24:100 Belief by Seanan McGuire

September 2020 Patreon short story, standalone. 

Mary is a little girl who has lost her parents and lives with her grandparents. She has learned early on that the world isn't fair, Santa and the Easter Bunny aren't fair, but the postman is someone who is reliable and is absolutely fair in that he shows up for everyone and the post office would be her church, if she had one. 

A simple story with no gruesome monsters other than other humans and their greed, and how those of us who care might be able to save those institutions.

Page count: 20p/6,165p ytd/353,555p lifetime

23:100 Ghost*Spider, Vol. 2: Party People by Seanan McGuire

 On Earth-65, Jonny and Sue Storm were online influencers when they suddenly disappeared and now 5 years have passed and they have mysteriously returned home claiming no memory of what happened to them during that time but now with superpowers. Meanwhile, Gwen is continuing to try and balance living and crime-fighting in her native dimension of Earth-65 while going to college on Earth-616. When Sue and Jonny offer a team-up with Ghost-Spider in Earth-65, she's happy to no longer be the only superhero in the are and hopeful that together, they can help her rep. Unfortunately, nothing is ever that easy or simple.

Fun series and I hope Seanan is able to keep writing this!

Page count: 112p/6,145p ytd/353,535p lifetime

22:100 Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

I first read the standalone novella, Binti, back in 2018.  Here are my thoughts at that time:

The Himba people have never left their homeland, much less traveled to the stars, but Binti has been accepted to go to the Oomza University which is offworld.  She knows she cannot tell her family, they will never approve, so she sneaks away one night to board the ship that will take her. 

She is other to everyone.  No one is familiar with the Himba people as they remain isolated and do not travel but Binti hopes that those traveling to the University will learn to treat her as an equal.  On the trip, things are going well and she is even starting to make some friends until the ship is attacked by the Meduse.

Earth and the Meduse have been at war for a long time and this is just the latest strike.  Now the Meduse have killed everyone on board except for Binti for there is something about her that is different.  Now she has the chance to try and be a bridge between the Meduse and Oomza University in order to bring peace. 

This was truly a remarkably crafted tale.  At less than 100p long, it was tightly woven with amazingly detailed characters and universe.  Ms. Okorafor is an incredibly talented wordsmith and worldbuilder and I can't wait to read more of her work.

I had no idea what the rest of the series would be about but was hoping it would follow Binti at the University.  It instead brings her back to her village as a broker of the peace talks between the Meduse and humans. Unfortunately there is much fear and Binti has now become too alien after her fusing with the Meduse to be easily accepted by the people she grew up with. Now she must learn her full past, the story of the stone she brought with her on the ship to Oomza University, and the history of the war with the Meduse if there is to be any hope of peace between the worlds.

I will admit to being a bit disappointed at first that this was not the story I was hoping to get (but very thankful that in the Kindle version of the trilogy there was a short story of University days). I did find it a bit harder to get into the rest of the series as a result as I also found the pacing to be a bit slower but the story did pull me in with the masterful writing and intriguing characters. I am definitely a fan of Ms. Okorafor and will be continuing to work my way through her body of work.

Page count: 368p/6,033p ytd/353,423p lifetime 

21:100 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

 Two factions fighting across time, trying to nudge the time line this way and that in order to adjust it in their sides favor so they can win the real war. Two sides, each with their own agents that follow the orders from above to give their side the best chance. Two sides, each with an agent in possession of a secret.

The note was left on a battlefield, one of many throughout the time line, as a taunt. But it didn't stop there. One note, left to one agent of the opposing side. A response. And another. Up and down the time line, each finding new and more innovative ways to slip messages to the other. No names, never that, but knowledge of how the other thinks and moves used to ping the consciousness to the message written and wanting to be found. It started with that taunt but how can you know someone that well, for so long, without it becoming more. Respect turns to admiration turns to an intimacy. If they are discovered it would mean death, to fraternize with the enemy so, but the reward of the next missive is worth the risk.

It took me a bit to really get into this one and the writing style but once I did, I found it a fabulous read. Well constructed with beautiful prose.

