Book Nook Cafe discussion
What did you read last month?
>
What did you read in ~~ December 2021
I am actually still reading about three books but I won't be finished with them before January 1st, so I will just put what I read in December on here. Only eight books this month as I was in a "slow-mo" mood! lol1)
Haunted: Asylum by Lee Mountford - 5 stars. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2)
Thanksgiving Day Massacre by Brian G. Berry - 5 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3)
BAKER'S DOZEN by Candace Nola - 5 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4)
The Spider by Amy Cross - 4 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
5)
A Bloody Christmas by Brian G. Berry - 4 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
6)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling - 5 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
7)
Malice by John Gwynne - 5 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The House On Rectory Lane by Stuart James - 5 stars.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
That is my wrap for December! :)
Eight books is definitely an achievement! On rare occasions, if I'm most of the way through at the end of the month, I'll officially close out a book then, and read the remaining pages later.
Very nice reading month, Marie.I think I am the only person on the planet who hasn't read Harry Potter.
Alias Reader wrote: "Very nice reading month, Marie.I think I am the only person on the planet who hasn't read Harry Potter."
No, you're not.
John wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Very nice reading month, Marie.I think I am the only person on the planet who hasn't read Harry Potter."
No, you're not."
:)
Marie! I love, love, love the idea behind the Baker's Dozen! I'm surprised that so many authors would write a story about baking under the horror/thriller genre. Neat. Thanks for this title!For me both holiday books from Brian Berry sound spooky. Frankly, someone roaming around my town in a turkey face mask would be spooky enough--those critters are not attractive! Mix in slaughter & i'm outta there.
As for scary snowpeople? What an ugly concept! They are adorable, which probably makes them more frightening in the story.
Thanks, Marie, for this list of gore-suitable titles.
John wrote: "Eight books is definitely an achievement! On rare occasions, if I'm most of the way through at the end of the month, I'll officially close out a book then, and read the remaining pages later."I have to admit that i will carry a title over if i cannot finish it. However, usually i am able to cram-read to add it to one month's list. What can i say? Sometimes i get obsessed.
Not the most active month, but here are mine...From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden by Amy Stewart ⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens ⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami ⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym ⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
John wrote: "Not the most active month, but here are mine...From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden by Amy Stewart ⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"
Nice month, John.
Sorry to hear you don't like raw tomatoes. A tomato/mayo sandwich is a thing of beauty for me.
I eat a ton of zucchini. Love it sautéed with onions.
Alas, I am an apartment dweller. So no garden for me. :(
Here is how I finished up 2021. I discussed most of these books in more detail during the month, so I will just give a brief recap.
Desperate Characters by Paula FoxFiction
Published 1970
Rated 3 minus /5 It met my expectations. Did not exceed them.
This brief novel is about a well off unhappy couple whose marriage is on the rocks.
The writing is very good. Fox captures the angst and desperation of the the characters and their Brooklyn neighborhood well. However, there really isn't much plot.
The title comes from Thoreau's Walden where he wrote that “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation”.
Read it for the wonderful descriptive writing not the plot.
by Richard PowersFiction
Published 2021
Rate 2/5 Fell below my expectations
The novel is about an astrobiologist raising his neurodivergent nine-year-old son, following the death of his saintly wife.
The focus of the book is how humans seem hell bent on destroying the planet. The father refuses to follow medical and educators advice to help manage his son's anger, depression and overly sensitive nature. Instead he decides to homeschool and let his son be a test subject in a weird AI program. What could go wrong? The program teaches him to channel his dead mothers emotions. As she was an ardent environmentalist, the boy becomes one. Unfortunately, he has an existential crisis as he feels all to painfully and deeply about our destruction of the earth and the extinction of the animals.
This novel dragged for me. Even though I agree with the point the author was making about our destruction of the earth I felt it was too preachy and there wasn't enough action to engage me.
