whatcha readin'? 2019 round up

Once again, I did not keep up to date on
all the books I had read for the year
and am forced to do a
2019 round up of the stragglers.
:)

My goal last year was to read 25 books
and I read 29!
which would be more impressive to me
if the year before I hadn’t read THIRTY SIX!

Anyway…my goal was 25 and I did beat that
so let’s place our focus there, shall we? :)

Here is a quick round up of the 10 I didn’t write about yet
(and please forgive the brief descriptions…I am going
by the book notes I wrote while reading each book):

A WEB OF ANGELS Lillian Nattel
♥♥♥♥♥

Disturbing but beautiful writing.

THE WEIGHT OF INK Rachel Kadish
♥♥♥♥

It took me a bit to get into it…
but the uncomfortable tensions between
the student & teacher caught my attention..
and kept me going.

It took me a long time to finish.
The history & philosophy bogged me down in places
but the writing was so beautiful that I kept going…

DAISY JONES AND THE SIX Taylor Jenkins Reid
♥♥♥♥♥

"But at some point, you have to recognize that you have no control over anybody and you have to step back and be ready to catch them when they fall and that’s all you can do. It feels like throwing someone you love out to sea and then praying they float on their own, knowing they might well drown and you’ll have to watch.”

Eff. That cut right into me.

Also…just gave this 5 hearts and haven’t even finished it.

(this was taken directly from my book notes. I loved this book.)

IN PIECES Sally Field
♥♥♥♥♥
I kind of love Sally Field. I really started loving her in the show
Brothers and Sisters. The memoir was very well written and
there is so much more to her than I ever realized.

THE HUNTRESS Kate Quinn
♥♥♥♥♥
I was very excited about a 2nd book
from the author of the Alice Network & this
definitely did not disappoint.
I especially loved how it make me see 2 sides
of a coin…how a person may do things in
extreme situations that otherwise, they may have never done.

CIRCE Madeline Miller
♥♥♥♥♥
I really, really enjoyed this version of Greek mythology.

MAGIC HOUR Kristin Hannah
♥♥♥♥.5
I love this author. I was very caught up in it
from beginning right til very end.
Good quick kinda light read.

BITE THE STARS Eliza Clark
♥♥♥♥♥
I picked up this book in a book sale
& loved it. And oddly enough, I can’t link to this Canadian author
from Indigo…but can find it on Amazon. That surprised me.

From my notes:
”Read like poetry…but also like swallowing shards of jagged glass…
so sad and painful.”

THE ALL GIRL FILLING STATION LAST REUNION Fannie Flagg
♥♥♥♥♥
I totally did not expect to really like this
but I friggin’ LOVED it. It almost made me cry in public.
Another happy book sale find!

CRAZY RICH ASIANS (1) Kevin Kwan
♥♥.5
Meh. It was ok. Pretty light and airy and fluffy and…meh.
But…I am reading the 2nd one so…what does that say about me.
Haha.

Even though I read more books in 2018 than 2019,
I think I am going to continue with setting my book reading goal
one book higher than the previous year…so
my goal for 2020 is 30 books.
(Although we all know that, in my heart, I am really going to be trying to beat 36…haha)

And my favorite book from 2019 if I had to choose just one…that’s a hard one.
I had a lot of 5 heart books in there. But I am leaning towards
Daisy Jones & the six (which is being made into a movie!!)
and Where The Crawdads Sing.

If you had a favorite books from 2019, I would love to know about it!
I LOVE book recommendations! :)

whatcha readin'? {book 18::goal 25}

This book.

Wow.

The true story of a Canadian woman
held captive for 15 months in Somalia.

It was heartbreaking and terrifying.
I burned through this book pretty quick.

I definitely recommend.
I’ll be watching for the movie…

5 out of 5♥♥♥♥♥s
NEXT UP:: WEB OF ANGELS - LILLIAN NATTEL

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 18::goal 25}

I bought this book on a whim
at a book sale…
I feel like I had seen it around the
internet world and the blogosphere
so thought I would give it a go…

Plus…I like orange.
Heehee.

It was a good book. I don’t regret reading it
but it was kind of up and down for me.
There were moments that I loved it
and it made me laugh out loud
and I thought it was very clever…

but then there were moments that I got
completely bogged down by the politics
and confused on who was who and
what was why and where is that one going
with who?

But I also read this in starts and stops
so that may have been my own fault.

And, for some reason, it reminded me a bit of Forrest Gump.

& speaking of movies, apparently this has been turned into one.

4 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥s
NEXT UP:: A HOUSE IN THE SKY - AMANDA LINDHOLM

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 17::goal 25}

oh.

Kristin Hannah is one of my
new
favorite authors.

This book made me cry.

In the notes that I keep as I am reading a book
I wrote
that I recognized
qualities of myself
in the mom…just a little bit…
tiny bits and pieces of me here and there
shards of self identity…

And I loved the characters.
The vast and wild description of Alaska.
The reasons behind why we stay
and why we leave.
Home and all it encompasses.

I now want to read everything by her.

5 out of 5 broken ♥♥♥♥♥’s
NEXT UP:: THE 100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW & DISAPPEARED - JONAS JONASSON

whatcha readin'? 2019 {book 16::goal 25}

I don’t even know where or how I heard of this book…
but I am sooooo glad that I did.

I loved this book.
The intricate threads tying each person together
in ways I didn’t expect,
the backstory,
the reasoning behind the reasons…

But Kate & Peter’s story…well….
Kate’s story…
the creeping realization, the gradual descent into…
the delayed reactions and then the subsequent
futile motions of trying to figure out where it all
went wrong, of how to fix it, to apply rational logic
to something that defies logic & is completely
out of your control…
well.

That made me cry.

Because I saw myself in that.
I saw me.
As clear and as sharp as looking in a mirror.
I saw me.

So my opinion on this book may be a little biased
because of that….I suspect you are either drawn to
or run away screaming from
what you recognize in yourself….depending on the day.

On this day, it felt good to be understood,
if only by a fictional character in a book with a name
I can never seem to remember.

Also, I wrote this note after reading it:

“The only secret to love is to be kind” found in the acknowledgements.
♥

5 out of 5 broken ♥♥♥♥♥
NEXT UP:: THE GREAT ALONE - KRISTIN HANNAH