All About Books discussion

My goal for 2025 is 100 books, which I will be listing here (with rating and/or reviews).

Book #1
Move Like Water: My Story of the Sea

5 stars
Beautifully written memoir of the life at sea, of love for marine beings, about ways of water.
Very informative, adventurous, and at times sad; a perfect balance of strength and vulnerability.

Book #2
Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry

2 stars
The book was described as written by a 10 yo Akiane, but the book is written by her mom about Akiane. While I am fascinated with Akiane's talent for painting, I do not like that they made mix personal faith/revelations and business/chasing fame. I listened to it on Audible, narrated by her mother, and it wasn't the best narration.

Book # 3
The Secret Language of Sisters

3 stars
This YA novel is about a girl who crashed her car while responding to a text her younger sister sent her and became paralyzed. I hated that the blame was put on Tilly for sending a text while her sister was driving. It is a terrible bullying by adults, leaving a child of 14 to carry a feeling of guilt for nearly killing her sister. The story is ok, there is no secret language between these sisters. The technological invention is the only part I found interesting and reason why I finished the book.

Book # 4
Carpathians

3 stars
Not much to the story. I had high expectations since the rating on this book is 4.3. I waited and waited for the plot to get good, but it was slow and boring until the last hour of the book. And the ending was blah...

Book # 5
Remarkably Bright Creatures

5 stars
A truly wonderful book that gives an insight (in a fictional way) into the mind of a Giant Pacific octopus (a highly intelligent sea creature). Though the monologues of the octopus were short and far in between, they were enough to get to know the creature better than rest of the characters in the story.
The book made me get to know more about these intelligent creatures.

Book # 6
Танґо смерті

3 stars.
Beautifully written in Ukrainian language, but in parts confusing. Too many characters from different eras.

Book # 7
The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts

4 stars.
Very interesting and well-written. Until this book I knew very little of the US Space program milestones such as first women and first non-white or non-US-born astronauts in space. It's astonishing how far we have come as a society in just 40 years!
This book gives a great insight into the evolution of the long-term culture and politics of NASA in general, and describes a lot of different processed associated with space program.
The only thing I didn't like (and taking away one star for) is that the author repeatedly demeaned white men in the program. We can celebrate women and different nationalities or races going into space without having to demean any of them.

Book # 8
Familiaris

5 stars.
This is a masterpiece. Wroblewski was able to shape each character into such a distinct and irreplaceable part of the story. I disagree that this book is about dogs, though dogs do have a big presence in the story, but it's more about the people, relationships, love, joy, pain, realities and beauty of human interactions, wit, and growth. David masterfully created a strong sense of place, time, and mood.
I think the book could have gone without the middle part (Claude's story), because upon finishing the book I feel like I read two books, with Claude's part as disconnected from the storyline as it could be. I understand the author inserted it into this book as a precursor to his novel 'the story of the Edgar Sawtelle', but I wish I didn't have to waste 10 hours of listening to something that the book could have been without.

Book # 9
Не озирайся і мовчи

4 stars
У мене двоякі думки на рахунок цієї книги... Кінець історії залишив більше питань, ніж відповідей. І взагалі, історія не сподобалась.
Книга сподобалась тільки тим, що автор розкрив теми булінгу у школах, проблеми відносин підлітків з батьками, насилля в сім'ї, ітд.

Book # 10
I Must Betray You

4 stars.
I was not very familiar with details of Romanian's era of Ceusescu's dictatorship, but I can imagine it was similar to the Stalin's repressions in Ukraine, details of which I am familiar with from Ukrainian writers like Ivan Bahryaniy and stories from my family members.
This book, in a very YA way, tells a story of teenagers subjected to be spies for Ceusescu's dictatorship, and gives an insight into the life of a typical Romanian household gripped with fear, betrayal, mistrust, hope, defiance, etc..

Book #11
The Marriage Portrait

5 stars.
Beautifully written story about the young Lucrezia de' Medici, who became a Duchess of Ferrara in a very early age after moving to the House of Este'. Loved the interesting spin on the alternative ending of her life.

Book #12
Miles from Nowhere

3.5 stars
This Memoir is a definition of 'TMI'.
While the account of bicycling around the world is interesting, there were too many unpleasant, personal and gross details that could have been withheld from the book. I don't know if I ever seen diarrhea mentioned so many times in one book or described in such details...
I liked the beginning, when Barbara and Larry cycled through USA and Canada, and the end, where they were wrapping up their adventure in New Zealand and Tahiti.

Book #13
First Life

5 stars.
The story is captivating from the very start, and continued with enough suspense, twists and new revelations to the end. Characters unfold in just the right amount in each part of the book. My favorite character in this part of the series is Miya, and I love seeing respect and equality between her and seasoned warriors and rest of the team.
I am on the 2nd book now and plan on finishing the series this month.

Book #14
Everything Sad Is Untrue

4 stars.
Great memoir. I know it's categorized as fiction, but it follows a true story told to by an Iranian boy (author) to his class in Oklahoma school. The story is filled with memories of his childhood, harsh realities of being a refugee and integrating into US society. Well written, good for middle and high school age kids and book clubs.