An Unorthodox Match: A Novel by Naomi RagenFiction
Published: 2019
Rate: 3 minus / 5
The novel centers on Leah Howard who decides to give up her secular lifestyle for the Hassidic life in the neighborhood of Boro Park, Brooklyn, NY. I'm familiar with this area and that is what drew me to the book. It was also on my 2021 Determination List to read a book by this author.
The minus in my rating is because there are some cringe worthy stereotypes in the novel.
I've read a few books by this author and The Saturday Wife is still my favorite.
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice MillardNon Fiction
Published: 2016
Rate: 3 minus /5
This is a good read if you have an interest or want to learn a bit more about the Boar War and Winston Churchill. I don't particularly like reading about battles. So those parts were a bit of a slog for me. I didn't know that Churchill was a POW and about his daring escape. So that part was interesting. I would note that there are some very good photos that are at the end of the book. I wish they were included in the text and not at the end. I read it on the Kindle so didn't see them until I finished. Being able to put face to character would have helped. I thought the book was good but not as engaging as her Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. I gave that book 4 stars.
Alias Reader wrote: "John wrote: "Not the most active month, but here are mine...From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden by Amy Stewart ⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I went to Queens College, near the observant neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills. Have you read any other books about life among that group?
John wrote: I went to Queens College, near the observant neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills. Have you read any other books about life among that group?..."
Sorry I don't much about Queens. I'm a Brooklyn gal. :)
madrano wrote: "Marie! I love, love, love the idea behind the Baker's Dozen! I'm surprised that so many authors would write a story about baking under the horror/thriller genre. Neat. Thanks for this title!For m..."
You are welcome! I thought the Baker's Dozen title was cool too and very creative of the main author that put that together which was Candace Nola. I haven't read a horror book that was wrapped around baking before so though most of the stories were of the extreme variety I thought it was an unique concept for having those type of stories within a book.
Brian Berry does have some interesting books out there and all of them are for gore suits only!
Oh and I love your new word "gore-suitable" - cracked me up with giggles and will have to remember to use it in honor of you when I do gore reviews on here. :)
Believe it or not (no not the tv show - lol) I did finish up another book. Well actually it is a trilogy omnibus that I thought I would not finish till after the new year, but "lo and behold" I became caught up in the last book of the trilogy and read my heart out last night and today. So this book will get added to my top reads of the year for honorable mention as the last book in the trilogy blew me away with tension and suspense! Oh and what I didn't realize which is kind of odd I started the trilogy on November 30th and finished today December 30th. Spooky.....lol. 
Haunted Florida Boxed Set by Gaby Triana - 5 stars for the whole trilogy. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
@alias: Bewilderment drew my attention, as it seems like a drama merged with the atmosphere you normally only get in fantasy books. The sader, that it wasn´t so nice to read.@Marie: You had also an impressive list. Especially Haunted:Asylum sounds great.
Now to my list: It didn´t feel as if I was reading many books, but that was only because I read five books of one series.
So let´s start with Odyssey One. It´s a seven books-series by Evan Currie about Captain Eric Weston who goes with earth´s first big spaceship on a discovery mission (so, not the first spaceship, but the first really big spaceship. On the way he finds the remnants of a space battle and rescues a human girl, and he finds that there is another human culture in another galaxy. This culture is highly developed but deeply pacifistic. And for a short time they have been under attack by an insect-like species called the Drasins and because of their pacifistic nature they couldn´t do much about that. So, to prevent the genocide, Captain Weston decided to help the humans and fought together with them.
In the following books the story went on. As expected, humans and the other human culture (later called the "Priminae" got to know each other and kept on helping, as the Drasins weren´t fully destroyed in the first book. But I won´t say anymore due to spoilers.
