What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

28th challenge finish of the year.

It was about British female convicts being transported to Van Diemen's Island (present-day Tasmania) by ship; dangers, challenges, relationships among strangers torn from everything familiar.

I liked it.  I read through the night to finish it.  The characters were likable, and the story was interesting.  And yet it somehow left me not quite satisfied.  It felt a bit rushed in places.

Twenty-ninth challenge finish of the year.

I really do love Elizabeth Berg's work.  This is her brand new one, just released, and I was excited to see that my library already had it in their "new acquisitions," so I got on the reserve list and received it almost immediately.  Her prose are spot on, characters to care about, and I don't think I've ever found anything to complain about in the books of hers that I've read.

This one is about a ninety-two year old woman who is wrapping up her life.  She never had children, so she is leaving her house to the child who grew up next door and with whom she had an almost familial relationship.  She is writing a letter, explaining and telling stories about the house and its contents, and sharing memories and advice with this child/woman.

Having grown up on a wonderful homey street myself, surrounded by neighbors where, when I knocked on their doors, they would always take me in for a visit or a snack or a baby chick (but that's my story, not this book's), it brought back some wonderful memories, and makes me wonder what I should share in letters to ones I love.

I have another two audiobooks also from the library.  I am listening to the first one while I go through boxes of stuff that needs to be dealt with in an unsentimental way (45% discards / 45% donates / 10% [or less] keep) is my goal.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Twenty-seventh challenge finish of the year.

Ugh.  I begrudged the reading time it took to slog my way through this one.  The setting was a large, decrepit manor house in the English countryside.  The owners, though going broke, were hosting a big house party for their estranged daughter's birthday.  Lots and LOTS of characters to keep up with, more than a few of which kept switching identities with other party attendees.  It was torture to try to keep up.

Oh, and did I mention that each day magically started over on the day before, during which the characters switched to yet other party-attendees' identities?  And they did not retain the memories of the day 'before,' so they wrote themselves notes and hoped to come across them.  By the fourth replay of the eve of the party, I was SO exhausted with this book.  However, by this time, I was so tired of the 'secret identity' trope, that I did not want to read another entire book using it; so I persevered.  I skimmed some before switching to the audiobook version which I checked out from the library.  I think I listened to it at double time while I did other things around the house.

I finished, FINALLY, but I hated almost every minute, every page, every freakin' identity switch and day replay.  Obviously I do not recommend this book.

**Post edited to remove the Ada Blalckjack book, as it was included in this week's post by mistake.  I had forgotten that it was in last week's post.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Twenty-fifth challenge finish of the year.

This is my second reading of this book.  In 2017, I rated it 10/10, and wrote this:  A septuagenarian woman approaches a neighbor, the widower of a former acquaintance, with a proposal.  She wonders if he might sleep with her...just to hear someone breathing in the bed next to her at night, to talk to in the dark.  It was such a sweet story, and the Netflix Original movie version with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda was wonderful as well.

I loved it just as much this time.

Twenty-sixth challenge finish of the year.

Found this one on the Goodreads 52 Book Club 2026 Challenge Community.  The complete title/subtitle is 'Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic.'  Ada was an indigenous woman hired by the expedition because she could speak and write English and was a skilled seamstress.  Having a sick child to support, and an absent husband, she went along.  Other indigenous people who had signed on, backed out before the outset, so Ada was the lone woman with the group made up of men.

And with this one behind me, I am half-way through the challenge.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Twenty-third challenge finish of the year.

This crime fiction > courtroom drama is a genre and sub genre I used to read a LOT of, but for some reason kind of got away from.  This is the first I've read in a long time, and it was well done.  I came across this 'author' while sorting donated books at the library, so I knew that Perri O'Shaughnessy is the pseudonym for two sisters, one a trial lawyer for sixteen years, and one a writer.  This title is the first in a series.

Twenty-fourth challenge finish of the year.

What can I say about this?  Not my genre.  Not my trope.  I thought about reading Jane Eyre for this prompt, and I wish I had!  But I thought I would try to stay close to the prompt's seemed intent.  I found this one free to borrow from Kindle Unlimited.

The subtitle for this book was too long to put in the graphic: A Hilarious Small Town Rom-Com of a Grumpy Mountain Man and the Surrogate For His Child.

Not sure how to describe this without sounding prudish.  Maybe I'll just say that I give this two stars for writing, plot, etc.  But I give it FIVE red hot peppers for sexual content.  If that's your deal, go for it; if it's not your deal, then turn away.  This is the first of a trilogy, but I think I've read enough.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Twenty-first challenge finish of the year.

