READ 100+ BOOKS A YEAR discussion

Sorry for being late again! Life has gotten in the way lately. So on to May's books.

1. Read a book whose author's surname begins with L.
2. Memorial Day is at the end of the month in the US so read a book with a military link.
3. Read a book by a female author.
4. Read a book with a child narrator.
5. Read a book with the moon, stars, or sun on the cover.
6. Read a book you never finished.
7. Read a book with a one word title.
8. Read a bestseller from the year you graduated high school.
9. Your choice.

Here are my reads and, hopefully, I'll get through more of them.

9/9, 12 books

1. Read a book whose author's surname begins with L--Geek Girls Don't Date Dukes by Gina Lamm--finished 5/16/18 .
2. Memorial Day is at the end of the month in the US so read a book with a military link--Revolutionary Temptation by Silvia Violet--finished 5/29/18 .
3. Read a book by a female author. The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer--finished 5/3/18
4. Read a book with a child narrator--Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson--finished 5/19/18.
5. Read a book with the moon, stars, or sun on the cover--Nursery Crimes by Ayelet Waldman--finished 5/30/18 .
6. Read a book you never finished--An Act of Self-Defense by Erne Lewis--finished 6/1/18 .
7. Read a book with a one word title--Dawn by Erin Hunter--finished 5/12/18.
8. Read a bestseller from the year you graduated high school--The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton--finished 5/23/18 .
9. Your choice. The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper--finished 5/5/18

BONUS:
American Tango by Jennifer Vandever--finished 5/8/18
The Break Down by B. A. Paris--finished 5/14/18
Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures by Ben Mezrich--finished 5/18/18
As Old As Time by Liz Braswell--finished 5/26/18

May:

-Marisa de los Santos 5-1-18
This was a well written romance novel with well developed characters. In the pages, we are told not one but two love stories as our contemporary protagonist searches to learn why a lady she talked to for only a few moments the day before her wedding-that-wasn't left her a house when she passed away a short time later. As the sweet and compelling "mystery" gradually unfolds, we learn the real roots of our protagonist's biological father and the reasons why he was "adopted" in addition to why she inherited the sweet old lady's house.

-Susan Wiggs 5-3-18
This was a well written novel about the importance of family and how treasures are worth more than their market price. The character development in the novel was excellent, and I am looking forward to reading more of this series.

-Anne Tyler 5-6-18
This was certainly one of the oddest books I've read this year and because I was annoyed when the novel concluded without explaining several questions I had, I can't give this book more than 3 stars. Other than my annoyance with the dangling ends though, I have to say the novel was well written and the characters were intriguing even if a few were more of a mystery than a true character regardless of how often they appeared on the page. Anyway, this novel told the story of a pretty dysfunctional family who would never have described themselves that way and told it well.

-Janet Bolin 5-8-18
This well written novel was a great beginning to a fun cozy mystery series. The characters are well drawn, and they get into the most hilarious and occasionally dangerous circumstances while "not sleuthing" and are often being confronted and embarrassed by the local sheriff or detectives with the state police at almost every turn.

-Janet Bolin 5-10-18
This well written novel was the second in a fun cozy mystery series. The characters are well drawn, and they get into the most hilarious and occasionally dangerous circumstances while "not sleuthing" and are often being confronted and embarrassed by the local sheriff or detectives with the state police at almost every turn.

-Jane Austen 5-22-18
I absolutely love Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Austen is such a good writer.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-23-18
This was the second book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. This plot like that of the first novel of the series was interesting and surprising. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial. This one dealt with hate crime against homosexuals.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-24-18
This was the third book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. This plot was truly intriguing because Clare and Russ end up solving a cold case involving the parents of one of Clare's parishioners. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial, and while in most of the novels, the issue is current; in the case, it deals with the problems Prohibition and Liquor Running caused in the past.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-26-18
This was the fourth book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. This particular plot started with a missing person, moved on to a murder, and ended with a bomb all the while revealing a crazy family secret and presenting the opposing views of conservationists versus those who make a living off of logging. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-27-18
This was the fifth book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. This particular book was dark most of the way through, and to avoid spoilers, I will simply say that there is not only a brutal murder in this book but also several fatal car accidents. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial, and in this particular book, it dealt at least partially with the issue of identity theft via the internet.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-27-18
This was the sixth book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. In this particular book, Clare and Russ are estranged and are both emotionally wounded, but they still end up thrown together during a murder investigation, but by the end of the book, they come to a better understanding just in time for Clare's National Guard unit receives notice that they are being deployed to Iraq. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial, and in this one, we deal with illegal immigration.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-27-18
I'm so glad this was a free Kindle book because there was barely any substance to it. There were a few letters sent from one of the characters in Millers Kill to one of the characters deployed in Iraq (maybe 2 full pages), and the rest of the pages were taken up by a preview of the first chapter of the next book.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-28-18
This was the seventh book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. In this book, we spend a lot of time with Clare in her veterans therapy group as she and her friends face the demons that followed them home, and when one of them is found dead in her swimming pool, she pulls the rest of the group into investigating it with her. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial. In this one, we deal with not only the mental health issues and occasional suicide of veterans of war but with white collar crime wherein the head of a large corporation is found to have embezzled millions of dollars from his company.

-Julia Spencer Fleming 5-29-18
This was the eighth (and possibly last since it came out in 2013) book in a well written and often heart pumping mystery series. In this book, Clare and Russ are finally married and are dealing with the fact that Clare is pregnant and already was when they married, and so, this leads to a lot of stress for Clare in her position as a priest. Aside from that, we go on a big adventure starting with a raging fire and a kidnapping, continuing on to both murder and a hostage situation, and ending with a huge shoot-out and rescue. I really enjoyed it and am glad I randomly started the series. Each book deals at least partly with a big issue in our culture, many of them controversial, and in this one, we deal with a large ring of drug traffickers and some dirty federal agents.
If this novel is in fact the last one to be published in the series, I can accept that because the main characters are in a reasonably positive place, but I will still wonder what happened with several threads of the plot. (view spoiler)[Will there still be a local police department in Millers Kill? What happens with Flynn and Hadley's relationship? (hide spoiler)]

Rachel wrote: "May:

-Marisa de los Santos 5-1-18
This was a well written romance novel with well developed characters. In the pages, we are told not one but two love sto..."

I love Pride and Prejudice also. It's probably her most readable one for most people. I also had problems with the ending of A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. It was too opened ended for me.