"The Reading List" by Sara Nisha Adams is About the Power of Books

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams shows how books can play a big part in your life.  I really enjoyed the two main characters:  an old man discovering the library for the first time, and a young girl who works at the library.  It is humorous and the story line kept me interested all the way.  I think this is a wonderful book that all ages would enjoy.  (Gerard's review, 5+ stars)

To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Our Favorite Books We Read in 2021

I'm a bit late posting my favorites from last year, but here they are.  You can easily find our reviews by searching for the title in the upper left search box.  It was a slow reading year for me with only a total of 24 books so I only had 8 that I loved (the first four below were my husband's favorites as well):

Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction

Fantasy (part of series)

Fantasy

 

Historical Romance

Mystery

Autism & Sisters

Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction (artists during depression)

Next are my husbands favorites (he read 62 books in 2021):

Romance

Psychological Thriller

Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction

Memoir

Memoir

Mystery/Thriller

Fantasy

Middle Grade/Children's Book, survival

Family Relationships

Mystery/Thriller

Thriller

How many books did you read last year?  What were your favorites?

To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Gerard's Best Books of 2018

Out of 101 books I read during 2018, I have narrowed it down to the 12 favorites below:

1--Life in a Jar by Jack Mayer (non-fiction)

2--On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides

3--The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (Wife also gave this 5 stars)

4--The Last Namasara by Kristen Cicarelli (One of wife's favorites too)

5--Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage (Wife also liked)

6--Bright We Burn by Kiersten White (book 3 of I Darken series)

7--Night Blood by Elly Blake (Frost Blood Series)

8--The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

9--The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

10--Children of Blood and Bone by Tom Adeyemi

11-Educated by Tara Westover (non-fiction)

12-Fury Born by Claire Legrand

See previous post for my wife's best books of 2018.  Whose list do you like better?

 Happy Reading!

Karen's Best Books of 2018

I narrowed down my favorite reads of 2018 to 12 but that includes counting four great series each as one item. My mix included some YA sports stories, historical fiction/romance, science fiction, fantasy and mystery.

1. Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain (contemporary science fiction, time travel)

Best single book of the year—Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain was fantastic. I hated to put it down because I was always eager to see what would happen next. This emotional read had so many ups and downs, twists and turns that I just kept thinking about it even after I finished. Time travel is something fun to think about and this book made it very believable. I found myself saying “Oh no!” out loud several times throughout this book! It’s about a mother’s love for her unborn child and the lengths she goes to in order for it to be healthy and have a good life. If I could recommend just one book to a woman, this would be it!

2. Nyxia by Scot Reintgen (2-book YA science fiction series)
Nyxia contained a lot of relational stuff among competitors from around the world. It was about leadership, competition, and finally survival and courage. This one is reminiscent of Ender’s Game, which I loved!

3. Everlost by Neal Shusterman (3-book YA fantasy series)
The Everlost series was just a fun read for me about how dead people can enter the body of living humans or in some cases, animals even which is called “skin jacking.” This one had lots of funny parts that made me actually laugh out loud.



4. Clover Springs Mail Order Bride Box Set by Rachel Wesson (5-book historical romance series)

5. Trails of the Heart by Rachel Wesson (5-book historical fiction series)
The Rachel Wesson historical romance series were very entertaining, with adventure, wit, and clean romance. Although each book was about the Old West romances, they each had a unique angle which kept me reading more and more of her stories. These too were quick reads.




6. A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena (murder mystery)

7. Her Last Breath by Linda Costello (hit-n-run Amish mystery)
A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena and Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo were both well written murder mysteries with surprise endings for me.










8. The Last Namsara by Kristen Cicarelli (fantasy with dragons)
This one was such a different type of read for me that kept my interest. I loved the dragons in it and the main character was very cool. This is the first dragon book I ever read.

9. QB1 by Mike Lupica (children’s football story)

10. Fast Break by Mike Lupica (children’s basketball story)

11. Team Players by Mike Lupica (children’s baseball story)

 

The Mike Lupica books are great reads for kids who like sports, but I enjoyed them very much too. He wrote many others as well, but the three I listed above were the ones I liked best. They are short and go fast, but all are more than just about sports.

12. DRY by Neal Shusterman (YA contemporary fiction)
This one is actually pretty scary because it is about something that could actually happen—serious drought! A group of teens who do not have much in common, join together to work to survive.

