Shelfari 50 Book Challenge discussion
Tessa's 2017 Pushing Her Limits Reading List
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Tessa (FutureAuthor23)
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Jan 04, 2017 10:21PM
My goal last year was 20 and I beat it so this year I'm striving for 25. Wish me luck!
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1. Leaving Time--Jodi Picoult, 398 pages
I don't like to read too many books by authors who churn out a new book every 6 months or every year. I'm always afraid of them all starting to sound the same, even if the story line is totally different, the writing or just the overall feel will start to sound the same and I hate that. So I'll wait a couple years usually. It was time for another Jodi Picoult so that's how I started my year. And dang she can write a good story.
I loved everything about the elephants. I thought I knew a lot about them already but I learned many new things. Their emotional capacity, their amazing memories, and their mother/child relationships just fascinate me.
The book had me guessing right up until the end what happened and in the end I cried.
I feel the same way.I have to take long breaks in between one authors books. It just seems to be the same format for me.Haven't read Jodi yet,will give it a try this year.
2. When She Woke--Hillary Jordan, 341 pages
This dystopian thriller has mixed reviews but I couldn't put it down. Quite frankly it was a convenient time to read it in light of the political state of our country right now. In the story much of the country has reverted to the old days, where women are subservient to their husbands and their place is in the home taking care of the family, abortions are illegal, etc. It takes place in some future time after our country has suffered continued terrorist attacks and shootings, and gone through a 2nd Depression.
After the 2nd depression the country can no longer afford to continue housing so many prisoners, especially for non-violent crimes. So they come up with a system called melachroming. If you commit a crime, you will be injected with a virus that changes the color of your skin. Yellow for misdemeanors, red for murder, blue for pedophiles, etc.
Hannah is a Red, for she has had an abortion. The book follows her story after becoming a Red and how she must find a way to survive in a world where everyone knows her "crime".
I whole-heartedly agree something needs to be done about our prison system. We cannot continue to house all these prisoners, especially for non-violent crimes. But what is the solution?
Very interesting read. The ending does become somewhat of a mess and I think that's why this has mixed reviews. I fully enjoyed this though.
3. The Hot Zone--Richard Preston, 291 pages
The scariest thing I've ever read in my whole life. The true story of the Ebola virus.
Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: " The Hot Zone--Richard Preston, 291 pagesThe scariest thing I've ever read in my whole life. The true story of the Ebola virus.
I agree, very scary book!
4. One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment--Mei Fong, 214 pages
Reading this was like reading about life on another planet. I don't mean that to sound harsh. There's just so much that happened because of China's one-child policy that is completely unfathomable to me. I cannot imagine it. There are many other laws in China that are screwed up too, or lack of laws in some instances. The number of forced abortions and female babies that have been murdered is unimaginable to me. And even though it's finally over, the repercussions that are yet unforeseen and to come are mind-boggling. Very interesting look at what the future might hold for China and it's people.
5. The Dressmaker--Kate Alcottt, 304 pages
I think it was pretty much a given that I was going to end up reading this book. First of all the main character's name is Tess (mine's Tessa) and she is a passenger on the Titanic, something I've been absolutely obsessed with since I was 11 years old and got my first book about the Titanic from the Scholastic book order at school. It's like this book was written just for my reading pleasure. ;)
Wow don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I've ever finished 5 books in one month!
Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: " Wow don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I've ever finished 5 books in one month! "Good for you Tessa!
Paula wrote: "Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: " Wow don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I've ever finished 5 books in one month! "Good for you Tessa!"
Thanks!
Tessa (FutureAuthor23) wrote: " Wow don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I've ever finished 5 books in one month! "Fantastic! I think the most I did was 2 or 3. Way to go!
6. Settle for More--Megyn Kelly, 320 pages
Loved this. I laughed and I teared up at times too. I especially liked reading about Megyn's childhoold, how she grew up, how she was raised, life with her parents, etc.
Reading the behind-the-scenes look at the Trump/Kelly feud was really alarming, though nothing at this point should be surprising with him.
