After finishing no books in November, I finished five in December. Several were shorter books so that lifted my total. The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger I didn’t like this book. Nothing happened, Holden was annoying, and because of this and the fact that the whole book was written in Holden’s “voice”…

I didn’t finish any books in November with all our travel but here’s the books I read in October The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays – Wendell Berry (5 stars) I read this book over several months and I know I will go back to it. I have reams of highlights that I…

Exhalation – Ted Chiang I finished this in August but missed putting it in that month’s posts. This set of science fiction short stories looks at some of the big questions, grappling with what it means to be human, free will, consciousness and time and our place in it. I found the stories thought-provoking. 4…

Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology – Chris Miller So maybe I’m showing my nerdiness here, but this was great. A fascinating look at the chip industry from its beginning to now. Espionage, intrigue and science all rolled into one good read. Explains who the big players are in the chip…

The Chosen – Chaim Potok Centred on the unlikely friendship between two Jewish boys, Danny and Reuven and their relationships with their fathers. We live not far from a community that is similar to the ultra-strict Jewish Hasidic community of Danny, so I found this aspect of the book very interesting. The book is beautifully…

The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah A story about the strength of the women left behind to survive the Nazi occupation of France. I enjoyed the development of the main characters and the way they each grappled with the terrible circumstances they found themselves in. (4 stars) The Hours – Michael Cunningham Warning: This book contains…

We’re a fair way into June now so I thought I’d better get on with posting the books I read. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin I’m not into video games, but I loved this. Although gaming is a big part of the plot, this character-driven story focuses on the relationship between Sadie…

Human Croquet – Kate Atkinson ★★★ I picked this because it was in a list of recommended books with time travel. The writing is excellent, but I thought overall the plot was disjointed. Maybe there were too many moving parts? I enjoyed the main character and narrator, Isobel; she was weird and snarky in just…