Page count: 209p/5,665p ytd/353,055p lifetime

20:100 In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant

 Harlowe Upton-Jones has been living with her paternal grandparents after her parents were killed under strange circumstances. That she grew up to become part of a new "Mystery Gang" with her friends as teenage sleuths really isn't surprising. But now they have graduated high school and the rest of the gang is looking at college and careers and things are falling apart. So Harlowe finds one last case for them to go out on a bang with, that of the Spindrift House. There are many interested parties trying to figure out who legally owns the house and if they can spend a week there and figure it out, the payoff will be worth it.  Unfortunately, the house has its own residents who might welcome Harlowe but not her friends.

Elder gods and haunted house and mystery gang...oh my! Fun horror story set in a Lovecraftian world but definitely not for the faint of heart.

Page count: 197p/5,456p ytd/352,846p lifetime

19:100 Last Strand by Jennifer Estep

Mason Mitchell is the head of the Circle, the super secret group that has been pulling the strings of Ashland's criminal underground for ages, and also Gin's uncle, the twin brother of her father. He has never let family get in his way, obviously since he had Gin's family murdered although she and her sister Bria managed to get away, has a plan to tear down the Pork Pit while making himself tons of money, and holds some serious grudges against Fletcher and Gin. With Fletcher gone, Gin is the one who must deal with his wrath but not alone as he will target her friends to get under her skin.

Gin has to stop him and keep her friends safe, as always.

I've enjoyed the series and find the world interesting with it's use of elemental magic. Never count Gin out but this feels like a good spot for things to end. We've gotten Gin's backstory, she has killed the ghosts from her past, and it's a good time for her to hopefully be able to rest. While Ms. Estep hasn't said that the series is officially over, the last few books were self-published and she has been moving forward with other series while saying that Gin's story is told "for now" but she is wanting to do the occasional short story highlighting some of the other characters which I will be looking forward to. 

Page count: 368p/5,59p ytd/352,649p lifetime

18:100 Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

 The residents of a mountain town in the wilds of California all disappear and then the FBI come to Charles and Anna for assistance as the land is owned by the Pack. What the FBI doesn't know, Bran tells them, is that the land was purchased because that is where Leah was found and they were certain that something powerful and evil lives around there, something that knows about werewolves.

So with that warning, Anna and Charles head out West to try and discover what happened to the people and possibly figure out how to cleanse the land. Unfortunately, the big bad is awake, hungry, and searching for a mate.

We get to find out a lot more about Leah's backstory and her relationship with the Marrock which is great but it's a very dark book with a lot of awful stuff going (CW: mind-control, rape, harm to children). It gets intense but Ms. Briggs does an admirable job of handling the hard stuff while not allowing it to slide full-on into the darkness and despair and having it serve the story rather than be just for gratuitous shock value. 

This book was a bit slow to start and there were some pieces that didn't quite work for me so well but it's a solid addition to the series.

Page count: 358p/4,891p ytd/352,281p lifetime

17:100 When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

No one knew how Miel had come to be in the abandoned water tower but that's where she appeared one night, at about the age of 5, with roses that grew out of her wrist. The first one to run to her when she emerged was Sam, a young boy about whom not much was known of him or his mother since they recently appeared in town.

It's been years and Sam and Miel are still inseparable, she with the roses growing from her wrist and he who paints moons and hangs them all over town. They are odd and generally left alone until the Bonner girls decide that their sway over the town, the magic that has been the right of the Bonner girls for generations, has been waning and that Miel's roses are what can fix it for them. Now they will use all of Miel's secrets, including those that involve Sam, to get what they want.  

This book wove such a beautiful spell that I was captivated immediately and didn't want to put it down. The imagery, the characters (even when they were being stupid teenagers), the magic all combined perfectly for me.

