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2026 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


27 / 30 books. 90% done!

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2026 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


39 / 50 books. 78% done!

2026 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona
- Arkansas (1)
- California (7)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (1)
- Illinois (2)
- Indiana (1)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (2)
- Maine (4)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (2)
- Michigan (2)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico
- New York (4)
- North Carolina (2)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee
- Texas (3)
- Utah (1)
- Vermont (1)
- Virginia (1)
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin (2)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*

International:

- Australia (6)
- Austria (1)
- Canada (2)
- England (21)
- Fiji (1)
- France (1)
- Ireland (2)
- Italy (1)
- Mexico (1)
- New Zealand (1)
- Norway (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Bahamas (1)
- Vatican City (1)

My Progress:


34 / 51 states. 67% done!

2026 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


24 / 25 books. 96% done!

2026 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

My Progress:


29 / 50 books. 58% done!

Booklist Queen's 2026 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


38 / 52 books. 73% done!

2026 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


34 / 52 books. 65% done!

2026 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


22 / 40 books. 55% done!

2026 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


24 / 51 books. 47% done!

2026 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge

2026 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


19 / 25 books. 76% done!

2026 Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


44 / 52 books. 85% done!

Shelf Reflection Candy Reading Challenge for Kids (and Adults)

My Progress:


54 / 65 books. 83% done!

2026 Countdown Reading Challenge

My Progress:


55 / 55 books. 100% done!

2026 Series Reading Challenge


23 / 36 books. 64% done!

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

Dragon Rambles' Law of Fives Bingo

My Progress:


70 / 125 books. 56% done!

2026 Southern Literary Reading Challenge

My Progress:


9 / 9 books. 100% done!

2026 Reading Challenge (by Linz the Bookworm)

My Progress:


36 / 60 books. 60% done!

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

2026 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge

My Progress:


10 / 40 books. 25% done!

European Reading Challenge 2026

My Progress:


7 / 50 books. 14% done!

2017 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge (retired challenge - doing old boards for fun)

My Progress:


67 / 125 books. 54% done!

2026 Reading Challenge Addict Reading Challenge

My Progress:


4 / 5 challenges. 80% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


98 / 100 names. 98% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


76 / 80 skills. 95% done!
Showing posts with label Linda Williams Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linda Williams Jackson. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday: My Winter TBR


My 12-year-old daughter has been keeping a verbal Christmas countdown for a few weeks now.  When she said, "It's 20 days away," I couldn't believe it.  Now that it's ten, I'm even more shook.  It's always surreal when the Big Day finally gets here, isn't it?  I'm just glad she still has her little-girl excitement about the holiday.  Thankfully, I'm ready—my shopping is done, Christmas cards have been sent, the halls are decked, and we're getting ready to make our traditional homemade doughnuts to give out to neighbors and friends.  My college freshman comes home in a week, so I get to have all four of my kids under one roof for the first time in months and for the last time (at least for the foreseeable future), since my oldest moved out a couple months ago and is getting married on January 2nd.  Whew.  The next three weeks are going to be a marathon.  When all my company goes home on January 4th, I'm going to sleep for a month!

Despite this whirlwind of activity, I just finished my 183rd book of the year.  Can I finish 17 more before January 1 to reach my goal of reading 200 books this year?  We shall see.  There are a handful I still need to read for challenges and a few others I'm going to try to get to.  I'm not stressing about it (obviously, I'm not obsessed with my reading stats AT ALL), but I'll do my best.  My all-time reading high was 186 books read in a year—at the least, I'll beat that record by a few.  How are you doing on your 2020 reading goals?

Naturally, I've also been thinking about how I want to start off 2021, book-wise.  I've already discussed a lot of the reads I'm really looking forward to in recent lists, so I've tried to fill this one with new titles.  These aren't my most anticipated reads, but they are definitely ones that are on my Winter TBR list.  Without further ado (since there's already been a lot of ado), here we go with:

Top Ten Books on My Winter TBR List 

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.  Check out her blog for all the deets. 


1.  The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman—I have this one out from the library right now, but I doubt I'll get to it before 2020 fades away.  It's about a group of friends in a retirement home who solve murders. The book sounds super fun and it's gotten great reviews, so I'm excited to read it.


2.  The Survivors by Jane Harper (available February 2, 2021)—I've enjoyed all of Harper's mystery/thrillers, so I've been waiting patiently for this one, her newest.  This one revolves around a man who's visiting his seaside hometown with his young family when a body washes up on shore.  Could it be that of his missing brother?  As authorities investigate, old secrets are churned up.  What really happened to Finn?  I'm always up for a hometown secrets mystery, especially when it's penned by one of my favorite authors.  Can't wait!


3.  Without a Brew by Ellie Alexander—I just started this latest installment in the Sloan Krause cozy mystery series.  The books are set in Leavenworth, Washington, a German-inspired tourist town.  Sloan is a beer brewer and amateur sleuth.  It's a light, fun series that I enjoy.


4.  Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert—This mystery series opener features a former NYPD detective who's taken a job in a sleepy upstate New York town to take a breather.  When a man goes missing on a nearby private island, she's called in to investigate.  Although it looks like murder to our heroine, no one in the victim's family is talking.  With a vicious nor'easter brewing all around, it looks like she's going to be stuck on an isolated island with the killer ...


5.  The Girl Who Wasn't There by Penny Joelson—Billed as Rear Window for the YA set, this mystery is about Kasia, a homebound girl who witnesses a kidnapping on her street.  Another girl was watching from another window, but when Kasia rushes out to find her she gets a shock—there is no girl.  What exactly did Kasia witness?  How can she solve a crime if she's not sure there was one?  Sounds dark, but intriguing!


