Today’s prompt is: Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed) (feel free to tell us why, but please no spoilers!)
My reasons for not finishing a book are rarely because the book is bad or not worth reading. Most of the time it is completely related to the fact the book and my personality don’t mesh. Also, in some cases I don’t finish a book at one time but go back later and finish it. That’s most likely going to be the case with many of the books here, so if you loved one of these books on my list, know that adding them to a DNF list doesn’t mean I hated them.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I tried! I tried! I wanted to read a Dickens. It about killed me. It was so wordy! Worse than I expected. I read part of this book in high school and enjoyed it but for some reason I could just not get into it now that I am an adult. I do want to try again someday, however.
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I don’t know if it is fair to mention this one since it was just a DNF for me and I might go back to it but for now it is a DNF and I’m reading some other books. I wanted to read this with my son for his British Literature class but…it was just so heavy. I couldn’t get into it. I have an audiobook with Dan Stevens and I’m really enjoying his narration so I am going to try to get back into it.
3. Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever
I wanted to like this book. I did. It was just so choppy and dull as watch sap harden in the winter. The stories about Anthony could have been interesting but they were all chopped up and some of them were from people who truly didn’t know him that well. I skipped to the end and read a couple quotes from his daughter but for the most part this was just a chopped-up mess of stories. I didn’t get it at all. I have heard there are other, much better biographies out there so I will try them in the future.
4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I did not hate this book. I just couldn’t get into the style of writing, the tiny little chapters, and the bouncing back and forth between character in every other chapter.
5. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
I will go back to this one but it just didn’t pull me in like Little Women did. I am a mood reader so I think I was simply not in the mood for it when I tried to read it.
6. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith
I think this one just didn’t catch me at the right time. I could not get into it at all but I am willing to try again sometime in the future.
7. A Fatal Footnote by Margaret Loudon
I didn’t even make it through five pages of this one. The author kept changing the name of her character and repeating the name over and over. She’d write, “Penelope didn’t know why Millie was looking at her that way but Penn was uncomfortable with it.”
What? Why keep changing her name and in the same sentence or paragraph? She seemed allergic to using pronouns instead of the names she kept using too. It would have been one thing if a character said to her, “Hey, Penn!” instead of Penelope but for the author to be changing it in the prose….it was weird.
8. Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery
This was just not my favorite book of Montgomery’s. It was so sad and depressing to me. I might go back someday and finish it but it was a slog for me. I skipped ahead to the end but really didn’t go back and read the rest so I consider it a DNF.
9. What’s the Worse That Can Happen by Donald Westlake
My husband is a huge Westlake fan and I read one book by him, Call Me A Cab, and liked it but so far I haven’t really been able to get into the rest of his books. I do plan to try this one again at some point.
10. Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly
I know we cozy mystery readers have to suspend belief at times but this one…well, it was a bit too much suspending belief. I couldn’t finish this one at all. I don’t plan to try again.
What books have you not finished? Will you ever go back and try them again?
I don’t often stick to my TBR for any particular season (see my post from yesterday for more info on that) but I like to make the list to remind me of books I’d like to read next. I consider it my “choose from” pile.
I have a list of 14 books I plan to choose from for Spring, but I know that list will change and adapt throughout the next two and a half months.
For today I will list my ten main books and then four “honorable mentions” so to speak.
Village Diary by Miss Read
All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Spill the Jackpot by Erle Stanley Gardner
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
Between The Sea and Sound by Amanda Cox
‘Tis Herself by Maureen O’Hara
Sabotage at Cedar Creek by Janice Thompson
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Preus
Four others I might choose from this spring include:
Today’s prompt is: things Characters Have Said (Maybe a character said something really profound or romantic or hilarious or heartbreaking. You could share witty one-liners, mic-drop moments, snippets of funny dialogue between multiple characters, catchphrases, quotes that have become a part of pop culture–like “May the odds be ever in your favor.”, etc.)
I decided not to pick one theme but instead just share quotes of characters from the various books I’ve read as part of my eclectic reading habits.
Today’s prompt was: Books Set in Another Time (These can be historical, futuristic, alternate universes, or even in a world where you’re not sure when it takes place you just know it’s not right now.)
This prompt wasn’t difficult this week because most of the books I read take place in the past. Very few take place in another world, like a fantasy, but a couple I’ve read have.
The entirety of living civilization stands on the very brink of death. Undead hordes have rampaged across the world. Determined to do his part, Leon Rhise left his wealthy father’s estate and chose to defend the last living kingdom by joining the military. It had seemed to be a good idea at the time.
After his career in the airship navy came to an abrupt end Leon arrived home, hoping for a warm reception. Instead, he was abruptly tossed out. Disowned, unemployed, and friendless. All hope seems lost. Then Leon discovers a mysterious relic, which opens up the possibility of him becoming a Judge: a hero of legend. One that has not been seen for centuries.
