It's a Good Weekend for Reading

I don't know how people live in the Arctic. We have a week of extreme weather and I have been whining like a baby every day. :) But I will say it's certainly gives you lots of reading time.
And reading takes you on so many adventures, doesn't it?

I have a pile of books like this next to my nightstand.

I first typed my little blurb on the page, then I sprayed a little ink. The stack of books was doodled, cut out and after being glued, I painted the bindings. The 2 owls are stamped, colored and then cut out and added. I doodled the lamp and the glasses.

I am linking up to the latest challenge at Art Journal Journey, New Year, New Adventure.
This year I hope to read 60 books. I might be reaching a bit.

Last year, in 2017,  I hoped to read 40 books because in 2016 I only read 36. 2016 just wasn't a big reading year for me. 

So I thought 40 was a respectable goal.

But I well surpassed that. I read or listened to 72 books.

I actually began 74 books, but 2 of them I didn't like at all, and they went into the book recycle bin before I finished them. I joined Audible this past fall because I now have a car that has bluetooth so I can listen to books during my drive to and from work. That fact brought my number up also.

So what were some of my 2017 favorites?

In the fiction category: 

 This is a clever story that read like Dickens and really gave a picturesque view of Victorian London.

 I read a few these Tony Hillerman mysteries last year. I really like them. They are set in the 4 Corners Region of the US, and have some Navajo police protagonists. 

 And thank you Divers and Sundry blog for this recommendation. I still need to wrap up this series but it's on my 2018 list.

I'd read at least one book by Ann Patchett before, but this one had me thinking and and quite surprised a few times.

 And how could you not like the character Ove in Frederick Backman's book A Man Called Ove?

 And the People of the Songtrail was a random find but a very different story for me. It's part of a whole series of books (but I don't think they are connected) written about pre-Columbian Americans. This one deal with the Coastal people in Eastern Canada when they encounter the Vikings.   I really enjoyed it and plan to read some more of these books.

And a couple of books about Plants:

A slightly different history of the US's founding fathers. It inspired me to read Botany of  Desire too, which is an interesting book about the history of apples, tulips, marijuana, and potato.

 And Hope Jahren , author of Lab Girl, is one amazing woman. This book tells the story of this botanist's life as a scientist. It was enjoyable, a fast read and made me laugh too.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography
A New York Times 2016 Notable Book
National Best Seller
Named one of TIME magazine’s "100 Most Influential People"
An Amazon Top 20 Best Book of 2016
A Washington Post Best Memoir of 2016
A TIME and Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2016 

 If you haven't checked her out, you should. This book was really an enjoyable read (and not stuffy science at all). We even read it in my book club at my suggestion and my English teacher friends actually liked it too.

And Arty Books:

 The movie was fantastic, the book is even better. 

 And 2 books about Van Gogh. One a biography about the 2 Van Gogh brothers and the other about the famous ear incident.
Deborah Helligman (above) also wrote another great biography about Charles Darwin and his life with his wife Emma Wedgewood Darwin, which was also a wonderful relationship book.

And Ms Gilbert really has some inspiring ideas about creativity. 

And thanks to Valerie for mentioning this book.

 And I liked it so much I picked up this book by the same author.

And finally, some NonFiction:

Some Central American archeology with armed insurgents, a deep jungle full of snakes and wild animals, and some fantastic finds. And I discovered this author.

I liked Douglas Preston so much I read a few other books by him, and I particular liked this one also.

In this one he and his family ride through the 4 Corners Region of the US  following the Navajo creation story. 

 And this next book is not as good as My Life in France, but anything regarding Julia Child works for me.

 And the book Hidden Figures was even better than the movie.  

 I had lots of laughs and smiles with this book by Gerald Durrell. Now I need to read the next 2 in the sries.

 This was one of my book club choices. It was sad, but a good story. It opened my eyes to the Khmer Rouge and their horrible regime.

And probably my most memorable book, and one I bought as an Audible daily deal because it had so many 5 star reviews on Amazon is this story. I've managed to find some and unusual reads for me in the Audible Daily Deal. This one was hard to turn off.

It was an amazing novel of a true story. It had me yelling out comments in response to events in the story. It's a war story, which is not usually my thing, but I highly recommend this as a read.

So this is just a sampling (obviously) of the 72 books I read. I also read a little Michael Crichton, all 4 books of the Neapolitan books by Elena Ferrante, a book about a hermit in Maine, a couple of books about Matisse, a few other science theme books, a little fantasy about painters in Paris, some books about the Cosmos, a Russian count, some Victorian mysteries and some cozy mysteries too, just to mention a little more. I hope this upcoming year can be even half as adventurous.

Stay warm my friends.