Before reading this, I was neither a Megyn fan, nor a Megyn critic. I know nothing of her work on Fox or of her show. But I like what I read about her here, and I enjoyed this look at her life.
In many reviews of this book, people have criticized her for being such a fan of herself, so to speak. I see absolutely nothing wrong with a strong, tough, hard-working woman who's faced a lot of adversity being proud of who she is and who she is still becoming. Maybe the people who wrote those reviews haven't accomplished much in their own lives and feel inferior. Who knows. Haha.
7. Mischling--Affinity Konar, 339 pages
Sadness. Horrifying sadness. This story follows a fictional set of twins that were a part of Mengele's Zoo at Auschwitz. That's all I can say really. I mean what words could ever describe the horrors that took place there.
8. Sweetbitter--Stephanie Danler, 352 pages
This book has some bad reviews that I'm glad I didn't pay attention to. I liked it. This really wouldn't be for everyone though.
This is the story of a young woman from the midwest moving to New York by herself to start her own life. She gets a job at a restaurant and the whole book is based around her experiences there, the people she works with and the life lessons she learns along the way to gaining her independence and self-worth. There's lots of talk about food and wine that might bore a lot of readers. I myself was a server for many of my "just-getting-started-on-my-own-in-the-world" years so reading this was sort of nostalgic for me. It also brought up many painful memories of feeling alone in the world at that time when you're trying to figure out who you are and where you belong.
9. A Kiss Before Dying--Ira Levin, 272 pages
This was a gift to me from a book-loving friend. It's a thriller and I have not read any of his other books before. I really enjoyed it but the ending wasn't quite what I wanted it to be.
10. The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals--Gavin De Becker, 299 pages
Oh my, I am failing.I am on Book #5.Bad start 2017.
Laurie wrote: "Oh my, I am failing.I am on Book #5.Bad start 2017."I've had plenty of those years. I just happen to have a good start this year for once!
11. SeinLanguage--Jerry Seinfeld, 180 pages
It's time to get through some more of my mom's books. She's been gone 11 years now and this was one her books. It's a tiny little book and I love Jerry Seinfeld. However, even though there were a few great parts, most of it was just okay.
12. Things I Want My Daughters to Know--Elizabeth Noble, 374 pages
13. Don't Stand Too Close To A Naked Man--Tim Allen, 254 pages
Another one of my mom's books. Much more entertaining than the Jerry Seinfeld one.
14. Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations--Thomas L. Friedman, 453 pages
When I first heard about this book I knew that I wanted to see what it had to say about techonology and the accelerated society we currently live in and how it is affecting us as a whole and how we can keep up! But when I saw how thick of a book it was, I didn't know if I was 453 pages "interested". I figured I would read the parts that were most interesting to me and skim the rest. Turns out I hardly skimmed any of it! It was just interesting and a good read for everyone in the world today.
15. The Life List--Lori Nelson Spielman, 331 pages
16. It Ends With Us--Colleen Hoover, 367 pages
This was a fluff read and parts of it were too much for me. The cheesy "romance novel" type names of the characters and just a lot of cheesy parts in the book. But I still enjoyed it and LOVED the ending. Like seriously LOVED the ending. Bravo on that part.
17. A Thousand Splendid Suns--Khaled Hosseini, 415 pages
I liked The Kite Runner much better. I still enjoyed this but the ending was so boring.
18. The Husband's Secret--Liane Moriarty, 394 pages
Everyone has secrets that you'll probably never know about. Everyone.
19. Red Queen--Victoria Aveyard, 383 pages
Fantasy + YA. Two things that aren't my "usual" cup of tea, but I don't discriminate when it comes to reading. I enjoyed it. But I didn't know it was part of trilogy when I started it. Once I found that out I was disappointed because I knew the ending would be left open somewhat. Although I did like it, I'm only 50% interested to see what happens in the next book so I don't know if I'll read the second one or not.