Seemed to take a long time to get through this one.  Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis' relationship going from US/UK correspondence to eventual marriage.  It seemed to be well researched, and a subject the author cared about.  However I couldn't quite get invested in the characters.  

Twenty-second challenge finish of the year.

This falls under the old adage of 'don't judge a book by its cover.'  This cover art is one which is in the trend that I hold a particular dislike for.  To me it kind of screams CHICK LIT which is not my favorite genre.  But this was my book club's selection for this month so I figured I should make an effort.

The club meets at my house this Friday.  My house is not ready for company (for reasons I will probably post about later), so I looked everywhere I could think of for a way to borrow the audiobook, but all options had long wait lists.  I finally resorted to using one of my Audible credits to purchase it, and I listened to it while I did other things around the house. 

The 'castle' setting was one of the gilded-age mansions built in Rhode Island which was the wedding venue; it was the closest I could come to getting it to fit into one of the prompts.  It IS chick lit, but wasn't mind-numbing pap.  The characters were likable and their development was pretty good.  I didn't love it, but it was better than I expected, and I feel good about getting it done so I can take part in the discussion.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Nineteenth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since 2013.  It took me over a week to finish; I've had other stuff going on.  My daughter and I were reading it at the same time; I finished it last night, she finished it today.  I was reading it on my Kindle; she was reading a paperback, but may have switched over to audiobook, as she said the print in the paperback was almost too small to read.  At 416 pages of tiny print, maybe that's why it took me so long.  I really thought she was going to beat me to the finish line.

I didn't love it, and can't put my finger on why.  The main characters were likable, most of the secondary characters not so much.  I was contemplating exactly what kept me from really liking it.  It is based in Greek mythology, and as I was thinking back to high school literature classes, I realized I didn't enjoy learning about mythology even then.  So maybe I can chalk it up to it just not being a genre I enjoy.

 

Twentieth challenge finish of the year.

I don't like to try to rate non-fiction.  I'll say that it is not light reading.  This was along the lines of a journal written by C.S. Lewis as a way to work through his grief after his wife died from cancer.  

Tomorrow will be the 27th anniversary of the death of my best friend, also from cancer.  Did I pick this one now on purpose?  I didn't think so, but perhaps.  I will probably read it again.  It's impossible to absorb and process something this deep in one read through.  But it had enough points I agreed with that I would like to revisit it.

I'm now about halfway through the bigraphical fiction book about C.S. Lewis and his wife that will fill prompt 45.

 

The first quarter of the year is behind us already!  I'm satisfied with the challenge progress I've made so far.  I've read books for each prompt that has red arrows at their number.  And if a prompt number has two red arrows pointing to it, it means the book that I read for that one has been lingering on my Kindle for a loooong time.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Seventeenth challenge finish of the year.

This was a quick read at just 160 pages, and while short, it was also incredibly poignant.  I've read many of Mr. King's books over the years.  One disturbed me so much that I took a decade-long break from his work.  But this one isn't terrifying, or jolting, or even scary.  It is well imagined and well written and, by me, well loved.

The above paragraph was written by me here on the blog after the first time I read this book in 2019.  This is one of the books on my reading list that I rated 10/10, and I wanted to re-read.  It was just as good this time!

I've also had a book written by his son, Joe Hill, on my Kindle since 2013, so I figured I could use these for the two prompts about related authors.

Eighteenth challenge finish of the year.

This was Joe Hill's first novel (written in 2007).  I bought the Kindle version in 2013.  I started it at some point, but must not have been in the mood for a scary novel; a few pages in, I set it aside for later.  Much, much later I got back to it for this prompt.  

This is truly a ghost story.  An aging heavy-metal band leader, with a penchant for the bizarre, purchases a ghost in an online auction.  I thought the character development was exceptional for a first novel, and the characters also exhibited personal growth as the story went on.  I really enjoyed this book, and I read it through in a couple of days.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Fifteenth challenge finish of the year.

Checked this one out from the library.  I wasn't sure what prompt to put it under, but then I figured out that its Dewy Decimal number is 813.6 (as is all other American Fiction since 2000).  :)

Very interesting story set on the remote Korean island of Jeju from the 1930s to present.  I knew nothing of Korean culture or history.  As it opens, only women are allowed to be divers to harvest sea creatures and plant life.  Their husbands traditionally stayed home and cared for the children.

Be warned, there were some situations of war-time atrocities during the island's occupation, as well as domestic violence.

Sixteenth challenge finish of the year.

