207 Book Talk

  I've decided that my reading for the next two weeks (after I finish the story I just started, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, and concurrent with some ebooks I have on loan; see below) will be chosen from these 4 floating book shelve stacks. This way, I have choices, but limit them to these options. It helps me stay focused, clear TBR piles, and stay on top of my reading challenge goals. Upper left (top to bottom): Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (I'll be honest, I am sort of dreading this one) Between Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys Untamed by Glennon Doyle Anxious People by Fredrik Backman Becoming by Michelle Obama Upper right  (top to bottom) : Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah Dear Justyce by Nic Stone The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks* Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Hurari In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum Lower right: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger* The Last Song by Nic...

My finalized list for the 2021 Popsugar reading challenge. I am attempting both the regular and advanced prompts this year, and love that I can shrink my TBR pile so much when I finish. REGULAR 1. A book that published in 2021 📘  Every Last Fear 2. An Afrofuturist book 📙  Kindred 3. A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover 📕  The Silent Wife  ✔️ 4. A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign 📗  Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 5. A dark academia book 📕  Ninth House 6. A book with a gem, mineral, or rock in the title 📘  The Nickel Boys 7. A book where the main character works at your current or dream job 📙  The Book of Two Ways 8. A book that has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction 📘  Bel Canto 9. A book with a family tree 📙  Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family 10. A bestseller from the 1990s 📕  The Reader 11. A book about forgetting 📘  Recursion 12. A book you have se...

Just finalized my list for the ATY52 challenge! Around the Year in 52 Books 2021 Reading Challenge:   1. A book related to “In the Beginning...” 📕  Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2. A book by an author whose name doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y 📘  The Round House 3. A book related to the lyrics for the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music 📙  Concrete Rose 4. A book with a monochromatic cover 📗  Know My Name 5. A book by an author on USA Today's list of 100 Black Novelists You Should Read 📕  If Beale Street Could Talk 6. A love story 📘  The Notebook 7. A book that fits a prompt suggestion that didn't make the final list 📙  Untamed 8. A book set in a state, province, or country you have never visited 📗  Q is for Quarry 9. A book you associate with a specific season or time of year 📕  Winter Garden 10. A book with a female villain or criminal 📘  Little Fires Everywhere 11. A book to celebrate The Gr...

Which new releases are you most looking forward to this year?  I have to be honest and say I haven't checked many lists to see what is coming up this year because I already have SO MANY books on my shelves and on my iPad waiting to be read that I am really trying not to add to the list. I know it's a losing proposition, but in the interest of space and my wallet I am trying to hold off on a deep dive in to what's coming up this year.  I do know about a few books I am looking forward to though. Here they are, in no particular order: Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas Out January 12, 2021 (from Goodreads) -  International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of  The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood. If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows ho...

I started, and finished, this one today, and it was a good kick off for this year's reading. Things You Save in a Fire  by Katherine Center is the story of Cassie, a young woman working in the male dominated firefighting profession. She is in Austin at the start of the story, but gets a request from her long gone mother to move to Massachusetts for a year. She says no, but circumstances soon change, and she finds herself in a home with a woman she has tried hard to ignore for over a decade and in a new fire station with a crew that has never worked with a woman on their shift.  The book is billed under the romance genre, and there is some romance, but the heart of this story is a kick ass woman learning the art of forgiveness and vulnerability. Is the ending wrapped up with a pretty little bow? It is a "romance," so you can probably figure that out for yourself, but let me tell you, there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in between.  As the long time partner of a fi...

 Almost done with my ATY 2021 reading challenge list. Still need books for #6 (a love story) and #29 (a book you consider comfort reading), but those should be easy to decide on, whether I do it now or during the coming year. If you've seen the post with my 2021 PopSugar reading challenge list, you will notice lots of duplicate entries here. That is totally intentional on my part. I want to try to finish both challenges this coming year (I came within 3 books on PopSugar and 5 on ATY this year and could have done it, but just did not want to read any of the books I had chosen for the prompts I had left).  Even though both lists are supposedly made independently from one another, they often have so many common themes or elements that I start to wonder if their creators are checking in with each other as they compile their respective lists. Anyway, doing different books for each prompt would total 102 books. That number doesn't concern me. I usually read around 160 books a year ...