6.  Alone in the Woods by Rebecca Behrens—This middle-grade survival story concerns two former best friends who become stranded in the woods when their boat springs a leak during a rafting/camping trip.  Despite their issues with each other, they have to work together to find their way out.


7.  The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel—World War II novels always appeal to me and this one sounds excellent.  It's about a woman who uses her skills in forgery to help hundreds of Jewish kids evade the Nazis and make sure their true identities are not lost in the chaos.  I'm in!


8.  The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama—My brother lives in Hilo, Hawaii, which looks like a beautiful and interesting place.  Hilo is the setting of this historical novel that concerns a Japanese-American community living there and dealing with a variety of issues, including the impending eruption of a volcano.  It alternates between 1918 and 1935, time periods I haven't read tons about.  I've enjoyed other books by Tsukiyama, so I'm excited for this one.


9.  An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn (available March 2, 2021)—Although this mystery, the newest in Raybourn's delightful Veronica Speedwell series, doesn't come out until Spring, I have an e-ARC.  I adore these books, so I can't wait to delve into the latest installment.  It concerns the suspicious death of a female mountain climber and a princess who goes missing.  


10.  Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson—I'm always looking for good historical middle-grade novels and this one sounds intriguing.  It's about a young girl whose parents are sharecroppers in Mississippi in 1955.  When Emmett Till is murdered nearby, she looks for ways to help with the Civil Rights movement.

There you have it, ten books I'd like to get to this winter.  Have you read any of these?  What's on your winter TBR list?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours.

Happy TTT!   

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

A Borrow, Not Buy Top Ten Tuesday List


It's Tuesday, so that can only mean one thing: it's time for my favorite bookish meme.  Since I already did a version of this week's topic (Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf) not long ago, I'm going to change it up a little and talk instead about the My Top Ten Most Recent Library Acquisitions.  I've always utilized my local libraries (both city and county), but after spending a pretty penny on new books in 2019, I'm going to try to borrow more and buy less in 2020. We'll see how that goes ...

First, won't you join the TTT fun?  It's easy and enjoyable, I promise!  All you have to do is head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read a few quick instructions, make your own list, and then spend some happy hours surfing through the book blogosphere.  It's a great way to find reading recommendations, discover new blogs, and spread the love throughout our wonderful blogging community.

Alright, here we go with My Top Ten Most Recent Library Acquisitions:


1.  The Wake of the Lorelei Lee by L.A. Meyer (audiobook)—Ever since I found that I don't actually hate audiobooks, I've tried to have one on deck at all times.  I borrowed this one, the eighth installment in one of my favorite YA series, because of a recommendation from an anonymous blog commenter.  I always enjoy the Bloody Jack books and this one is no exception.  I'm especially taken with the narrator, the late Katherine Kellgren, who does an excellent job giving voice to the irrepressible Jacky Faber.  The books are hefty, so the audiobook is over eleven hours long.  Still, it's a fun one.


2.  A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths—I'm behind on the Ruth Galloway mystery series, but it's another one I've enjoyed immensely.  This installment, the fourth, concerns the murder of a museum curator, then the museum's owner.  Naturally, Ruth and D.I. Nelson are called in to investigate.  I can't wait to catch up with Ruth and Co.


3.  Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu—I've heard good things about this mystery series starring a feisty Singaporean widow who runs a restaurant and solves mysteries in her spare time.  The opening installment involves a murder and the disappearance of one of Aunty Lee's guests, two puzzling events that must be related.


4.  What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr—In this standalone from Barr, a woman in her 60's wakes up in the Alzheimer's unit of a nursing home.  Although she can't remember how she got there, Rose is convinced she's still in her right mind.  When another shocking event occurs, she becomes sure of it—someone is trying to eliminate her.  But why?


5.  Second Sight by Aoife Clifford—I always like a good going-home-to-confront-secrets-of-the-past type books, so this one sounds appealing.  It's about a lawyer who returns to her Australian hometown after a devastating wildfire, only to witness an old friend commit a crime that propels her on a journey to uncover the secrets others would like to remain buried forever.


6.  Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson—I enjoyed Johnson's newest MG novel, Dog Driven, so I wanted to try another one by her.  Ice Dogs is a survival story about a girl who gets lost in the Alaskan wilderness during a dogsled race.  Sounds exciting!


7.  The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan—I've only read a couple of Colgan's novels, but I loved them both, so I want to read more from her.  The Café by the Sea is the first book in her Mure series.  It stars Flora, who returns to her hometown to lick her wounds, only to find herself caught up in the dramas of island and family life.  Fun!


8.  Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner—Graphic novels aren't really my thing, but this one jumped out at me while my 11-year-old daughter was perusing the shelves for Pokémon books.  The story centers on a half-white, half-Japanese boy who is sent to a California internment camp during World War II.  Should be a quick, interesting read.


9.  A Sky Full of Stars by Linda Williams Jackson—This is another book I noticed while browsing the children's section with my daughter.  Set in 1955, the story is about a 13-year-old girl who's frightened of growing racial tension in her Mississippi town.  Trying to decide if she should leave the state altogether or attempt to stay and push for change, she learns some valuable lessons about racism, community, and taking action.


10.  The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers—I've never read anything by Meyers, but the title of this 2013 novel caught my attention.  It's about a woman whose extramarital affair leaves her pregnant and alone.  Five years after she places the child for adoption, her lover's wife finds out what happened.  Told from the perspectives of three women caught in the drama, it's a novel about the consequences of infidelity, the journey toward forgiveness, and the power of family, even in the most unlikely of situations.

There you go, ten books I recently grabbed off the library shelves.  Have you read any of them?  What have you checked out lately from the library or acquired from a bookstore?  I'd love to know.  Leave a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!
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