11.5 of 12

This spring I set a goal with Goodreads to read 12 books in the 12 months of this year. It seemed impossible at times but here are the ones that I finished. 11.5  They are, I think, in order.  It's interesting to see how the year progressed. 

Things started out relatively light (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - I cried) 

To Yikes (Poachers has one story at the end that pretty much ensures the reader will never, EVER violate a fish  & game law)

Still Life with Breadcrumbs was enjoyable but not unforgettable.  Miss Peregrine' Home was the same.

Station 11 was an apocalyptic story but it was unique in the presentation.  It opens with the night the virus comes to New York. It is also the night a 10 year old actress witnesses the onstage death of an actor during their production of King Lear. It skips over the bloody aftermath of the population destruction and the story really starts 15 years after the event.  There is one line in the story that makes me tear up just thinking of it all these months later. I just read this is being turned into an HBO series.

The Rayond Carver collection, I enjoyed reading it bit don't remember a single story. 

Another apocalyptic story, this one completely different for the genre.  (The Age of Miracles) A story told by a teenage girl, it's not a virus that kills everyone but the rotation of the earth starts to slow - it is story utterly without hope.

Salavage the Bones was just sad. Beautiful but sad.

I've read Silence of the Lambs every October for years now. Dr. Lecter's character is... well, I like Dr. Lecter. Having read the entire series helps, you get a lot more of his background and he why he develops a quiet fondness for Clarisse. 

 Then came Deeply Disturbing (Night of the Hunter) We have seen this movie a hundred times but reading it was different- Preachers unrelenting mental manipulation of the children made it hard to stomach, or read. Usually even a noir story gives you small breaks of sanity but this story never let up with the horror.

Then, almost blessedly, it went to Dumb. Chuck Palahniuk crashed and burned with Damned (I gave it a 1 star Goodreads review, really)  and although I love most of Tracy Chevalier's writing Virgin Blue was awful.  Couldn't finish it, thus my 11.5 instead of 12. Close enough. 

Here is my helper. Baby P is walking! He still drops and crawls if he means business and needs speed but we officially have a little toddler.

This will probably be finished in 2022. My husband suprised me with this one for my birthday. 

Tom Hanks is pretty famous with typewriter collectors. Not only does he have an impressive collection he obviously treasures but he's generous with gifting machines. And it seems to be a well-known secret that if you type him a letter to talk about whatever, he will take the time to sit down and type one to you in return. I've never tried but may now that my 1939 Royal is finally up and running.  Anyway, each of these stories involves a typewriter in some capacity.  I've read the first one and it was downright entertaining.  We are off to a good start.

As an update to the last post, Mr. H tested negative for Covid but by policy had to miss a week of school anyway. As did we assume some of his classmates. This is the same week the school district decided children are no longer required to wear masks.  No joke. Luckily Mr H is now double vaccinated and insists on still wearing his mask because, quote, "I'm used to it". So, good for him.