(A) means I listened to it.
(RR) means I re-read it.
(P) means I read it on paper.
This year, I’m linking titles to Powell’s Books if they carry them, rather than Amazon as I have in the past. This means I will often link to an edition other than the one I read. If Powell’s doesn’t have it, I will link to Amazon. These are not affiliate links.
I also put this information into goodreads.com. You can find me there with my gmail address (the.karend).
January 1, 2019 to Now: (latest finished on top)
To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History, Lawrence Levy
This is a business memoir which would not seem to be the kind of thing that would make me cry, yet there I was, weeping away at a particularly momentous time in Pixar’s history.
Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption, Vanessa McGrady
There is a lot of backstory before the adoption of the subtitle happens. I would really like the biological parents to write their side of this story, too; there are bits of it here, but filtered through the author’s privilege. I hope the author’s relationship with her daughter goes better than any of her relationships with men did.
Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom, Ken Ilgunas
I read memoirs to see into other people’s lives. I am too attached to creature comforts and too scared to be people like this author. Could this author have done what he did if he were a woman? Probably not, given how the world works right now.
Broken Toy, Tymber Dalton
This BDSM series is so much more realistic and so much healthier for all the characters involved than 50 Shades.
Miss Dalrymple’s Virtue, Margaret Westhaven (P)
This 1988 Harlequin Regency Romance came to me courtesy of cleaning out a relative’s library. There was something comforting about knowing pretty much how it would unfold, with no tedious sex scenes to get through.
The Sadist, the Hitman and the Murder of Jane Bashara, George Hunter and Lynn Rosenthal
I guess my reading of the Swedish true crime book led this one to show up on my recommendation list. Even though this crime took place in metro Detroit when I was living there, I don’t remember hearing anything about it. Guess it wasn’t on NPR. A sad and infuriating story. There’s some repetition in the telling here that detracts from the unfolding of the tale.
The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator, Joakim Palmkvist, translated by Agnes Broomé
I appreciated the detail about how the Swedish justice system works. I didn’t appreciate the repetition of some parts of the story; they didn’t seem to add to the dramatic effect but rather made me feel the author didn’t trust the reader to remember things. I am confused by the author’s bio, which says he’s living under a protected identity, yet has a photo and lists the city where he lives. How does that work?
Storm, Nina Levine
(read as part of the Tasted and Tempted collection)
Having read two now, I’ve decided that MC novels are not for me. Especially not ones like this, where the MC guys kill folks with no legal repercussions and treat their women in ways I don’t care to see. This particular one did some stuff at the end that I found manipulative to the reader.
Throttle Me, Chelle Bliss
(read as part of the Tasted and Tempted collection)
I could have sworn I read a later book in the series that this book kicks off, but remembered nothing about these characters from that book, so that was confusing. Apparently there are two series about siblings running a tattoo shop, and the other one was also in this same collection.
The Size of Everything, Erin Cole and Jenna McCarthy
This memoir can be very hard to read … not because of the writing, but because so many adults failed these children. Kudos to Erin Cole for surviving and eventually thriving as an adult herself.
The Frame-Up, Meghan Scott Miller
I was on board with female geek lead character. Wish it hadn’t been first person narration. Wish there hadn’t been a couple of huge coincidences to move the plot forward. Yet I enjoyed reading it enough that I’m considering getting the sequel when it comes out in July.
The Warner Boys: Our Family’s Story of Autism and Hope, Curt Warner and Ana Warner and Dave Boling
Conversational. Can’t imagine some of the things this family went through, and they had more resources than many families do.
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