20. The Same Sweet Girls--Cassandra King, 507 pages
21. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine--Gail Honeyman, 325 pages
Loved it. Eleanor is a very quirky person. Some people might be put off by this. I loved her. The story follows her struggle to overcome a very tragic childhood and her journey towards finding human connection as an adult who is completely alone in the world.
22. Atonement--Ian McEwan, 351 pages
I've had this on my shelf for 9 or 10 years. I've tried 5 different times to read it but I just could not get into it. I knew I would like it so I didn't want to give up. I finally decided to try the audiobook before giving up on it for good and I'm so glad I did because I really liked it. I would definitely recommend the audiobook.
23. We Are Never Meeting In Real Life--Samantha Irby, 272 pages
This was hilarious. It would not be for anyone who gets offended at a few cuss words here and there. If you can't handle it when everyone doesn't agree with your opinion or view on things this would not be for you either. If you can't handle some very gritty detailed talk about sex including homosexual sex or bodily functions this would not be for you. For everyone else I would highly recommend this. I laughed out loud so many times and I don't even agree with half the stuff she says. I think my favorite essay was Do You Guys Pay Your Fucking Bills or What?
24. Behind Closed Doors--B.A. Paris, 398 pages
Good psychological thriller.
25. The Lost Letter--Jillian Cantor, 316 pages
This was a such a little gem of a book. Historical fiction that starts out just a couple months before World War II in Austria. It's a story about love and loss and people that are willing to help others, even if their own lives are put at risk. A "lost letter" connects the past to the present, and the book jumps back and forth between both. Beautiful.
26. Bossypants--Tina Fey, 275 pages
I did the audio. Liked it and it made me laugh but I wasn't blown away.
Woot! I beat my goal and it's only October!
Mod
woo hoo!
27. Yes Please--Amy Poehler, 329 pages
I love Amy but had hoped this would be better. Still enjoyed it!
28. The Girl Before--JP Delaney, 336 pages
I was so excited to read this. The premise of the book just totally intrigued me. However I think it's one of those books where 50% of people will like it and 50% won't. I really liked it. It's the story of One Folgate Street. The rent is cheap. The house is magnificent. But it's minimalism to the extreme. You have to let go of most of your belongings to move in. And there's a lenghty application & screening process to get approved. There's a ton of rules you have to follow to live there. And the house has a questionable history. Jane is the current tenant. Emma was "the girl before". I loved the short chapters. They switch between "THEN" and "NOW". It just helps keep your attention "grabbed". I would recommend this for an enjoyable psychological thriller. Also, it is being made into a movie.
29. Dewey's Nine Lives--Vicki Myron, 300 pages
I loved the original Dewey book. Didn't even know this one existed and it came out 7 years ago! This one was still somewhat about Dewey the library cat in Spencer, Iowa, but it was mostly about other people's cats and some of those people also had a connection with Dewey. The best chapter was about a cat named Spooky. The story of that cat AMAZES me. And the chapter about Marshmallow made me miss my old cat Sebastian. That cat was part of my soul and he is still missed!
30. The Devil in the White City--Erik Larson, 390 pages
Loved.
SO interesting. The story of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the man known as "America's First Serial Killer", H.H. Holmes, who used the fair to take advantage of many females traveling to the city alone. He built a hotel of sorts near the fair, which was basically his house of horrors. He was a sick man. It's insane that so many people could disappear who had come in contact with Holmes but that the police and most other people never suspected him of any wrong-doing and didn't bother to investigate him. In fact, most people were mesmerized by his charm and personality and his piercing blue eyes.
As for the fair itself, it's crazy to me that so much money was spent and so many lives were lost during the construction leading up to the fair and that buildings of such a grand scale were built for something that was only temporary. They pretty much didn't plan on the buildings being around for long after the fair was over and indeed, many were destroyed by fire within months of the fair's conclusion. The fair was the home to many "firsts", including the first ferris wheel, Cracker Jacks, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, the zipper, and Shredded Wheat to name a few. Today the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is the only major building remaining from the 1893 fair. The Rookery also remains.