Page count: 288p/4,533p/351,923p

16:100 Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

 Fatima is from a small village in Ghana where the shea trees are farmed. She loves to climb trees and especially the one in her yard. She wants nothing more than to climb to the top. Then one day, she finds a green stone nestled in the roots of her special tree. She treasurers it but one day, her father sells her stone away from her.  In that next year, she starts developing an internal heat and a green glow that comes upon her sometimes and when it does, she can kill. And then came the day of the accident, when her village was wiped out but for her and she forgot her name.

Now she is known only as Sankofa, the Adopted Daughter of Death. No one remembers where she came from but all know that she travels alone with only a fox as her sometimes companion, and her touch brings death. She searches for the stone that was taken from her, the part of her past that she thinks may heal her.

While this is definitely SciFi, and specifically Africanfuturisic, the technology plays such a small part in the overall story. It's such a human tale of longing and suffering and discovery. You can't help but feel for this girl who wanders alone while everyone fears her or wants to use her in some way and it's that, the heart of the story that draws you in and doesn't let go.

Page count: 160p/4,245p ytd/351,635p lifetime

15:100 Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire

Well, shit just got really weird for Sarah, her cousins Annie and Artie, Annie's new adopted brother James, and the cuckoo Mark who had been helping them try to save Sarah from her biological family who was trying to turn her brain to mush so she would open a portal to a new world for them to devour while destroying the Earth in the process.

Instead, Sarah's friends and family helped her figure out how to turn things around and while she opened the portal and took the cuckoos through, it did not turn her into a cabbage nor did it destroy the Earth she left behind. What it did do, however, is turn the other cuckoos into mindless zombies and the friends and family she had with her into people who no longer know who she is and have lumped her in as being just another cuckoo.  

Now, she has to convince Annie and the rest (please most especially Artie whom she has loved forever) that she can be trusted, that she is family, that she is not a cuckoo to be killed, all while trying to figure out how she did what she did and how she could possibly do enough of it again to get them and at least the other humans that were also accidentally dragged along back to Earth. 

Sarah is not my favorite narrator for this series. She's okay but doesn't grip me as the others do. I also admit to being annoyed at constant repetition in books, even when it's totally in keeping with the story as it was in this case. And while all the Incryptid books tend to rely a bit on deus ex machina, this one went a little further down that path than I would have preferred. Again, I get why and it does work within the story so this is just my personal taste here.  All that to say, it dropped this book down to a 4/5 stars for me. Still enjoyable and would still read again but not my favorite.

Page count: 433p/4,805p ytd/351,475p lifetime

14:100 The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

 Cora Seaborne is a new widow who feels that she can finally breathe and start being true to herself after all the years being ground under her husband's heel. Having a scientific bent, she is entranced by the idea of the Essex Serpent that some claim to have seen near a small village so she, her son, and her son's nanny head there to check it out. What she finds is more than a mere prehistoric creature could have dreamed up.

The book was slow and trying too hard to be too many things so it only sort of succeeded at some of them. Cora is supposed to be the main character but I found her cold and immature but somehow teeming with friends and people fawning after her which made no sense to me.  The Reverend needed some good shakes and his wife and children deserved the sympathy as did Cora's other suitor. There were a few side characters that were more interesting and were given some good story lines but I just felt it wasn't enough. The author was trying too hard to draw out the suspense and make the story super complex but I think making the main character a little more likeable with a few less bad choices would have made it more enjoyable.

Page count: 433p/3,652p ytd/351,042p lifetime

13:100 Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

The play based on the Greek myth of the same name and eventually turned into the musical My Fair Lady. 

Eliza, a girl who sells flowers on the street, is taken in by Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering in a bet to see if Higgins can teach her how to speak and act like a lady. 

I've lost track of how many times I've seen the movie with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn and since much of the dialogue in the play was used in the movie, it wasn't really a new take on what I knew until we got to the author's notes at the end where we get his impression of what would have happened with Eliza after. The movie deliberately leaves it vague after she returns to the Professor's house after their row at his mother's.  I can't say that I was a fan of what the author thought would happen after, Eliza marrying Freddy and their starting a flower shop with her doing much of the work to support them both (with a lot of help from Col. Pickering) but at the same time, considering the time period that was probably the likely outcome.

