January Part 2

So there's one thing I forgot to mention in my first 2019 post: I love reading challenges, and there's two I'm planning on trying this year.

The first is put out by my local library and is usually a contest between the three counties that make up Appalachian Regional Library. There's 52 challenges, one for each week, and they range from the obvious (a book published the year you were born) to the weird (a book with garlic in it...seriously? Cheesy vampire novel or cookbook?).

The second reading challenge I'm attempting this year is Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. It only has 24 challenges, working out to two per month, but the categories are very specific (A book published before 2019 with less than 100 reviews on Goodreads!).

So far I've read four books for 2019 and all four have a home on my library's Reading Challenge but nothing on Book Riot's. Here's a quick run down of 2019 so far:

I started the year off with The Once and Future King as a leftover from 2018 but then three library books came in at once so I had to set it aside.

So, the first book I finished this year was Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors. This was a story about home, family, and a specific house that spans two centuries, the 19th and 21st. This fulfilled "A book by an Appalachian author" on Watauga's Reading Challenge since Kingsolver lives in southern Appalachia.

Next up was Circe by Madeline Miller, a story of a nymph/witch who is sentenced by her Titan father Helios to live on an abandoned island on Earth. I used this for "a book about ancient mythology" because this fits the time period and has characters from Greek Mythology.

When I texted my bestie the cover of Unsheltered she texted back the cover of American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures by America Ferrera, I immediately put it on hold at my library. This fulfills "a book about culture" because it's full of personal essays by famous POC, mostly the children of immigrants to America. This book made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time!

Last but by no means least, is the "book about American History," Hanging Mary by Susan Higginbotham. This is the fictionalized story of the first woman hanged by the US government. The relationship between John Wilkes Booth and Mrs. Mary Surratt, owner of a Washington City boarding house is examined in great detail in this novel.

So that's it for January. I just started Tayari Jones' An American Marriage so that'll be my first book in February. I also have two other library books waiting on my nightstand: A Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (author of The Book Thief) and Jodi Picot's latest, A Spark of Light.

LAST MINUTE UPDATE!!!

I had this set to publish on January 31 but then An American Marriage hooked me and I finished it just before bed and wanted to include it in January's post because it's a January book! This book was intense and heartbreaking and I'm still trying to process it. I recommend it to everyone, especially other white folks trying to learn more about the effects of the American prison system on black Americans.

New Year, New Approach

Happy 2019 Y'all!

(At this point I honestly don't know if I'm a Northerner or Southerner but a decade of waiting tables in the South gives me permission to say y'all, especially since the first job was a Texas-style steakhouse where EVERYTHING was Southern.)

Anyhoo...

So I started this blog a year ago with the intention of reviewing EVERY book I read. That was much harder than I expected and ultimately proved impossible (for me). Last year I used Goodreads to track my books; I set a goal for 60 and exceeded it by reading 68 books. It was too much, there are books I barely remember reading.

I read everything from Fredrik Backman, at least what's been translated into English and is available in the US. I read two of N.K. Jemisin's trilogies, The Broken Earth and the Inheritance Trilogy. Backman was recommended to me by my best friend of 20-plus years and I got my mother hooked on Jemisin by recommending The Fifth Season. She's starting the Inheritance Trilogy now.

Those are my two big reading events from 2018, but I also read a ton of other amazing books. This year I plan to continue exploring Jemisin's works, there's at least a Duology and a short story collection to read. I also plan to read a good deal about The Resistance during WWII because as research for my novel, as well as books about writing, world-building in particular.

I want to read more books by women, especially non-Americans and/or women of color. I've got six books on hold at my library and I'm excited to share them with you:

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
     I put this on hold over the summer and I really hope it gets to me soon!

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
     Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors; The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorite books to re-read.

Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts
     Year One is the first Nora Roberts book I've ever read and it sucked me in just enough to make me want to read the sequel.

Becoming by Michelle Obama
     I'm number 323 on the list so maybe I'll get it by the end of the year!

Circe by Madeline Miller
     This book is already on its way to my library so I'll be reading it first!

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
     I've heard so many good things about this book, I'm excited to read it.


So...long story short: Instead of reviewing every. single. book. I'm going to post an update 1-2 times a month to let you know what I've read, what I enjoyed, and what I'm planning to read next. I may have updates on movies based on books (I'm also waiting for the new HBO version of Fahrenheit 451 from one of the regional libraries attached to mine through NC Cardinal.)

Right now I'm enjoying T.H. White's The Once and Future King, which I got for Christmas in 2017 but just started before family descended on us for Christmas 2018. I expect to finish it by the end of the week and I plan to read 2-3 more books this month.

I'll update y'all in 2-3 weeks, have a great January!

Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman

I started following Laura Silverman on Twitter because of her editing services and realized I should probably read her novel before thinking about hiring her to help with mine. I am so glad I did, because this is a great story.

Anise is stunned to learn she has to learn her Santa Cruz home, her friends, and especially her surfboard, for an entire summer in Nebraska. Her father insists they need to help take care of her young cousins while their mom recovers from a car accident. She turns her nose up at the landlocked state and looks down on the local skateboarders, until she meets Lincoln. He teaches her how to skateboard and to appreciate who and what she has in her life.

As the summer stretches on, Anise stops talking to her friends back home, afraid that they're too busy having fun to think about her. She's afraid of what's going to happen to her new friendship with Lincoln when she goes back to Santa Cruz. But more than anything, Anise is terrified that she's just like her mother, who's popped in and out of her life, always flitting through life without worrying about the people she's left behind.

I really enjoyed this story, especially the detailed descriptions of both surfing and skateboarding. If I was ten years younger, I might try both!

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

*Book 2: The Inheritance Trilogy*

A decade after the World Tree ripped through Sky and created the city of Shadow, the godlings who've inhabited the city are enjoying life among the humans. Oree Shoth is a blind artist who seems to attract godlings, even falling in love with one. When a mysterious man shows up at her home, Oree tries to care for him but he keeps killing himself, but his deaths are always temporary, which makes her think he must be a godling.

Oree becomes the target of a cult and her and her new friend Shiny are kidnapped by them. Oree learns their plan and the truth of her own peculiarities.

This book started out a bit slower than The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms but once it picked up it really took off. Sieh, Nahadoth, and Yeine aren't featured as much as book one, but they're still here.

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

*Beartown, book 2*

Beartown was the first book I read in 2018 so when I heard there was a sequel, I ran to the library to scoop this up.

Just a few months after the end of Beartown, Us Against You tells the story of Beartown versus Hed and how the split in hockey takes its toll on the people of Beartown. Backman's writing is beautiful and he's so good at building tension. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and I can't wait to pick up my next Backman book at the library.