I love this author.  His writing is spare, but full, if that makes sense.  All of his books are written without quotation marks, I believe.  But that doesn't feel at all awkward.

Plainsong has been on my Kindle since 2015, and somehow was mistakenly marked as read.  Since I couldn't remember it, I spent some time going through my Reading List which goes back to 2010.  Turns out I had never read Plainsong, so I am happily ticking the box of another one that has been on my TBR list forever.

While I was reading through my Reading List, I realized how much I have neglected it the passed couple of years.  I think since I've been adding books I've read to my Goodreads bookshelves, I have stopped writing my short critiques/opinions on my Reading List page here on the blog.  Perusing through past books reminded me that there are quite a few I rated "10" that I want to go back and reread.  I started one of them yesterday which will count toward the challenge next week.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Fourteenth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since 2012.  I continue to try to satisfy the challenge prompts using books that I already own (and the longer I've owned them the better it feels to complete them). 

At 433 pages, this book took me two weeks to read.  Frankly, that's ridiculous.  Like one of the books I read last year, I can only assume that the print size in the book was tiny and closely spaced to allow a smaller page count.  I thought it would never end.  Carey checked in on me at one point, and I said, 'Not now, I'm at 96% and I just want to finish it!"  An hour later, I finally emerged.

The story, (written and set in the mid 1970s) was interesting.  An elderly brother and sister in Vermont, James and Sally (both widowed), are sharing their childhood home after the sister ran out of money to stay in the home she had shared with her husband.  Their relationship suffers due to their differing viewpoints on society, politics, etc., which is sort of a current issue isn't it?  I could really relate to their struggle.

After a heated argument, the sister escaped to her bedroom and locked herself in.  The brother, from the outside, then bolted her in.  

Neither one would 'say uncle', and it got to be big news (with a little help of the "nosy neighbor character" listening in on the party line phone conversations.

The thing that I thought was unnecessary was the inclusion of a book within the book.  Sally found a novel about drug smugglers in the room and read it as a distraction during her enforced and then self-enforced seclusion in the room.  The entire text of that book was included in this book.  That addition did not add to the story at all, in my humble opinion.  Luckily the sections of the 'other' book were in a bold font, and as the smugglers' story got weirder, I finally just stopped readinng those sections.

October Light won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1976.  It often seems to me that awards go to books that are too...high brow?...scholarly?...to be an entertaining read.  This one did not change that opinion.

Now I am reading:

I'm not far into it, and I'm not sure yet what challenge prompt it will fit under, but this author is a personal favorite.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Thirteenth challenge finish of the year.

Goodreads has a community page for the 2026 52 Book Challenge group.  It's very helpful for finding book suggestions for each prompt in the challenge.  When I saw this listed for the "genre defining read" prompt, I thought I'd give it a go.  I've seen the movie several times, and was curious to see if the movie changed much from the book.  

I listened to the audiobook, and didn't love the narration (as per my usual).  As a suspense story/film the ending of the movie was more satisfying than the ending of the book, but other than that it stayed pretty close.

I've started another book, but it is slow going.  I'll wait till at least halfway to decide and how I feel about it.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Eleventh challenge finish of the year.

I was watching a YouTuber talk about his favorite books of all time, and he discussed this one.  I like a good time-travel story, but what really made it a go for me was that its publisher started with the letter "B" (Ballantine Books).  I wanted to fill that prompt before it got late in the year.

It was okay.  It reminded me a little of Kate Atkinson's Life after Life which also had many repeats of the same life.

This one delved more into the ethics and dangers of using a time machine for medical, governmental, and economic uses.  I found it imaginitive, but it wasn't un-put-down-able for me.

Twelfth challenge finish of the year.

This is next month's book club selection.  I wasn't sure about the first 1/3 of the book, but it did pique my interest as the main character matured.  It was a fairly quick read at 163 pages, but it did challenge my vocabulary, and I had to look up quite a few words; I could elicit the meaning by the context, but I always like to read official definition for an unfamiliar word.

I had a lot of questions that came up, which were mostly answered by the ending.  Still, it was a bit strange.  And yet, I liked it.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Have spent very little time reading this week.  Maybe a quarter of the way through this one.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Eighth challenge finish of the year.

When the World Fell Silent was very nearly four stars for me.  The history and characters were well done and interesting, but for me it was a bit too sacharine in just a few places.

Spoiler alert: the subject was the catastrophic explosion (and its aftermath) in the Hallifax, Nova Scotia harbor in 1917.  It was the largest man-made explosion in the world until the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.  Almost two thousand people were killed, and a  further eight to nine thousand were wounded.  Many citizens stood at windows to watch the ship burning in the harbor.  When the munitions it was carrying ultimately exploded, the blast was so great, windows were blown inward, where many curious watchers were blinded by the flying glass.

