14:100 Monkey: Folk Novel of China by Wu Cheng’en, Arthur Waley (Translator)

This is a translated and abridged version of Journey to the West, one of the 4 great novels of China, originally published in the 16th century after centuries of being passed on verbally.  It starts with the story of the Monkey King and his rise and then fall from grace through pride and how he then becomes a disciple of the holy monk who was chosen to go to India to fetch the writings of Buddha which results in his redemption.  The monk has other disciples as well who are also on their own redemption arcs but Monkey does seem to be the focus (as he would have it).

My son wanted to read this as part of his world literature studies this year and I wasn't about to tell him no. I really enjoy reading literature from around the world now (not always the case but I'm continuing to branch out) and this was definitely a fun read with a lot of depth and lots going on in many different levels.  Interestingly, as we read it, I realized that I had had a children's book detailing one of the stories when I was little and remembered it.  I don't know what ever happened to that book but I'm glad that my parents had it for me. 

The original Journey to the West is 100 chapters in total.  This version is about half as long but everything I read said that the stories that were cut out were fun but weren't really necessary to the overall story arcs and this was a good translation and compromise.  Of note, I looked everywhere I could think and asked many people to help me find an actual curriculum for it.  I feel that this is a serious issue in that we don't study the great works of other cultures much and yet, shared stories and seeing the common threads that weave through stories of all cultures is how we can bring people together.


Page count: 324p/3,622p ytd/314,527p lifetime

13:100 The Ancient Chinese World by Terry Kleeman & Tracy Barrett

From 2014:
Middle school history.  Covering China since earliest records and mythology through 589CE and the defeat of the Chen dynasty which led to the reunification of China.  Fabulous stories and such a rich culture and heritage.  I enjoyed reading this as much this time as I did the last.  I still contend that it's a shame that this is so much richer than what we give our high school students.

Page count: 174p/3,298p ytd/314,203p lifetime

12:100 Souljacker by Yasmine Galenorn

Lily O'Connell is a succubus and hey, a girl's gotta eat, so she has an elite sex salon where she can do so without harming her clientele who are generally Weres and can spare the chi she needs.  It's a safe enough business venture until one night as she is getting ready to attend a client, that client is murdered in her room by a vampire and a strip of skin removed.  After a second vampire victim is found elsewhere, also with a strip of skin missing, the pattern becomes clear that it's the Souljacker, a vampire who was a tattoo artist before he was turned.  He is hunting down his previous clients and removing the tattoos that the drew from their souls and inked on their skin.  Lily has one as do several of her friends and they need to find and stop the Souljacker before he comes after them.

I generally love Ms. Galenorn's books and I was intrigued by this one but it just fell flat to me.  The characters did not leap off the page, the romance was lacking any real heat (despite the sparks that kept being mentioned), there was too much being crammed in trying to set up a series that it just didn't work for it to all be happening over the course of a couple of days, and Lily herself kept doing stupid ass shit that made no sense just so it would set her up for the next thing.  It was just didn't work.  This series was not picked up so no more will happen for a while and I can't say that I'm saddened by that.



Page count: 264p/3,124p ytd/314,029p lifetime

11:100 Last Train to Istanbul by Ayşe Kulin, John W. Baker (Translator)

Selva comes from a high ranking family in Istanbul as well as being beautiful and smart.  Her older sister has found a fast rising man who will go far in the government.  It's expected that Selva will do something similar except she falls in love with Rafael Afandari, a Jewish son of a local pharmacist.  Her father disowns her and so she and Rafi get married and run away to Paris.  Unfortunately, this was just shortly before WWII and the Nazi invasion of France.  Now Rafi is in constant danger as are all Jews in France and Selva has just been contacted by a friend of her sister's who now works in the Turkish consulate in Paris.  Turik is working to get them back to Turkey and keep them safe as well as all the Turkish Jews he can find but it will not be easy and the danger is great.

Amazon gave this away during Book Day in 2018 and then it was chosen for my book club (I may have helped push that decision).  I enjoyed Selva's story.  The part with her sister was slow and didn't seem to add much to the story except to occasionally give some backstory to Selva.  My biggest issue with the story was the train ride which for the most part had nothing happening until close to the end when it just seemed like the writer thought it had been too easy so let's throw a rape scene in.  I get that those things happened but the way it was handled in the story just seemed too contrived.  In all though, I did enjoy the book.  Most of what I've read about WWII and the Holocaust have been centered in Germany, Poland, and surrounding territories.  I had never heard Turkey mentioned in anything so it was interesting to see what they were having to deal with, both the government and some of the people.

Page count: 395p/2,860p ytd/313,765p lifetime

10:100 Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book three by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Really hard to summarize this series as there are plots and subplots and just a lot going on.  I'm reading slowly trying to catch it all.  In order to not give stuff away, I'm going to just use my review from the first volume for all subsequent volumes.  Know that I'm really enjoying them but I think the way they unfold means they are best experienced fresh.

I have so much to say about this but it's hard to nail it all down.  Having read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and completely loved the Black Panther movie, I was super excited when I saw that Mr. Coates would be writing for the comic.  I was not disappointed.  The story was a bit slow in this as it was the first installment but that is because there was so much being set-up.  There is a lot of depth to T'Challa (from my understanding drawing from many different comic versions of the character), the "villains" are ones that are understandable even sympathetic, the questions being asked are not simply answered and force T'Challa to question so much of what he thinks he knows and understands.  Layers upon layers.  On another note, I also really enjoyed the art which I tend to be incredibly picky about (or why I don't read tons of comics).

Page count: 144p/2,465p ytd/313,370p lifetime

9:100 In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

The fourth book in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire and more like a prequel to the other stories.

Lundy figured out very early that being the daughter of the school administrator made her different from other children but she also decided she didn't much care so long as she knew the rules to follow and her life was orderly.  She did her school work and read a lot. 

And then one day a door opened where there shouldn't have been one and for the first time, Lundy was curious.

She entered the Goblin Market where the rules are very strictly enforced and everything must be bargained and paid for in a manner that all parties agree with.  These are rules that Lundy can learn and ones that she thinks she can live with but there are always things that come at a much higher price than you realize.

I truly love this series and while this is not my favorite book in the series, I continue to be blown away at the different worlds with their different rules that are created and woven together into a single series.  Breathtaking!


Page count: 204p/2,321p ytd/313,226p lifetime

8:100 Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli

Jeffery 'Maniac' McGee probably would have had a nice normal life if an accident hadn't killed both his parents and left him an orphan.  He was then raised for several years by an aunt and uncle who hated each other and divided everything in the house, even him, as much as they were able.  One day it all became too much for him and he ran and ran and ran away.  When he finally stopped running, he was in a town which was very racially divided and he's white boy butt was on the wrong side.  But Maniac didn't care.  He found a family that was happy to take him in and for the first time in a long time, he had adults who cared about him and even siblings to play with.  But then trouble started and he ran again. And again. And again.  Every time trouble would start, he would run but he kept running to different parts of the same town.  Something there made him want to stay and eventually, he even found a way to have a home with the family he wanted to be with and who wanted him to be with them.

A sweet tale about someone who found a unique way of dealing with racism and the lemons that life gave him but I'm not sure that teaching kids to just keep running is the greatest thing.



Page count: 192p/2,117p ytd/313,022p lifetime