2016 books!



1. pretty girls by karin slaughter. oh.my.gosh. SO scary. three sisters. one goes missing young. serial killer. nightmares! excellent read. so frightening! such twists!

2.winning casino craps by edwin silberstang. i read it. i like it. i thought i had it. lady luck was not on my side. i did not win. darn.

3.christmas wishes and mistletoe by jenny hale ... single, poor mom .... rich dude with a too big house .... slow and steady meandering into falling in love. i liked it. light and fluffy, happy.

4. hungry, hungry hoodoo by liz schulte (easy bake coven book 2) ... i liked the characters in this book quite a lot ... the story line was not as interesting ... but the place created is great .... i'll probably read #3....

5 the life changing magic of tidying up by marie kondo ... a reread for me .... i lead our book club discussion ... it was AWESOME ... the book club chat was awesome ... the book was meh .... good ideas that could have been a magazine article stretched out to a thin book ....

6.easy bake coven by liz schulte

7.dear mr. knightley by katherine reay ....a book of letters similar to my fave while growing up daddy long legs .... a grown orphan is given help to get through college .... good story ... love the letter format.

8.torn by c.dale young ... i don't recall how i hit about this poet ... or how i decided to buy a full book of poems rather than just the few i could snatch off the internet ... but i love it. love. my favorite poem is the bridge. love.

9.our word self help... by patti high .... i love this book.

10.lord of the flies by william golding ... mrs. hanlon, my sixth grade teacher, read this to my class ... i remember loving it... being enthralled by it .... and rereading it quite a few times ... this reading of it was not as impactful .... i guess i used to relate to it as a kid, but now relating to it as a parent is quite different.

11.what i wish for you.. simple wisdom for a happy life ... by patti digh .... loads of wisdom in one lovely book

12. dream things true by marie marquardt ... this was a happy surprise of a book .. my kids' school had the author come speak (to the middle school, not my kids) and reading about it made me want to read it ... and it was fantastic ... it is a YA book about two super regular high school kids .... and the immigration issues one of them is facing. i learned a ton. the whole subject was treated very compassionately. well done. great read.

13. drawing on the artist within ... julia is reading this in a creativity class at school .... so i decided to reread (do some) ... and then it made me also reread:
14. drawing on the right side of the brain ... and do some of it too ....

15. the gifts of imperfection ... by brene brown ... good self help ... gentle reminder to be kind to yourself about your imperfections ...

16.tidewater rip by martha thwaite .... martha came and spoke to my book club ... good strong book ... strong southern descriptions of places and people ... i look forward to her next book.

17. above the chatter, our words matter ... by bruce pulver ... this is a book of acrostics ... pomes sort of ... motivational acrostics. ... i find them oddly compelling ... my favorite are the months of the year ones... super positive book....

18. a constellation of vital phenomenon by anthony marra ... wow.... intense book .. hard to read ... made me smarter ... i knew that lots of former soviet union/new countries in that region have had wars/civil wars/unrest ... but this is about the two civil wars recently in chechnya ... just horrid ... this is a war book ... not the front lines, but horrible. centers around a young girl and a woman doctor ... very intense.

19. the essential jesus by john dominic cross .... my oldest girl read this for one of her college philosophy classes ... and said i'd like it ... and i did ... but found so much of it to be super mysterious...

20.guidebook to murder, tourist trap mystery
21.mission to murder, tourist trap mystery
22. if the shoe kills, tourist trap mystery
23.dressed to kill, tourist trap mystery
24. killer run, tourist trap mystery
25. murder on wheels, a tourist trap mystery
all by lynn cahoon ... bookstore/coffee shop owner by day, sleuth in her time off ... dating the sheriff and she's always getting in trouble ... happy, easy characters ... loved these breezy books

26. the guest room by chris bohjalian ... i decided i LOVE chris b's books ... this one's blurb does not read as something i'd be interested in ... sex trafficing, murder, bachelor party .... general mayhem .. but it is actually a great story with some fabulous, deep characters ...

27. what she knew: a novel by gilly macmillan ... AWESOME .. great, suspenseful, interesting book .... i was held captive and couldn't read it fast enough.... story of an abduction told by a mom and the lead detective .... so suspenseful!

