NatalieSW 75B Challenge

I've introduced myself now in "Welcome" and "Introductions." Here, I'll write about reading. First, I'll go do some.

Books read:

Welcome back!

Hi Natalie! :) Welcome to the group.

thank you very much!

First book of the year completed: The End of the Sentence, a novella by Maria Dahvana Headley and Kat Howard, a book picked up at the library because of Book Riot's review quoted on the back. And, as they say, it is pretty "deliciously creepy"!

>4 NatalieSW: You're welcome. :)

>5 NatalieSW: Wow! One down already? Awesome! :) I like "deliciously creepy" books. I'll have to look for that one, thanks!

Hope you like it, too! Have you read "Help for the Haunted" by John Searles or Robin Riopelle's "Deadroads"? Also nice and creepy!

Book #2: Midnight Nation vol. 1, by J. Michael Straczynski and others. Thought-provoking, really nicely written and illustrated occult/spiritual/supernatural graphic novel about life, afterlife, and what's in-between for those who "fall through the cracks." Topcow pub. describes the genre as "illustrated adventure/horror."

Hi, Natalie! Two down already - way to go!

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There you go! What kind of books do you enjoy reading?

All kinds of fiction—literary, historical, scifi, fantasy, mystery, light horror—as well as history, biography, science (at my non-scientist level), medicine and non-fiction on things I want to learn how to do such as gardening, crafts, books about writing, art. Not too keen on romance, politics, economics. I also like graphic novels and kids' books a lot.

I love Connie Willis and hadn't heard of "Uncharted Territory" before seeing it on your list. Another for me to go check out!

Welcome!

Thank you!

3. Blood Makes Noise, historical fiction/thriller by Gregory Widen, is an account of the peripatetic adventures of the body of Eva Peron after her death, and of the actions of several men, each in his own way devoted to her, who wish to prevent her posthumous exploitation.

4. How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle. Sad but lovely book.
5. The Boy Who Killed Demons by Dave Zeitserman. Enjoyable but somewhat strange; not sure whether it's intended for adults, YA, or even precocious horror-movie-watching middle grade.

6. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. I couldn't put it down. It's not just dystopia, it's terrifying. And really good, with really good characters, written from several points of view in a way that really works.

Awesome reads so far! :)

Our lists share an odd selection of books!

#7 In the Blood: A Novel by Lisa Unger Good psychological thriller with some interesting twists. I didn't pick this one; my husband got it for Kindle and I decided to try it out.

#8 Spark by John Twelve Hawks Really engaging and unusual psychological thriller told in first person by a man with Cotard's syndrome: he thinks he's dead. I couldn't put this one down.

#9 Little Book of Book Making by Charlotte Rivers. Nice format: photo examples of the work of a fair number of accomplished book-craftspeople from all over the world, followed by instructions for how to make books of one's own using techniques the example artists employed.

# 10 Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. I read it in pretty much one sitting—at 4 a.m. I'm now feeling pretty ragged, but at least it's a Saturday. :-)

#11 The Angel of Losses by Stephanie Feldman. Really got into this one. The protagonist is a graduate student working on her dissertation, whose subject has really got to her, in part because it somehow brings to mind her Russian grandfather and the vivid—sometimes frightening—stories he used to tell Marjorie and her sister Holly when they were little. As adults, the two girls who had been so close as children are distant. Holly has converted to Judaism and become Chava, no married to Nathan, who is a member of an esoteric strand of strictly practicing Jews who even most orthodox Jews think are strange. When Holly, now Chava, becomes pregnant, Marjorie begins to dream more and more of their grandfather. More, the stories he once told them seem now to becoming true, but in what sense or senses, Marjorie is uncertain. She just knows she must pursue them until she understands.

