*bookish meme created by Moonlight Reader

I forgot to post this last week and then BL went down for maintenance, so this is two week's worth of reading.

Well, I went into No Spend January doing well...until January 12th, when I decided to buy a 99 cent book. Other than that, it is going fine, but that is because none of the books "on sale" are interesting me. And no promos to entice me to spend money on books I do want so I can earn a credit to buy more books. 

My base library is doing an adult reading challenge for the winter called Passport to Reading. It runs from January 1st - February 29th. I picked up my passport this week and already filled in three of the ten categories and I am working on numbers four and five. Five categories finished enters you into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Starbucks; all ten categories finished enters you into a drawing for a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble. I would be happy to win either one!

Print Additions

None

Nook Additions

+1. Bay City Belle (In Olde California #2 ) by Shirley Kennedy

Kindle Additions

None

Library Additions

Physical: 

+2. Poppies of Iraq by Brigette Findakly and Lewis Trondheim

Digital: None

******************************************************************************************************

Print Reads

None

NOOK Reads

-1. Love's Violet Sunrise (Eagle Harbor #0.5) by Naomi Rawlings

-2. Love's Beginning (Eagle Harbor Short Story) by Naomi Rawlings

-3. This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminism in (White) America by Morgan Jerkins

Kindle Reads

None

Library Reads

Physical:

-4. Why We March 

-5. The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks of Race edited by Jesmyn Ward

-6. The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

-7. The Poppies of Iraq by Brigette Findakley and Lewis Trondheim

Digital:

-8. Anchor in the Storm (Waves of Freedom #2) by Sarah Sundin (already counted in the TBR)

TBR from last week: 326

Additions 2

Reads 8

Total for this week TBR: 320

Monday, January 6th

Currently Reading: The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward - read two more essays.

IG Challenge: Currently Reading photo https://www.instagram.com/p/B6-110_n3bQ/

Twitter: Participated in the chat

Tuesday, January 7th 

Currently Reading: The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward - read a few more essays

IG Challenge: Favorite Feel Good photo https://www.instagram.com/p/B7CvC42nM8x/

Wednesday, January 8th

Currently Reading: The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward - read a few more essays

IG Challenge: Winter Themed photo https://www.instagram.com/p/B7FK64JHzhs/

Thursday, January 9th

Read:

Currently Reading:

IG Challenge:

Friday, January 10th

Read:

Currently Reading:

IG Challenge:

Saturday, January 11th

Read:

Currently Reading:

IG Challenge:

Sunday, January 12th

Read:

Currently Reading:

IG Challenge:

I need to read a minimum of 17 books per month to reach my goal of 200 books. *Sigh* Okay then let's do this! Twenty books placed on the list to ensure I hit 17. I won't know if any book works for a prompt for the BR Read Harder challenge until I read it, so none are being assigned to that challenge in the beginning of the month.

1. Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

          - 2020 Reading Assignment Challenge (Professor Author Luv)

2. Anchor in the Storm (Waves of Freedom #2) by Sarah Sundin

         - 2020 Reading Assignment Challenge (Professor Genre)

         - Finish That Series Already 

3. The Astronauts Wives Club by Lily Koppel

         - IRL book club pick

         - 2020 Library Love Challenge

4. Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope/Voices from the Women's March

          - 2020 Library Love Challenge

5. The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesmyn Ward

          - 2020 Library Love Challenge

6. This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins

         - From the 24 Festive Tasks game, this is what the dreidel chose for me to read as my first book of 2020

        - COYER

7. An Extraordinary Union (The Loyal League #1) by Alyssa Cole

         - Finish That Series

8. Breathless (Old West #2) by Beverly Jenkins

          - Finish That Series

9. The Darkness Knows (Vi and Charles Mystery #1) by Cheryl Honigford

         - COYER

10. Appetites and Vices (The Truitts #1) by Felicia Grossman

            - COYER

11. Her Perfect Partner (Matched to Perfection #1) by Priscilla Oliveras

          - COYER

12. Copycat Killing (Magical Cats Mystery #3) by Sofie Kelly

          - COYER

13. The Scandalous Suffragette by Elizabeth Redgold

           - COYER

14. Tycoon (The Knickerbocker Club #0.5) by Joanna Shupe

          - COYER

          - Finish That Series Already

15. Year One (The Chronicles of the One #1) by Nora Roberts

         - COYER

16. Smooth Talking Cowboy (Gold Valley #1) by Maisey Yates

          - COYER

17. Opposites Attract (Nerds of Paradise #1) by Merry Farmer

18. The Preacher's Promise (Home to Milford College #1) by Piper Huguley

          - COYER

19. That Healing Touch (Cutter's Creek #1) by Kit Morgan

        - COYER

20. Once Upon a Wedding: A Fiction from the Heart Second Chances Anthology by Various Authors

     - To dip in between books

Often while I was reading Sing, Unburied, Sing, I had to hush my inner critic. Yes, Jesmyn Ward weaves some wonderful scenes and vivid sentences, but she really isn’t doing anything new. Yes, that climax is gut-wrenchingly affective, but it really isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before. It’s almost too easy to dismiss Sing, Unburied, Sing as just another book about a tormented family surviving racial injustice in the South, a setting that tends to invite ghosts (of which there are plenty here.) It’s easy to say that the narrative is nothing original and that the conclusion was powerful, but trite. Yes, I can just say, Jesmyn Ward isn’t doing anything new—she’s just carrying on the various traditions of Carson McCullers, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Alice Walker, John Steinbeck… Or I can say, “Damn, Jesmyn Ward is carrying on the tradition of Carson McCullers, Toni Morrison…John Steinbeck, and she’s doing a fabulous job of it!”

With writing most often described as lyrical and lush, Ward's elegiac prose eases you gently into harsher truths. Having read Salvage the Bones, I was happy to see this new title offered on NetGalley, especially with that amazing cover. But despite the fact that I got the kindle version, I decided to listen to the audiobook, which added an AudioFile award to the many others this book has garnered, including the National Book Award for Fiction. This is a powerful, deeply moving story, combining the gritty underside of life with the ethereal world of those who have left but refuse to be forgotten. Compelling and truly a wonder, as you might expect.