Thursday, February 02, 2023

January 2023 Book List

 1/1: A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore (library, 1995) - Just a weird little book about incest. 3/5 stars

1/2: The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz (library, 2022) - I adored this book.  Lutz is such a reliably consistent author who always works for me no matter what she writes. 4.5/5 stars

1/4: Amari and The Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B.B. Alson (library, 2021) - A perfectly good, heartfelt fantasy novel for kids about a girl trying to find her missing brother, learning she's a magician, and figuring out her place in a new world all at the same time. 4/5 stars

1/6: Son of the Shadows (Sevenwaters #2) by Juliet Marillier (library ebook, 2000) - Second book in a series and the plot really ratchets up in this one. 4.5/5 stars

1/6: Correction in Ink: A Memoir by Keri Blakinger (library, 2022) - Former heroin addict writes about her time in prison. I thought the most interesting part of her story was her re-entry, but, sadly, that was only the last few pages of the book. 3.5/5 stars

1/7: Hello Stranger (Ravenels #4) by Lisa Kleypas (library ebook, 2018) - This historical romance novel about a doctor and her studly suitor really appealed to me. 4.5/5 stars

1/10: American Royalty (American Royalty #1) by Tracey Livesay (library ebook, 2022) - Black American rapper meets white prince and they fall in love. These two cannot possibly make it. 3.5/5 stars

1/11: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (library, 2020) - Book club book of the month. Just fine. 3.5/5 stars

1/12: Magic's Promise (Valdemar: The Last Herald Mage #2) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 1990) - Valdemar is living up to its promise as a good fantasy epic so far. 4/5 stars

1/15: Spoiler Alert (Spoiler Alert #1) by Olivia Dade (library audiobook narrated by Isabelle Luther, 2020) - Terrible romance novel. 1.5/5 stars

1/16: Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse (library ebook, 2020) - Fantasy I wanted to like more than I did. 3/5 stars

1/16: Magic's Price (Valdemar: The Last Herald Mage #3) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 1990) - Pretty good. I enjoyed spending time with Van. 4/5 stars

1/18: Devil's Daughter (The Ravenels #5) by Lisa Kleypas (library ebook, 2019) - I'm enjoying these books now and that's all there is to it. 4/5 stars

1/18: Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love by Kim Fay (library, 2022) - Lovely story about how friendship grows. 5/5 stars

1/20: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (library, 2022) - What a weird book. It's a mashup of an adult romance and a YA novel. I have some issues with lax parenting and excessive drinking and drug usage with this book, but it was also really hard to put down. 4/5 stars

1/21: Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels by Paul Pringle (library, 2022) - Wild ride about corruption in Los Angeles from city hall to USC to the police to the editors of the newspaper. 4.5/5 stars

1/22: The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka (library, 2022) - Romance novels about two authors in which writing takes center stage. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. 2.5/5 stars

1/22: Child of the Prophecy (Sevenwaters #3) by Juliet Marillier (library ebook, 2001) - Really good fantasy.  4.5/5 stars

1/24: Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister (library, 2022) - Really interesting premise, but I didn't really love it. 3.5/5 stars

1/24: Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan (library ebook, 2022) - How romance should be done. 5/5 stars

1/26: Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger (library book, 2012) - My beloved nerdy nephews were talking about this book at Christmas and they really recommended it. It's a pretty intense rip-off of Harry Potter. I can see why they liked it, but it wasn't for me. 2.5/5 stars

1/26: Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman (library ebook, 2022) - A journalist writes a profile of an actor that makes her career and years later they meet again. There's a dog and that really improved this just sort of meh romance novel. 3.5/5 stars

1/28: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (library, 2022) - Simply beautiful and admirable. 4.5/5 stars

Total: 23 books (calm down, a bunch were early readers or romance novels - I'm not reading War and Peace over here)
Average star rating: 3.8/5 stars


DNF:

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride - I don't have the patience to wade through stream of consciousness, let alone stream of consciousness with a child as a narrator. I'm sure it has a great payoff, but it's not my jam. DNF at page 10. Ha.

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips - I downloaded this audiobook because it was on my list and available immediately. It wasn't very long before I realized it was about a child abduction and I was made uncomfortable by it and stopped early on. DNF at 5%.

6 comments:

  1. Ooooh an excellent list.

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  2. Okay, so the weirdest thing is I apparently put a library hold on A Spell of Winter, and when it came in I had no recollection of what the book was about or why I requested it. I haven't started it yet, and now I see your description is "just a weird little book about incest." What??? WHY did I want to read this??? Anyway... I just realized I never read your review of Sea of Tranquility- I'm going to do that right now.

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    1. I begged people to read it because I want to talk about it!!!! It's like Flowers in the Attic, but literary with good writing, but still. Drama! Incest! Please read it!!!!

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  3. I very much enjoyed "Sea of Tranquility" although I couldn't help comparing it to "Station 11," one of my all-time favorites. We read "Disappearing Earth" in Book Club and it started out as a slog for me, then I started seeing connections. Afterward I couldn't get the book out of my mind. Oh, Ally Bean sent me! :)

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    1. Oh, I'm excited to see someone from Ally's blog roll! Welcome! Station Eleven was SO good. I think it was better than this one, but the Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel, and Sea of Tranquility as a trilogy is just amazing. I ALWAYS think about Mandel's books for such a long time after I've finished them.

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