#12 The Many Panics of 1837 by Jessica Lepler. I don't know enough about economics or American politico-economic history to review this book, but I feel I got a lot out of it. I'm reading it for background for a novel I'm writing, and this book really did get through to me just how unprecedented and unusual was the way the USA had developed as a nation, in particular how the fact that the short-lived national bank had been eviscerated, leaving merchants to do business primarily with state banks—each of which printed its own money. Money "lost value" as it travelled from one state to another, and laws concerning bankruptcy, for example, differed greatly from state to state. While money could "travel" out of the country, to England, for example, by virtue of an official note that asserted that real gold specie backed up the promise of it, crises in confidence about the truth of that occurred frequently, in both countries. Banks refused to honor businesses' notes, banks refused to pay out in specie, businesses went under, affecting many, many people with them, including laborers, artisans, etc. I'd never heard of "hard times tokens" before.

So much history we don't learn in school.

#13 The Red Road by Denise Mina. Really good book; the characters are like real people, and the city of Glasgow is one of them. I love her mysteries. I'd read anything she wrote. She's even written a "Hellblazer" graphic novel—also a great story!

#14 The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Enjoyed it quite a bit. Haven't been reading anywhere near as much science fiction as I used to, but picked this one up at 57th Street Books last year—the blurb and the recommendations (especially those by Kirkus, PW, Library Journal, The Guardian, etc.) made me buy it lest I forget about it. Glad I did!

#15 Saga, volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Still enjoying it, looking forward to next volume. Like the story/ies, characters and art.

#16 Erasmus Hobart and the Golden Arrow by Andrew Fish--got it free on Kindle and enjoyed it much more than I expected. Really amusing, and I LOVE Maid Marian and her band.

#17 Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes was pretty good--I liked the characters very much, but wasn't convinced by the supernatural aspect of it.

#18 Full Measure by T. Jefferson Parker. His first three books — "Laguna Heat,"" Little Saigon" and "Pacific Beat" — were incredible. I enjoyed this one, and it is striking where, occasionally, bits of Parker's earlier individual, extremely effective style appear.

#19 Statistics and Causes of Asiatic Cholera As It Prevailed in Providence in the Summer of 1854: Being a Letter Addressed to the Mayor of Providence by Dr. Edwin Miller Snow. 2010 reprint of an 1855-published address. A request and demand for the public authorities to do their job vis a vis protecting residents from epidemic disease. Fascinating to look back at a time before vaccination and sanitation.

#20 A practical essay on typhous fever by Nathan Smith is a terrific resource; I read this in connection with a novel I'm working on. I'll look him up to see if he wrote more on other diseases and medical practice of his day (1827). I'll also see what else Sabin Americana: Print Editions 1500-1926 has to offer.

After 20 Feb. I was planning for a research trip for my book to Rhode Island (as well as getting the kitchen ready for devastation and reconstruction), and was reading mostly articles. But once I'd planned my trip and got going, I was able to get back to books proper:
#21 Rhode Island: an Historical Guide by Sheila Steinberg and Cathleen McGuigan (because I'd never been to RI, and my protagonist is from Providence)
#22 Providence's Benefit Street by Elyssa Tardif et al, of the Rhode Island Historical Society, which has got some incredible re/sources; their HQ is at the John Brown house in Providence. The Brown family was clearly affluent beyond what most of their community could have understood; the family itself is fascinating in its members' competencies and also their individual ambivalences regarding slavery.
#23 The Bearer of Crazed and Venomous Fangs, Vincent DiMarco, March 2014. Mr. DiMarco, Amazon's info reads, is a professor emeritus at University of Massachusetts, former English dept chair, who "taught medieval literature for more than 30 years." Some of his students' acclaim and gratitude pop up when he's googled, and if his teaching was as interesting, well researched, and well written as this book, I wish I could have taken a class from him. The book was a pleasure to read, very clear, with good notes and bibliography.
#24 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which I read only because I promised my very readerly niece I would read her favorite book. I knew it was going to be sad—really sad—and I generally don't go to books or movies expressly for tragedy—my general feeling is that catharsis leaves something to be desired, and if I want to feel awful, I can just look around me or, failing that, look at a newspaper. I'd promised, however, so. It was sad, all right, but it was also very good. I'm still not going to be rushing out to read tragic books, but I am glad I read this book. The characters and their voices seemed genuine, containing, humor, grief, puzzlement, everything real people feel, but try not to demonstrate to everyone around them.
#25 When Elves Attack, by Tim Dorsey, is very funny. It's not fantasy (well, not the scifi-fantasy kind of fantasy), despite the elves, and it's kind of violent, in that cartoony, guilty-enjoyment kind of way I tag as "bene-violence" (because I have a predilection for portmanteaus and bad puns; I write crossword puzzles, too). I've read Dorsey before and had forgotten how much fun his writing is. I'm going to check out more of his stuff.