As Leon travels the road less taken his destiny converges with newfound companions, each one surrounded by mystery. Advised by strange beings in dreams and visions, Leon learns that the undead onslaught the world has suffered is part of a much larger problem. A solution can be found by learning about the forgotten being known as Adonai. But the world is ending, and time is running out.
Delve into a world that brings a unique twist and interpretation to faith-based high fantasy. With emotional highs and lows, certain peril, dysfunction, and humor; tough questions are asked, and answers will come to light.
Description: A young man who can grant wishes. A fairy hoping for her wings. A king and queen seeking an heir.
Far, far away, in the fairy tale kingdom of Evermoor, young, gifted Daniel dreams of escaping his life in captivity and his dastardly Uncle Aldrich. Diana, a flower fairy charged with guiding Daniel, helps him channel his ability to grant wishes, but his uncle exploits Daniel’s gift, stealing the wishes for himself.
Warned not to fall prey to mortal love, Diana keeps a friendly distance from Daniel, but she cannot deny her growing feelings for him. Will she shield her heart or risk losing the chance to ever go back home to the Green Glade and gain her fairy wings?
In the same kingdom, childless King Roderick and Queen Rosalind have become divided by a great sorrow. Battling the wounds of the past, the monarchs make a valiant effort to move forward, but can they learn to trust each other again? What future can the kingdom have without an heir?
Readers of fantasy, Christian fantasy, clean romance, and YA fantasy will be enraptured with this gripping tale of overcoming the past and embracing hope, layered with romance for both the young and the young at heart.
3. In My Father’s Houseby Brock and Bodie Thoene (I read this one and the series in high school)
Description: They just fought the War to End All Wars in France. Now they return home to a different kind of battle . . . one more fierce than they could imagine.
From every conceivable culture, men joined together in foxholes to fight World War I—the Great War that all hoped would bring the world together in peace, for all time. Jews and Irish, blacks and whites became brothers, tied by the common bonds of life, heroism, and death.
When the Armistice is declared, the soldiers make their way back to America. But it is no longer the place of their dreams. Undercurrents of racial, religious, and cultural intolerance threaten the very foundations of the nation.
In My Father’s House follows the lives of four young soldiers: Max Meyer, an orphan from the poor Orchard Street neighborhood of New York; Ellis Warne, an Irish doctor’s son from Ohio; Birch Tucker, an Arkansas farm boy; and Jefferson Canfield, the son of a black sharecropper.
Will these four men—and those who love them—be able to find any freedom, any peace, on the warring home front?
4. Moriartyby Anthony Horowitz — a Sherlock Holmes story written with the permission of the Arthur Conan Doyle trust. It takes place sometime in the 1890s.
Description:
The game is once again afoot in this thrilling mystery from internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, sanctioned by the Conan Doyle estate, that explores what really happened when Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty tumbled to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls.
Horowitz’s nail-biting novel plunges us back into the dark and complex world of detective Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty—dubbed the Napoleon of crime” by Holmes—in the aftermath of their fateful struggle at the Reichenbach Falls.
Days after the encounter at the Swiss waterfall, Pinkerton detective agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. Moriarty’s death has left an immediate, poisonous vacuum in the criminal underworld, and there is no shortage of candidates to take his place—including one particularly fiendish criminal mastermind.
Chase and Scotland Yard Inspector Athelney Jones, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction originally introduced by Conan Doyle in “The Sign of Four”, must forge a path through the darkest corners of England’s capital—from the elegant squares of Mayfair to the shadowy wharfs and alleyways of the London Docks—in pursuit of this sinister figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, who is determined to stake his claim as Moriarty’s successor.
A riveting, deeply atmospheric tale of murder and menace from one of the only writers to earn the seal of approval from Conan Doyle’s estate, Moriarty breathes life into Holmes’s dark and fascinating world.
5. Christy by Catherine Marshall
I finished this one in the beginning of February. It takes place in 1912
Description:
50th Anniversary Edition of the New York Times Bestselling Novel
The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions. But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her — and her one-room school — as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove. Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?
6. Little Women by Louise Mae Alcott
Most people know that this one takes place around the time of the Civil War and a bit beyond.
Description:
One of the best loved books of all time. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg’s joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo’s struggle to become a writer, Beth’s tragedy, and Amy’s artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth- century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.
7. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.
This one takes place sometime in the early 1900s.
Description:
Step into the enchanting world of The Blue Castle, one of L.M. Montgomery’s most beloved and timeless novels. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of a picturesque lakeside, this heartwarming story follows the transformation of Valancy Stirling, a young woman who has lived her life in the shadow of family expectations and societal norms. Everything changes when a life-altering diagnosis forces Valancy to break free from her repressed existence and pursue the life she has always secretly longed for.