Ninth challenge finish of the year.

This one, borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, has been on my Kindle for almost a year. 

On the weekend I finished reading this one sitting in a parking lot. I was running errands and was reading while I had a wait, and then I didn't want to stop till I finished.  Why?  Because I was crying SO hard!  It was a ten-napkin cry fest.  Unfortunately I only had five napkins, so when those were used up, I had to just keep blowing my nose into saturated napkins.  Sorry for the disgusting details, but I wanted you to know just how emotionally taxing it was.

It was very sweet, but very sad!  And I am not an easy crier when I'm reading!  My daughter IS an easy crier, so I have already called and warned her against reading it; I just don't think she could handle it.

Now, I may have had that reaction simply because the cover photo looks so much like Rudy.  Still, read at your own risk.  

Tenth challenge finish of the year.

As I was looking for a book to fit this prompt, I believe I found this book recommended on Goodreads.  It was available from Cloudlibrary to check out free, so I gave it a try.  As per the explanation of the prompt, the interior text of the whole book did not have to be a handwritten font, just selections such as letters, journal entries, etc.

What I liked about it:  Once I got into the story a bit, the characters were likable, and the story was interesting.  (However, I do remember rolling my eyes a few times at the beginning.)

What I didn't like about it:  The implied comparison to I love Lucy was a little on the nose when the script-writer character was planning an episode where two sitcom characters working on a candy-factory-packaging line couldn't keep up with the speed of the coveyor belt.  Also there were a couple of instances of the author using phrases too modern for the period setting, i.e. 'toxic workplace' for a 1950s movie studio.  Anachronisms like that always pull me write out of the story which I find irritating.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Seventh challenge finish of the year.

This was a library book.  It is the sequel to These Is My Words (which was the fourth challenge finish of the year).  I was happy to see the library has it.  They also have the third book, and I will read it, maybe even this year, but not right away.

I gave this one half a star less than the first one.  It was very good, but wasn't quite as relaxing a read as These Is My Words.  And I wasn't able to finish it as quickly either.  The text size in the library's hardback was pretty small, and the closer I got to the end, the smaller it seemed to get.  LOL  Just kidding, but the last hundred pages seemed to take me as long to read as the first three hundred pages!

I've also been reading:

Separation of Church Hate

A Sane Person's Guide To Taking Back the Bible From 

Fundamentalists, Fascists, 

and Flock-Fleecing Frauds

by John Fugelsang

Not the easiest read, but very interesting.  It's new to the library, and I'm not sure I can get it finished by its due date; probably not re-check-outable.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Sixth challenge finish of the year.

Wow, a second four-and-a-half-star book so close to the one last week!  I don't usually read much-hyped books when they are brand new, but this one had such a good kangaroo word (correspondent) and joey word (respond) on its cover, that when I saw  the ebook for $1.99 on Amazon a few days ago, I went for it!  And it was really, really good!

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Third challenge finish of the year.

This prompt's wording confused me.  It seems to suggest reading a book which was inspired by a movie.  I chose to just read the book that inspired the top-grossing movie the year I was born.  Kind of dates me, huh?

I've never seen the movie (of which the name differs just slightly -- The Bridge on the River Kwai).  I think I may have walked through the room while it was on a few times...enough so that I can whistle the theme song.  :)  

The book was well written.  The characters were well developed.  It was a good read, but I didn't love it.  

I suppose I should watch the movie now to see how it differs from the book.  Or maybe I'll just ask Carey to read the book, and he can tell me how it differs from the movie.  :)

Fourth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since 2013.  I was really excited to find something I already owned for this prompt (but had never read) that was written without quotation marks.  It wasn't difficult to read at all, and it was so well done that I didn't even miss them.  It's a novel, based on family history, and the author wrote it as one would write a journal.

I loved it.  I read it within 24 hours.  Enjoyed the writing.  Characters I could root for.  I'm not sure I will read it again, but I may, and I wouldn't mind.  Really good, so four-and-a-half stars.

Fifth challenge finish of the year.

For this prompt, I had to borrow an ebook from the library.  It is the first book in The Rabbi Small Mysteries which was a pretty quick read at only 235 pages.  It reminded me a lot of the PBS series Grantchester, as the relationship between the rabbi and the chief of police was friendly and respectful.  I imagine that in the following books of the series that friendship deepens.  The characters were likeable, and it held my interest.  I wasn't able to download it to my Kindle, so I had to read the entire book on my phone.