#26 H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald. Incredible book. A memoir-essay-literary account? Different, deep, unsentimental, the time the book addresses is right after the sudden death of the author's father, when MacDonald took refuge in training a goshawk. The language and history of falconry is fascinating, as is the author's perception of TH White, author of "The Once and Future King," and of his work with his goshawk. I'll read this again at some point. Her writing is beautiful, her style unique.

#27 Blacklands by Belinda Bauer. Crime fiction of a sort. Really good writing. Story, characters, relationships, all important to the book and all well-fleshed-out. I read this in one go.

#28 Hannah Barnaby's Wonder Show, a very enjoyable book, somewhat reminiscent of "The Deptford Trilogy" and "Night Circus" — and HBO's "Carnivale"— but for kids. The female protagonist is wonderful.

#29 The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet. I loved this. I'm so sad he's gone.

#30 Keeper by Mal Peet. Very different from The Murdstone Trilogy, but very good—and I don't even understand soccer! Fantasy elements, but very real, too; good for kids and adults.

Not in the correct order. We were having some construction in the house, and everything else got out of hand for a while.

#31 The Borrower, by Rebecca Makkai
#32 Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
#33 The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
#34 On the Move: A Life, autobiography of Oliver Sacks
#35 Ready Player One, a YA by Ernest Cline that apparently is to be made into a movie
#36 The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
#37 Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville

btw, THIS time I really loved Moby Dick (hyphenated or un-). I was so surprised; it was the one book of Melville's I couldn't get into. I'd loved Billy Budd, Bartleby the Scrivener, Typee, Omoo... What a relief to have come to enjoy a classic—and see what makes it one! On the other hand, between my last read of MB and now, I've learned a lot about New England, and especially about New England in the 1800s. Strong implication that without some point of contact between reader and content, there's likely to be no appreciation.

#38 Unseemly Science, by Rod Duncan, book 2 of Rod Duncan's series "The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire," was enjoyable, if not memorable. I didn't realize it was book 2 (and that I hadn't read book 1), until I'd nearly finished it. It was fun, though--low-level steampunk, scifi, mystery.