28. encouraging creativity in art lessons .... by george szekely .... i have a new job as art teacher ... i belong to an AWESOME Facebook group called art teachers ... and one of my favorite posters is this author, george ... so i bought this book, and read it, with dreams of being better and smarter as an art teacher .... and instead, the book is sorta magical .... page 72 was magical ... kinda giving permission ... or even commanding the art teacher to be "out there" ... to make the students believe in magic ...

29. eight hundred grapes: a novel by laura dave .... great story about a family with a vineyard

30. plain fame
31. plain change
32. plain again
33. plain return
34. plain choice... all by amy mcfadden
....amish girl meets hip hop artist/fall in love/ have issues!

35.untamed: the wildest woman in america and the fight for cumberland island ... by will harlan ... i loved this book at first ... then it got bogged down in lots of people and history other than the main character ... and then it was more about her ... and then less.... i love the bits about carol ... but there was too much other for me .... a great history of cumberland ... makes me want to go there.

36. a scattered life by karen mcquestion .... light. i always enjoy her books. i've read lots

37.after i do, a novel. by taylor jenkins reid..... a couple struggling. i actually loved this.

38. miss peregrine's home for peculiar children. by ransom riggs. i have had this on my kindle forever but hadn't read it .... but, i read that it was going to be a movie .. so i thought i should go ahead ... and it was good ... clever.... can totally see it being a movie. it's a bit disappointing that it was such a cliff hanger ending .... so you have to read the next book.

39. this is your life, harriet chance. by jonathon evison.  i picked this up on my kindle .... cause it sounded quirky in one of the sale emails .... so when i read it, i had no idea what it was about. it seemed like it was going to be one of the typical find herself after a dramatic life changing event novels ... but then there was a ghost....with her on a cruise... and some odd turns of fate. i quite enjoyed it.

40. the headmaster's wife by thomas christopher greene. whoa. i did not see that coming. what an oddball book. i didn't "enjoy" it because it made me uncomfortable ... but i did like it ... i tend to enjoy books with unreliable narrators. who confesses to a murder they didn't commit?

41. the book of speculation by erika swyler. a book club book (first thurs tennis girls).... i liked it ... don't love the circus/sadness ..... does anyone ever write a happy circus book? or are they always dark?

42 language of flowers by vanessa diffenbaugh. my book club (first thurs) is reading sad books. this one was beautiful but discouraging.... i guess any book about the foster system and children without families are sad.... but the floweriness was lovely.

43 death with interruptions by jose saramago ... book club ( 4th wedn) picked this .... this was a WEIRD book... death takes a holiday. what if no one dies? sounds good. but all those sick and on the brink of death people just stay sick and on the brink of death. it was so peculiar ... it needs to be read and reread to catch on to all of the metaphors and personifications and what nots ... i will reread one day.

44.brooklyn (may book club, 4th thurs) book that i'm just remembering to write down now) .... by colm toibin.... good book ... the struggles of an irish girl who ends up in america .... she seemed like a lost soul ... ever searching.

45. in the unlikely event by judy blume.... original book club Feb book that i forgot to write down. quite loved it. plane crashes. three of them. moving forward in that town after such a convergence of tragedies.

46.lean forward into your life by mar anne radmacher .... yay! living intentionally ... great read ...

end of the year tennis book club books:
hidden bodies

a man called love

andre agassi auto biography

the kept woman

opening belle

church ladies book club:
7/27 circling the sun at kathryn's
8/24 … helen … anna quindlen …still life with bread crumbs …e’s house
9/28 judi … the perfume collector by kathleen tessaro … kindle
10/26 … melinda … songs without words by ann packer
11/30 … nancy …. the art of fielding


first book club ... 
in the unlikely event by judy blume
untamed by william harlan
love does by bob goff
the nightingale by kristin elizabeth hanna ... LOVED THIS ONE
light's out by ted koppel... ack... so alarming ... or alarmist
the nest by c. sweeney
the 13th gift by joanne h smith ... EXCELLENT xmas book




i read way more books than this ... just did a bad job keeping track! darn.







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