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CHALLENGE COMPLETED! 75 books read!

EDIT: It's now 75 books for the year! That's a little more than 1-1/2 books a week.

My goal is a book a week in 2016! I'll keep a running list by editing this first post, and then post a little review in separate comments when I finish each book. Last year I saw Cassandra and Erica keeping stats, so I started doing that, too. I'm going to keep that up this year. Can't wait to get started!

Books Read in 2016

1. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (3 stars)
2. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (3 stars)
3. The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland (4 stars)
4. How the World Was: A California Childhood by Emmanuel Guibert (4 stars)
5. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (4 stars)
6. The Relic Master: A Novel by Christopher Buckley (3 stars)
7. Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna (4 stars)
8. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (5 stars)
9. The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (3 stars)
10. The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch (4 stars)
11. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (2 stars)
12. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (3 stars)
13. My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (5 stars)
14. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (2 stars)
15. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik (5 stars)
16. Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! by Kate Schatz (5 stars)
17. A Young People's History of the United States, Volume 1: Columbus to the Spanish-American War by Howard Zinn (5 stars)
18. Bruno, Chief Of Police by Martin Walker (4 stars)
19. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (5 stars)
20. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 stars)
21. China in Ten Words by Yu Hua (5 stars)
22. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 stars)
23. Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey (5 stars)
24. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (4 stars)
25. Euphoria by Lily King (5 stars)
26. Gratitude by Oliver Sacks (3 stars)
27. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (5 stars)
28. The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami (4 stars)
29. The Trashing of Margaret Mead: Anatomy of an Anthropological Controversy by Paul Shankman (5 stars)
30. The Vegetarian by Han Kang (4 stars)
31. The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe by Elaine Showalter (5 stars)
32. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai (3 stars)
33. The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome by Alondra Nelson (4 stars)
34. Hold Still by Lisa Regan (3 stars)
35. Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo (4 stars)
36. Globejotting: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Journals by Dave Fox (3 stars)
37. When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning (4 stars)
38. The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel (5 stars)
39. The Union Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini (2 stars)
40. Cinder by Marissa Meyer (4 stars)
41. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (5 stars)
42. Joe Gould's Secret by Joseph Mitchell (4 stars)
43. Wikipedia Reader's Guide: The Missing Manual by John Broughton (3 stars)
44. We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge (4 stars)
45. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (5 stars)
46. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (5 stars)
47. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (5 stars)
48. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (5 stars)
49. The Face by Ruth Ozeki (4 stars)
50. Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals about the Mind by Margalit Fox (4 stars)
51. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (4 stars)
52. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (4 stars)
53. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean (3 stars)
54. The Girls by Emma Cline (5 stars)
55. The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (3 stars)
56. Caim by José Saramago (5 stars)
57. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher (4 stars)
58. 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick (3 stars)
59. Miller Williams and the Poetry of the Particular by Michael Burns (ed.) (4 stars)
60. Making a Poem: Some Thoughts about Poetry and the People Who Write It by Miller Williams (4 stars)
61. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (5 stars)
62.Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (5 stars)
63. Glitches by Marissa Meyer (4 stars)
64. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (5 stars)
65. Electric Light by Seamus Heaney (4 stars)
66. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling (3 stars)
67. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (5 stars)
68. Deadly Pedigree: A Nick Herald Genealogical Mystery by Jimmy Fox (3 stars)
69. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (3 stars)
70. Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson (4 stars)
71. Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris (5 stars)
72. The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade S tudy by Howard S. Friedman (2 stars)
72A. --unpublished: The Shadow of War by InsectKin (JSR)--
73. Broken Harbour by Tana French (4 stars)
74. A Box of Matches by Nicholson Baker (3 stars)
75. The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (3 stars)
76. Home Fermentation: A Starter Guide by Katherine Green (3 stars)
77. Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind by Sarah Wildman (3 stars)