I have to say, I really loved these books. They´re also a candidate for the top read of the year, like with you, Marie. The key point of the books is Eric Weston: He seems very competent and does what has to be done: A foreign culture will be destroyed by an alien force? Where other people would have hesitated, Weston just decided to help. In the fighting scenes he showed as a tactical genius. (Ah, and just to know: Most of the books is about the fighting scenes, also with other people than Weston. But the books were still good as they didn´t show the fighting as "just killing other people/aliens" but as the persons were depicted - with all their competence, so it felt as if the fighting is more about the characters. I liked that. But probably it also helped that the enemies were giant bugs, so there was no question of ethics involved.
And I have read only five books of the series, as the shop where I get my e-books only has the first five.
Chemistry for Breakfast: The Amazing Science of Everyday Life by Mai-Thi Nguyen-Kim: A book about chemistry, but not a boring textbook but a book that shows where in everyday´s life chemistry plays a role and this is then explained. It is a nice read, and probably also understandable for people without chemistry background. Although those people won´t understand everything, but that also isn´t the aim of the book as the author stated. She wants to show that chemistry isn´t "bad" but that is in everything, and that she did well.
The Cat Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Troubleshooting Tips, and Advice on Lifetime Maintenance. It´s a book about cats (Yea, I (respectively my parents) have a cat). My father got his book last year for christmas and I read it now. It´s a book on how to deal with cats: What they need, what they eat, some health things, different races etc. It was nice to read, but there wasn´t really much new if you already have a cat, so it is more for people who get a cat for the first time (or to refresh some things). One thing that I learned and that kept stuck in my mind is that when your cat is sprayed on by a skunk, you have to bath it in tomato juice to get the smell away. Yummy. Besides, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed - The book was written like a manual and tried to get this way a bit of humour into it. But this didn´t really work that well as it becomes boring and a bit weird when you refer e.g. to "throwing up" as "upload" etc.
John, the warning for the Pym was perfect. Readers appreciate that for authors who have a wide fan base.Coming from a marriage to a man who gardened almost everywhere we moved for the first 45 years, i recognized much of what your review mentioned from the Stewart book. We had friends ducking into the reeds when they saw my husband headed toward them with a 4 pound zucchini. It was our first introduction to harvesting the plant and we didn't know to keep them small. Oh my!
Nice reviews all around.
Alias, you offered a good recap of your reading month. The Millard book you mention, which featured James Garfield was perfect to me. I fell in love with Garfield but she went well beyond that in introducing the era and medical community of the time. I'm glad this one worked, despite the battle scenes. You are to be commended for even reading books you know have battles, as i know you are not a fan.
Marie wrote: "Oh and I love your new word "gore-suitable" - cracked me up with giggles and will have to remember to use it in honor of you when I do gore reviews on here. :)..."LOL!
How neat that you read another book before year's end. It's wonderful that it was so well written that you just couldn't stop. That's a marvel!
Florian, good descriptions of the books you read this month. I can see the Odyssey One series really clicked with you! How neat that you liked it so much.I love the Cat Manual idea, so am sorry it wasn't as engaging as it sounds. At least you and your cat are prepared for skunk attacks!
Thanks for sharing with us.
My reading really dropped off this month. I am listing two books, although the second one will not be finished until tonight (while my husband is watching some Bowl Games).The Infinite Blacktop--Sara Gran is the third installment in the story of "the world's best detective", Claire DeWitt. This one was a bit disjointed, although to be fair, i was recovering from surgery, so the problem may have been me. Regardless, i really like Claire as a confusing/confused character and find the series a fresh addition to the mystery genre. The previous two are Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead and Clare DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway, in order.
That Affair Next Door--Anna Katharine Green is about a Victorian Era high society single woman in NYC, who observes neighbors returning home late one night. A mystery ensues. Green apparently is the first writer to have a female character as an investigator of murder, an early Miss Marple, if you please. Feisty, intelligent and noisy, Miss Butterworth is a pleasure as she eliminates facts to zero in on the murderer.
madrano wrote: "My reading really dropped off this month. I am listing two books, although the second one will not be finished until tonight (while my husband is watching some Bowl Games).[book:The Infinite Blac..."