Page count: 96p/ 3,219p ytd/350,609p lifetime

12:100 The Turn by Kim Harrison

 The prequel to the Hollows series with Rachel Morgan, this book tells the tale of how the world got into the state it was in when we first get introduced to Rachel in Dead Witch Walking. From those books, we know that somehow tomatoes started killing humans but not Interlanders so they chose to come forward and help save the human population. Now, we know what happened....

Trisk and Kal (Trent's father) have always been in competition but she as a dark elf was always seen as lesser than to his light elf even though she is probably smarter than he is (although he is much more devious). They are both on paths to try and save the elves from their decline that has been going on ever since the demon wars but they have very different ideas on how to actually accomplish the task. Trisk ends up looking like she will be more successful after her work has proved to work well with tomatoes to create a way to help feed the world and also her way of modifying the genetic weapon being created in the same lab to make sure it does not affect Interlanders. As a result, Kal is pulled off his pet project to check on hers and then he decides that his is right so he's going to screw with hers to make sure the funding is pulled (and hopefully redirected to his).

That's when all hell literally breaks loose and the tomatoes that should have helped end world hunger instead unleash a plague that kills somewhere between one-quarter and one-half of the human population. This is now the world of the Hollows that we know.

I really liked Trisk and hated the way she got screwed over the entire book. Kal goes through the entire book manipulating everyone to make sure the blame lands on Trisk rather than himself because he's a smarmy bastard and I spent most of the book just wanting to punch him repeatedly. I get that was the point but he just was completely awful and I could not find anything to actually redeem him and that made the book harder to read for me. The characters that were good and likeable just go so completely shafted at every turn for that ass with him not having to be accountable at all and get away with everything. Sorry, I read books to escape from that kind of reality.

Page count: 441p/3,123p ytd/350,513p lifetime

11:100 Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker

Avery was always a meticulous child who did everything that his parents and society could expect.

Zib was the opposite, the messy child who reveled in adventures and was anything but predictable. 

They lived on the same street but yet had never met, until the day the detours along their paths to different schools had them both end up staring at a wall that hadn't been there before with no obvious path back home. So Zib argued that they should climb up and over the wall to see where it would lead them.

It lead them to another world with no visible way back to their own. So now these two strangers must rely upon each other to try and figure out the rules of this world and find their way home. Along the way they meet a girl made up of crows, various monarchs (none of whom seem to mean them anything good),  many owls that come in many different colors, and others who help them find the Improbable Road with the hopes that their getting back home is so improbable that the road will have to help them back there.

A. Deborah Baker is a pen name of Seanan McGuire, and apparently a character in another McGuire book, Middlegame (still need to read that one). I liked the characters and found the story interesting but a bit disjointed (on purpose but still) and the ending, while I get that it's leading into the next book, just felt rushed and jarring. I love her work though so will likely pick up the second book and give that a try to see if my opinion of this series improves.

Page count: 204p/2,682p ytd/350,072p lifetime

10:100 Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

 From my reading in 2018:

In April 1992, Chris McCandless walked into the Alaskan wilderness as the culmination of several years of soul searching.  His body was found in September of that same year.  This book focuses on Chris's life leading up to his decision to make that trek and the author's trying to piece together his final months.  By all accounts, Chris was intelligent and charismatic who was able to induce a parental protectiveness in several of the people he met as he was hitchhiking and wandering the country. His relationship with his parents is said to have been rocky but they were not abusive or ill-meaning.  There is nothing to suggest that when he embarked on this journey that his aim was death, in fact most of the evidence points in the opposite direction and that this was more about pulling a Thoreau than anything else.

