Butterfly Skin - Sergey Kuznetsov

One of the countless Library Sale shelves books that have crossed my TBR pile, this one was ... something else. A cover quote warns "the fainthearted had best stay away" and I can confirm that this is indeed the case. To be honest I found this book somewhat confusing; it slips between points of view as it describes the "romance" of sorts between a serial killer and a reporter who is trying to capitalize on his reign of terror. It can be very detailed in its descriptions of the crimes that take place, and of the proclivities of the reporter. All in all I guess this was worth the 50 cents I spent on it; not sure it would have been worth much more.

Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe

The subtitle of this nonfiction book is "A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland" and it's a good primer on "the Troubles" for those of us who heard about them in the news but had no real firsthand knowledge of them. It begins with the story of a disappearance, and then places that disappearance in the larger context of the motivations one both sides of the long-standing conflict in Northern Ireland. Gripping and sad, this book was a good read for a gloomy spring.

Side note: I am going to use this book for the "Black" category of the Color-Coded Reading Challenge

The Man Who Died - Antti Tuomainen

Yet another book I stumbled across at the library and decided to try, since I like Scandinavian crime fiction and this one is set in Finland. As it happens, this was a good find, and I quite liked this book. It was a darkly comic whodunnit that kept me guessing. I'd definitely read more books by this author. Recommended.

Gingerbread - Helen Oyeyemi

Hmm.

Confession: I am not sure what to make of this book. It's kind of a magical realism story that is also kind of a play on fairytale tropes. At times, it held my interest quite well but then it would get rambly and start to feel like a rough draft from a Creative Writing MFA candidate or something. It was a little all over the place. I was hoping to love it but that didn't happen. Oh well.

The cover of this book is really nice, and it's not brown, but because gingerbread is usually brown I am going to claim it for that category in the Color-Coded Reading Challenge.

Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate

This book was another book club choice, and it was a doozy. It's a fictionalized version of the harm a real (and really evil) person inflicted on people in the early 20th century, which has repercussions that linger to this day (but that rant* is outside the scope of this blog, unfortunately). The characters were well done and I liked the changing points of view between events that took place in the 1930s and the impact they have in the present day. As the two stories converge, the truth emerges, and I thought that part of the novel was really well done. I read this book compulsively, wanting to find out what had happened and how the stories came together. There should be a lot of good discussion of this book.

*One thing I will allow myself to say here is that evil people like Georgia Tann make me hope there is some kind of judgement in an afterlife, as she is someone who should be punished severely for the horrible things she did.

The Refugees - Viet Thanh Nguyen

Joined a book club, and this was the first read for me - and it was a great choice. Each story in this collection was full of potential for discussion, so much so that we ran over our allotted time and could have kept talking. Standouts for me were "War Years," "The Americans," and the first story, "Black-Eyed Women," which was startling and a perfect way to set the tone for the book overall. Highly recommended.

I'm using this book as my choice for Blue in the Color-Coded Reading Challenge, too:

 

Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid

This book was a relatively recent Library Sale Shelves addition to my TBR pile and readers, this was the perfect book to give this blog a fresh start. I loved it. The writing is amazing and the story is rich with symbolism (including the meaning of the title) and themes that one could discuss in a college class or write papers on. When I finished it my first impulse was to go back to the beginning and start reading it all over again, and that's not something I typically feel like doing at all. It's a good thing my secondhand copy is in such good shape because it will move from the TBR shelf to a space in my permanent collection. Highly recommended.

This book is a good candidate for the Color-Coded Reading Challenge, but frankly I am not sure if the cover is a shade of green or a shade of blue. I guess for now I will put it as green. Let me know what you think!

Color-Coded Reading Challenge 2020

Bev at My Reader's Block is also hosting this fun challenge, which you can read all about and sign up here. Over the years I have really enjoyed finding books to fit this challenge, with brown being the most challenging overall. I'll update this post with links as I fill in the categories.

Read nine books in the following categories:

1. A book with "Blue" or any shade of Blue (Turquoise, Aquamarine, Navy, etc.) in the title/on the cover. The Refugees - Viet Thang Nguyen (see linked post for photo of book cover)

2. A book with "Red" or any shade of Red (Scarlet, Crimson, Burgandy, etc.) in the title/on the cover.

3. A book with "Yellow" or any shade of Yellow (Gold, Lemon, Maize, etc.) in the title/on the cover. Orphans of the Carnival - Carol Birch (see linked post for photo of book cover)

4. A book with "Green" or any shade of Green (Emerald, Lime, Jade, etc.) in the title/on the cover.
Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid (see linked post for photo of book cover)

5. A book with  "Brown" or any shade of Brown (Tan, Beige, Sand, etc.) in the title/on the cover. Gingerbread - Helen Oyeyemi (gingerbread is usually brown)

6. A book with "Black" or any shade of Black (Jet, Ebony, Charcoal, etc.) in the title/on the cover.
Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe (see linked post for photo of book cover)

7. A book with "White" or any shade of White (Ivory, Eggshell, Cream, etc.) in the title/on the cover. Selection Day - Aravind Adiga

8. A book with any other color in the title/on the cover (Purple, Orange, Silver, Magenta, Pink, etc.).

9. A book with a word that implies color in the title/on the cover (Rainbow, Polka-dot, Plaid, Shadow, Paint, Ink, etc.).

Mount TBR Challenge 2020 - Continuing in 2021

Bev at My Reader's Block is once again hosting this great challenge - you can read all the details and sign up here. I am going to commit to the Mount Kilimanjaro level of 60 books, and see if I can manage more.

1. Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid
2. Butterfly Skin - Sergey Kuznetsov
3. Orphans of the Carnival - Carol Birch
4. Behold the Dreamers - Imbolo Mbue
5. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
6. Daughters of the Samurai - Janice P. Nimura
7. Blindspot - Jane Kamensky & Jill Lepore
8. Selection Day - Aravind Adiga
9. Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin
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Pike's Peak
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Mount Blanc
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Mt. Vancouver
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Mt. Ararat
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Mt. Kilimanjaro
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El Toro
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Mount Everest
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Mount Olympus (Mars)

Happy New Year! I'm back!

Hi everyone. Sorry I was gone for so long. There were lots of life-related reasons, which resulted in me not reading very much at all for the past couple of years (ouch, it hurts to type that). I've really missed this blog, and of course reading, so I am going to start back up for 2020. You will see some backdated entries as I post about books I actually managed to read since my absence, with the exception of logging re-reads I did of books that have already been reviewed on this blog (there was some comfort reading going on). Of course, I'll log my reading going forward.

Longtime blog readers know I normally participate in lots of reading challenges. It looks like some of them aren't being hosted this year, unfortunately. For many reasons, I think I will forgo participating in too many challenges this year, and concentrate on 2 of my favorite challenges: the Mount TBR Challenge, so I can focus on TBR pile reading, and the Color-Coded Reading Challenge just because I really like it. I'll also keep track of the ongoing Planet Earth Challenge just because. Look for sign up posts later today.

Best wishes to all in 2020! Happy reading :)