The County Library discussion

Happy 2018 everyone!

The January reading challenge is going to have two parts. For the first part you'll need to list at least 3 of your favorite books you read in 2017. Then, for part 2, you need to read one book from someone else's list. Please label what you're posting: Part 1 or Part 2.

I'm putting it up a little early so that we can get a list going. I'll start.

Part 1
A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas
Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
Sisters Like Us by Susan Mallery
Love Irresistibly by Julie James
Fortune and Fate by Sharon Shinn
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
Between the Devil and the Duke by Kelly Bowen
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

Part 1
Insomnia and sequels
The False Prince and sequels
A World Without Heroes
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Steelheart
Illuminae and sequel Gemina
The Way of Kings
The Lost Hero
The Screaming Staircase and three sequels
Pitch Green

A lot of these are local writers.

Part 2
Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon
I've been wanting to read this for a while now.

Part 1

The Secret Country
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
To Kill a Mockingbird
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Part 1: (Others could be added but I'll leave it as this.)
Ada Twist, Scientist
Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
The War that Saved My Life
Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done

Part 1 (It was so hard to choose)
Hush
The Sheriffs of Savage Wells
The Orphan Keeper
Between Shades of Gray
The Broken Road
Airman
Before We Were Yours
The Red Umbrella
Fearless
The Noel Diary

Part 1
Piecing Me Together
The Waiting: The True Story of a Lost Child, a Lifetime of Longing, and a Miracle for a Mother Who Never Gave Up
The Alice Network
Refugee
March: Book One
Will's Red Coat: A Story of Friendship, Faith, and One Old Dog's Choice to Live Again
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Ooh, some of these look amazing. What to read for part 2?

Part 1
Uglies
Big Mushy Happy Lump
Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between
City of Bones
See You in the Cosmos
The Imaginary
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
The Song From Somewhere Else


If any of you are fans of the Netflix original "Stranger Things," I highly recommend
The Song From Somewhere Else

Part 1
The War that Saved My Life
Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue
You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer
Unwind
Murder on the Orient Express
Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary
Kindred
Book of a Thousand Days

Part 1
Black-Eyed Susans
The Winter People
The Present
Disturbed
The Last Day of Emily Lindsey

Part 1:
You And Me, Always by Jill Mansell
Letters to the Lostby Iona Grey
An Unseen Angel: A Mother's Story of Faith, Hope, and Healing after Sandy Hook by Alissa Parker
The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman
A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival
by Melissa Fleming
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf
Root, Petal, Thorn by Ella Joy Olsen
Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker
The War that Saved My Life (The War That Saved My Life #1)
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

So many good books, so little time!!

Part 2:
I am going to read The Alice Network from Becky's list. :) It is on my "to-read" list, and I already have it from the library. Triple win!

Part 1:

The Idea of You
Turtles All the Way Down
Little Fires Everywhere
Mothering Sunday

Part 1:
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Mousehole Cat
Onion John
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Ripper
Crossing BOK Chitto
Parnassus on Wheels
The Crossover
and my very very favorite that I'd never read before:
The Girl Who Drank the Moon

I'm not sure if I'll do Part 2, depends on what other folks post. But I did Part 1 to help others do the challenge.

part 1: Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel; The Color Purple by Alice Walker; Where'd You Go Bernedette? by Maria Semple (that was hard to narrow down to 3 books!)
part 2: To Kill a Mockingbird

Part 2: Someone listed I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban for part one. I'm supposed to read that for my book group this month anyway, so that's what I'm working on for part two of this challenge.

Part 1.

Here's every book I rated 5 stars in 2017:

The Wright Brothers David McCullough
Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds Greg Milner
Off to be the Wizard Scott Meyer
Spell or High Water Scott Meyer
An Unwelcome Quest Scott Meyer
Fight and Flight Scott Meyer
Dragon Teeth Michael Crichton
The Network: the Battle for the Airwaves Scott Woolley
The Lost City of the Monkey God Douglas Preston
The Case Against Sugar Gary Taubes

Carolyn wrote: "Part 2: Someone listed I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban for part one. I'm supposed to read that for my book group this month..."

Great book! I hope you enjoy it. She is an amazing young woman.

Part 1 - I read several books in 2017 related to World War II, told from several different viewpoints.
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
-The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- Born Survivors by Wendy Holden
Other books I enjoyed
- The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
- Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Part 2 - I want to read Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done
Thanks Carolyn for the suggestion. Just put a hold on it, so hopefully I get it in time.

For my part 2: I've been looking for an opening to read The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston and Greg has given me the perfect "excuse" to read it for this challenge.

Part 1: Books I gave 5 stars too (because I'm too tired to narrow it to three)
Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson
Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter (really, though, start with book 1- Jackaby... don't start here)
A Question of Inheritance by Elizabeth Edmondson
Rebel Magisters by Shanna Swendson
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L Holm
Framed! by James Ponti
One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Moss
A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster
Real Friends by Shannon Hale
10 Things for Teen Girls by Kate Conner
William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge by Ian Doescher
The Ivy Pocket books by Caleb Krisp
The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Macbeth by Ian Lendler
Grounded by Megan Morrison
The Pages Between Us by Lindsey Leavitt

I finished "The Alice Network", and gave it 5 stars. If you love historical fiction, and stories based around WWI or WW2, don't miss this one. :)

This is such a great challenge!
Part 1:
My favorite of the year: The First Rule of Punk by Celia C Perez
2. The Devil in Silver and The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
3. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erica Sanchez
4. Lucky Penny and Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us: A Johnny Wander Collection by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota
5. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

......and these were just a FEW of my faves! 2017 was an excellent year of brilliant books!
As for Part 2.... I've got a ton already on my January to-read list.... but I've been wanting to read March: Book One so I bet I can make that happen! ♥

Finished my pick for part 2 I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Interesting read.

