Likely Stories

Book #282 (Unique books)

Book #2 in 2021

Likely Stories

by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham

"These dark and imaginative tales feature an odd and subtly linked world of bizarre venereal diseases, a creepy old woman who feasts on raw meat, a man obsessed with a skin model from a magazine, and a story within a story about ghosts.

You wont want to miss this collection featuring comic adaptations of the short stories: Looking for the Girl, Foreign Parts, Closing Time, and Feeders and Eaters from the Hugo, Eisner, Newbery, Harvey, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, and Nebula award-winning author Neil Gaiman!"

January 14th 2021 (evening) to January 17th - 3ish days - 80 pages

The Umbrella Academy, Vol 1: Apocalypse Suite

 Book #281 (Unique books)

Book #1 in 2021

The Umbrella Academy, Vol 1: Apocalypse Suite

by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

"In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-seven extraordinary children were spontaneously born to women who'd previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, "To save the world."

These seven children form the Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers. Their first adventure at the age of ten pits them against an erratic and deadly Eiffel Tower, piloted by the fearsome zombie-robot Gustave Eiffel. Nearly a decade later, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, these disgruntled siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again."

January 11th, 2021 (evening) to January 13th (morning) - about 2 days - 184 pages

Sharp Objects

Book #280 (Unique books)
Book #4 in 2019

Sharp Objects

by Gillian Flynn

"Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming."

October 25th - December 27th - 2 months - kindle version

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (re-read)

Book #3 in 2019

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

by J.K. Rowling

"During his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter must confront the devious and dangerous wizard responsible for his parents' deaths."

January 16th to January 29th - 14 days - 435 pages

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (re-read)

Book #2 in 2019

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

by J.K. Rowling

"When the Chamber of Secrets is opened again at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, second-year student Harry Potter finds himself in danger from a dark power that has once more been released on the school."

January 8th to 15th - 8 days - 366 pages

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (re-read)

Book #1 in 2019

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

by J.K. Rowling

"Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches."

? to January 8th (didn't write down start date for some reason) - 332 pages

Before I Fall

Book #279 (Unique books)
Book #20 in 2018

Before I Fall

by Lauren Oliver

"For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—'Cupid Day'—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined."

December 10th to 30th - 20 days - kindle version

Notes:

I really liked this book.

Teen Angst? Naaah...

Book #278 (Unique books)
Book #19 in 2018

Teen Angst? Naaah...

a quasi-autobiography by Ned Vizzini

"'The events in these stories are real. Some names have been changed so I don't get yelled at.' 

Ned Vizzini writes about the weird, funny, and sometimes mortifying moments that made up his teen years. With wit, irony, and honesty, "Teen Angst? Naaah . . ." invites you into his world of school, parents, street people, rock bands, friends, fame, camp, sex (sort of), Cancun (almost), prom, beer, Nintendo, the cool (and almost cool), and more. A Holden Caulfield for Generation Y, Ned Vizzini is an original voice to be reckoned with, read, and enjoyed. "

December 9th to 10th(ish) - a day and a half? - kindle version

Notes:

Read on the way BACK from Scotland, so unsure of timing.
I love Ned Vizzini ♥ and :(

Aftercare Instructions

Book #277 (Unique books)
Book #18 in 2018

Aftercare Instructions

by Bonnie Pipkin

"'Troubled.' That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter—until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything.

As Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, she must also confront her most painful memories. Through the lens of an ongoing four act play within the novel, the fantasy of their undying love unravels line by line, scene by scene. Digging deeper into her past while exploring the underground theater world of New York City, she rediscovers a long-forgotten dream. But it’s when Gen lets go of her history, the one she thinks she knows, that she’s finally able to embrace the complicated, chaotic true story of her life, and take center stage."

December 1st to 2nd(ish) - like a day and a half? - kindle version

Notes:

Read on the journey to Scotland, so unsure of exactly how long it took to read it. This book made me cry several times on the plane, I loved it.

Leah on the Offbeat

Book #276 (Unique books)
Book #17 in 2018

Leah on the Offbeat

by Becky Albertalli

"Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended."

November 26th to 29th - 4 days - 339 pages

Notes:

SO CUTE AND GAY

To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Book #275 (Unique books)
Book #16 in 2018

To All The Boys I've Loved Before

by Jenny Han

"To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all."

November 23rd to 25th - 2ish days - 355 pages

Notes:

I saw the movie first and loved it and I love this too! I can't wait to read the sequels!

IT

Book #274 (Unique books)
Book #15 in 2018

IT

by Stephen King

"To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered, a good place to live. It was the children who saw – and felt – what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, It lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each person’s deepest dread. Sometimes It reached up, seizing, tearing, killing…

The adults, knowing better, knew nothing. Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of It was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until the grown-up children were called back, once more to confront It as It stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality."

April 18th to November 23rd - ~7 months - 1,153 pages (mostly kindle/e-version) 

Notes:

Holy fuck this book is so long. Been reading it on and off since April.

Honestly could have used some serious editing, imo. I thought the new movie was better.

But I did it! So long! Easily the longest book I have ever read, or even attempted to read. Kinda proud of myself. Yay!

Made You Up

Book #273 (Unique books)
Book #14 in 2018

Made You Up

by Francesca Zappia

"Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal."