The World's Fair (called Expo in most other countries) does still exist but it hasn't been held in the United States since 1984. Minneapolis, MN is one of 3 cities in the running for the 2023 World's Fair, though the fair does not hold the same appeal to most people as it did back in those days. Still, it would be interesting to go if Minneapolis wins the bid.
31. Address Unknown--Kathrine Kressmann Taylor, 64 pages
Wow. How can something so tiny pack such a punch?
32. Her--Christa Parravani, 306 pages
Memoir about a woman who loses her identical twin and struggles to find her way through life without her. Her twin is brutally raped and her life spirals out of control into a drug-induced haze until she eventually dies. The pain her surviving twin feels is palpable. I could really feel it as I was reading. Maybe it's because my sister and I are so close I couldn't imagine my life without her either. Good book.
33. The Mothers--Brit Bennett, 275 pages
Enjoyable but not what I was hoping it would be, for personal reasons.
34. The Turn of the Screw--Henry James, 134 pages
I've decided I'm done with Henry James. I've only read this and The Portrait of a Lady. He crafted some beautiful sentences in Portrait but I just cannot stand his writing style. His sentences are SO choppy and they go on and on. His paragraphs never end either. They go on for pages. It's so distracting. While The Turn of the Screw was sort of meant to confuse the reader, if it weren't for his writing style, it would be less confusing. I like a good ghost story but I was left not intrigued at all....just wanting it to end so I didn't have to suffer his writing style any longer.
35. And Then There Were None--Agatha Christie, 247 pages
My first Agatha Christie book! It was good. Kept me guessing. I kind of expected the ending to be shocking though and it wasn't. Even though I was not able to figure out who the murderer was myself, I thought there would be some twist at the end and there was not.
This is insane. I've never read this many books in one year in my life!
36. The Mistletoe Promise--Richard Paul Evans, 251 pages
I've only read 1 or 2 Christmas novels in my life, which is surprising, given my huge obsession with Christmas. This was my first time reading a Richard Paul Evans book and I'm glad I did because I LOVED it. I know, I know, everything is "just so" perfect, it couldn't possibly happen in real life, but you know what?...Sometimes you just need to believe in the fairy tale.
37. The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of The Titanic--Hazel Gaynor, 359 pages
This was a decent historical fiction story relating to the Titanic but the reason I want to comment on it here is because I took a trip to Ireland this summer. I have read many books on the Titanic before, but this is the first one I've read since my trip. And I have to say it was SO weird (and cool!!) to read about these places that I have actually now seen.
When the character Maggie talks about leaving Queenstown and boarding the tender ship that took her out to the Titanic--I stood right in front of that! I saw the 150 year old Heartbreak Pier. And when she talked about having to take the tender out to board Titanic because it was so huge it couldn't fit in the harbor--I saw how huge that harbor is and cannot fathom that Titanic couldn't fit in it. I have loved the story of the Titanic for 30 years. I have voraciously read as much as I can about it, fiction and non-fiction books. But now after all these years to be able to see these places in my mind because I have actually seen them with my eyes--made my mind explode as I was reading! So exciting!
The novel is loosely based on a group of 14 Irish people from one village who left their homeland to travel on Titanic to America. Only 3 of the group survived, making it the largest loss of life from one region. The fictional part of the story follows one of the survivors, Maggie, and flips back and forth between the story of what happened on the ship and the story of Maggie's granddaughter 70 years later. I liked how the author tried to write about the sadness of the loss of life in more detail than some other fictional Titanic novels I've read. So many other books just skim over the huge emotional impact.
38. Bright Side--Kim Holden, 383 pages
Eh. Too cheesy and over-the-top for most of the book. I literally cringed several times. This is classified as "new adult". I don't really understand what the difference is between "new adult" and YA but either way, I NEED to stop reading both.
Shelfari 50 Book Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Everything I Never Told You (other topics)The Christmas Train (other topics)
Bright Side (other topics)
The Girl Who Came Home (other topics)
The Mistletoe Promise (other topics)
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