32:100 Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza has an envious life.  The only child of a rich ranch owner in Mexico, doted on by her parents, lots of pretty dresses, education, servants, etc.  Yes, it is an idyllic life and one Esperanza can't imagine changing until one day it does. Her father is murdered by bandits and according to her uncle, everything but the house is left to him.  Her mother has the house but without the income from the ranch, there is no way to keep it so her uncle, her father's brother, says he will marry her mother but both she and her mother know that he is a cruel man and they would be separated.  So instead, they choose to run and hide all the way to America.  Some of the family servants are going and offer them a place with them and their family that has already been established in CA working as crop pickers.  It will be a hard life, harder than either of them has known, but at least they have the chance to stay together and free.  They had no way of knowing that they were immigrating right during the start of what would later be known as the Great Depression.

A beautifully done tale of heartache and love, despair and hope, telling a tale that too often goes untold of why people immigrate and the hardships they face.  This is something I think there needs to be greater visibility and discussion of and let us remember that first of all, these are humans who are deserving of respect and compassion.

Page count: 304p/8,060p ytd/318,945p lifetime

31:100 Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes had no idea what she had signed herself and thus Adam's pack for when she stood on that bridge and declared that her territory was safe ground.  Being who she is she could not have done anything different and she thought only of basic things like hunting down the occasional misbehaving monster from time to time once it was explained to her.  She had no idea that it would mean constant calls dealing with things like zombie goats, black witch families, or hosting diplomatic envoys for negotiations between the Grey Lords and the humans and dealing with those that do not want those negotiations to take place.  But now that these are happening, Mercy, Adam, and the Pack must find a way to keep all these people safe or die trying if their word is to stand.  This time, it's a much taller order than anyone could have ever expected.

Another spectacular installment in the Mercy Thompson series!  Ms. Briggs does a wonderful job of building the tension while weaving in touching or funny moments and Mercy's snark.  My biggest complaint is how long we have to wait between books (although, with how many favorite authors I have, there is almost always another fabulous book waiting for me to pick it up sitting in my to-read pile and I wouldn't want to give them up either LOL).


Page count: 358p/7,756p ytd/318,641p lifetime

30:100 Love in the Last Days of a Doomed World by Seanan McGuire

Sharon is the smart one, the good child but not the good girl, and her parents treated her as such. Her brother gets the comic books from their dad but he doesn't think to bring them for her.  When she asks her brother about them, she learns about how Superman came to earth after being placed in a rocket from Krypton when their planet was dying.  Not very realistic she thinks. So when a stranger who seems familiar comes up to her at the library and drops a piece of paper on her book and walks away, she looks at it and finds an equation.  Now that is something she can sink her teeth into.  That equation leads her to places she could never have imagined but now that she has started down that path, she can understand Superman's parents better.  The planet is dying and there is no rocketship to save any of them....or could there be?

A patreon short story by Seanan McGuire and one of her more depressing ones as I look around at our world today.



Page count: 20p/7,398p ytd/318,283p lifetime

29:100 Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks

A collection of short stories written by the award-winning actor, Tom Hanks.  I was excited by this as I love him as an actor, enjoyed listening to interviews with him, and was intrigued by what he would do with his stories.

I was disappointed, big time.  There were a couple of the longer stories that were good but the majority were boring and pointless.  Nothing happened.  I read a lot of short stories and even though they are short, you can still build a new world or make interesting characters that the reader wants to know more about or a plot that grips the reader.  That was not the case here.  It was really more like sitting around listening to your grandfather tell boring old tales of people he knew in his youth that you don't know and don't care about and the stories just ramble for no reason and most of them have the same basic premise so you don't even get any type of departure from type.  My dad is 90, trust me I'm really familiar with it and that's not what I want to read.



Page count: 416p/7,378p ytd/828,263p lifetime

28:100 A Great Task of Happiness: The Life of Kathleen Scott by Louisa Young

Kathleen Scott was the widow of Captain Scott who died in Antartica and has been a largely misunderstood footnote for her husband and their son, Peter Scott.  Louisa Young, the author, is the granddaughter of Kathleen Scott and wanted to show the world a different side of her.  Her unwavering devotion to seizing life and all it had to offer and to always choose happiness.  The author does stress these points at every opportunity as well as giving long lists of the famous people in whose company she was often found but it felt more like laundry lists than anything else.  While I admire the things that she did accomplish, especially as a woman during that time, I felt that much of the more interesting accomplishments were given very short mentions.

This is a huge issue with this book.  The depth is lacking in so many areas.  Places where it would have been really interesting to know more about.  Her helping with recreating the faces of wounded soldiers.  Her relationships with so many of the artists that she knew.  But it was just mentioned and then quickly moved past.

I also found that the fact that there would be years in the chapter titles and then stuff from all over the place would get mentioned in that chapter so it was jumping time all over the place regularly very frustrating.

And then there is Kathleen Scott herself.  I understand that the author wanted to help get better information about her out there but honestly, she came across as a misogynist, self-centered, and emotionally needy and controlling to me.  I was mostly frustrated and just didn't find her likable at all.  Apparently in real life she was but this book did not bring that across to me.



Page count: 320p/6,962p ytd/317,847p lifetime

27:100 Becoming by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama's autobiography was a fabulous read.  I greatly admired her as First Lady (and her husband as President) but getting to hear about her childhood, growing up, school, meeting Barack, and the subsequent rise to becoming First Lady was fascinating.  The writing was fresh, open, honest, and made it feel like we were just sitting having tea and chatting.  Listening to her struggles as she tried to figure out what she wanted to be doing with her life, as a politician's wife which she hadn't really wanted to get into, balancing family and work and politician's wife responsibilities, making mistakes, learning from them, and trying again.  You know, being real, and it only increased my respect and admiration for her reading this.


Page count: 426p/6,642p ytd/317,847p lifetime

26:100 Bounty Hunt by Kelley Armstrong

Reese hasn't wanted to talk about his past with anyone but that doesn't mean that his past has forgotten about him.  The Australian pack wants him back for their own reasons especially since they can use this to try and get their hands on the daughter of a non-pack member as well.  Reese will have to learn to trust his new pack if he wants to survive this.

Story was ok but nothing amazing.  I'm not a fan of this artist's style and had a really hard time telling the different North American pack members apart.  I like that authors are branching out to tell new stories via comics but this one just needed something a bit more to make it memorable.


Page count: 80p/6,216p ytd/317,421p lifetime