Tuesday, November 23, 2021

2020 Mini Reviews - January 2020

I am getting to some 2020 mini reviews and it's still 2021! I'm within a calendar year in these reviews. Are you impressed? I am. I mean, that's not going to last very long but it's something for now.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie 
Read January 2020
It's a Poirot mystery. That's basically all I remember. As a matter of fact, I was just looking it up and realized originally I had the title wrong. I had it written as Mrs. McGinty's Murder. So I didn't remember enough to get the title right. I was trying to read some summaries and none of these sound familiar either. I'm not going to worry too much and just say it's a Poirot mystery so it was probably pretty fun and you knew what you were getting and it not being super memorable isn't a huge fault. 

White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman
Read January 2020
Here's another one I don't really remember. I remember the cover and that it was a book I found when I was browsing through the library app available books. It's basically a book of how white children learn about race in a country where white people really don't talk about race much but race is obviously a big and important topic. And how when race isn't talked about explicitly there are lots of implicit lessons being learned and maybe we should pay more attention and take more control of that? 

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Read January 2020
You know I love a Bryson book. And hey, here's a book I actually remember. It's Bryson writing about the body. It's funny, you learn something, and who doesn't want to learn more about this meat sack we're carrying around? Or that's carrying us around? Anyway, I loved it, I loved Bryson's enthusiasm for what the body does and how we learned what we learned and that enthusiasm is infectious. I kinda want to read it again even though I think I've already read it twice in less than 2 years. And he reads this one so that's fun too.

Tanica Jones by Matt Boren
Read January 2020
This one I have some vague memories of. It was an Audible Original, one of those free items they used to give away every month. A story about a woman (Tanica Jones) who finds her identity is stolen by some other lady. This isn't in a thriller-y way. Tanica is working to launch a lifestyle brand and is VERY proud of her name when she finds out some other lady is making herself famous off of this name. This will not stand. The book/short story was performed by Retta (from Parks & Rec) and consider her character from there if you want an idea of the tone of this story. Funny and short.

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Mini reviews - finishing up 2019!

Lookit this. After this post I'll have finished up at least mini reviews through 2019. 2019, which was, by my calculation, 200 years ago. Let's wrap up these mini reviews and then I'll only be 1 year behind. Until you know, we wander into 2022 and I'm multiple years backlogged again.

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling
Read December 2019. 
Nothing. I got nothing on this book. I mean, it's a Cormoran Strike novel. I remember liking those. But this rings no bells. 
OK so I looked up the summary and it's vaguely familiar. I remember it not being a favorite although I was happy it wasn't as gross as The Silkworm so that's something, right? 

Dear Girls by Ali Wong
Read December 2019
Ali Wong is hilarious and I have watched her 2 Netflix specials I don't know how many times. As a matter of fact, one of my Xmas gifts 2019 was to go see her perform. Of course, then things happened so you know, that hasn't yet occurred. Anyway, the book. Very funny letters Wong wrote to her 2 daughters with advice. It's funny, she's funny, and I remember sitting the parking lot of a Target laughing at some nonsense piece (I was listening to the audiobook).

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
Read December 2019
What a seasonally appropriate book I picked. Good job, me. I mean, I don't remember what the mystery was. I think plum pudding might have been involved. Forgettable sure, but it's Poirot so it was entertaining. I assume. They usually are.

So there you have it. Some sorta-kinda-barely-at-all reviews and now I'm at least caught up through 2019.

Monday, November 1, 2021

October Reading Wrap Up

Here I am, sitting around Halloween afternoon, all by myself and writing my wrap up. It's a strange feeling having the house to myself. Or more accurately, having the house to myself while also not currently working (since I've been working from home - by myself from home at least - for almost a year now). It's a nice feeling, and I got really excited by the idea of being able to go out and buy face cream.* Toddlers help you appreciate the little things, I suppose.

Here's a picture of the tiny T-Rex in his Halloween costume which he wore for about 3 minutes (refusing to put the hood up) before school on Friday and then he refused to wear again. Instead trick or treating featured Halloween dino themed jammies. I'll take what I can get.
But onto the reading. I got some seasonally themed reads in so good job for me remembering where I am and what season it is. Let's take a look at those stats.

Number of books read
4
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I know I don't normally do any book review type things in these wrap ups but since I'm so bad at updating this now, I want to say that, while both Graveyard Book and My Best Friend's Exorcism are re-reads they are SOOOOO GOOD and I encourage everyone to read them immediately. ANYWAY

Number of pages read
1,344

Fiction
75%

Female authors
25%

BIPOC authors
0%

US authors
50%

Rereads
75% - it was that kind of month

Book format
audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book
Kindle/Audible: 25%
Library: 75%

Decade Published
2000s: 25%
2010s: 75%

Resolution Books
50%
A Man Called Ove is by a Swedish author and is also a translation
The Graveyard Book is by a British author so counts even if it feels a bit of a technicality 

*I could not find the face cream I wanted. It was a failed journey but I was still pretty jazzed by it nonetheless.