Books Read in 2016

On my page on bookcrossing.com (you can look me up by my bookcrossing member name, 2of3Rs), I keep track of the books I read! Here is my list...note that it's in reverse chronological order. So the first book I read in 2016 was 7 Kinds of Smart, and the last book I read in 2016 was When to Rob a Bank.

Read in 2016
7 Kinds of Smart by Thomas Armstrong
Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra
Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
God Help the Child by Tony Morrison
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen
Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History by Thor Hanson
But Enough About You: Essays by Christopher Buckley (audio)
I See You Made an Effort by Annabelle Gurwitch (audio)
But What If We're Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Atlantic by Simon Winchester (audio, read by Simon Winchester)
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin (audio, read by Steve Martin!)
The Invoice by Jonas Karlsson
Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (audio)
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (audio, read by Neil Gaiman!)
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
Working Stiff by Judy Melineck
The Stolen Child by Lisa Carey
Woman No. 17 by Eden Lepucki
When to Rob a Bank by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

A few of my favorites were Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, listening to Simon Winchester read Atlantic, The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey...some good ones!

What did you read and love in 2016?

Thanks for stopping by! You can leave a comment here on the blog, or send email to: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Happy reading!

Short Attention Span Reading

Am I the only one who doesn't like change?

My mom told me that when I was a little girl, I'd be irritable for the first few weeks of school every year. I LOVED school. It was just that it took time and energy for me to adjust to the change of a new classroom, new routine, and new classmates, and evidently it showed.

It seems that I'm not that much different now. Seven months ago I left ten years of employment at the bookstore to work for a new company. I started at this non-book related company in an entry-level position, knowing I wanted to learn and grow with this company. Last week I accepted a new position (promotion!) in a new location. This is a positive step. AND it is change.

Today is my last day at my current store. Tomorrow I'll be at the new store, learning a new job, meeting new co-workers, and learning new routines. In addition, next week-end I'll be traveling for a memorial service for an aunt that I was close to. Changes.

Did I mention that I don't love change? I am more tired than usual. On edge. It's been harder for me to focus. And I haven't been able to settle down with one book.

After I finished reading Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY. I was going to move right into Tartt's first book, THE LITTLE FRIEND, but I didn't want to start it knowing that I wasn't focusing well. THE LITTLE FRIEND has to wait.

A friend of mine really likes Caitlin Moran, so I got How to Be a Woman, and started reading that.

I also pulled Simon Winchester's A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 (P.S.) off my shelf after seeing the 60 Minutes episode about volcanoes. I read the Winchester book several years ago, but it is so packed full of information about plate tectonics and geologic happenings, and is really readable, so I knew that reading it again would be interesting.

And then another ERC (Early Reviewer Copy) from librarything came in the mail...Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless SurveillanceN by Julia Angwin. The author tries to erase her digital footprint and discovers that doing so is virtually impossible. A little scary. And fascinating.

I've been reading all three books in short little spurts. They are all easy to pick up and read little bits at a time. Which seems to be good for my short attention span.

           

How do your reading habits change when you are dealing with stress or change?

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Winchester and The Wave

The March 11 tsunami in Japan brought Susan Casey's THE WAVE to mind.

        

In it she explains and details the power and ferocity of waves, which Japan has seen all too up close and personally.

http://notthenewyorktimesbookreview.blogspot.com/2010/10/wave.html

I am also revisiting Simon Winchester's CRACK AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, in which he describes San Francisco's 1906 earthquake.

        

Winchester is engaging and thorough. Explaining San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, he talks all about global geology and plate tectonics.

In a recent Newsweek article, Winchester theorized that the northeast corner of the Ring of Fire would be where the next big earthquake occurs. He posits that this is because Japan's recent earthquake and resulting tsunami, as well as recent earthquakes in New Zealand and Chile leave the northeast corner of the Ring of Fire as the last area relatively untouched by large earthquake events.

The northeast corner of the Ring of Fire? The San Andreas fault (California) or the Cascadia subduction zone (northern California up to Vancouver, BC).

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8481032-ring-of-fire-warning-ca-or-pacific-northwest-next-for-a-big-one

Interesting reading...especially NOW.

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