Challenge: 50 Books discussion

My goal for 2016 was 42 books and I read 56 books 14 books over my goal.. I will set my 2017 goal at 36 books which will be an average of 50 books a year since i joined this group in 2010 and try to read more epics.

Ooh, epics. Do you have any in mind already?

Texas by James Michener and The Great Bridge : the epic story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Actually the title is The Great Bridge: The epic story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge

Sheila wrote: "Texas by James Michener and The Great Bridge : the epic story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge."

Ooh, Michener! My parents (especially my mom) LOOOOOOVE Michener. His books are HUGE, but generally really engaging, so it make the hugeness go quickly. Have you read Michener before?

I had a close friend of mine move to Hawaii 2 years ago and gave him a copy of Hawaii before he left and took a copy out of the library. It only took me 2 1/2 weeks to read it even though it was over 1000 pages.
I lived in Texas 1986-2001 so Texas is my next Michener. I worked on the movie I am Legend in 2006-2007 and the scene was in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge so The Great Bridge is of high personal interest to me.

#1 Fates and Furies (finished 1/4) My public library is having a book discussion of this book on 1/25 so I checked it out and read it. It is an intriguing overview of the complexities of a marriage sometimes from the man's perspective and also from the women's perspective. It twists and turns and delves into the influences of childhood experiences that lead to behaviors and secrets. I am looking forward to the discussion./

#2 Born a Crime (finished 1/14) Trevor Noah's poignant autobiography of his birth and early childhood during South Africa's apartheid and his later childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood post-apartheid prior to his emigration the U.S. A wonderful read it covers a wide spectrum of the challenges of racism, unique upbringing with his single mother and her family, and his support system in his community despite poverty.

#3 Travels with Charley (finished 1/21) John Steinbeck's delightful account of traveling across the United States in a refurbished truck with his standard poodle Charley. It is overflowing with exquisite descriptions and philosophical observations. Very lovely.

#4 101 Things you didn't Know about Einstein (finished 1/30) This biography was very pleasant to read since it was elaborating on various facts about Einstein's life and legacy in a very easy format. The first part focused on his personal relationships with his family, second part on his various discoveries and professional relationships, and lastly his politics and legacy.

#5 Justice:The Forever Cycle ( finished 2/15) I met a woman at a book discussion group (for another book) and she was promoting this book. This is the first time I have read a novel in this genre street crime and found much of the language difficult to comprehend since it was very dialectical. I did have a better comprehension as I read through it. I was also interested in this novel since it is set in Middletown, N.Y., Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and Albany. Towns that I am very familiar with but know little of the street scene.The majority of novels about street crime are set in metropolises- Chicago, New York, L.A. but there is urban crime element in smaller towns that this exposes. Street life is very tough and there is a different code for survival. Mr. Monk creates colorful characters with street names of Zig, Drama, Rome, in this passionate saga of drugs, murder, greed, and violence.
The female characters are empowered by their sexuality. The sex scenes are passionate, raw, and gritty. Kimesha and Suzan are the main perps in a drug laced robbery that goes wrong.
Even though I found this emotionally challenging it was quite exciting and an insightful foray into a parallel universe.

#6 Modern Romance ( finished 2/19) A delightful study how dating has been affected by the new communication technologies : email, texting, the internet and social media. It is by the brilliant comic Aziz Ansari. A well researched study it is both informative and entertaining.

#7 Size 12 and Ready to Rock (finished 2/28) This light mystery novel follow the challenges of Heather Wells a child rock star turned residential hall supervisor as she handles multiple characters that live in her resisdent hall for the summer including pop music "campers " some with accompanying stage mothers, pregnant pop diva Tanya and her husband, and her fiancee Cooper. A nice balance of the seriousness of suspense and violence and the humorous futility of human behavior.. She handles such topics as domestic violence and infertility in a sensitive way.

#8 A Room with a View (finished 3/8) A delightful novel of romance set in the Edwardian era.