This was part of the Hero's Journey literature unit we are doing for high school this year.  I think by the measure they are using, this does qualify. Chris was definitely trying to be true to himself and was ready to face daunting challenges in this quest. My biggest issue with this book was not in the story of Chris himself but the fact that the last 1/3 of the book the author inserted himself into the story in what I felt was an extreme amount.  We were regaled with stories of his climbing mountains and his father issues.  I get that he was trying to build more sympathy or understanding for Chris but for me, it failed and took away from Chris's story by making it more about the author.  The fact that the last chapter and the entire afterword were all about the author's trying to discover what exactly killed Chris and the lengths he went to again just seemed to be about inserting himself further into this story. I get that there is mystery and he was trying to solve it and maybe it's just the way he was telling it but it did not strike a good note with me.  I do think Chris's story was interesting and I enjoyed it, I just wish the author had done a better job of playing biographer.

Page count: 215p/2,478p ytd/349,868p lifetime

9:100 Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

Kate's adopted daughter, Julie, left Atlanta eight years ago to find out more about her powers and herself. She ended up with Kate's aunt Erra, whom Julie refers to as Grandma. During her time away, Julie has been told of a prophecy regarding an ancient power, Molach, who is gunning for Kate. Julie has continued to work to thwart his plans without involving Kate since all prophecies state that if she learns about him, she and her family will die. Now the prophecy has Julie in Atlanta trying to stop it without calling on her old friends (and Kate's allies). She has a new face and a new name, Aurelia Ryder, and a tough road ahead to save her mother without letting Kate know she's even in danger.

So glad to have new stories in this world as it's one of my favorites. So glad that it was set in Atlanta so we could get updates on many of the characters there that I've grown attached to. It will be interesting to see if the Atlanta setting continues or if this was just to help ease the introduction into this series and give the fans the update or if Atlanta will continue to be a focal point for future books.

Page count: 354p/2,263p ytd/349,653p lifetime

8:100 In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

My Review from 2014:

"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants."  

There you go, the secret of this book and he lays it out right in the first chapter.  So why read on?  Because what Mr. Pollan goes to do is lay out the problem with the Western Diet and how it's killing us.  We have become a slave to Nutritionism and not food.  Science keeps telling us to eat more of this miracle nutrient and less of this one over here and we will be healthy and all will be good.  But it doesn't work and then next week or year or decade, they realize that what they first told us was absolutely wrong and they reverse it.  The Low-Fat Diet is a beautiful example of this.  We were told to eat less fat because consuming fat was making us fat and leading to heart disease.  So industry came to the rescue and took the fat out of everything replacing it with sugar and sodium and things we can't pronounce.  And that made us fatter than ever. Heart disease didn't go down and now we are told that carbs are the problem.  Eat more fish! Omega 3s! Paleo! Atkins!  The list goes on and all it does is leave those who need to eat more confused then ever.  There are now organic toaster pastries with Omega 3s.  Are those healthy?  The obvious answer is no but since Fritos can now put on their packages that they are a "heart healthy" food, who knows any more, right?!  

This is the point of Mr. Pollan's book, helping to decipher what we have been being told for the past 40+ years (longer than my lifetime). He breaks down the studies and tries to help the typical person understand what is being studied and how and what the results most likely mean.  How studies are flawed and how that tweaks the results.  He has his own rules for eating that he lays out in the last section but really, what it boils down to is the words at the top.  I had already started doing this after some less than stellar lab work at the doctor's and while it will be a few months before I know conclusively if it is helping in that department, my body is already showing positive changes to the new way of eating.  I highly recommend this book and I'm so glad that my son's high school health course uses it.

Page count: 244p/1,918p ytd/349,299p lifetime

7:100 Kitty's Mix-Tape by Carrie Vaughn

 Ms. Vaughn is diving back into Kitty Norville's world in order to give us a collection of short stories about not just Kitty, but many of the other side characters that inhabited the world that people wanted to learn more about. There are songs and story notes for each piece, and many were written for specific anthologies but it's nice to have them all collected in one place and a few new pieces as well.  I hadn't read all the anthologies so many were new for me during this read.

I found it a fun collection but definitely suffered from not having read any of these books those characters appeared in since the last Kitty novel came out, so some of the smaller side characters who got their own stories I had no context for and had to do a quick look up to remember who they were. Those stories were enjoyable but lost what would have undoubtedly made them more special had I remembered what they meant to Kitty and the series. 

