Milda-TX 2020 Reading List

1) Neil Sperry’s Complete Guide to Texas Gardening Sperry 5 Jan (shelf)
2) Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas Miller 5 Jan (shelf)
3) Nickel Boys (audio) Whitehead 10 Jan (library)
4) Tough Love Rice 11Jan (library)
5) The Color Purple Walker 12 Jan (shelf)
6) My Sister, The Serial Killer Braithwaite 14 Jan (borrowed)
7) Texas Gardener’s Resource Groom & Gill 18 Jan (library)
8) Home Landscaping Texas Grant & Holmes 18 Jan (library)
9) Texas Wildscapes Bender 18 Jan (library)
10) Olive, Again (audio) Strout 25 Jan (library)
11) The Grownup (audio) Flynn 1 Feb (library)
12) Evvie Drake Starts Over (audio) Holmes 15 Feb (library)
13) The Dutch House (audio) Patchett 22 Feb (library)
14) The Testaments Atwood 23 Feb (library)
15) H is for Hawk (tried) 24 Feb (library)
16) Brave New World (audio) (tried) 15 Mar (library)
17) River Town Two Years on the Yangtze Hessler 25 Mar (shelf)
18) American Spy Wilkinson 29 Mar (2020 purchase)
19) Number One Chinese Restaurant 15 Apr (2020 purchase)
20) Florida Groff 10 May (2020 purchase)
21) Disappearing Earth Phillips 30 May (2020 purchase)
22) Once Upon a River Campbell 31 May (shelf)
23) Ghost Reynolds 5 Jun (borrowed)
24) Crossover Alexander 8 Jun (borrowed)
25) Ghost Boys Rhodes 9 Jun (borrowed)
26) The Watsons go to Birmingham-1963 Curtis 21 Jun (borrowed)
27) The Vegetarian Kang 26 Jun (2020 purchase)
28) The Starless Sea (audio) Morgenstern 27 Jun (Library)
29) The Buddha in the Attic (audio) Otsuka 28 Jun (library)
30) Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Honeyman 1 Jul (shelf)
31) Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts Racculia 6 Jul (library)
32) Thunderstruck (audio) (tried) McCracken 10 Jul (library)
33) Normal People Rooney 13 Jul (library)
34) So You Want to Talk About Race (audio) Oluo 18 Jul (library)
35) The Parade Eggers 18 Jul (library)
36) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Collins 8 Aug (library)
37) The Lager Queen of Minnesota Stradal 8 Aug (library)
38) Kill Your Friends Niven 22 Aug (gift)
39) Innocents and Others Spiotta 22 Aug (gift)
40) The Black Dahlia Ellroy 28 Aug (shelf)
41) Such a Fun Age Reid 29 Aug (audio) (library)
42) Everyone Brave is Forgiven (audio) Cleave 31 Aug (library)
43) The Three-Body Problem Liu 6 Sep (library)
44) The President is Missing Clinton/Patterson 7 Sep (borrowed)
45) Shelter Yun 9 Sep (gift)
46) Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children: Adapted for the Theatre Rushdie 11Sep (shelf)
47) Pachinko Lee 17 Sep (2019 purchase)
48) Naked in Death Robb 17 Sep (2020 purchase)
49) Man in the Woods Spencer 21 Sep (2020 purchase)
50) Matterhorn Marlantes 24 Sep (shelf)
51) Bridge of Sighs Russo 4 Oct (shelf)
52) Master Butchers Singing Club Erdrich 8 Oct (library)
53) Nothing to See Here (audio) Wilson 9 Oct (library)
54) Hamnet O’Farrell 10 Oct (library)
55) Coffins of Little Hope Schaffert 14 Oct (library)
56) Railway Children Nesbit 15 Nov (library)
57) Gods of Jade and Sorrow 16 Nov (borrowed)
58) The Vanishing Half Bennett 19 Nov (library)
59) The Count of Monte Cristo Dumas 26 Nov (library)
60) Behold the Dreamers Mbue 28 Nov (library)
61) Hearts of Horses Gloss 10 Dec (shelf)
62) The Great Alone Hannah 12 Dec (library)
63) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Tokarczuk 20 Dec (2020 purchase)

quietly following. Curious on your thoughts about Nickel Boys.