I've been holding off on the final Claire story. Her life can defined as a hot mess, but her incredible sense of loyalty wins out... that and the author's outstanding sense of place.
The Green story sounds like one I want to read!
Marie wrote: "Believe it or not (no not the tv show - lol) I did finish up another book. Well actually it is a trilogy omnibus that I thought I would not finish till after the new year, but "lo and behold" I bec..."You are amazing, Marie. Well done on adding another book to your already amazing 2021 books read list.
Florian wrote:Chemistry for Breakfast: The Amazing Science of Everyday Life by Mai-Thi Nguyen-Kim: A book about chemistry, but not a boring textbook but a book that shows where in everyday´s life chemistry plays a role and this is then explained. It is a nice read, and probably also understandable for people without chemistry background. Although those people won´t understand everything, but that also isn´t the aim of the book as the author stated. She wants to show that chemistry isn´t "bad" but that is in everything, and that she did well.
"
I remember when you first posted about this. I've added it to my TBR list.
My niece's husband teaches chemistry, I am going to mention the title to him. Thanks !
madrano wrote: "My reading really dropped off this month. I am listing two books, although the second one will not be finished until tonight (while my husband is watching some Bowl Games).Reading sounds like a wonderful way to ring in the new year. I'll probably do the same.
Thanks to those of you that have posted already in this thread, I have added quite a few books to my "to read" list.Here's my December reads:
Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde Rating: ***
This novel uses the view points of three different characters and jumps back and forth in time a bit. It was a little confusing at times because I would have to orient myself at the beginning of each chapter. Leonard's mom, Pearl, drops him off with a neighbor, Mitch, each day so she can go to work. One day, she never returns and Mitch raises Leonard as his own son. I enjoyed this novel about different kinds of love and dealing with adversity even though the constantly changing view points and time periods made it harder to read.
The Wish by Nicholas Sparks Rating: *****
Maggie Dawes, a travel photographer who is dealing with stage 4 cancer, spends the holidays with a young assistant. She tells him the story of how she moved from Seattle to the small island town of Okracoke, North Carolina when she was sixteen. Maggie had become pregnant and moved to live with an Aunt to avoid the stigma of being a pregnant teen. She relays the story of how she met and fell in love with Bryce, one of the few teenagers on Ocracoke. This novel goes back and forth between 2019 in New York City and 1996 in Okracoke. Despite not having much action, there is a lot of suspense in the story because the reader is always wondering what happened to Maggie's baby and why she and Bryce aren't a couple in the present day. This story was very enjoyable and had an interesting twist at the end.
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve Rating: ****
This is the first of four books in a sci-fi series. I became interested in it after watching the movie. In the future after a devastating war, many cities have been rebuilt on wheels to be able to avoid natural disasters and war. These "traction cities" hunt down other cities and destroy them so that they can use the destroyed cities' resources as fuel. On the city of London, Tom disrupts Hester Shaw's assassination attempt on Thaddeus Valentine, Tom's hero who is a famous archaeologist. Before she jumps off of London to escape, Hester warns Tom about Valentine and says Valentine is the one who killed her family and scarred her face with his sword. Pretty soon, Tom finds himself being thrown off of London and having to partner with Hester Shaw to survive in the Out-Country. This was an interesting and unique action packed dystopian sci-fi novel. It goes back and forth between the viewpoints of Tom as he and Hester struggle to survive and that of Katherine Valentine, who is trying to uncover who Hester Shaw is, why Hester tried to kill her father, and what is the machine that is secretly being built on London. It was much like a horror story as many of the major characters die along the way and the reader is left to wonder how many will still be alive at the end. I found it to be just as good as the movie with a few additional scenes and characters that weren't in the movie. Be advised, the book and the movie are similar, but have different endings.
Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde Rating: *****
Abby is a teenager who intervenes when she see someone attempt to drown a bag of puppies in a river. She rescues the pups, but has no way to keep them at home and refuses to turn them into a shelter that will probably euthanize them. Abby decides to keep the puppies in an abandoned hunting cabin in the hills away from town. Elliot is an older man who recently lost his wife. When he returns to his cabin after three years of taking care of his ailing wife, he discovers Abby and her puppies. Elliot helps Abby take care of the puppies. Abby and her Mom have a tense relationship with Abby's father, who is very controlling. Elliot attempts to help them, but before he can, Abby's father takes Abby and her mother away to live in another state. Abby and her mother struggle to find a way to escape Abby's father. This is an interesting dramatic story filled with emotional situations, romance, and 7 cute puppies.
Dru, my favorite Catherine Ryan Hyde book and movie is Pay It ForwardNice reading month !
You also made my TBR grow. I have to check out
Seven Perfect ThingsI 💜 the cover !
Marie wrote: "I am actually still reading about three books but I won't be finished with them before January 1st, so I will just put what I read in December on here. Only eight books this month as I was in a "sl..."Nice reading, Marie!
Now that Christmas gift making and the holidays are over, I hope to post 8 books one month soon.
madrano wrote: "I have to admit that i will carry a title over if i cannot finish it...."I carry a title over, too, if I can't finish it. It looks like January will be a good example. I have 3 books started and might finish 1 tonight (maybe.....if I'm lucky).
John wrote: "Not the most active month, but here are mine...From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden by Amy Stewart ⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"
That's a good month of reading John. Lots of 4-star books!
Alias Reader wrote: "Here is how I finished up 2021. I discussed most of these books in more detail during the month, so I will just give a brief recap.[book:Desperate Charact..."Nice list of books, Alias. I haven't heard of any of these titles and will look them up.
Florian wrote: "@alias: Bewilderment drew my attention, as it seems like a drama merged with the atmosphere you normally only get in fantasy books. The sader, that it wasn´t so nice to read.@Mari..."
A nice reading month, Florian!
madrano wrote: "My reading really dropped off this month. I am listing two books, although the second one will not be finished until tonight (while my husband is watching some Bowl Games).[book:The Infinite Blac..."
Thanks for mentioning the Claire series, Deb. These sound interesting.
Dru83 wrote: "Thanks to those of you that have posted already in this thread, I have added quite a few books to my "to read" list.Here's my December reads:
Love in the Present Tense by [author:C..."
Dru, you can't go wrong with a story that includes 7 puppies!
Alias Reader wrote: "Dru, my favorite Catherine Ryan Hyde book and movie is Pay It ForwardNice reading month !
You also made my TBR grow. I have to check out [bookcover:Seven Perfect T..."
Alias, the movie Pay it Forward is how I was introduced to Catherine Ryan Hyde and I also enjoyed the book. A couple months ago, I saw Seven Perfect Things somewhere and decided to read some more of her books and I'm glad I did.
By the way, I ended up reading 47 books this year. That's 24 more than my goal for this year and 27 more than last year!
Petra wrote: "madrano wrote: "My reading really dropped off this month. I am listing two books, although the second one will not be finished until tonight (while my husband is watching some Bowl Games).[book:T..."
The Claire DeWitt books I've found rather violent, almost grim at times. Usually that would be a big turn-off, but not here. Her world is what it is.
I will be back in full reading-force in January. The past couple of months have been busy ones for me and my reading has fully (almost) ceased. Here's what I read in December:
Convenience Store Woman (3-star) - I enjoyed this story of a woman trying to fit into the "normal" world. I listened to this on audio and it made for a good listen.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
1984: The Graphic Novel (4-star) - a well drawn and written adaptation.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dru83 wrote: "By the way, I ended up reading 47 books this year. That's 24 more than my goal for this year and 27 more than last year!"Excellent ! You really outdid yourself. ⭐
Petra wrote: "IConvenience Store Woman (3-star) - I enjoyed this story of a woman trying to fit into the "normal" world. I listened to this on audio and it made for a good listen.Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Good review.
