Books read 2021 (A-O) & #'s

Books not in Wake County Library: (1) Hildegard of Bingen's Holistic Approach to Wellness: A 12th Century Healer & Visionary, 4 Stars (Linda Lee Smith); (2) The Constitution of the United States of America (30 pp), 5 Stars (National Archives & Records Administration, Washington DC) (3) The Bible in 52 Weeks, 4 Stars (Dr. Kimberly D. Moore, Pastor; have Kindle edition) (4) Williams-Sonoma Collection: Soup, 4 Stars (Diane Rosser Worthington, have hardcopy) (5) Finding Hildegard: Healing through Medieval Wisdom, 3 Stars (Gregg Koskela) (6) What Falls Away, 5 Stars (Mia Farrow, have Kindle edition) (7) 6-Minute Fitness at 60+, 4 Stars (Dr Jonathan Su) (8) Mrs. Entwhistle series #1: Once You're Over the Hill, You Pick Up Speed, 4 Stars (Doris Reidy) (9) Apropos of Nothing, 3 Stars (Woody Allen) (10) Strength Training over 40, 4 Stars (Alana Collins) (11) Spiralizer Cookbook, 4 Stars (Violla Green, have Kindle edition) (12) The Last Duel, 5 Stars (Eric Jager) (13) Outer Banks Scenic Byway, 3 Stars (Douglas Stover) (14) The Vines, 3 Stars (Shelley Nolden, have Kindle edition)

Showing 1 - 20 of 24  There are a total of 63 valid entries on the list.

1. 1984

Book cover for "1984"
Star rating for 1984
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Notes:
5 Stars. Have Kindle edition.
Description:
Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities. Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."...
Book cover for "Before she disappeared"
Star rating for Before she disappeared
Series:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"A propulsive thriller featuring an ordinary woman who will stop at nothing to find the missing people that the rest of the world has forgtten ... Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media...
Book cover for "Brave new world"
Star rating for Brave new world
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
Huxley's classic prophetic novel describes the socialized horrors of a futuristic utopia devoid of individual freedom. First published 70 years ago, the classic, prophetic novel capturing the socialized horrors of a futuristic utopia remarkably explores the now-timely themes of cloning, individual creativity and freedom, and the role of science, technology, and drugs in humankind's future.
Book cover for "The disappearing act"
Star rating for The disappearing act
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Notes:
4 Stars.
Description:
"Once a year, actors from across the globe descend on the smog and sunshine of Los Angeles for pilot season. Every cable network and studio looking to fill the rosters of their new shows enticing a fresh batch of young hopefuls, anxious, desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to make it ... British star Mia Eliot has landed leading roles in costume dramas in her native country, but now it's time for Hollywood to take her to the next level....