Page count: 272p/1,674p ytd/349,055p lifetime

6:100 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simpson

 Major Ernest Pettigrew grew-up in Edgecomb St. Mary's, had a military career, and then returned after he retired. He lives in the house he grew up in, having inherited it from his parents, married and raised his son there. He is that Englishman, concerned with doing everything properly as it has always been done, keeping up appearances, and concerned with honor and duty. With his wife dead and his son living in London, he putters around his house taking care of the upkeep and reading, golfing with friends, and going on the occasional hunt. Then his brother dies and his regular world is turned upside down when he starts up an unlikely friendship with the owner of a local shop, Mrs. Ali, who lost her husband several years ago as well. Through a common interest in books and the shared experience of both being widows, the friendship starts growing into something more. However, he being of the old-blood in the village and she being a foreigner no matter how long she has lived there makes this a relationship that no one deems appropriate. Everything says this relationship can't work but will they listen?

Read for book club and really enjoyed it although the Major gets pompous enough and stodgy enough that times I really wanted to reach in and shake him. Yes, it's understandable and totally realistic (I've known enough people like him in many ways) but still....LOL  It was a lovely story, moved well, good characters, and a satisfying ending. 

Page count: 379p/1,402p ytd/348,783p lifetime

5:100 Black Panther Vol. 8: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda Pt.3 by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The worlds of Wakanda Prime and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda are colliding and T'Challa is in the middle of it all. Finally able to return to Wakanda Prime and trying to relearn who he was and recapture some of the memories that were stolen from him but N'Jadaka will not let things stand.  

Complex character arcs and rich storytelling, it continues to be an enthralling read.

Page count: 136p/1,023p ytd/348,404p lifetime

4:100 Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

 Regan had always felt she was a perfectly normal girl growing up but she also understood that there were rules for how girls needed to act and look and if you wanted to stay with the group, you did not break those rules under any circumstances. She and Heather and Laurel had always been tight but then Heather broke the rules of how girls should be and Laurel turned on her, taking Regan with her and Regan knew that if she went against Laurel, she would also be an outcast so she didn't. Regan realized that Laurel's friendship was conditional but always thought she could keep it...right up until the moment when she couldn't. As she ran away with her heartbreaking, her door found her and took her to the Hooflands where a human would soon be needed to save the Kingdom.

Regan had always loved horses and now she was part of a herd of centaurs who defied the Queen of the Hooflands just to keep her safe. She missed her parents from time to time but years passed and she grew into a confident young woman in that time until it was time for her to face her destiny and overthrow the Queen. This was the way it was done in the Hooflands and as much as she wanted to stay with her herd, she finally had to do what she was brought there to do.

I enjoy these books and I loved the world and characters in this one but felt that the actual adventure was short and lacking any punch. We spent most of the time watching Regan grow up and then very quickly she faced her destiny and a door pulled her back to our world and it felt too rushed with no buildup.

Page count: 172p/887p ytd/348,268p lifetime

3:120 Portents by Kelley Armstrong

 A collection of several short stories and novellas set in the Cainsville universe. Most have been published before but are now gathered in one place.  I enjoyed dipping back into the universe even if I had read many of them before. 

"Scream of Dragons" was originally published in Subterranean Press Magazine. I hadn't read it before and it was seriously creepy. It takes place when Rose is a teen and Seanna is a toddler and shows what can go wrong when the fae blood mixes badly and the child is taken away from Cainsville.

I know I've read "Devil May Care" before but can't remember if it was an extra at the back of a book or something else. It is the story of how Patrick and Seanna got together just long enough to produce Gabriel. Shows just how broken Seanna always was and doesn't do Patrick any favors either.

"Gabriel's Gargoyles" shows Gabriel about 10 years old already having figured out how to navigate his mother and ready to con and pickpocket and it's heartbreaking to see how broken he is because of Seanna.

"The Black Cat" is Gabriel's take on Poe's "The Orange Cat" and "Bad Publicity" is a Patrick prequel that again doesn't show him in the best light. Both were originally preorders for Betrayals.