I may go back to read others of the series.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Note to self:  never say never; yes, I'm 'challenging' again this year. 

First challenge finish for the year.  This one has been on my Kindle since 2011!

I'm hoping I can continue to read down my Kindle library this year.  I decided to start with this one, since I think it may be the oldest unread book on my device.  I wasn't sure what prompt it would fit under, but when I got to the end, the author's bio did list her dog among her family members, so I knew right where it should go.

I only gave it 3.5 stars, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because I reserve 5 stars for a book so good I want to read it again someday, so for a full four stars I have to love it.  The story was good, and I learned a lot about old-time traveling circuses.  But it also had a dual timeline that is just not my favorite writing style.

Second challenge finish of the year.

Story about a little girl who, having suffered a short episode of blindness, is faced with the possibility that it could come back and be permanent.  Her grandfather undertakes a year of museum visits with her to fill her memory with things of beauty if the threat of blindness returns.

I understand that the hard copy of the book has images of each of the art pieces included.  I couldn't get a reserve for a hard copy from the library in time to get it read by book club, so I checked out the audio version.  To see which art piece was being described (one per chapter) I had to search online to be able to see the art as the characters in the book discussed it.  It was a bit of trouble, but worth it.  I really did learn a lot about art and artists.

That said, the art was what I liked best about the book.  I did not find the characters very likable.  It's possible that this was because of the book narration, which I did not enjoy.  But I did not find the title character (child) in the least bit endearing...her mother just seemed to be a whiny put-upon worrier...her father was a ne'er-do-well  alcoholic...her grandfather was loving, but even so, I did not find him that likeable either.

I'm glad I read it, but am ambivalent about recommending it:  a yes for the art lessons, but a no for the story.  

It also kind of bugs me that the the cover art is a portion of Girl With a Pearl Earring that focuses on the subject's very entreating eyes.  I feel like that image with the title of the book superimposed over it is confusing.  I'm thinking that the odds are great that a fair number of browsers come away thinking that the subject of the cover's painting is named Mona (if not Mona Lisa).

I'm interested to know what YOU are reading lately.  Do tell, please!

2025 Reading...

Seventy-four books read this year.  Fifty-two were books for this year's reading challenge.  Three of them were over 800 pages.  One claimed to be 576 pages, but I swear it was longer than any other read this year.

Twenty-five of them were books that had been on my Kindle for a loooooong time.  LOVE that I have cleared out so much of my backlog!  The rest were library books or book club books.  Some were ones I just wanted to read or read again.

I started this post thinking that I did not want to do another book challenge...then I looked at The 52 Book Club 2026 Reading Challenge...now I'm thinking about it.  The prompt that really intrigues me is #13 -- bookface -- I want to try this!  If you don't know what "bookface" might mean (I didn't!) I've linked examples here.

Don't think I'll be doing the whole 2026 challenge, but it is tempting me more than I thought.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

The Lost Heiress by Elizabeth Klehfoth

This was just released this month.  I got it for free (thank goodness).  Forced myself to read 30% before giving up on it yesterday.  Then I deleted it from my Kindle, and also from my Amazon account.  Didn't want to forget about it and start reading it again.  

All the things I hate.  Dual time settings.  Different points of view from different characters in different chapters.  And can I just say that if you put a tarantula under a pillow, it would escape if it could.  If it couldn't it would mean it had been maimed or killed by the weight of the pillow.  It would not be patiently waiting to frighten the person that moves the pillow.

I haven't started another book yet.  I have cookies to bake and a quilt block to sew.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

This book has been on my mini reading table beside my bathtub for five years or so.  I started it, and just have constantly prioritized other books ahead of it.  Since this is the year of reading books that have been on my TBR list for too long, I thought I'd pick it back up.  

I haven't finished last week's book yet.  Since it is a large hardback library book, I didn't want to risk it falling in the bathwater, so I picked The Dreamers back up for my nice long soak.  It deals with an unknown virus spreading among a town...which is really interesting since the book was released in 2019...before we were all dealing with a real spreading virus.

So now I'm reading The Dreamers during my baths, and Clara and the Sun the rest of time I have available; I have to hurry, my library book is due this weekend.

Today was the second of our two library book sales.  We were there from 9:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m., so I am exhausted, and ready to crawl under the covers with Clara to try to make some progress.  I've still got lots of Christmas presents to work on.  I also have my quilt block of the month to cut out and sew before this month's class, and a cookie exchange, both of which are next week.  Oy vey, we only have two weeks till Christmas!