2015 Reading Statistics

Genre/Type
Biography/Memoir: 11
Classics: 3
Fantasy: 3
Graphic Novel: 2
Historical Fiction: 5
General Fiction: 5
Plays: 1
Literary Fiction: 11
Mystery: 8
How-to: 2
Humor: 2
History: 4
Language: 1
Social Action: 3
Psychology:
Food & Nutrition: 1
Other Nonfiction: 4
Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic: 2
Science Fiction: 3
Science: 2
Short Stories: 1 (2 - one counted in sci fi)
Poetry: 3

Length
Short (<250 pages): 27
Medium (250-500 pages): 48
Long (501-800 pages): 1
Very Long (>800 pages):

Author Gender
Female: 46 (one co-authored)
Male: 31

New to Me or Repeat Author?
New to Me: 65
Repeat: 12

Series or Standalone Book?
Series: 18
Stand alone: 58

Re-read?
Yes: 3

Format
eBook: 39
Hard or paperback: 33
Audiobook: 5

I own: 34
From library: 43

Total books this year:
January - 15
February - 12
March - 12
April - 7
May - 6
June - 6
July - 3
August - 4
September - 2
October - 0 (getting ready to move!!)
November - 5
December - 5 (+1 full length unpublished)

good luck I love your set up!

1/52 Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (3 stars)

Fates & Furies is very much like Gone Girl -- less suspenseful but similar in style, with unexpected twists. The prose is fast paced, veering into antic, which kept me reading as long as I didn't bother to puzzle over the occasional confusing sentence (or stop to wonder how many times an author can use the word 'exigent' in a single book). But as with Gone Girl, the protagonists and situations of Fates & Furies are so unreal that I couldn't relate to them and after awhile I quit caring. Groff is such a good observer and writer, I'd like to see her next book spend less time trying to shock and titillate and more time trying to grasp at deeper truths.

Congrats on finishing your first book on January 1!

Megan wrote: "Congrats on finishing your first book on January 1!"

Thanks, Megan! It's so exciting to finally be starting the 2016 challenge!

2/52 Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (3 stars)

A charming story about a Hispanic boy growing up in New Mexico in the 1940s. Although Antonio is officially Roman Catholic, when an aged curandera (healer) comes to live with his family, he is drawn towards her ancient spiritual practices. The book portrays a picture of life in Antonio's community, viewed through the innocence of childhood, and drawing the reader into this culture is the strength of this book. But sadly, we are left with a child's understanding, where platitudes glow like great truths.
Note: There is a great deal of untranslated Spanish in the book.

3/52 The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland (4 stars)

A lovely book about words, our own and others', and about loneliness but also connection. It's a simple enough book to read, but there are many ideas to explore in it -- I think it's worth a re-read at some point. I listened to the audio book, which was wonderfully read by Xe Sands.

4/52 How the World Was: A California Childhood by Emmanuel Guibert (4 stars)

This is the first graphic novel I've read, and it was wonderful. I loved the simple, straight-forward text and the delightful illustrations. My mother grew up in the same place at the same time as the boy in the story, and it reminded me of the stories she used to tell.

5/52 Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (4 stars)

Engaging, well written. So glad to have discovered a new series!

Cheri wrote: "5/52 Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (4 stars)

Engaging, well written. So glad to have discovered a new series!"

I've been wanting to read this for awhile, so I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'll bump it up the TBR!

Megan wrote: "Cheri wrote: "5/52 Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (4 stars)

Engaging, well written. So glad to have discovered a new series!"

I've been wanting to read this for a..."

Megan, I really did enjoy it! I can also recommend the audiobook -- often I find the narrators rather annoying, but I liked this one. I hope you like the book!

6/52 The Relic Master: A Novel by Christopher Buckley (3 stars)

A purveyor of relics teams up with Albrecht Durer (the artist, fictionalized for this novel) to fake a shroud, and all sorts of complications ensue. It's a clever and funny satire, but I was a little tired of it by the end.

7/52 Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna (4 stars)

A fascinating, exciting, true story of the work done by the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC. The author weaves the history and politics of the agency into the individual stories of numerous EIS members who work to prevent epidemics around the globe. These agents spend many hours at their computers sorting through their data, but also dodge bullets in war zones, crawl through rat-infested areas, risk deadly infections, and roll out of moving airplanes that dare not land. These are real life heroes whose names we rarely hear.