"Matagot" is a new story and reveals more about TC's true nature and what happened during his kidnapping in Visions. It was interesting as it also reveals more about the start of the Matilda, Gwyn, and Arwen legends.

"Lady of the Lake" was another Betrayals preorder bonus but I don't remember having read it before. It takes place during Olivia and Ricky's vacation when they find a haunted lake.

I do hope that Ms. Armstrong continues to play in this universe from time to time as I do enjoy getting to go back with new stories.

Page count: 320p/715p ytd/348,096p lifetime

2:100 The Diary of Anne Frank

From 2017:

The diary of a 14yr old Jewish girl who lived in Holland and went into hiding with her family, another family, and a friend of the family in order to try and escape the Holocaust after the Germans occupied the country. They lived together for 3 years before they were caught and sent to the concentration camps. This is not a novel but rather the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl growing up under the shadow of death but yet her writing is powerful and raw and you can see the underlying steel and passion within her.

One interesting tidbit that I learned is that this version of the Diary is not what she actually wrote but a compilation of what she originally wrote combined with a version she had started working on for publication after the war with her father's edits (particularly of her relationship with her mother to tone that down and also apparently of her thoughts that were of a more *ahem* adult nature).  There has been another version released that contains more of this and I really want to find time to read that one to see how it differs.

Page count: 283p/395p ytd/347,776p lifetime

1:100 Ghost-Spider: Dog Days Are Over by Seanan McGuire

 Gwyn Stacy, the Spider-Woman of Universe 65, has been outed in her own universe which makes leading anything resembling a normal life impossible. She just wants to go to school and get an education without the hassle so decides to jump over to the regular Marvel universe, 616, and go to school at Empire State University with the help of Peter Parker. So during the day, Gwyn can be found in U-616's ESU doing the school thing but then she returns home to U-65 for homework, band practice, and crime fighting. Unfortunately, jumping between dimensions has the additional problem of having two versions of Miles Warren after her. The one from her home dimension wants to take her out and the one from U-616 seems to have the hots for the Gwyn Stacy of his universe who is no longer and is willing to transfer his affections to this new one.  Neither seems to be ideal for Gwyn's plans.

As stated before, I have only recently started reading Marvel comics and even then tend to limit to characters I'm interested in by authors I like. I just don't have the time or brain power to deal with the constant reboots and artwork/story lines that don't work for me so I tend to not know a lot of the backstories or previous information. This means that I'm kind of lost on what is up with either version of Miles Warren in this collection. There is enough filled in that I have an idea but not much more than that. Also not really sure what is up with Jameson and the Man-Wolf. Again, there was enough that I could figure out basic motivations but there is obviously a lot that I am missing. It made certain things less clear so this was less enjoyable than the last couple of volumes I read. I think a little less time spent on setting up the cross-dimensional stuff and a little more on understanding these villains motivations would have helped tremendously.

Page count: 112p/112p ytd/347,493p lifetime

2020 Recap and 2021 Goals

 So yeah, 2020.  Huge elections for both primary and general meant a lot of work for me along with trying to take my college classes and then add in global pandemic to get the stress going off the charts. We had to put our dog to sleep, had our grouchy old kitty die a few days later, and then lost my dad a few months after that. As much as I usually derive pleasure and stress-relief from reading, there was just too much going on for me to process reading on top of it much of the time. So I not only didn't make my goals, but I also managed to not write single review for all the books I did manage to read.  I do plan on going back and filling those in but it will be it's own project.

So my goals for 2020 were to read 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  I managed 77 books, 23 new authors, and just over 15,000 pages.  Considering how messed up everything was, I'm still considering it a victory.

I have no idea what this year is going to bring. My work shouldn't be stupid crazy this year but to make up for that I'm taking a full 14 units in school for the Spring semester, I've signed up for cross-stitch challenges to help motivate me to make some progress on those projects, and I have a ton of other personal projects that I want to work on along with getting my house sorted. In light of all that, I'm still going to try for the same goals as last year of 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  We'll see what I manage to do.