October 26th to November 9th - 2 weeks - 428 pages

Notes:

Holy shit I just loved this book so much, it made me cry

P.S. I Like You

Book #272 (Unique books)
Book #13 in 2018

P.S. I Like You

by Kasie West

"While spacing out in chemistry class, Lily scribbles some of her favorite song lyrics onto her desk. The next day, she finds that someone has continued the lyrics on the desk and added a message to her. Intrigue!

Soon, Lily and her anonymous pen pal are exchanging full-on letters—sharing secrets, recommending bands, and opening up to each other. Lily realizes she’s kind of falling for this letter writer. Only, who is he? As Lily attempts to unravel the mystery and juggle school, friends, crushes, and her crazy family, she discovers that matters of the heart can’t always be spelled out…"

October 16th to 26th - 10 days - 326 pages

Thornhill

Book #271 (Unique books)
Book #12 in 2018

Thornhill

by Pam Smy

"Parallel plotlines, one told in text and one in art, inform each other as a young girl unravels the mystery of a ghost next door.

Mary is an orphan at the Thornhill Institute for Children at the very moment that it's closing down for good. But when a bully goes too far, Mary's revenge will have a lasting effect on the bully, on Mary, and on Thornhill itself.

Years later, Ella moves to a new town where she has a perfect view of the dilapidated, abandoned Thornhill Institute. Determined to befriend the mysterious, evasive girl she sees there, Ella resolves to unravel Thornhill's history and uncover its secrets.

Ella's story is told through striking, bold art; Mary's is told through diary entries. Each informs the other until the two eventually intersect to reveal the truth behind Thornhill's shadowy past, once and for all. Strikingly told and masterfully illustrated, Pam Smy bends genres and expectations alike."

October 5th to 11th - 6 days - 533 pages

Notes:

I really enjoyed this book. The way it was told was so cool, and the art was beautiful.

Grendel's Guide to Love and War

Book #270 (Unique books)
Book #11 in 2018

Grendel's Guide to Love and War

by A.E. Kaplan

"Tom Grendel lives a quiet life—writing in his notebooks, mowing lawns for his elderly neighbors, and pining for Willow, a girl next door who rejects the “manic-pixie-dream” label. But when Willow’s brother, Rex (the bro-iest bro ever to don a jockstrap), starts throwing wild parties, the idyllic senior citizens’ community where they live is transformed into a war zone. Tom is rightfully pissed—his dad is an Iraq vet, and the noise from the parties triggers his PTSD—so he comes up with a plan to end the parties for good. But of course, it’s not that simple.

One retaliation leads to another, and things quickly escalate out of control, driving Tom and Willow apart, even as the parties continue unabated. Add to that an angsty existential crisis born of selectively reading his sister’s Philosophy 101 coursework, a botched break-in at an artisanal pig farm, and ten years of unresolved baggage stemming from his mother’s death…and the question isn’t so much whether Tom Grendel will win the day and get the girl, but whether he’ll survive intact."

October 2nd to 4th - 3 days - 308 pages

The Price Guide to the Occult

Book #269 (Unique books)
Book #10! in 2018

The Price Guide to the Occult

by Leslye Walton

"When Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island more than a century ago, her otherworldly skills might have benefited friendlier neighbors. Guilt and fear instead led the island's original eight settlers to burn "the witch" out of her home. So Rona cursed them. Fast-forward one hundred–some years: All Nor Blackburn wants is to live an unremarkable teenage life. She has reason to hope: First, her supernatural powers, if they can be called that, are unexceptional. Second, her love life is nonexistent, which means she might escape the other perverse side effect of the matriarch's backfiring curse, too. But then a mysterious book comes out, promising to cast any spell for the right price. Nor senses a storm coming and is pretty sure she'll be smack in the eye of it. In her second novel, Leslye Walton spins a dark, mesmerizing tale of a girl stumbling along the path toward self-acceptance and first love, even as the Price Guide's malevolent author — Nor's own mother — looms and threatens to strangle any hope for happiness."

September 16th to 27th - 12 days - 272 pages

The Case of the Missing Men

Book #268 (Unique books)
Book #9 in 2018

The Case of the Missing Men: a Hobtown Mystery

by Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes

"The Case of the Missing Men is the first part of an ongoing mystery thriller set in a strange and remote East Coast village called Hobtown. The story follows a gang of young teens who have made it their business to investigate each and every one of their town's bizarre occurrences as The Teen Detective Club (a registered afterschool program). Their small world of missing pets and shed-fires is turned upside down when real-life kid adventurer and globetrotter Sam Finch comes to town and enlists them in their first real case—the search for his missing father. In doing so, he and the teens stumble upon a terrifying world of rural secret societies, weird-but-true folk mythology, subterranean lairs, and an occultist who can turn men into dogs. The Case of The Missing Men is at turns funny, intriguing, eerie, and endearing, and is beautifully illustrated in a style reminiscent of classic children's pulp series like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys."

September 14th to 15th - 2 days - 300 pages

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Book #267 (Unique books)
Book #8 in 2018

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

by Becky Albertalli

"Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met."

September 13th - a few hours - 303 pages

Notes:

This book is so fucking cute I cried

Jurassic Park

Book #266 (Unique books)
Book #7 in 2018

Jurassic Park

by Michael Crichton

"An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price. 

Until something goes wrong. . . ."

July 6th to 10th - 5 days - 399 pages