Cheri wrote: "7/52 Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna (4 stars)

A fascinating, exciting, t..."

I have that book, maybe I'll move it toward the top of my TBR list. I forgot I had it.

Bella wrote: "Cheri wrote: "7/52 Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna (4 stars)

A fascinatin..."

Good! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did -- parts of it were really exciting.

8/52 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (5 stars)

I laughed out loud all through this book! As light-hearted as it was, it made me reflect on what defines who we are and whether we can change.

Cheri wrote: "8/52 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (5 stars)

I laughed out loud all through this book! As light-hearted as it was, it made me reflect on what defines who we ..."

Loved that book! Can't wait to see the movie!

Megan wrote: "Cheri wrote: "8/52 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (5 stars)

I laughed out loud all through this book! As light-hearted as it was, it made me reflect on what d..."

The movie?!?! Exciting! I didn't know there was one. Just googled and found out it's still in production. Thanks for alerting me!

9/52 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (3 stars)

A clever idea carried on way too long. It's the sort of thing that would make a fun if forgettable skit on a late-night TV show.

10/52 The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch (4 stars)

When I started the book, I thought it would be about how someone with Asperger Syndrome could sustain a satisfying long-term relationship, but it turns out to offer good insights even for "neuro-typicals." I learned about both Asperger's and marriage in this enjoyable memoir.

11/52 Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (2 stars)

I am not a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, but I thought that something short-listed for the Man Booker would be more interesting. I was wrong. The story made so little sense and, only 13 years after publication, it felt outdated. I was also annoyed that, even though the book is written by a woman, the two main characters are men. Oryx, the main female, is a gorgeous sex worker. Really? Is this all women are worth? This is clearly not my genre!

12/52 Yes Please by Amy Poehler (3 stars)

If you read/listen to this book, skip the introduction -- it's one long complaint about how hard it was to write this book (which she mentions again and again in the book itself), and it made me feel negative about the book before it even began. The audio has guest narrators, which is great. But even though I'm an Amy Poehler fan, I prefer her on TV. This book was an awkward mix of sketch-like humor and an attempt to portray herself and her life, and it didn't work well for me.

13/52 My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (5 stars)

While I have always been profoundly grateful for the changes Ms Steinem has helped to bring about in this country, my feelings about her personally were fairly negative. I didn't realize until I started reading this book how my image of her had come from a culture biased against women who break traditional roles; reading her own words has left me with a very different impression. I was drawn in by her warmth, her openness, her lack of bitterness, and her constant striving to understand her own motivations as well as what is happening in the world. I lived through most of what she wrote about, but I am seeing it all differently now. The book is of course her own view and has its limitations, but it's a warm, hopeful picture and I found it deeply affecting. Highly recommended.

14/52 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (2 stars)

Kudos to Ray Bradbury for taking on censorship during the McCarthy era! There was an urgency to the book that I found compelling, and I liked how Bradbury used the look and feel of fire to intensify that. But the characters lacked depth, the dialogue was clunky, and intellectually the story was very unsatisfying. It's not books themselves but the ideas they contain that are dangerous, yet Bradbury never explores these ideas and what makes them so dangerous. And, as a woman reading this 60+ years after it was written, I was appalled that all the thinkers and doers were men -- the women were horribly portrayed.

15/52 Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik (5 stars)

Absolutely wonderful! This will never be the definitive biography of RBG, but it's great journalism. I loved learning about RBG's incredible marriage, her goals and ambition -- and also about her collars, her choice of artwork, her exercise routine. But I was most delighted by how clearly the authors presented RBG's legal thought. I groaned inwardly when I first saw that they were including one of her dissents in the text, but it was beautifully written (clarity to the lay public is important to RBG) and the authors' gloss pointed out ideas and relationships to other things that I would have missed on my own. Such a good book!