# 9 Patrick Swayze: One Last Dance (finished 3/10)

#10 The Book of Unknown Americans (finished 3/24)

#11 Brooklyn (finished 3/31) Beautiful story of an Irish immigrant in the 1950's who takes a leap of faith leaving her family and finds both fulfillment and love in Brooklyn.

#12 Critical Care (finished 4/6) A sweet romance set in a hospital setting full of challenges and hope.

#13 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (finished 4/11)

#14 Kitchens of the Great Midwest (finished 4/19) An intriguing novel of complex characters set against the background of passionate love of cooking and gourmet culinary.

#15 Cranford (finished 4/27) Elizabeth Gaskell's delightful depiction of lives of predominately elderly women in provencial regency England. Delightful characters.

#16 The Guest Room (finished 5/3) An exciting thriller about a bachelor party that goes awry when the hired strippers turn to violence.

#17 Hospital Sketches (finished 5/8) Louisa May Alcott spent a short time as a nurse in a Union hospital during the Civil War. At that time there was little formal training for nurses and many of the duties were in providing nutrition, cleanliness, wound care, and comfort to the dying. her stint was cut short since she came down with typhus but the time she spent as a nurse was impressionable and influenced her later writing.

#18 The Great Bridge: the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (finished 5/12) A comprehensive book that details the engineering and politics of building the beautiful iconic Brooklyn Bridge.

#19 North and South (finished 5/31) Elizabeth Gaskell's novel that depicts the contrast between the agricultural South of England during the early 1800's.the industrialized North.

#20 The Leptin Boost Diet (finished 6/4) Informative book that explains metabolism and the part that leptin takes in weight control.

#21 All Our Worldly Goods (finished 6/12)

#22 The Maltese Falcon (finished 6/26) Dashell Hamett's classic thriller

#23 The Underground Railroad (finished 7/8) This poignant novel of the horrors of slavery was the library book discussion read for June. It follows the challenges of a fiesty young women named Cora as a slave and then as an escapee what is hunted as she travels in the underground railroad.

#24 St. Burl's Obituary ( finished 7/17) This book is superficially quirky but is very intense treatise into eating disorders, the love/hate relationship that can happen with food, and identity as it relates to body size.

#25 The Nightingale (finished 7/23) The intense story of two French sisters and their suffering and heroism during World War II. Under the brutal occupation of the Nazi occupation of France the two sisters react and are heroic in very contrasting ways. It was a very spellbinding read.

#26 Call the Midwife (finished 7/30) Delightful and beautifully detailed memoir of a mid-wife in east London in the 1950s and 1960s.

# 27 Fresh Off the Boat (finished 8/7) Eddie Huang's delightful memoir. A coming of age story of an extremely intelligent young man who struggles with his identity and endures bullying as a child and young man matures into a successful businessman, comic, and writer.

#28 Spellbound by Beauty (finished 8/16) A biography of Alfred Hitchcock with a focus on his relationships (sometimes obsessions) with his leading ladies. Very well written and well researched.

#29 End of Watch (finished 9/8)

#30) The Nest (finished 9/27)

# 31 The Paris Wife (finished 10/10) The biographical fiction of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley. Told from Hadley's perspective it is a foray into the lives of American ex-pats that were an integral part of the European art scene between the two world wars.

#32 The Water Method Man (finished 10/25)

#33 Y is for Yesterday ((finished 11/12) This was difficult to follow at times since it kept flipping between 1979 and 1989 but Kinsey Milhone is such an intriguing sleuth that it it was very enjoyable.

#34 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry A sweet story of a widower book store owner whose life changes dramatically when a baby is left in his store. It is the book discussion pick for December for our local library.

#35 Moonlight in Paris (finished 11/22) a lovely romance set in the post World War 1 era

#36 Texas by James Michener (finished 12/26) A very detailed and well researched epic of the very intricate and complex history of Texas.

#37 Girls (finished 12/28) Set against the backdrop of an upstate N.Y.winter the campus security cop of a small college investigates missing girls. Very complex characters, complicated relationships, and vivid descriptions.