As Valancy begins to embrace her newfound courage, she embarks on a journey to the idyllic Blue Castle by the lake—a place of dreams, secrets, and unanticipated love. Montgomery masterfully captures the essence of self-discovery, freedom, and the complexities of love in this delightful novel. Through the beautifully crafted characters and emotionally resonant storylines, readers will be drawn into a world where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and the impossible suddenly seems possible.
8. Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
This middle-grade book, a sequel to Gone Away Lake, takes place in the 1960s.
Description:
“Return to Gone-Away” by Elizabeth Enright follows the adventures of a group exploring an old house filled with history and mystery. Portia, Julian, Foster, and Davey uncover secrets and hidden treasures, leading to their decision to make the house their permanent home. As they restore the house and discover a hidden safe with family heirlooms, the family finds joy and contentment in their new life at Amberside.
9. Trouble Shooter by Louis L’Amour
I am not definite on the timeline of this one but I believe it is the 1800s.
Description:
Hopalong Cassidy has received a message from the dead. Answering an urgent appeal for help from fellow cowpuncher Pete Melford, he rides in only to discover that his old friend has been murdered and the ranch Pete left to his niece, Cindy Blair, has vanished without a trace. Hopalong may have arrived too late to save Pete, but his sense of loyalty and honor demands that he find that cold-blooded killers and return to Cindy what is rightfully hers.
Colonel Justin Tredway, criminal kingpin of the town of Kachina, is the owner of the sprawling Box T ranch, and he has built his empire with a shrewd and ruthless determination. In search of Pete’s killers and Cindy’s ranch, Hopalong signs on at the Box T, promising to help get Tredway’s wild cattle out of the rattler-infested brush. But in the land of mesquite and black chaparral, Cassidy confronts a mystery as hellish as it is haunting—a bloody trail that leads to the strange and forbidding Babylon plateau, to $60,000 in stolen gold, and to a showdown with an outlaw who has already cheated death once . . . and is determined to do it again.
10. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
This one takes place around 1775 and is about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.
Description:
Johnny Tremain, winner of the 1944 Newbery Medal, is one of the finest historical novels ever written for children. As compelling today as it was fifty years ago, to read this riveting novel is to live through the defining events leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Fourteen-year old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work.
In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper, the Boston Observer, and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon Johnny is involved in the pivotal events shaping the American Revolution from the Boston Tea Party to the first shots fired at Lexington. Powerful illustrations by American artist Michael McCurdy, bring to life Esther Forbes’ quintessential novel of the American Revolution.
Do you read a lot of books that take place in a different time or place than “now?”
Today’s prompt is: 10 Books I Never Reviewed (Share the titles of books you never reviewed on your blog/tiktok/insta/etc. and if you liked them or not!)
This one was hard for me because I have actually reviewed most of the books I have read in the last two years. I had to search hard for those I had not reviewed in some fashion
Anne’s House of Dreams by LM Montgomery. – didn’t review and didn’t enjoy as much as other Anne books
2. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright — Loved this middle grade book but did not get around to reviewing it.
3. The Burning Issue of The Day (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery) by T.E. Kinsey – I liked this one okay but wasn’t really doing a lot of reviews at this time (2023) and didn’t like it as much as other books in the series.
4. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – really liked it but for some reason never reviewed in on my blog or social media
5. An Amish Inn Mystery: Murder Well Played by Rachel O’Phillips – I like this book. I have no idea why I never reviewed it.
6. A Highland Christmas (A Hamish Macbeth Mystery) by M.C. Beaton – I don’t remember ever writing a review for this book. I liked it okay. It was very cozy, but I don’t know if I am a huge fan of Beaton’s writing.
7. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Sarah MacLachlan — I very much enjoyed the middle grade book but for some reason never reviewed it.
8. The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates — This book was super weird and full of possible references to incestual attraction. That’s all I gotta say about that one.
9. Death Without Company (A Walt Longmire Mystery) by Craig Johnson — I enjoy this series but rarely write book reviews for them. I am not sure why.
10. At Home In Mitford by Jan Karon — Despite being one of my favorite books and book series, I have never shared a review of this book on my blog or social media, that I can remember anyhow.
A bonus: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Read it. Liked it. Never reviewed it and I don’t know why.
How about you? What books have you never reviewed? Maybe you are a reader who doesn’t even do reviews and that’s totally fine too. This list shows that I really don’t review every book. I do have fun writing reviews and telling other readers about the books I read though.
Today’s prompt is: 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To (will you be prioritizing these this year?)
I don’t really pay attention to new releases very well because I read all over the place and most of my reads are “old” — such as released many years ago.