Managed to completely fall behind on posting here, so this will be large-ish.
#39 Gutenberg's Apprentice by Alix Christie was fantastic. So lucky to have found it by blurb. Totally accidental.
#40 Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins was a lot of fun. My husband read it, rec'd it, bought the rest of the set. So I'll have more to read.
#41 The Leveller by Julia Durango is a fun middle-grade novel with a female protagonist. Moves along at a fast clip, exciting.
#42 Four Eyes, Volume 1: Forged in Flames, graphic novel by Joe Kelly, good coming-of-age story, boy vs dragons -- or is it? Graphics interesting.
#43 The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham — I remember enjoying it, but not much about the story or characters. Will probably check out this author again.
#44 The Dead Run, Adam Mansbach, really entertaining supernatural, mild-horror, not too scary quick read. Oddly, I discovered after buying the book by-blurb that this is the guy who "wrote" "Go the f--k to sleep." Go f---king figure.
#45 Letter 44 Volume 1: Escape Velocity Graphic novel. Sarky good read. Pleasantly unsubtle. Nice graphics, too.
#46 Copperhead: vol. 1 by Jay Faerber et al., graphic novel, good space-western about badass (mostly) woman sheriff (and single mom), not without flaws, who comes to clean up a difficult planet. Her assistant is a drily sarcastic non-human who was passed over for the job she got. Want more.
#47 The Shapeshifters by Stefan Spjut, translated, very cool, Scandinavian-bleak, exciting, suspenseful story with ancient, dangerous creatures.
#48 Out on the Wire, graphic novel, Jessica Abel. Graphic not-novel, very interesting, enjoyable. Got this through Early Reviewers but didn't get to read it when I got it. Glad I finally got there!
#49 The Strangler Vine, M.J. Carter. Loved this. John Buchan-esque for (thankfully) modern sensibilities.
#50 Blood, Salt, Water Alex Morrow detective, 5th of its ilk, by Denise Mina, FANTASTIC as always. I have such a reader-crush on this writer.

#51 Teratology by Susannah Nevison, really powerful poetry,
and
#52 The Night Gardener Pretty good MG, good amount of creepy.

Oops, forgot to post these:

#53 The Life of John Thompson, a Fugitive Slave: Containing His History of 25 Years in Bondage, and His Providential Escape. Written by Himself -- really interesting --
and
#54 Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail, fascinating, with useful references to primary and other sources.

#55 Demystifying the Jeweler's Saw by Thomas Mann is great. He's very clear for the most part and the pictures are helpful.

#56 Tales of Honor, the sci fi graphic novel by Matt Hawkins, is pretty good. It didn't have me glued to my seat, but I'll pick up volume two and see how it continues.

oops forgot this one:
#57 The Wasteland Saga by Nick Cole was very good, very disturbing. Scifi, post-apocalyptic, but excellent.

Now that I have my numbers sorted out. (They're not my strong suit.)

#58 A historical romance: Crow Hollow by Michael Wallace. Entertaining, not fabulous, but some good research. The main characters are too dashing and bold etc. The secondary characters were better, more convincing. I think the genre is not my favorite, so there's that.

#59 The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, a middle-grade novel, was very enjoyable. A certain similarity to Harry Potter/magic-school was at first annoying but both similarity and annoyance dissipated quickly, and I didn't put it down till I finished it.

#60 Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore is the sequel to "A Dirty Job." Moore writes outlandish supernatural/horror with a sense of humor. I'm a diehard fan, and I liked this book, but I don't think it reaches the level of others of his such as "The Stupidest Angel,""Coyote Blue," "Lamb,""The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove," or "Sacre Bleu," or... okay, it wasn't one of my favorites. But it's Moore, and I am always up for more Moore.

#61 Saga vol. 5 (If I don't have 1-4 listed, it's okay, I read them.) is still good, award-winning trade paperback graphic novel that it is. Looking forward to vol. 6.

#62 They're Not Like Us, another graphic novel, is another story on the "young-mutants-finding-themselves" theme, but there's no kindly Prof X with a nurturing, well-funded school for these young people. It's very good.

Gah I keep forgetting to actually post this message. So this time I'm just listing the latest!

#63 The Girl in the Spider's Web
#64 Pirate Latitudes
#65 History of American Merchant Seamen
#66 Top Secret Files Pirates & Buried Treasure
#67 Murder on the 31st Floor
#68 Soldering Made Simple
#69 Radiant State
#70 Truth and Fear
#71 Cell 8
#71 The Martian
#72 The Jeweler's Studio Handbook: Traditional and Contemporary Techniques for Working with Metal and Mixed Media Materials
#73 Classical Loop-in-Loop Chains
#74 Creating Wire and Beaded Jewelry
#75 Doctor Sleep

#76 State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. What a book!

Congrats on 75! Looks like some good stuff.

Thank you! Onward to '16!