#T5W Books That You Want to Read Before the End of the Year

Top 5 Wednesdays were created by Ginger Reads Lainey and now is hosted by Sam of Thought on Tomes and you can find the Goodreads page here for more information. 

This week's topic is Top 5 Books That You Want to Read Before the End of the Year.

I really enjoyed the first book, Miss Perregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which I definitely did not expect to enjoy as much I actually did.  I am thinking September or October to read this.  Once it starts to become cooler seems to be a perfect time to curl up and enjoy this book.




I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley and the publisher.  Originally, I believe it was being released in early 2017, now the release date has been moved to October of this year.  hope to read it in September.



Every year for the holidays for the past several year I have read one book in the series that came out the previous holiday.  I get them through the library and will be getting this one hopefully in November or December to read.  I am excited to see that a 6th one in the series is coming out later in the year that I will be reading next year during the holidays.



I recently heard about this book a couple weeks ago.  It also has just been added to Oprah's Book Club.  I actually wanted to read this book before Oprah chose it for her book club and really hope to get to read this before the end of the year.  I'm waiting for it to be added to my library system's Overdrive application.



This book is the 2nd in a series by my favorite author of all time, Rosanne Bittner.  I have been reading her books since the late 90s.  The 1st book in the series, I read in 2000, a few years ago, Rosanne Bittner decided to write a sequel which this one is.  She has since I believe written an additional 2 more sequels, of which the 3rd one is coming out either later this month or in September and the fourth and final book sometime next year. 

Ten Books that Have Been on your Shelf or TBR Pile Since Before You Started Blogging

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Since I've only been blogging since November of last year, I am going to post the 10 books on my TBR that according to Goodreads have the most ratings.

1. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  I can't read too many WWII books around the same time or I'll get burnt out.  I just read Lilac Girls a couple months ago, wwhich was a great book, but can't read this so soon after.  Maybe later this year or early next year!

2.   Firefly Lane by Kristen Hannah.  I've been meaning to read this for over 3 years and haven't.  I recently listened to her book, Home Front and really enjoyed it, so I need to get to this sooner rather than later.

3.   Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin.  For over 4 years, I've wanted to read this. Here is the blurb about it on Goodreads:  In the Deep South of the 1950s, journalist John Howard Griffin decided to cross the color line. Using medication that darkened his skin to deep brown, he exchanged his privileged life as a Southern white man for the disenfranchised world of an unemployed black man. His audacious, still chillingly relevant eyewitness history is a work about race and humanity-that in this new millennium still has something important to say to every American.  It is highly rated on Goodreads.

4.    The House Girl by Tara Conklin.  No real reason that I haven't read this just haven't gotten to it, but I do want to get to it before too long.

5.    Love reading about Native Americans, but know this will be a lot about the injustice "the white men" did to the Native Americans in forging a new nation.  I may try to listen to this as an audiobook, since I believe I can get this on Overdrive.

6.   I got this through the Amazon First program, where a few of the books coming out next month are available for 1.99, sadly I have not read it yet.  I rarely get Kindle First books, though since oftentimes they don't interest me

7.    Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier by Stephen E. Ambrose.  Do not 100% remember getting this, but I think there was some kind of Kindle Daily Deal or Kindle Special Offer where I got this for a good price.  I'll get around to reading this but not in any big hurry.

8.    The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain. I have not yet read this author, but I hear she is good.  I do plan on reading Chamberlain's book, Pretending to Dance first since I have it as an ARC.

9.    I enjoy reading books about the FLDS, but since back in July, I read The Witness Wore Red by Rebecca Musser.  I will probably wait until next year to read this one.  But who knows?

10.     Not quite sure why I got this.  I know it was offered free on Amazon an I had heard good things about it, but to be truthful I am in no rush to read this one.

 

May through July - The Best and Worst

I can't believe I neglected this blog for 3 months,  From May through July, I read and listened to 23 books.  May and June were especially good months; only 6 books were read or listened to in July.  Since I can't go through all 23 books, I will just list my favorite 5 or so.



This is the best book I have read in a very long time. I don't think I can review this book and give it the justice that it deserves. It is that good. It tells the stories of 3 African-Americans and their families, who migrated from the South to cities in the north and west. Their entire lives are covered during these 600+ pages. The book may be long, but the story is so engrossing that you don't want to stop reading and you don't realize, nor care how long it takes. I am certain this will be one of, if not my favorite book of 2016 that I have read. I highly recommend this book and it should be required reading in high school.

5 STARS.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It will probably my favorite [audiobook] of the year. It is the story of the Titanic, but I enjoyed it much more than the movie; although it is not based on the movie. I'm not sure if it is based on a real-life true story that has been fictionalized or is a work of historical fiction. I'd give it at least 4 and half stars.

The surprises kept coming and coming at the end, I listened to this on audiobook and had to keep playing parts over again to catch everything. I'm thinking this one although very good, may have been better if I read it and was able to digest everything over a longer period of time. Definitely will be checking out more books by this author. Probably reading it rather than listening to it.

4 STARS.

I really enjoyed this book. I read this in hardcover rather than on my Kindle since I was able to get this immediately at my library, instead of waiting on a long reserved list. I missed being able to use the X-ray feature and dictionary I have on my Kindle though, but I loved the book. The story was told through the points of view of 3 characters. Kasia Kamericz (sp), a Polish young woman who was sent to Ravensbrouk concentration camp, Herta Oberheuser, the only female doctor at Ravensbroucke, and Carolyn Ferriday, a privileged American who works for the French Embassy (I believe it's the embassy). Kasia's story is the most interesting, followed by Herta's and then Caroline's. This book was a real page turner from beginning to end.

4.5 stars.



What a brave woman. One of the best books that explore the FLDS cult. There were several things I read in this book that I haven't read in some of the others. Fascinating reading about a depraved man (Warren Jeffs) and his followers. Thank god this man is locked away, but unfortunately he still has tremendous power on his brainwashed followers. 4.5 stars.

I also read Born Standing Up: A Comics Life by Steve Martin - audiobook - 1 STAR
Angel's Rest by Emily March - audiobook - 3 STARS
Smokejumper: A Memoir by One of America's Most Select Airborne Firefighters - audiobook 3 STARS
Welcome to Forever by Annie Rains - ARC - 4 STARS
A Sound Among Trees - audiobook - 2 STARS
Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology  by Leah Remini - 3 STARS
2:46: Aftershocks from the Japan Earthquake by Jake Adelstein - 2 STARS
For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism, and Sacrifice by Howard Schultz - 4 stars
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know - audiobook - 2 STARS
Home Front by Kristin Hannah - audiobook - 4 STARS
Gridley Girls by Merdith First - ARC - 3 STARS
Columbine by David Cullen - audiobook - 4 STARS
Welcome Home, Cowboy by Annie Rains - 3 STARS
What It Was Like ... Short Stories of Childhood Memories of Segregation ibn America by Lois Watkins - ARC - 4 STARS
Borrowing Trouble by Stacy Finz - ARC - 4 STARS
My Life by Bill Clinton -3 STARS
Mayo Clinic: The Menopause Solution: by Stephanie Faubion - 2 STARS
One Lavender Ribbon by Heather Burch - 3 STARS

Long overdue and sadly neglected!

I can't believe that my last post was  the April Wrap Up.  I have read so many really good books as well as some stinkers.,; most of which I have DNF'ed.  I will have to post na update with at least some of my favorites from the past few months.  COMING SOON