I felt sorry for her that society didn't respect the job that she did very well and enjoyed. It's sad that some look down on jobs that we have come to learn very quickly during the pandemic, keep things running well for us all. These workers deserve our hearty thanks.
Always the contrarian, I didn't care for CSW as much, finding the main character annoying. Still, I did appreciate that it was okay that she ended up disappointing her family (and frustrating her friends) over refusing to conform.
Florian wrote: "@Marie: You had also an impressive list. Especially Haunted:Asylum sounds great.Now to my list: It didn´t feel as if I was reading many books, but that was only because I read five books of one series...."
Thank you, Florian! The whole series of the Haunted books are very good and creepy.
I like your list too. I am trying to strive to read more science fiction so I might look into that Odyssey series.
The cat book sounds really interesting - but if it is directed more toward new cat owners than I would skip it myself as I have owned cats off and on through my life - even raised a few from kittens that one of my momma cats delivered years and years ago, so I think I have enough tips! lol I didn't know about the tomato juice method for skunk spray - there is a tip that would be useful if I lived in the country. lol I live in an apartment now with one indoor cat so skunks are not allowed. Lol
All in all it sounds like you had a few great books yourself! :)
madrano wrote: "LOL!
How neat that you read another book before year's end. It's wonderful that it was so well written that you just couldn't stop. That's a marvel!"
Thank you, Madrano! :)
Alias Reader wrote: "You are amazing, Marie. Well done on adding another book to your already amazing 2021 books read list...."Thank you, Alias! :)
Petra wrote: "Nice reading, Marie! ..."Thank you, Petra! :)
John wrote: "The Claire DeWitt books I've found rather violent, almost grim at times. Usually that would be a big turn-off, but not here. Her world is what it is.a..."Petra, i agree with John. If violence bothers you in books, consider this a caution. However, as John mentioned upthread, Claire's loyalty and sense of herself is remarkable, despite her issues.
John, i kinda "needed" Claire in December, which is why i read the last of the 3 published books. I was pleased to learn that Sara Gran hopes to write a 4th and concluding book, but not for a few years. Bummer.
Dru, thanks for sharing your December books read titles. The write ups were good, in that they tempt us. Seven Perfect Things sounds perfect for a newbie to the author.Dru wrote: "By the way, I ended up reading 47 books this year. That's 24 more than my goal for this year and 27 more than last year!"...
What an accomplishment. I don't really set a number for myself and am often surprised by the numbers, high or low. It's all good, eh?
Speaking of reading goals. I set my GoodRead goal at 50. What number did you set on GoodReads ?
I didn't know GR had a reading goal. I'm just aiming for 100 books again, reaching my DL, which i have yet to post here, and my Challenge number, presuming i can add DL titles to fit the list.
madrano wrote: "I didn't know GR had a reading goal. I'm just aiming for 100 books again, reaching my DL, which i have yet to post here, and my Challenge number, presuming i can add DL titles to fit the list."Go to the top of the GoodReads page and click on HOME
On the home page you should see the GR 2022 goal.
You simple put in a number. As you enter the books read (date start, date finished) GR keeps track of your progress during the year.
Book Nook Cafe
Books mentioned in this topic
The Love Hypothesis (other topics)People We Meet on Vacation (other topics)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (other topics)
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (other topics)
Tess Pendragon & the Wand of Avalon (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
L. Frank Baum (other topics)Mamenosuke Fujimaru (other topics)
Susan Coolidge (other topics)
Sara Gran (other topics)
Catherine Ryan Hyde (other topics)
More...
Here is the Folder to tell us what your monthly reads for December 2021 were. What books did you finish up the year reading ?
Please provide:
~ A GoodReads link
~ A few sentences telling us how you felt about the book.
~ How would you rate the book