I highly recommend all these, loved them all!  I'd love to hear what you thought of them if you read any.  I read over 90 books so it wasn't easy to narrow it down to this.  Subscribe to this blog so you don't miss any of our book reviews.  Happy Reading!

"Down Cut Shin Creek--The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky" is Very Short and Interesting!

Down Cut Shin Creek—The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt and Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer is a very short book about a group of women during the Great Depression who delivered magazines, books and Sunday School papers on horseback to the poor people of Kentucky. I did not know of this and found it very interesting! It has pictures too which I enjoyed.
(Gerard’s review, 5 stars)

Karen read it too:
Down Cut Shin Creek—The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt and Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer is an interesting book about The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt created The Works Progress Administration (WPA) instituted the Pack Horse Library Project give create some work. Mostly women on horseback delivered donated books and magazines to people in Kentucky. Sometimes they would also go on foot. This is a very short but interesting book with pictures about a brief time of history that is little known. I’m glad I read it--it took less than an hour! (Karen's review, 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Karen's Favorite Reads for 2015

I read 83 books in 2015 and this video shows my top 20 favorites which includes the Harry Potter Series of 7 by J. K. Rowling and the Katie Productions series of 3 by Jenny B. Jones.  The "Books & Cats, Life is Good" t-shirt was a Christmas present from my cats, Manny Boy and Spunky Doodle.  My dog, Abby, got me the whole set of Harry Potter books which by the way, if you haven't yet read, you should!

If you made a favorite book post or video for books you read in 2015, feel free to share the link in the comments.  My husband's favorite book post will be up soon--he's still deciding.

Happy Reading!

Books I Finished in One Sitting (or close)

I did this video for Top 5 Wednesdays, a Goodreads group.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and what books you finished in just one sitting (or close) in a comment.  Hope you will check out my YouTube channel.

Have you read any of these? What did you think? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

:When Books Went To War" by Molly Guptill Manning is Fascinating

When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning tells the true story about our soldiers in World War II and the effort that was made to get them books to read.  I found this book fascinating.  The people who lead the drive are true behind-the-scenes heroes.  I enjoyed finding out what books our men and women fighters in the war liked best.  If you are looking for a good true historical book, this is it!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Where Does Gerard Find All His Good Books?

Since we frequently get comments about Gerard's unusual books that are so intriguing, he is letting you in on his secret of where he finds his good books.  He looks for the book recommendations in PEOPLE magazine and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY.  That is pretty much it.  He loves reading new books rather than old ones.

He copies down the titles that peek his interest and then proceeds to go on the computer and order them from the library.  He usually has to wait to get them because there is a waiting list for more popular books, but it works out well. 

A Fun Way To Share Your Books--Release Them Into The Wild

I am having a fun time cleaning off my bookshelves since joining www.bookcrossing.com last week.  Basically, the idea is to share your read books with other people by just placing them in places for them to be found.  Here's how it works: 

This is a book we received to review that we didn't want--our first release.

REGISTER:  Print out free labels to put inside the cover of your book (or you can purchase fancier labels if you want).  Then register your book at www.bookcrossing.com and write the BookCrossing ID ("BCID") number on the label.  The inside label says:

HOWDY!  HOLA!  BONJOUR!  GUTEN TAG!
I'm a very special book.   You see, I'm traveling around the world making new friends.  I hope I've met another friend in you.  Please go to www.BookCrossing.com and enter my BCID number (shown below).  You'll discover where I've been and who has read me, and can let them know I'm safe here in your hands.  Then...READ and RELEASE me!  BCID: ___________ (you fill this in)

RELEASE:  Then decide where you will leave it which is called "releasing it into the wild."  Add your release notes so people can actually go hunting for it if they want.

This is my first BookCrossing zone,  I left it on the bus stop bench, crossed the street to get a picture of the book waiting to be found, and when the buses went by that were blocking my view, the book was already gone!  That made me feel good!  Sometimes people will follow-through and actually report they found the book and enter the BCID number so you can follow the book around to see where it's been.

So far I've left books on benches at bus stops, benches at the zoo, benches or picnic tables at parks, and in my lunch room at work.  So far, I've released 7 books and all were picked up but three that I know of, two I just released at the park today.

FOLLOW:  So far, no one has reported any of the found ones on the website, but I hope they will.  Even if they don't though, it's a fun way to get rid of books you no longer want and let someone else read them.

My user name on the website is BookDumper so if you join, please use me as the referral and look me up.  There are BookCrossers worldwide and you can look up how many have joined in your area.  What do you do with books you are finished reading?  Wouldn't you like to join too?