Friday, November 10, 2023

13.10 A Year of Judgment

 I just finished a yearly project. Each day of the month I posted on a pre-determined theme. During the month of November, I'll post a collage of all my photos on the daily theme from the past year. The theme for the tenth day of the month was "Judgment." I decided that I would do a review of a book for this prompt.

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Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I did not love this book as much as every one else did. So much boring tennis nonsense. 2/5 stars
2022 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge - I did it! I completed all the prompts!
Hello Stranger (The Ravenels #4) by Lisa Kleypas - Very solid historical romance novel. Great banter. 4.5/5 stars
The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams - Fake dating sports romance. I loved it! 5/5 stars
Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis - Mediocre romance. Boring male lead. 3/5 stars
Uprooted by Naomi Novik - Special snowflake syndrome extraordinaire. 2/5 stars
In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer - I wrote that this was a fine, forgettable book and I was right because I remember nothing about it several months later. 4/5 stars
Book Club 2023 - In which I introduced our plan for our Cool Bloggers Book Club reading of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn!
As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner - Historical fiction about the 1918 flu pandemic. I liked it a lot! 4.5/5 stars
Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Lovely feminist manifesto. I don't agree with everything in here, but I liked that she had the nerve to put it all down on paper. 5/5 stars
The Last Train to Key West (The Perez Family #2) by Chanel Cleeton - Eh. I wouldn't recommend this historical fiction book very much, but I do feel much more educated about the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.  3/5 stars
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - Beautiful writing, but I'm not sure I know what it means. 3/5 stars
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Hat count: 1
Artistic renderings of animals count: 2
Book count: 17
Snow count: 1

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I just love books.

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I am not going to put another book review here, but I posted one separately. You'll still get a book review today, though!

20 comments:

  1. I read The Last Train to Key West and pretty much feel like you do. It was about as escapist as any novel could be, not compelling but not bad.

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    1. I do think about that book a fair amount, though, mostly about the hurricane and the veterans camp. But not really about the plot of the book. Ha.

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  2. I love books too! And I love your reviews. Many times there's a book that everyone is loving, and I'll read your "meh" review of it and I'll cross it right off my list.

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    1. I feel like I have way too much power over your reading choices, Jenny!

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  3. This is such a fun collage too! I've gotten so many great book recs from you (Babel, Mary Jane), BTW. Thank you for doing them.

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    1. Mary Jane and Babel! SO GOOD. I have to read a lot of meh books to get to the ones I really love.

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  4. As you know big book lover. I was trying to continue the Perez novel vom Cleeton but maybe its not so bad I haven't followed up. I liked Uprooted. It is however not easy to read. And I added As Bright As Heaven to my TBR list.

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    1. I do think As Bright As Heaven is good. I'm still pondering the ending, to be honest.

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  5. I'm bummed that I missed the Tree Grows in Brooklyn event. I've never read it, but I hope to at some point.

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    1. Well, feel free to read it and go back through all our posts. People had really smart things to say and I talked and thought about Katie's hats way too much. Also, stay tuned. I think I'm going to do another book club soon!

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  6. This post was very useful because I remember you talking about As Bright as Heaven and thinking I might like to read it - and then forgetting about it. I'm about to start Happiness Falls, and if it doesn't "take" then I'm going to be in the market for another book.

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    1. It never hurts to have a backup on your TBR!

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  7. I love books too! And I really enjoy your reviews because they are so honest and I like how you pull out words/terms you don't know.

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    1. Everyone always says my reviews as so honest. Are there people out there writing non-honest reviews?!

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  8. I will forever be impressed by your reading accomplishments!

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    1. And I don't know how you do all the working out you do!

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  9. Oooh, I saw your reply above that you're thinking of starting another book club!!! Can't wait!

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    1. I think I might do one or two a year? I'm contemplating it. It's so much work, but it's so much fun and I think I would do it over four or five weeks instead of ten. We'll see!

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  10. Ha, I know very few people who feel the same way about Carrie Soto as me. A friend and I felt the same way and compare a lot of books to it.

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    1. A lot of people love that book. I'm glad it exists for them!

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