Helenoel aims for 75 in 2021

I’m back in for another year. Last year I read 65 books, but had lost my commuting time with audiobooks. Will see what the new year brings, but the House is full of books including new ones from SantaThing, so plenty of material.

2021 reading
slow start, but lots of online news and social comment that I have not tracked.

1. The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje. see message 9 Finished Jan 15,2021
2. The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng. excellent. Finished Jan. 26.
3. Rosalind Franklin & DNA a bit of a slog, and no longer current news but a breakthrough for women in science when it was written. Good for perspective. Finished Jan 24 after months of dipping in for short bits.
4. The Golden Egg by Donna Leon - for the La Serenissima & Dordogne Mystery group Finished Jan 29.
5. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Sci-fi with space travel and lots of species and cultures-
6. The Last Kashmiri Rose - mystery set in 1920s India- A good start to a series- hope it stays this good.
7. Her Royal Spyness - a fun romp. Glad I finally got to this one.
8. All the Devils are Here Louise Penny and Armand Gamache do not fail to make a good read.
9. Guys and Dolls - collection of short stories set in 1920s and 1930s. mostly in Manhattan. rum runners and gamblers, not the top of the social order.
10. By Its Cover by Donna Leon for the La Serenissima & Dordogne Mystery group . Pretty good - continue to learn more about Venice from this series
11. The Arctic Fury: A Historical Novel of Fierce Women Explorers by Greer Macallister
12. The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews fluffy funny mystery.
13. Children of the Street by Kwai Quartey. Good mystery set in Ghana

Reserved for something, I’ll figure it out.

And keep up with my friends here, Helen. Have a great 2021.

Happy reading in 2021, Helen!

Welcome back!

Happy new year!

Hope you enjoy your 2021 reading!

I have had a slow start to reading books in 2021- but have vastly upped my online articles, news and social commentary. Now in Late January, I hope reduced anxiety about the world will keep me less electronic.
My first two books for the year are Book Bullets from comments on SantaThing (that were not books ultimately chosen. ST books were delayed by postal issues - and I had asked for books reflecting places - to make up for travel plans lost to COVID. My library had some of the recommendations, so I moved out of my easy reading comfort zone of mysteries and science fiction.
book 1. The Cat's Table - Travel/Coming-of-age set between Sri Lanka and England on a ship in 1950s . not a gripping story, but rather one to read for the language and descriptions- Much enjoyed.

Book 2 - currently reading. The Gift of Rain Set in Panang and greater Malaysia- Previously I know only from stories like Patrick O' Brian's British navy epics. Shows great promise and I am learning geography and history.

Let's hear it for folks leaving recommendations on SantaThing pages.

Finished Rosalind Franklin &DNA which I have been reading in short bursts for sometime. It is now a bit dated, but in 1975 was groundbreaking for detailing how a woman scientist was not recognized for her key contributions to major scientific work. Still worth a read, but we are no longer surprised. Others have addressed the same and similar circumstances, but I think this was the first popular exposure for Franklin’s situation
.

Finished The Gift of Rain. Lots in this. Another book by this author was recommended in a SantaThing comment. It was checked out of the library and this looked interesting. Young English/Chinese man in Panang, Malaysia before and during WWII, told as retrospective from 50 years later. Japanese martial arts philosophy, torn loyalties, family histories. Good sense of place and historical perspective of a side of this war this American had not seen. 5 stars.

I'm sorry your SantaThing books were delayed, but I'm glad the library was able to fill in the gap! I do want to read The Gift of Rain. The Garden of Evening Mists has stuck with me in the years since I've read it.

I wish I had read The Cat's Table instead of listening to it. The author read the audio version and it would have been better served by a professional narrator. I don't know how much of my dislike was due to the poor narration.

>12 cbl_tn: All Santa books have arrived but i will likely ration them. But the library did step up. I read The Cat’s Table pretty slowly and am not sure i would have liked it in audio.

And #4, The Golden Egg by Donna Leon - for the La Serenissima & Dordogne Mystery group, Finished Jan 29. In which Guido enjoys word play with his family, discovers once more the depths to which human greed and despicable behavior can go, and appreciates his lovely habitat and professional colleagues in Venice.

>14 Helenoel: I think a lot of us read or listened to that one last month. I assume you'll be reading Bruno in February?

>15 thornton37814: I have already read most of the Bruno books. If I can find the first, I may reread it.

Finished #5 today. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Sci-fi with space travel and lots of species and cultures- OK read, fun since I have not read much similar for. long time, but I get the sense this is mostly a scene setter and get to know characters. There are sequels.

And #6 - The Last Kashmiri Rose - A SantaThing book when I had asked for books that evoke places I ca't travel this year. Good Police/mystery/set in India near the end of the Raj. This is the first of a series and my library sytem has several of them.

#7 Her Royal Spyness. Had been on my radar for sometime. A quick, light, murder mystery with a quirky end. Good read. ‘

#8 Found All the Devils are Here on the library new book shelf and could not resist. Not disappointed. Louise Penny and Armand
Will try to get back to reading stuff I own - and some of those other tasks.

#9. Guys and Dolls - collection of short stories set in 1920s and 1930s. mostly in Manhattan. Gangster and rum runners and gamblers. Two of these stories are the basis for the Broadway musical of the same name. Very dated and may offend some in today's world, but style is unique and the book was amusing in small doses. I picked it up in a Little Free Library over a year ago (pre-covid) and read it in small bites.

>21 Helenoel: I had no idea that the musical was based on a book/stories! I saw a community theater production of Guys and Dolls when I lived in England. I had forgotten all about that until now!

>20 Helenoel: Wow, is that a popular title for a whole range of books! But I think it's the next one on my Louise Penny queue. I'm glad to hear you liked it.

>11 Helenoel: I am so pleased that you liked that one as I have advocated it so often! Probably the best Malaysian author presently writing.

>21 Helenoel: I didn't realise the musical was based on a book of short stories either.

finished Book # 10. By Its Cover for the group read.
I'm also reading Obama's A Promised Land in bits and pieces and some short stories by Doris Lessing. I seem to have a hard time settling in to any one thing right now- Spring fever? Covid exhaustion?

Catching up.
11. The Arctic Fury: A Historical Novel of Fierce Women Explorers by Greer Macallister
This is well reviewed but I started out not liking it much- it got better and ended pretty well. Probably some of my unease was personal circumstances; i might have liked it better at a different time.

12. The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews fluffy funny mystery. One more installment in the zany adventures of Meg Lanslow and family as they catch the bad guys amidst a menagerie of creatures and oddball relatives. Good light reading.

13. Children of the Street by Kwai Quartey. Good mystery set in Ghana. I read Quartey's first book Wife of the Gods as a LT advance copy in 2009 - liked it, and hoped for more with he same protagonist. He wrote more, but I just got around to reading one. Will keep at it as my library has several.

I have ignored posting about reading for most of the year. Managed to finish 38 books so far- about half of my goal of 75. Covid and the state of the world and US politics have distracted. I read more news and commentary online, probably too much. I work a hybrid schedule of telework and office, so have not had commuting audiobooks, as i cant finish fast enough for the library schedule. I have a vast TBR pile, and might get to a couple more books by year end, but we get a fresh start in January.

Officially signing off the 2021 thread- WE were not horribly affected by anythign this year, but I am glad to see the end of it. 2022 thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337824 .