This is a really interesting challenge. Thanks for suggesting it!

I read You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer
Thanks Teresa. This was a most delightful book.

Linda, I'm glad you liked it too!

For part 2, I am going to read The Girl Who Drank the Moon from Debbie's list. It has been on my to-read list for months now.

Linda wrote: "I read You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer
Thanks Teresa. This was a most delightful book."

I enjoyed it back when I read it. I was surprised that she got the initial design from another woman and that her actual role was to popularize them!

Part 1
I am very stingy with five-star ratings. I only gave two in 2017:

Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I also really appreciated these other books that probably won’t appear on others’ lists:

Mid-Life: a Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya

The Wishtree by Kathryn Applegate (young adult)

Part 1
Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917
Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford
We Look Like Men of War
Echo
Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea
After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

I am going to read The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue as recommended by Stephani. I have heard many good things about it and it’s very different from what I usually read. I also have a hold on Pachinko and hope to read it very soon

Donna wrote: "I am going to read The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue as recommended by Stephani. I have heard many good things about it and it’s very different from what I usually read. I also have a hold o..." aaaahh! It's so much fun! I truly loved reading it! It moves really quickly too, so once you're in, it's hard to stop. And those are always fun.

Sarah wrote: "Part 1:
1. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
2. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
3. Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty
4. [book:The H..."
Yay! I hope you enjoy it! And then once you fall for it, definitely check out Our Cats Are More Famous Than Us. The creators have had a long standing web comic series called Johnny Wander and this book is a compilation of those comics. You can open it up to any page and find something lovely ♥

Part 1:
Echo, by Pam Munoz Ryan (please pretend the virgulilla is there!)
Real Friends, by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham
The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Macbeth, by Ian Lendler
Keeping the Castle, by Patrice Kindl
Listen, Slowly, by Thanhha Lai
Dorko the Magnificent, by Andrea Beaty

This is probably too many, but it was a great reading year.

Part 1:

Fantasy:
The Girl in the Tower
Age of Myth
The Republic of Thieves
Ghost Story

Historical Fiction:
Before We Were Yours
Salt to the Sea
The Song of Achilles

Animals:
Walking with Peety: The Dog Who Saved My Life

NonFiction:
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone

Autobiography:
The Push: A Climber's Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits
32 Yolks: From My Mother's Table to Working the Line
Born to Run

Horror:
Bird Box

Young Adult Fantasy:
Steelheart

I also loved Age of Myth and Steelheart. I found the Age of Myth author thanks to Reader's Choice.

Part 2: Finished March: Book One!

Thanks so much for recommending it Becky! I actually had volume one hanging out on my bookshelf at home unread, so this helped me get through a book in my collection....always a win! And it was so good, I'm looking forward to reading books two and three!

Part 2

I just finished Listen Slowly, from Alyson's list.
I also read Inside Out and Back Again.
Both were heart wrenching.

Stephanie wrote: "Part 2: Finished March: Book One!

Thanks so much for recommending it Becky! I actually had volume one hanging out on my bookshelf at home unread, so this helped me get through a b..."

Glad you liked it! I think the series is excellent and important. John Lewis is my hero.

For my part 2, I have finished The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston. Thanks, Greg, for identifying it. It truly was an excellent book!

Part 2
I read Big Little Lies from Sarah's list. Wow, I expected it to be good. It was great.

Part 2

I am going to read Hush by Jacqueline Woodson. The author has recently been named The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. She'll also be speaking at the U's Marriott Library at noon on January 23! https://humanities.utah.edu/events/#/...

Thanks, Linda, for the suggestion!

Becky wrote: "Part 2

I am going to read Hush by Jacqueline Woodson. The author has recently been named The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. She'll also be speaking at the U's Mar..." whaaaaat? I wish I could go! I wonder if I could convince work that this is more important than shelving books? (prob'ly not, ha)

Part 2:

The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co. #3)

Becky wrote: "Part 2

I am going to read Hush by Jacqueline Woodson. The author has recently been named The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. She'll also be speaking at the U's Mar..."

Let me know how you like it.

Audrey wrote: "I also loved Age of Myth and Steelheart. I found the Age of Myth author thanks to Reader's Choice."

Both are definitely in my top 3 of favorite fantasy authors. Jim Butcher would round out that short list.

I really enjoyed this challenge. I just finished Hush, an excellent, though searing read about living with difficult and life changing choices, especially choices someone else makes for you.

Part 2.

Little Fires Everywhere
this came from Donna's list (msg. 13)

I reread 2 from my own part 1 list... that totally counts right?
lol
(Just kidding, it shouldn't count.)