Play Book Tag discussion

I am upping my goal again this year to 78—an average of 1.5 books per week!

Pick-A-Year Challenge: 45 books published in 2020

1. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
Published: January 21, 2020
Competed: February 8, 2020

2. Ignite on Contact by Jaci Burton
Published: February 4, 2020
Completed: February 10, 2020

3. A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
Published: March 10, 2020
Completed: March 26, 2020

4. Hideaway by Nora Roberts
Published: May 26, 2020
Completed: March 26, 2020

5. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane
Published: March 24, 2020
Completed: April 5, 2020

6. The Holdout by Graham Moore
Published: February 18, 2020
Completed: April 14, 2020

7. And They Called It Camelot: A Novel of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis by Stephanie Marie Thornton
Published: March 10, 2020
Completed: April 29, 2020

8. You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks
Published: March 3, 2020
Completed: May 7, 2020

9. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Published: April 7, 2020
Completed: May 27, 2020

10. A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
Published: May 5. 2020
Completed: June 10, 2020

11. The Rural Diaries: What Moving to Mischief Farm Taught Me About What Really Matters in Life, Love, and Making Dandelion Wine
Published: May 5, 2020
Completed: June 21, 2020

12. The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne
Published: May 1, 2020
Completed: June 23, 2020

13. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Published: June 2, 2020
Completed: July 1, 2020

14. Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams
Published: June 30, 2020
Completed: July 18, 2020

15. The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili
Published: April 14, 2020 (US Edition)
Completed: July 24, 2020

16. The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
Published: June 16, 2020
Completed: July 28, 2020

17. Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
Published: June 23, 2020
Completed: August 2, 2020

18. We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Published: March 3, 2020
Completed: August 7, 2020

19. Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston
Published: August 4, 2020
Completed: August 14, 2020

20. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
Published: July 7, 2020
Completed: August 20, 2020

21. Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
Published: February 25, 2020
Completed: August 23, 2020

22. You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
Published: August 4, 2020
Completed: August 29, 2020

23. Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
Published: April 7, 2020
Completed: August 30, 2020

24. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Published: July 21, 2020
Completed: September 17, 2020

25. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson
Published: February 25, 2020
Completed: September 30, 2020

26. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Published: June 30, 2020
Completed: October 9, 2020

27. Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Published: October 6, 2020
Completed: October 20, 2020

28. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Published: February 11, 2020
Completed: October 31, 2020

29. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Published: September 8, 2020
Completed: November 14, 2020

30. The Christmas Backup Plan by Lori Wilde
Published: October 27, 2020
Completed; November 28, 2020

31. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Published: November 17, 2020
Completed: December 5, 2020

32. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
Published: October 6, 2020
Completed: December 5, 2020

33. A Highlander Is Coming to Town by Laura Trentham
Published: September 29, 2020
Completed: December 7, 2020

34. Mistletoe in Paradise by Jill Shalvis
Published: December 1, 2020
Completed: December 7, 2020

35. Let It Snow by Cassie Cross
Published: November 12, 2020
Completed: December 8, 2020

36. A Very COVID Christmas by Maggie Aldrich
Published: October 1, 2020
Completed: December 14, 2020

37. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
Published: November 10, 2020
Completed: December 19, 2020

38. A Winter Snow-Mance: A Christmas Novella by Khadijah Grant
Published: December 1, 2020
Completed: December 20, 2020

39. A Girl Is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Published: September 1, 2020
Completed: December 27, 2020

40. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Published: August 4, 2020
Completed: December 31, 2020

Pick-A-Year Challenge: 12 books published in 2019

1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Published: October 8, 2019
Completed: January 4, 2020

2. The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
Published: September 24, 2019
Completed: January 9, 2020

3. The Guardians by John Grisham
Published: October 15, 2019
Completed: January 16, 2020

4. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Published: September 10, 2019
Completed: February 6, 2020

5. Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston
Published: July 23, 2020
Completed: February 12, 2020

6. The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Published: August 13, 2019
Completed: February 17, 2020

7. Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth
Published: August 20, 2019
Completed: February 24, 2020

8. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Published: May 28, 2019
Completed: February 26, 2020

9. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Published: October 29, 2019
Completed: March 4, 2020

10. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Published: November 5, 2019
Completed: March 6, 2020

11. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Published: February 26, 2019
Completed: March 15, 2020

12. Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Published: September 3, 2019
Completed: March 19, 2020

13. A Highlander Walks into a Bar by Laura Trentham
Published: July 30, 2019
Completed: March 20, 2020

14. Well Met by Jen DeLuca
Published: September 3, 2019
Completed: March 21, 2020

15. Dear Girls by Ali Wong
Published: October 15, 2019
Completed: April 6, 2020

16. Normal People by Sally Rooney
Published: April 16, 2019 (US Edition)
Completed: May 11, 2020

17. The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy
Published: October 15, 2019
Completed: May 26, 2020

18. How to Be an Antiracist
Published: August 13, 2019
Completed: June 21, 2020

19. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Published: December 31, 2019
Completed: July 14, 2020

20. Recursion by Blake Crouch
Published: June 11, 2019
Completed: September 10, 2020

21. The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff
Published: September 10, 2019
Completed: October 14, 2020

22. A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau
Published: October 8, 2019
Completed: November 26, 2020

23. A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau
Published: November 19, 2019
Completed: December 8, 2020

Long Book Challenge: Read 3,000 pages from 500+ page books

Additional Challenge: Read one book from each category

500-600 pages:
A Girl Is a Body of Water - 560 pages
600-750 pages:
750-1000 pages:
Alexander Hamilton - 818 pages
Dune - 892 pages
The Eighth Life - 935 pages
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power - 802 pages
1000+ pages:

Total: 4007 pages

Play Book Tag Challenge: Read at least one book per month that fits each monthly shelf.