5. Dust

Book cover for "Dust"
Star rating for Dust
Author:
Series:
Silo series volume 3.
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Notes:
5 Stars. Have Kindle edition.
Description:
Armed with secret knowledge, Juliette, now mayor of Silo 18 and her crew set out to rescue a world she hates but now understands better -- the world of the Silos with its rigid rules and terrible consequences for disobedience.
Book cover for "The enemy"
Star rating for The enemy
Author:
Series:
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Notes:
4 Stars.
Description:
Jack Reacher. Hero. Loner. Soldier. Soldier's son. An elite military cop, he was one of the army's brightest stars. But in every cop's life there is one case that changes everything. For Jack Reacher, this is that case. New Year's Day, 1990. In a North Carolina motel, a two-star general is found dead. His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Reacher has his orders: Control the situation. Within hours the general's wife...
Book cover for "An event in autumn"
Star rating for An event in autumn
Series:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Notes:
4 Stars. #11 in series but #10, The Troubled Man, is actually last chronologically in the Kurt Wallander series. #11 was written many years before 2013 publish date.
Description:
After nearly thirty years in the same job, Inspector Kurt Wallander is tired, restless, and itching to make a change. He is taken with a certain old farmhouse, perfectly situated in a quiet countryside with a charming, overgrown garden. There he finds the skeletal hand of a corpse in a shallow grave. Wallander’s investigation takes him deep into the history of the house and the land, until finally the shocking truth about a long-buried secret...
Book cover for "The four winds"
Star rating for The four winds
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"[A]n epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America's most defining eras--the Great Depression. Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with...
Book cover for "A gentleman in Moscow"
Star rating for A gentleman in Moscow
Author:
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"In all ways a great novel, a nonstop pleasure brimming with charm, personal wisdom, and philosophic insight.this book more than fulfills the promise of Towles' stylish debut, Rules of Civility." - Kirkus Reviews (starred) From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility--a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established...
Book cover for "Golden Girl"
Star rating for Golden Girl
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
Entering the afterlife due to a hit and run accident, a successful author learns she can observe the earthly lives of her nearly grown children and is also permitted three "nudges" to alter the outcome of events.
Book cover for "Hamnet"
Star rating for Hamnet
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"A thrilling departure: a short, piercing, deeply moving novel about the death of Shakespeare's 11 year old son Hamnet--a name interchangeable with Hamlet in 15th century Britain--and the years leading up to the production of his great play. England, 1580. A young Latin tutor--penniless, bullied by a violent father--falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman--a wild creature who walks her family's estate with a falcon on her shoulder...
Book cover for "The hellfire club"
Star rating for The hellfire club
Author:
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Notes:
4 Stars.
Description:
After a mysterious fatal car accident kills his predecessor, Congressman Charlie Marder struggles to navigate the dangerous waters of 1950s Washington, D.C., where he finds an underworld of backroom deals, secret societies, and a conspiracy at the highest levels of the government.
Book cover for "The henna artist"
Star rating for The henna artist
Author:
Series:
Henna artist volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist--and confidante--to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own. Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation...
Book cover for "The hunting party"
Star rating for The hunting party
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"My favorite kind of whodunit, kept me guessing all the way through, and reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her best — with an extra dose of acid." — Alex Michaelides, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Silent Patient

Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect...

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of

...
Book cover for "Infinite country"
Star rating for Infinite country
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Notes:
4 Stars.
Description:
"Talia is being held at a correctional facility for adolescent girls in the forested mountains of Colombia after committing an impulsive act of violence that may or may not have been warranted. She urgently needs to get out and get back home to Bogotá, where her father and a plane ticket to the United States are waiting for her. If she misses her flight, she might also miss her chance to finally be reunited with her family in the north. How this...
Book cover for "Invisible girl"
Star rating for Invisible girl
Author:
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Notes:
4 Stars.
Description:
A thriller following a group of people--including a virgin in his thirties who's found himself inadvertently sucked into the dark world of involuntary celibate forums, and his neighbors--whose lives intersect when a young woman disappears.
Book cover for "The last story of Mina Lee"
Star rating for The last story of Mina Lee
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"Margot Lee's mother isn't returning her calls. It's a mystery to twenty-six-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown and finds her mother dead under suspicious circumstances. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unraveling the facts of Mina's life as a Korean War orphan and undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother"--Dust jacket flap.
Book cover for "The last thing he told me"
Star rating for The last thing he told me
Author:
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
"When her husband of a year disappears, Hannah quickly learns he is not who he said he was and is left to sort out the truth with just one ally- her husband's teenage daughter, who hates her"--
Book cover for "A long petal of the sea"
Star rating for A long petal of the sea
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Notes:
5 Stars. Includes several passages from the poetry of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Plan to read some of his poetry.
Description:
"In the late 1930s, civil war gripped Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life irreversibly intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage...
Book cover for "The lying life of adults"
Star rating for The lying life of adults
Average Rating:
2.9 stars
Notes:
5 Stars.
Description:
The New York Times–bestseller set in a divided Naples—now a Netflix original series—from the acclaimed author of My Brilliant Friend and The Lost Daughter.
A BEST BOOK OF 2020
The Washington Post·O, The Oprah Magazine·TIME Magazine·NPR·People Magazine·The New York Times Critics·The Guardian·Electric...