For 2021, I set monthly categories to read from, in an effort to feel less constrained by reading challenges that I’d participated in previously, while continuing to work through the massive collection of books that I already own or have borrowed from friends and family. Each month I’ll include the books that I finished within the month’s category reading, books finished outside of the category reading, books in progress, and books abandoned. And I’ll tell you where the book was sourced from. For April 2021, my reading list is from the category of Adventure Stories!
Adventure Stories Finished:
From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
Previously owned physical book.
Around The Moon by Jules Verne
Previously owned physical book.
I’m a fan of Jules Verne’s work. I thought I had read quite a few of his books (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days), but as it turns out, he was quite prolific. I picked these two books up at some book sales, and thought they fit quite nicely into this adventure story genre. What’s amazing to me is that so much of Verne’s imaginings have actually come to pass in some form or another.
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
New physical book.
This is a spy story set in World War II, so an adventure story in my book. But this isn’t quite what I expected, in that the story all takes place in London, rather than in far-flung areas. But the situations aren’t any less intense for it. The characters all felt real and multi-dimensional, rather than simplistic.
The Game: The Game Is Life, Book 1 by Terry Schott
New Audible audiobook.
Digital Heretic: The Game Is Life, Book 2 by Terry Schott
New Audible audiobook.
This is a new to me series, that I found by by searching for books narrated by Luke Daniels, probably my favorite audiobook narrator. It is science fiction/fantasy and reminds me a bit of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Essentially children go into a simulation, and the simulation is life on Earth. Such a great concept. The first three books were free with my audio membership, and I loved the first two of them.
The Haunting of H. G. Wells by Robert Masello
Previously owned Kindle e-book.
This novel is the fictional story of H.G. Wells trip into the trenches of World War I, and being haunted by the soldiers that he met afterwards. He and a young female reporter, who actually became Wells’s lover, then investigate and try to stop a terrorist attack from the Germans on the British people. This book was quite good, and I enjoyed all of it, both the true to life portions, as well as the fiction and magical realism.
Forward by Veronica Roth, Blake Crouch, N.K. Jemisin, Amor Towles, Paul Tremblay, Andy Weir
Previously owned Audible audiobook.
Forward is a short story collection edited by Blake Crouch and written by some of my very favorite authors, as well as a couple of new to me authors (N.K. Jemisin and Paul Tremblay). The inspiration for the collection is what technological advancements should be rolled back or can get out of control. Each of the authors has a short story of his or her own, and they all made me really think about the stories after I finished them. This is highly recommended if you’ve ever read any of these authors.
Letters from Steven: Stories from the First Solo Walk Around the World by Steven M. Newman
Previously owned physical book.
Steven Newman walked around the world, literally. Along the way, he kept journals, as well as wrote letters home. Letters to friends and family, and letters that were published in a local newspaper. This book is a collection of those letters, journal entries, and photographs. It felt like an honest view of what the experience must feel like, including feelings of exhaustion, frustration, fear, and grief along the way.
Other Books Finished:
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Michele Richardson
New Audible audiobook.
My book club read this book, and I’d heard about it before it was selected. The novel follows a Kentucky packhorse librarian on her travels around the area delivering books to her patrons. The people of this area are completely impoverished, and the book includes people who starve to death. The main character is a Kentucky Blue, meaning that she has a medical condition that makes her skin appear blue, so themes of racism are also tackled, but from a slightly different perspective. I didn’t love the book, as the violence felt gratuitous to me. But it was an interesting story about real topics (Kentucky blues, packhorse librarians), so I felt like I learned something new. And it definitely made for some really good discussion in our book club meeting.
The Nestby Ken Oppel
New physical book.
I picked this book up while shopping for new books with my niece and nephew. It was on a book clearance rack, and I decided that I needed to read it. It is advertised as a book for children, but it includes some hard themes. The book is strange and wonderful, and includes magical realistic elements. I read it very quickly on the drive back to our home, so it is not long or difficult to read.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Borrowed Kindle e-book from library using Libby.
I recently discovered Kazuo Ishiguro, and now am interested in reading pretty much everything he writes. This is his newest book, and follows an AF (artificial friend) from her time in the store with Manager and other AFs to her time after being chosen and taken to the home of a child. Themes of what it really means to be alive are prevalent in this book, as well as in the other book by him that I previously read (Never Let Me Go). I’ll be interested to see if that continues in other books by him as well. What I really loved about this book and Never Let Me Go, is that things are mostly normal to our lives, but there is a feeling of foreboding and you just know that something isn’t quite right. It’s such a fun reading experience to try to figure out what is off about their world.
Books in Progress:
Taste for Truth: A 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study
Year of Wonder: Classical Music to Enjoy Day by Day
Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie by O.E. Rolvaag (Borrowed from father-in-law Fuzz.)
Books Abandoned:
A Dance in Donegal by Jennifer Deibel (Purchased Kindle e-book this year.)