January - thriller
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
The Guardians by John Grisham

February - survival
Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston
Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth

March - journalism
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush

April - science fiction
Dune by Frank Herbert
Origin in Death by J.D. Robb

May - comedy
Fool by Christopher Moore
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

June - suspense
A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne

July - southern
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

July Bonus Tag - Black Lives Matter
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

August - witches
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

September - psychological
Recursion by Blake Crouch

October - animals
The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals by Merlin Tuttle

November - books to screen
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

December - international
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
A Girl Is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Fall Flurry of Holidays Challenge (brainstorming)

October - Halloween
✓ Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
✓ Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

November - Thanksgiving
✓ News of the World by Paulette Jiles
✓ A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau
Pumpkin Spice Peril by Jenn McKinlay (if I need something light and easy)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

December - Christmas
✓ In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
✓ A Highlander is Coming to Town by Laura Trentham
✓ Let It Snow by Cassie Cross
✓ A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau
✓ A Very COVID Christmas by Maggie Aldrich
✓ Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
✓ A Winter Snow-Mance: A Christmas Novella by Khadijah Grant
The Last Christmas Cowboy by Maisey Yates
Christmas at Holiday House by RaeAnne Thayne
Christmas Bride by Noelle Adams
✓ Mistletoe in Paradise by Jill Shalvis
Happily This Christmas: A Novel by Susan Mallery
Christmas on Reindeer Road by Debbie Mason
One Charmed Christmas by Sheila Roberts
A California Christmas by Brenda Novak
✓ The Christmas Backup Plan by Lori Wilde
Jingle All the Way by Debbie Macomber
Mistletoe and Wedding Bells by Ashley Farley
Her Christmas Cowboy by Jessica Clare

Nicole R wrote: "I am upping my goal again this year to 78—an average of 1.5 books per week!"
Very nice. Good Luck.

Well now you don’t have law school and bar exam reading, there’s so much extra time in your life ... 😁

Right, Kate?!? I am going to read it up before starting my big law job.

I will say that I commute much less now and I have really noticed the difference of listening to fewer audiobooks! I still listen on my commute but only get in like 40 minutes a day instead of the 2+ hours I was getting before!

To be clear though: I do NOT miss the commute! Lol

Ninth House - Bardugo
Alexander Hamilton - Chernow
Normal People - Rooney
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Haley and Malcolm X
The Eighth Life - Haratischvili
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Keefe
Educated - Westover
Her Last Flight - Williams
Hamnet - O'Farrell
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America - Rothstein

Worst Book(s) - I literally could not decide between Starless Sea by Morgenstern and The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Harrow. They were both in the exact same genre (a genre I typically enjoy!) and I didn't like either of them. Loathed would be a better descriptor. Starless Sea was a HUGE disappointment for me, and I was physically angry that Doors of January wasn't better when it had so much potential.

Excellent books that barely missed the cut -
A Promised Land by Obama - I really enjoyed this book, but opted for more objective biographies of past presidents over this autobio/memoir.
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Meacham - I seriously was digging the US history books this year, but it was just impossible to top Hamilton. I was also constantly disappointed that Daveed Diggs was not on the cover. lol
Only Plane in the Sky by Graff - I am SO GLAD I finally got to this book, but when it came to a head-to-head comparison with Say Nothing, I had to give the edge to the mind-blowing story of Northern Ireland.
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Larson - 80% of this book was excellent! The remaining 20% literally described aerial battles and I just couldn't take it.
Ask Again Yes by Keane - Thoroughly enjoyable, but definitely a just-above-average family drama. I just love family dramas though.
The Man Who Saw Everything by Levy - I have no idea why this isn't in my Top 10, but when I look at my list, I am not sure what I would bump to make room for it.
Conversations with Friends by Rooney - It was easily the year of Rooney for me.
The Girl Beneath the Sea by Mayne - this trashy underwater thriller was a huge cut above the rest! I want it in my Top 10 for pure, unadulterated enjoyment, but there just wasn't room!

I had a REALLY hard time narrowing down my list (as evidenced by the 8 books I felt like I still needed to talk about), but realized that my reading year started out great and then slowly went down hill. A few themes characterize my reading this year:

BLM - With all of the turmoil in society following the death of George Floyd and others, I really wanted to read more books that provided insight to issues. I read 8 books (6 nonfiction and 2 fiction) and have plans for several more starting with Caste by Wilkerson.

Reading enhanced by watching - Y'all, I will forever associate Normal People with COVID. I was OBSESSED. I watched the miniseries, read the book, and wanted to talk about it endlessly. I also FINALLY got to see Hamilton, though, granted, it was on Disney+. Don't care. It was brilliant. I have watched it numerous times, read the original source material, and listen to the soundtrack on loop. The screen-book pairings were at their best here.

Nonfiction - partially driven by my BLM reading, I read a crap ton of nonfiction books this year. Well, 20. Which is a crap ton for me. A full 25% of my reading. And not just nonfiction light memoirs (of which there were several), but dense history nonfiction.

Mediocrity - I did read many excellent books, but the bulk of the books I read this year just felt mediocre. They were entertaining and took me away from the dumpster fire that is 2020, and apparently that is all I was really looking for.

Now that Christmas list looks quite similar to my own!

You read DUNE this year!!! I hope you liked it! It’s my all-time favorite book. I <3 it so much!

I did!! I read it in early quarantine (this now how I think about 2020. In terms of quarantine. Lol). I really enjoyed it!! I am looking forward to the new movie too! Whenever that finally happens to be released. Lol