Hi, you’re funny.
The Nickel Boys was very good. But devastating. For the past few years (since 2016 election) I’ve been increasingly alarmed at hearing stories like these and realizing how naive I had been.

I haven’t read it and don’t know the story yet, but I have also been discouraged these last 3 years. (Would be nice to see tx turn blue just this once later this year)

How was the audio version of The Nickel Boys? I’m very tempted by that one.

I’m not sure how other people judge audio but.... I will quit listening fairly quickly if I don’t like the voice or if the story lags. This one moved along so that I didn’t lose track or get distracted. So that counts as good audio, for me.

>6 Milda-TX: That pretty much sums it up for me too. The reader is everything.

Completely agree, but unfortunately, I feel a little pressure to push through only ok books or readers with audible.

I get audiobooks from the library. Maybe not the newest titles, but can’t beat the price.

yeah, libraries are nice that way. Free and guilt-free to abandon books.

I just tried and abandoned two library audiobooks today because of icky voices. Guilt free! Ha

LOL

2020 Book Nerd Challenge
X-Western hearts of horses
X-Cozy mystery Tuesday Mooney
X-Wartime Everyone Brave
X-Kid classic pre-1980 railway
X-Set in city I’ve visited Fun Age
X-on a boat Once Upon River
X-recommended on podcast 3body
X-I choose Eleanor oliphant
X-humor nothing to see
X-favorite animal H for hawk
X-cat or dog man woods
X-music Master butcher
X-big. Pachinko
X-season Lager
X-new genre. Crossover
X-celebrates friendship innocents
X-from library display Parade
X-cover in fave color Disappearing ERth
X-about books Starless
-one not read by author I love
X-local author thunderstruck
X-short stories Florida
-nonfiction science
X-ebook Grownup
X-published in bday month. Numb One Chinese
X-recommended by author I love River Town rec by Sedaris
X-true crime Dahlia
X-pbs great American read Ghost
x-spooky Ghost Boys
X-off tbr end life
X-2019 library reads list evvie drake
X-banned Brave New World
X-two-word title American Spy
X-next book in series songbirds snakes
X-multiple authors Pres Missing
X-alternative lifestyle Kill friends
X-mental health vegetarian
-inspirational
X-classic monte cristo
X-incarceration Buddha
X-pen name naked in death
X-face on cover Hamnet
-been avoiding
-lol
X-audio Dutch house
X-published 2010 matterhorn
X-title with time of day midnight chil
X-author name bigger than title Testaments
X-societal problem Shelter
-sweet salty bitter spicy
X-nonfiction & fiction same topic (fic) Watsons
X-nonfic & fic (nonfic) Race

>7 NanaCC: NanaCC audio for The Dutch House was excellent! Performed by Tom Hanks.

I’m annoyed at my memory (or lack thereof). For 2nd time this year I find myself re-reading a book I have read before but didn’t realize. I guess it’s okay as long as I enjoy it the 2nd time. 🙄
First one was Buddha in the Attic. Currently re-reading The End of Your Life Book Club.

Retired end of June. Isolating during pandemic. Didn’t get to vacation to escape the long hot summer. So much time, so many books.
My schedule is off: I stay up until 3:30 reading, then sleep as late as I want. I wonder whether I’m wasting my time. Am I going to remember these books?
Bridge of Sighs was on my shelf for years after picking it up from a library used book sale. I apparently liked Empire Falls by the same author, and vaguely recall it. This one was okay but I’m already a little fuzzy as to what it was about. (a painter. I guess.) That’s okay, it was good while it lasted but I don’t need to remember it forever.
Not sure where I heard about Coffins of Little Hope or how it showed up on my wish list. Checked it out from the library and read it in one day. Little old lady obituary writer in a small town, lost child. It was okay. I don’t need to remember it forever.
Hamnet was lovely. Will I remember it? It would be a nice book to re-read someday, so does it matter?
Nothing to See Here cracked me up. I loved it. What a funny premise of kids catching on fire, and what nice thoughts about parenting. Is it a classic? Doubt it. But I’m glad I listened to it. The voices were fantastic.
Master Butchers Singing Club was nice while it lasted.
Matterhorn told horrific details of war and made me so angry. I do hope I remember those feelings.
I still think back on some of the books I’ve read years ago. Maybe I’m racing through books searching for the next one I’ll remember for years. Maybe that’s not a waste of time.