Literature – karenika

Books I Read in 2016

karenika — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 11:33:49 +0000

In 2016, I read 138 books. As it turned out, I haven’t written about any of these because I read more than 52 books a year and a book a week posts fall behind. So I am still posting 2015 reads even though 2016 is over. I find this annoying. I also have a hard time remembering all the details of the book this long after I’ve read it. So for 2017, I’ve decided to change things up. I will be posting the books as I read them. That might mean that one week I have 3 books to post about and the next week, I have none. It shall be so.

Here’s the list of books I’ve read in 2016 so far. (A few more days left and I am sure I’ll read a few more, I’ll come and update the list.) These will not appear on the blog on their own. If you have questions about them, ask in the comments and I will reply!

In the year 2016, I became a huge proponent of audio books. I listen while I drive, while I do art, while I play candy crush. I listen all the time now and I listen at 2x speed, which is a bit slower than the speed at which I read.

My favorite read of the year was: The Nix.

My favorite YA read of the year was: The Sun is Also a Star

My favorite non-fiction read of the year was: Truth and Beauty

The Crossroads Of Should And Must
Unbecoming
Bel Canto
The Dog Stars
Fortune Smiles
My Name Is Lucy Barton
When It Happens To You
All The Birds In The Sky
The Readers Of Broken Wheel Recommend
Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of A Fist
When Breath Becomes Air
The Sacred Lies Of Minnow Bly
A Man Called Ove
Be Frank With Me
The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty
The Immortals
Symptoms Of Being Human
The Expatriate
Everything Everything
Emmy And Oliver
Love Minus Eighty
The Dream Thieves, Raven King, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Shelter
Divorce Papers
Sleeping Giants
Free To Fall
The Noise Of Time
First Time She Drowned
Better Than Before
The Year We Turned Forty
The Forgetting Time
One In A Million Boy
The Girl In The Red Coat
The Good House
Most Wanted
This One Summer
Imagine Me Gone
The Nest
Where They Found Her
Wink Poppy Midnight
Union Atlantic
Brave Enough
The Life We Bury
Happier At Home
Eligible
A Thousand Pieces Of You
What I Know For Sure
Stitches
The Past
Fellside
The Life We Bury
Some Luck
The Flicker Men
Vinegar Girl
Objects Of My Affection
Consettation Of Vital Phenomena
Lily And The Octopus
Gratitude – Oliver Sachs
Catch 22
Truly Madly Guilty
The Girls
Dark Matter
Before The Fall
Revised Fundamentals Of Caregiving
Winners Curse Series X3
Truth And Beauty
Present Over Perfect
Unfurl
The Great American Whatever
This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage
An Object Of Beauty
The Bean Trees
Three Prescriptions For Happiness
Textbook – Krouse
Commonwealth
Love Warrior
Between Breaths
The Sympathizer
Blue Nights
Deep Work
Twelve Steps Of A Compassionate Life
Sons And Daughters Of Ease And Plenty
Finding Your Own North Star
Underground Airlines
Another Brooklyn
Modern Lovers
Siracusa
Hoot
Loving My Actual Life
Bad Feminist
A Darker Shade Of Magic
Nutshell
Creative Schools
Japanese Lover
Monday Nights In 1980
Razor Girl – Abandoned
How To Party With An Infant
The Mothers
The Wonder
The Sun Is Also A Star
How To Be A Person In The World
The Versions Of Us
The Underground Railroad
Hatchet
My Year With Eleanor
The Year Of The Runaways
The Course Of Love
Home Going
On Living (kerry Egan)
Today Will Be Different
Hagseed
Buffering
The Spy
Crosstalk
Leave Me
Hungry Heart
Dash And Lily’s Book Of Dares
Salt To The Sea
This Is Your Life Harriet Chance!
Crown’s Fate
Behold The Dreamers
Talking As Fast As I Can
Hillbilly Elegy
The Chemist
The Undoing Project
Why We Get Fat
Infinite Home
The Association of Small Bombs
Swing Time
Holding up the Universe
Unworthy
Books for Living
Joy on Demand
Illuminae
The Vegetarian
Rich and Pretty
Infomocracy
The Regional Office is Under Attack! ( I finished this one on New Year’s Day)

Here’s to another year of reading!

