help but being a little disappointed.
3 stars

Hooray! Congrats on the move and new jobs! Sounds like it's been a good fit for you all-around! See anything fun on your road trip?

>21 Miss_Moneypenny: Sounds like a busy month (and lots of packing--not my favorite chore)! Hope you all enjoy your new home and new jobs.

>21 Miss_Moneypenny: Thank you! We did a slow trip only because we were traveling with a dog and cat and sadly missed all the fun things to do on the way.

>22 jennyifer24: If I never have to pack another box, it'll be too soon! I told my husband the only way we're moving again is when we finally buy a home and all the coordinating/packing will be his responsibility :D

May



The days are truly zipping by and I can't believe we're in May already! I feel like I'm going to blink and it'll be Halloween.

April was a super great month on all fronts: settling into our new house/town, getting into the groove at work, and FINALLY finishing the Wheel of Time series! I will admit that when I closed the last book, I was more than a little sad and didn't know what to read next. I've been traveling along with Rand and his companions since 2009 and honestly can't imagine devoting that much time and head/heart space to another long fantasy series. So let's see what I can read that's not traditional fantasy this month!

29. Circe by Madeline Miller
Yowza, this book! I saw it on a lot of "best of 2018" lists in December and am kicking myself for not picking it up before now. This was unbelievably good. I have only a passing interest in Greek mythology and have never read The Odyssey, so Circe was a brand new character for me. I was immediately sucked into her world and her struggle of finding out exactly who she is and where she fits in this bizarre realm of Olympian vs titan vs human. Miller's narrative voice is pitch perfect here: it's calm and kind of lyrical and I'm tempted to get the audio book because I think it'll shine even more in that format. Love, love, love and highly recommended.
5 stars

30. The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn
I got pretty burnt out on suburban suspense last year but figured with the near universal praise for this that I'd be safe. For a good half of the book, I thought it was really well done: tightly written, a super unreliable narrator, and creepy enough that I turned on the lights in the rest of my house. Then one of the twists happen and it looked like the book was going to end with the narrator realizing she did in fact hallucinate the whole thing and wind up killing herself because she couldn't handle the shame/her grief/her mental illness. And while that wouldn't have been a great ending, it would have at least been surprising and different from the rest of the pack. Instead, we get a pat ending about psychopaths hiding in plain sight. Meh.
3 stars

31. The Royal We by Heather Cox and Jessica Morgan
Continuing in the vein of disappointing third acts, I wanted to really love this. The authors take the beats from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's dating relationship (meeting at school, dating forever, breaking up, and eventually marrying) and fictionalize it. The first 75% of the book was funny, touching, and just romantic enough. It did drag a little and could have used a tighter editing hand but I was invested in the characters enough that I didn't particularly mind. But then the last act felt rushed and had a villain who popped up out of nowhere and was unbelievably cartoonishly drawn with an ending that didn't resolve anything. I turned the last page and went "is that it?!" Still worth a read but I definitely won't be reading their next book.
3 stars

32. If Nuns Ruled the World by Jo Piazza
This is a quick little book that focuses on the remarkable accomplishments of 10 nuns in the United States written by an agnostic journalist. I've been incredibly blessed to know only the types of nuns Piazza describes here: joy-filled, loving, warm, and generally the best of humanity. Still, reading about the accomplishments of these women was a lovely pick-me-up on a day when I was feeling particularly pessimistic about being a woman in today's world.
3 stars

33. The Passage by Justin Cronin
I'm conflicted about this book: on the one hand, it's a really well-written and supremely scary story about how society breaks down in the face of the human-engineered apocalypse. If that's your thing, you're going to love this. On the other hand, it scared the pants right off me and threw my anxiety into a tailspin. So read at your own caution I suppose? I wouldn't say I loved this, but it admirably performed the primary job of all literature: to provoke emotions in the audience.
4 stars

34. You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham
Financial planning has long been one of my interests and I've been following the You Need A Budget rules since 2012. YNAB is what let Mr. M and I have the financial freedom to move across the country in less than 3 months and it's how we managed to have a debt free wedding. I can't recommend the system highly enough and if you're new to budgeting or personal finance, you need this book. This was mostly a retread for me but still worthwhile.
4 stars

35. Women & Power by Mary Beard
This book is an adaptation of lectures given by Beard examining the "problem" of women in power and how negatively women in power or women who ask for power are perceived. She traces these issues all the way back to the Greeks and Romans and then jumps forward in time to tie this classical portrayal of women to what we see played out writ large today. It was fascinating, especially coming so soon after my read of Madeline Miller's Circe.
5 stars

36. Artisan Pizza and Flatbread by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Framboise
Ever since reading the original Bread in 5 Minutes last year, I've made all the bread and pizza my family consumes. It's a truly fantastic bread book and making homemade bread makes me feel like I'm absolutely killing the wife game (we'll ignore the three baskets of clean clothes languishing in my laundry room for going on two weeks now). The basic pizza dough recipe in this book isn't different from the master recipe in their original, but it does include several riffs on it, including a sweet brioche/dessert pizza dough. Where this really shines is the plethora of different pizza recipes and I found myself flagging nearly every one. It's been a full year since I started making our weekly pizza at home and this provided the new inspiration I've been needing. Definitely recommended!
4 stars

37. Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
What else is there to add to this book's reputation? I originally read it in 2011 to get primed on the first season of the HBO show and it shocked me to no end when Ned died. I haven't read past this installment (although I hope to remedy that this year) and am unsure that Martin's theme of deconstructing the traditional fantasy narrative is something I'm on board for. It worked here for me because it was new and flashy, but as the series progresses I want characters I can root for wholeheartedly without being afraid to get attached to them. Here though, it was shocking and I loved it.
5 stars

38. The Fellowship of The Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
Wheel of Time definitely left me with a hole in my heart for sprawling, immersive fantasy. A Song of Ice and Fire and The Lord of the Rings are definitely helping to fill it. As an aside, I was super shocked when this book didn't end with Boromir's death.
4 stars