Book #15
The Lady Glass

4 stars.
Delightful. Just enough mystery, sweetness, and romance to make it a light read. Author created a good sense of time and space, but 4 stars is because there was very little visual description of characters. At the end of the book I still didn't know what anyone looked like except small hints of specific things like scar or a hair color for few.

Book #16
The Bookshop Ladies

4 stars.
Not much mystery, but a predictable, sweet, pleasant, and light read.

Book #17
All the Light We Cannot See

3 stars.
A well-written novel that is set in France during WW2. I have mixed feelings about this novel as I write this review. I always disliked books that tried to place their characters from Nazi army on a path of moving on as if nothing happened; a future with no consequences, guilt, repentance. Where they seek happiness and peace in their homes after they took part in the worst destruction and genocide on modern history. That is why I give 3 stars.
But I did like the story of a blind girl making it though the years of war with her wit and courage. i loved the relationship between her and her father, who I applaud for raising her the way he did.

Book #18
The Mind of a Bee

5 stars.
Until this book, I had no idea that there were so many studies over the last few centuries on the bees: individual and swarm behavior, levels of intelligence, logic and habits vs instincts.. So fascinating!
I listened to it in audio format and could not stop, heard all of 7+ hours in one day.
This book gave me new appreciation for the honey and bees wax, and all the hard work put in to producing it. It brought a sort of awareness that I will apply to how I treat bees (including bumble bees) and their food (flowers).

Book #19
The Evening and the Morning

5 stars!
This is the first of Ken Follett's books for me, and I am impressed!
This book had transported me into a whole different world. Ken is able to create such vivid sense of the Middle ages villages and towns, with their courts and cathedrals and the life around it.
Before this book I didn't know much about the ruling structures of the late dark/early middle ages, ruthless and corrupt schemes of (some) religious elites, and so on, so, this book was an introduction into a medieval times which I now want to learn more about. From what i gather from a little bit of research I've done on the years and areas from this story-line, these were the years of societal changes, and the process of slow, positive change was captured well in this book.
Will be listening to the whole Kingsbridge series.

Book #20
The Pillars of the Earth

5 stars.
Now I see what the fuss is about. This is a masterpiece!
I loved how this book is endless, and still ends too soon. Good thing there are 3 more books in the series.
This book transports you into the fascinating world of 12th century, the era of innovative Cathedral building, political wars between King's rulers and churches, political battles within the church, and shows how each small victory or loss effects the village life and peasants in the background.
Ken Follett does a wonderful job creating sense of space and time, and brings characters to life in an extraordinary blend of character and physique descriptions at the right moments.
I read this book after reading 'The Evening and The Morning', a prequel of the series, and while books are set 100+ years apart, there isn't much societal change, and the way of life in the 12th century rural England sounds to be very similar to the 10th and 11th centuries.
I appreciated Follett creating the character of Fillip with such unlikely combination of character traits: courage, good heart, wit, innocence, obedience to God and unacceptance of unfair treatment from the evil men.
My favorite character was Jack from the first moment he was introduced in the book. He brought the beauty of the vast world into the very village/parish lives of all other character, and until the end his life in the book was like a separate story line which made the book this fascinating and enjoyable.

Book #21
World Without End

4 stars (3.5)
This book is 1237 pages (47 audio hours) and ALL of them are packed with cruelty causing loss, anger, injustice, and pain. While it's still brilliant, I wish Ken Follett incorporated even a little bit of justice and victories into it. But no, as a reader, I was angry at the treatment of good people and the reign of the evil all through the book, with no break or reprieve.
While the first two books (book #0 and Book #1) were focused on the building of the cathedral and restructuring and growth of Kingsbridge, this book is split between the plaque, bridge, hospital, crops and the scarlet fabric business, which was interesting to follow, but while the first two books celebrated victories of favorite characters, and painted hope and change, this book doesn't.

Book #22
Only the Beautiful

5 stars.
This book wrecked me. I picked up this book thinking I was going to read about beauty, but I was crying my eyes out half of the book.
Until this book, I did not know about the sterilizing programs here in US, and especially that teens and children were subjected to it. I am so glad there were people who brought it to the light and fought for changes.

Book # 23
Я працюю на цвинтарі

5 stars.
Книга сподобалася. Всі 58 історій першої частини - життєві і по своєму цікаві, але були особливо щемливі історії, які заставили задуматися над відносинами з батьками, близькими і друзями.
Читали з книжковим клубом. Обговорювання вийшло цікавим і жвавим.

Book #24
Second Chance

4 stars.
Not as good as the first one, but still kept me on the edge. A bit too much happening and too many characters and species to keep us with.

Book #25
A Single Shard

5 stars.
LOVED this book! It's underrated. This book is so short, but full of wisdom, humility and courage.
The story is set in the 12th century ancient Korean pottery village, and gives an insight into a history of creation of the 'Prunus Vase' pottery technique. I did a little research, and it looks like the 'Thousand Cranes' vase is a National treasure #68 and is displayed in the Museum of fine arts in Seoul, SK.