This or That Reading Challenge discussion

This: A book that is to be published in 2022.
That: A book you meant to read in 2021.

(For This: 2022 releases)

That: A book you meant to read in 2021
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
4 stars, truly phenomenal book

That: A book you meant to read in 2021.

Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America's Doctor
by Kate Messner and Alexandra Bye | Jun 29, 2021

A nicely written (by one of my favorite authors) matter of fact book about Dr. Fauci's life growing up and how he worked to become the head of infectious Control.

This: A book that is to be published in 2022.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley | Feb 22, 2022

I’m still reading the ARC I received of this book. I enjoyed The Guest List & The Hunting Party by Foley.

I'm going with The Prison Healer for That: A book you meant to read in 2021. It surprised me, I liked it more than I thought I would and gave it 4.75 stars.

That: A book you meant to read in 2021

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave


This book was meh for me. The first half was good but by the second half I started losing interest. 🌟🌟/5

A book I meant to read in 2021: fight club.

I wish I could tell you about it but, the first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club.

A book I meant to read in 2021: Station Eleven

4/5 I really enjoyed this book. I liked how it weaved between multiple characters and mostly 2 main timelines (pre-pandemic and 20 years post-pandemic). Haven’t watched the show yet but heard that is also great.

Emi wrote: "A book I meant to read in 2021: fight club.

I wish I could tell you about it but, the first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club."

😂😂😂😂

A book I meant to read in 2021

Starless by Jacqueline Carey

I picked this up on a whim last year and tried to find a spot in the challenge I was doing but I couldn't. I loved this. I was so disappointed it ended and moreso when I learned it was a standalone book :(

For January I chose the 'that': "A book you meant to read in 2021". What happened is that in December I read (and very much enjoyed) Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Among the many storylines in Cloud Cuckoo Land, a common re-occurring element (including the title of the book) was references to The Birds by Aristophanes. So my intention was to read The Birds afterwards, but then I got distracted by holiday activities and never got around to it before the end of the year.

So I just finished reading The Birds yesterday. It was actually part of a 5-pack of comedies by Aristophanes. Keeping in mind that this was written 5th century BC, it was actually pretty decent. It's about a couple of humans who think birds have it made, so they try to become birds. It's mostly silly farce, but there was a small, provocative subplot about how by becoming birds they were no longer honoring the gods, so now the gods were crawling back to beg for their attention. I'd give it 3.25 stars. Glad I read it, to put into context with Doerr's new novel.

I book I meant to read in 21
where the crawdads sing by Delia Owen's .
seen so many post about it last year, I thought it was very slow and the ending was a bit disappointing.

That : book meant to read in 2021

Title : Mountains of Light

Author: R.Mark Liebenow

Pages:192

Started: 1/24/22

Ended:1/28/22

⭐️⭐️⭐️

That: A book you meant to read in 2021

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

late posting, but I chose that: I finally read the four winds by Kristin Hannah

Amy wrote: "late posting, but I chose that: I finally read the four winds by Kristin Hannah"

I thought it was a tough topic, but a well done read. What did you think of it?

@Keith, I agree it was very well written, especially since it encompassed so many difficult situations (so it could have felt disjointed with the various topics, but it was woven together really well!)