16/52 Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! by Kate Schatz (5 stars)

Having just read Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Gloria Steinem's My Life on the Road, I started wondering what books about women are out there for kids today (there certainly weren't many when I was a child!). A trip to the library turned up several good ones, and I was enchanted by this inspiring book for middle schoolers. So many "rad" women of so many colors and eras who worked in so many different fields! There's a page of text for each accompanied by a wonderful cartoon portrait. Most moving for me was the letter "X," which stands for all the women whose names we do not know.

Hi, Cassandra -- Can I increase my personal goal to 75? Last year I just made 52 books (actually, got 53 barely in time!), but so far this year I am reading at a much faster pace. I don't think I'll keep it up, but still, I should have a higher goal. And can I change my folder title to "Cheri 75" or does that mess things up?

Cheri wrote: "Hi, Cassandra -- Can I increase my personal goal to 75? Last year I just made 52 books (actually, got 53 barely in time!), but so far this year I am reading at a much faster pace. I don't think I'l..."

I thought I would answer this since it ticed into my ipod. It doesn't mess it up at all, I will move your folder at once :)

Winter wrote: "Cheri wrote: "Hi, Cassandra -- Can I increase my personal goal to 75? Last year I just made 52 books (actually, got 53 barely in time!), but so far this year I am reading at a much faster pace. I d..."

It doesn't have to be moved, I thought wrong. Changle the title, that's all you have to do!:)

And congrats on increasing your goal!

Winter wrote: "Winter wrote: "Cheri wrote: "Hi, Cassandra -- Can I increase my personal goal to 75? Last year I just made 52 books (actually, got 53 barely in time!), but so far this year I am reading at a much f..."
Wow, thank you, such a fast response!!

Cheri wrote: "Winter wrote: "Winter wrote: "Cheri wrote: "Hi, Cassandra -- Can I increase my personal goal to 75? Last year I just made 52 books (actually, got 53 barely in time!), but so far this year I am read..."

The glory of ipods;) And you're very welcome!

Looking at your list you're well on your way already!

I swapped The 100 year old man for A game of thrones on my planned reads just now. Looking at your review I'm glad I did. But I borrowed this book and I feel like I have to read it, but I have seen so many meh reviews lately, so I'm no longer exited for it :/

Winter wrote: "I swapped The 100 year old man for A game of thrones on my planned reads just now. Looking at your review I'm glad I did. But I borrowed this..."

I had been looking forward to it and was really disappointed. But after I read the book, I watched the movie (Swedish, with subtitles) and thought it was better than the book. So you might want to try that and spend much less time to learn what all the fuss is about.

Cheri wrote: "Winter wrote: "I swapped The 100 year old man for A game of thrones on my planned reads just now. Looking at your review I'm glad I did. But I borrowed this..."

I had been looking forward to it an..."

I'm Norwegian and if it is like I think it is very fitting in movie format. I have read it is something like A Man Called Ove, only that one is better and I only just read that one (loved it). It isn't tempting to start something similar, but worse if you know what I mean.

17/75 A Young People's History of the United States, Volume 1: Columbus to the Spanish-American War by Howard Zinn (5 stars)

A librarian pointed me to this when I was looking for middle school history books that included more than was usually taught when I was a child. Wow! This adaptation of Zinn's adult book is very upfront that history is always told from a point of view, and he writes U.S. history as experienced by slaves, women, the poor, Native Americans -- anyone whose viewpoint is normally left out of textbooks. I was in tears by the last line of page one: "With fifty men we could subjugate them and make them do whatever we want." That's what Columbus wrote of his first encounter with Native Americans, who had brought him gifts.

As with any text for young people, much is simply asserted, and the book is most satisfying when quoting from primary sources. I plan to read Zinn's original, adult version for more information (A People's History of the United States).

18/75 Bruno, Chief Of Police by Martin Walker (4 stars)

An enjoyable mystery set in a small French town with a one-man police force. The easy pace and scenic setting reminded me of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series. Like that series also, the brutal crime reveals tensions hidden beneath the warmth and beauty of the locale, and I learned a few things about the history of the area.

19/75 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (5 stars)

I treated myself to a re-read of this -- it was like spending time with an old friend!