I hope it is okay then today to share ten books I wanted to get to last year (that was on my planned reads list) but didn’t get to. Would I like to get to these books this year? Some, yes, and some I have lost interest in.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet (I do plan to read this one at some point, hopefully this year)
2. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (I’m part of the way done with this)
3. House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (I really enjoyed Moriarty by Horowitz and would like to read this Sherlock Holmes book too)
4. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (this would be re-read but I haven’t read it since sixth grade)
5. Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie (still plan to read)
6. A Fatal Footnote by Margaret Loudon (still hope to read)
7.Ever Faithful by Karen Barnett (I started this one and couldn’t really get into it so I don’t know if I plan to read it or not this year)
8. Dandelion Cottage by Carol Watson Rankin (I do still plan to read this one)
9. Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (I don’t know if I will read this this year or not. Maybe)
10. The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island (I do plan to read this one this year)
Are there books you missed reading last year that you still plan to read this year?
Today’s prompt is to share The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection (or to your to-read list!)
This one wasn’t too hard for me to do because I had ordered five from Thriftbooks right after Christmas and before that there was a used book sale at our library and I picked up a few (I promise it was actually just a few this time).
1. The Clue in the Diary (Nancy Drew, Book 7) by Carolyn Keene
2. The Sign of the Twisted Candles (Nancy Drew, Book 9) by Carolyn Keene
3. The Password to Larkspur Lane (Nancy Drew, Book 10) by Carolyn Keene
4. The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Pereus
5. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmond
6. Christy by Catherine Marshall
7. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
8. The Mystery of The Flying Express by Franklin W. Dixon (this was an original copy by husband picked up for me at a used bookstore)
9. Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien
Have you read any of these? What are your last ten additions to your TBR?
Today’s prompt: Bookish Goals for 2025 (How many books do you want to read this year? Are you hoping to read outside your comfort zone? Are there books you meant to read last year but never got to? Are there new-to-you authors you’re hoping to read?)
I haven’t set bookish goals in the past, but I do have some bookish goals this year, including reading whatever I want to read – not what I feel like I should read. Here are some of my other book or reading related goals this year.
I hope to read at least 30 books. I originally planned to write down 50 since last year I had a goal of 30 and read 68 but I decided to keep the number in the conservative range and then be excited if I read more.
2. I hope to try out some new authors this year, but also some “old” authors — as in classic authors. I want to try books by Terry Pratchett and other fantasy writers, for one, and I really want to try to get through one Jane Austen book all the way through and not only on Audible. Other authors I want to try are Alan Bradley, Matt Haig, Beth Bower, T.I. Low, John Connell, Maya Angelou, and Wendell Berry
3. Reading outside my comfort zone will be on the list year too because I want to try more fantasy. I won’t be trying erotica or horror, however. Just fantasy and maybe a couple more thrillers. I read mysteries but not always “thrillers”.
4. I hope to read more Christian fiction and non-fiction this year. I have a physical stack of C.S. Lewis books I want to read, non-fiction and fiction. I also want to read Charles Martin, Coleen Coble, Joel C. Rosenberg, Sarah Loudin Thomas, Tessa Ashfar, and Francine Rivers.
5. I mentioned above I want to read more classic authors and I do. Some of the books I want to read this year include The Count of Monte Cristo, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Middlemarch, A Tale of Two Cities (because I bailed on it before), and Wuthering Heights. Will I get to them? Probably not but … I can try.
6. Plan to read more Nancy Drews. I’ve already read a handful of the early Nancy Drews and hope to read more of them and some of the later ones this year.
7. I want to read more of whatever I want to read and not what I think I need to read for book tours or book reviews or to return favors to other authors. I know that sounds horrible but last year I ended up reading books I would not have normally read and it turned out not to be a great idea. There were other times I read books I wouldn’t have normally read and it was a good idea so I don’t want to say I won’t try books that I would normally not read, but I will say that I won’t feel guilty anymore if I turn a book down because there is another book I want to read more. Reading should be fun, not a chore.
8. I hope to read more overall. Sometimes I get so distracted with writing my own books, or blog posts or making social media posts or just goofing off on social media that I don’t read. Reading is such a nice escape and I want to choose it over watching TV or doom scrolling much more this year.
9. I really hope I can read more books that are already on my TBR/bookshelf instead of adding new ones, but I know that I’ll still be buying some to add to that list because buying books is better than buying drugs.
10. I want to read a couple biographies this year because that is a genre I rarely read. I am reading one about Anthony Bourdain right now. If you have any suggestions of other biographies I can read, let me know. I tend to steer clear of political figures on any “side” so I don’t really need those kind of suggestions.
So what are your bookish goals this year, if you have any? Let me know in the comments.