A Book a Week – 10:04

karenika — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 11:54:01 +0000

I read 10:04 because amazon said it was excellent. It was a weird and different book and I am still not sure if I liked it or not. I can tell you a lot of it didn’t stay with me and I guess maybe that says all I need to know.

A Book a Week – Bliss

karenika — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 12:53:58 +0000

I read Bliss out loud to Nathaniel because a friend of ours had recommended it to David a few years ago and I had never read it. It was a sweet story which had some scary scenes and some funny scenes. I think Nathaniel liked it and I asked David if he did, too. He said it was ok but he didn’t really want to keep going and read the sequel.

My friend who has a daughter said her kid read all of them

A Book a Week – The Paying Guests

karenika — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 11:53:57 +0000

I read The Paying Guests for a book club. It wasn’t a book I would have ever picked up on my own but I am glad i read it. It was interesting and had several unexpected twists. I don’t read many books about that time period so that part was interesting to me, too.

I didn’t love it but I did enjoy it and this is one of the reasons I like having a book club. Especially one that doesn’t always choose books I would have naturally picked up on my own.

A Book a Week – The Age of Miracles

karenika — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 11:53:56 +0000

I read The Age of Miracles because it came up in my library queue. It was one of those books I’d added to my list but never got around to reading. So when it was available at the library, I grabbed it.

I enjoyed this unique story. How it’s dystopian but not like the other ones (Hunger Games or Maze Runner, etc.) A very different story from a very different perspective.

I recommend it if YA and quiet dystopia are your cup of tea.

A Book a Week – Bone Gap

karenika — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 11:53:55 +0000

I read Bone Gap because it was picked by my Young Adult book club. I was’t sure about it when I read the blurb on Amazon.

But I was totally wrong.

This is one of the best Young Adult novels I’ve read in the last few years. I loved the characters. I loved the magical realism. I loved everything about this book. If you’re like me and are sick of all the dystopian YA I would recommend you give this one a try. It’s unusual so it might not be your cup of tea but it’s beautiful.

Btw, I listened to the audio and it was fantastic.

A Book a Week – Feeling Good

karenika — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 11:53:53 +0000

I read Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy because my doctor recommended it to me when I said that I wasn’t feeling great lately and I was down more often than I was up.

She said she had heard good things about the book and wanted to see if I wanted to give it a try (she also recommended therapy of course.)

I read this book very quickly and really liked the ideas behind it and the methodology he uses. It works for someone like me.

A Book a Week – The Thirteenth Tale

karenika — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 11:53:54 +0000

I read The Thirteenth Tale because I’d been putting off reading it for like ever. It had been on my list for years and I kept running into it in different posts I read. So I decided it was finally time.

And in the end it was ok.

It was a quick, interesting read but I can’t say one of the best reads ever

A Book a Week – My Brilliant Friend

karenika — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 11:53:52 +0000

I read My Brilliant Friend because…well because everyone was talking about it and by the time I heard of this series the third book was out and no matter when I went, there was something about this book there. So I finally picked it up and decided to give it a try.

I really liked it. It’s one of the rare books that talks about the complicated nature of female relationships and does a really good job of it. The story is engrossing, but also long. After I finished this one, I needed a break. There are a lot of characters in the book and sometimes it’s a bit hard to keep track of them, especially in audio.

I recommend this book.

A Book a Week – Fates and Furies

karenika — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 11:53:51 +0000

I read Fates and Furies because amazon said it was the best book of 2015. This book was weird. I really didn’t like the first half much but I knew there was a big twist in the second half so I endured it. And indeed the second half was much more interesting.

But.

But it was a depressing book in the end because of what it said about humans. (At least those humans.) and I just don’t like books like that.

A lot of other people loved it though.