Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I read Five Feet Apart for this one. I wanted to read it before seeing the movie so I changed around my original pick for this prompt. I was going to read 13 Minutes.

I am reading for this prompt. It was an interesting premise, but was too meandering in places.

The Breakfast Club for 40-Somethings: A Novel Approach to Unlearning Money and Reinventing Your Life
I am not much for reading financial guides but this was a gentle reminder to get my poop together and go see the financial planner while there is time to fix any problems. I think I'm all good right now but I do need to update a few things and a fresh pair of eyes actually interested in finance is a good thing.
Anyone else 40 something who hasn't checked on their finances for a while this may be a good reminder for them too.

For the "A book with a number in the title or on the cover" prompt I read
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (finished on 4/9/2019). I actually listened to the audiobook for this one and it's top notch. I gave it a 5 star review which I think was in part to the quality of the audiobook. It's a quick read full of sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll fun.

Reading 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed.

It’s about the year the world ended.

I'm reading Montana 1948. It's very good and short! It would also work for #20, the indigenous people prompt.

This year I plan to read Year One, Six of Crows and The Fifth Season.
Not sure which will end up being selected or this prompt as some will also fit other prompts too. I try not to double up if possible.

- What are you reading for this category?
11.22.63

I read The One-in-a-Million Boy which had been on my TBR list for some time.

I just finished reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. It has numbers on the cover, though it's difficult to see them in this tiny picture:

I really really want to read The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. It just came out this spring.

What are you reading for this category?
Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

I read BUtterfield 8. I have long wanted to sample John O'Hara, but this was a fairly dated read.

I read One of Ours by Willa Cather for this prompt.

Did you enjoy it, Emily? I found the first half compelling and the second half less so.

I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and it was wonderful..

For this topic I read Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor.

The synopsis implies that the book is about a teenage girl who goes missing. That is not at all correct. The book is really about life in an English village over the course of 10ish years. The mystery of the girl who went missing is just a tiny thread that is interwoven into the minutiae of the daily lives of the villagers.

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the book despite being misled by the synopsis. The construction of the story is clever and I found myself completely entranced by this little village and all its people and animals and plants.

What are you reading for this category?

I read Station Zero by Philip Reeve

I’m reading Private #1 Suspect for this category.

I have just read number9dream by David Mitchell for this prompt. I have loved his other books, but this one was hard work and very disappointing.

Sara wrote: "Did you enjoy it, Emily? I found the first half compelling and the second half less so."

I found the book very slow overall. My copy had 206 pages and it took me a full week to finish it. (For context, I'm the type of reader who can finish a 300-page book over a weekend if I'm loving it.) The two parts felt disjointed to me.

I finished A Tale of Two Cities. I enjoyed this book even though it was difficult to follow at times. It all came together at the end and it was enjoyable.

What are you reading for this category?
I read Seventy-Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler

I read Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty for this one, and I feel like I enjoyed it more than most people did. I've seen on a few threads that people were disappointed, and I acknowledge that it's not my favorite by this author, but I was intrigued and I thought the characterization of the main characters was top-notch.

- What are you reading for this category?

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Stretching prompts seems to be my thing this year. The Couple Next Door is not exactly a number, but I am going to take it this time.

This is a very twisted story. The treachery that people get up to in families can lead to some good stories.

I read Lanark, by Alasdair Gray. The subtitle is a life in four books.

How the heck do you form an opinion on a book like this? I can't decide if it was a head-fuck or just a mess, impressive or just rambling. But I think I liked it. This tome has been buckling my bookshelf for a long time. The sheer size of the thing always turned me away from it. So why did I buy it in the first place? Probably because it's set in my city, Glasgow. And it is, kind of. The subtitle is a life in four books, and some of these books tell the story of Thaw in 1950's Glasgow, and the others tell the story of Lanark, a sort of parallel universe version of Thaw living in a parallel universe version of Glasgow known as Unthank, where a year could last a minute, a day could last 25 hours. I flew through the story of Thaw, probably because this is the more realistic portion of the novel, which appeals to me much more as a reader. I really disliked Thaw, but seeing the Glasgow of my grandparents' era on the page - trams, art school, tenements and landmarks - was what sold his story to me (and added a star to my rating). I enjoyed Lanark's story too, but as I've never been won over by sci-fi anyway I did struggle with portions of it. Though having said that, I thought the journey through the intercalendrical space was fascinating and would love to see that on screen. This book is stuffed with social and political commentary which, given it was published nearly 40 years ago, is as depressingly accurate today as it was when it was written. Some of that got a bit dry and seemed to be just an excuse for the author to make a point of how big and clever he was...as I often feel with these magnum opus works from male authors. I zoned out, but ploughed through. I think it was worth the effort. Though I'm not sure I'd do it again.

What are you reading for this category?
The rule of one by Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders

What are you reading for this category?
I read The Fourth Rule of Ten by Gay Hendricks

I am reading '44 Charles Street' by Danielle Steel, pleaseant light reading.

This week (although took 2 months) I tackled Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art

It was an undertaking as big as its name and I'm happy I tacked it

CHANGE THAT
Moving this to book more than 500 pages (it's that time of year when books start getting shuffled around!) so instead

Reading The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Just started Mila 18 by Leon Uris for this one. Got it gifted from a friend as its one of her most favourite books and had it on my TBR pile for ages. Enjoying it so far.

I read Ready Player One for this. I try to read books before I see the movie adaptation, and my kids kept begging me to watch this one with them.

I went with The Secret of Platform 13. It was very much a kid's book. Sometimes they work well for adult', but this one not so much.

I'm reading One of Us Is Lying.

For this prompt, I read The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason.

I read Mile 81 by Stephen King.

I originally intended to read The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper for this one, but I'm down to the wire and have been seeking out shorter books to try and hit my goal by the end of the year. I've started reading The 39 Steps instead, should be a quick read.