20/75 We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 stars)

This is a strong statement of why we should all (men and women) be feminists. But the book is actually just a transcription of a talk and it lacks the development of ideas that would come with a longer, written delivery. The talk was given in Africa, which made me wonder whether hearing about this (or any) issue in terms of a different culture makes it easier or harder for someone to grasp?

21/75 China in Ten Words by Yu Hua (5 stars)

This is a beautifully written and translated book of essays that draws on the author's experiences growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution and his keen observations of the present. Perhaps because Yu Hua is a highly regarded author of fiction, he made me feel like I was experiencing China rather than simply learning about it, especially in the first several essays. My favorite essay was "Reading," in which he describes life without books ('poisonous weeds'), their gradual availability through the black market (usually missing crucial pages of text), and then the reintroduction of publishing. Yu Hua's analysis of "Copycat" and its positive and negative consequences for China was also very enlightening.

22/75 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 stars)

This is a big book about everything, and it's wonderful. It's a love story and social commentary, it's about America but also Nigeria, racial strife and lack of racial issues, about emigrants and those who remain. It's clear-eyed yet suffused with warmth. But because everything can't fit between the covers of a book, there are gaps (was that really a full 15 years in America?) and threads left dangling (why was Morgan on that trip? why do we never hear about Wambui if she's such a good friend of Ifemelu's?); these are small annoyances in an otherwise beautifully told story.

23/75 Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey (5 stars)

Ways to Disappear is witty and funny, and more than a little clever. Emma, a translator and the protagonist of this story, needs to find her author, who has climbed into a tree and disappeared. Things get complicated. But the author needs to be found, and found in as many ways as she has disappeared. Idra Novey (herself a translator and also a poet) sprinkles the book with news blurbs and definitions that help tell the story:
"In: Preposition. Used to indicate inclusion in a physical space or within something abstract or immaterial: in a panic, for example, or in a fantasy taking place while sitting between a sleeping pig and a pair of chickens, one of which has just relieved itself on the floor."

When you are "in" the midst of this book, you will see how many ways words can be used to present something, or to hide it -- and there is also much hiding in the pages of this book that's worth finding.

WOW! I can't believe you have already read 23 books! That's amazing, good luck on your goal!

Hannah wrote: "WOW! I can't believe you have already read 23 books! That's amazing, good luck on your goal!"
Thanks, Hannah! I can hardly believe it, either. Last year I did 53 in the whole year!

Well I definitely think your going to surpass the amount of books you read last year! I'm so jealous so far I have only read 15 books this year!

Hannah wrote: "Well I definitely think your going to surpass the amount of books you read last year! I'm so jealous so far I have only read 15 books this year!"
Fifteen is really substantial! I've been lucky to have lots of time since the new year, but I know it won't last. Good luck on reaching your goal!

24/75 The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (4 stars)

Since I am not a big sci-fi fan, I was pleased to be pulled in by other aspects of this book. The story, written by a Chinese author, takes place during the Cultural Revolution through the present, which gave it extra layers of interest for me as an American reader. The characters were not well drawn, but the situations were. I was a bit deflated at the end because this first volume of a trilogy has merely set the stage for action to come.

25/75 Euphoria by Lily King (5 stars)

Euphoria is a tale about love, intellect, and betrayal that plays out among three Western anthropologists in New Guinea in the 1930s. The essence of human connection ("people are always wine to me") and the delight in intellectual understanding, which affects them like wine, run together through the book -- always intertwined, never able to be untangled. This was a re-read for my book club; it was worth the second reading.

26/75 Gratitude by Oliver Sacks (3 stars)

This very short book is a collection of four essays Sacks wrote when he learned he would soon die. They are personal and lovely, but I felt they were too particular to Sacks himself to help readers face their own last days.

27/75 The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (5 stars)

Excellent historical fiction. The book is a beautiful balance between relying on the known facts and telling an engrossing, moving story that is truthful in a more personally meaningful way. I have a better understanding now of the origins of the women's rights movement, slavery, abolition, and (to my surprise) the Quakers.