Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2020/What I've Read in 2020

#24 - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

I've read this one at least half a dozen times, but every so often I just HAVE to go back and revisit it. I adore it. It's quite a bit different from the movie (which I also adore). I'm firmly in Camp "Would Totally Go to the Dinosaur Theme Park and Consequences Be Damned." With the way 2020 is going, at least getting eaten by a T-Rex would be going out in style.

#30 Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Interesting read about the factors that contribute to success.

48) Walking Free by Dr Munjed Al-Muderis with contribution from Patrick Weaver Dr Al-Muderis is an Iraqi born Australian orthopaedic surgeon based in Sydney who is world renown for his pioneering work in the surgical technique of osseointergration which has given amputees the chance to walk unaided again. Born into a well connected wealthy Iraqi family he lived a life of relative privilege however, this would change while he had begun his hospital training. In 1999 a group of military police officers stormed the hospital and demanded that the head of surgery mutilate the ears of a group of military deserters. When he refused to do so the surgery chief was summarily executed in front of his staff. The choice was clear obey and live or follow the Hippocratic oath of ‘do no harm’ and lose your life for it. Fleeing to Australia by boat, Al-Muderis would endure humiliation and mistrust spending nearly a year in a detention camp in the Western Australian desert before being granted a visa and begin practicing medicine. A beautiful story of hope and how people shouldn’t immediately prejudice a group of people based on preconceived notions.

49) Going Back: How a former refugee, now an internationally acclaimed surgeon, returned to Iraq to change the lives of injured soldiers and civilians by Dr Munjed Al-Muderis with contribution from Patrick Weaver now a world renown orthopaedic surgeon who has changed the lives of not only Australian amputees, but also many worldwide including former British soldiers wounded in combat (which would culminate in not only witnessing one of his patients walk unaided to receive an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II for his fund raising efforts for veterans, but also a visit from Prince Harry) Dr Al-Muderis returns to land of his birth for the first time since fleeing in 1999. This goes over the technology and techniques used in osseointergration as well as stories from the lives he has helped change for the better. While the obstacles he faces with corruption in the Iraqi government over funding for the project, this shows his humanitarian side and his drive to want to make lives better for the people not only from his birthplace, but also from other countries what have suffered from the consequences of war.

#31 The Cactus by Sarah Haywood



I thought this book was going to be similar to Eleanor Oliphant but it missed the mark.

50) The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron In 1933 the author journeys across the Middle Eastern desert sands though Persia to Afghanistan. While interesting, I also found it a little confusing since it didn’t appear to be in any sequential order and he jumps from place to place rather randomly.

#32 A Week at the Shore by Barbara Delinsky


If this were by a different author, I'd say this was an okay beach read. But I've read books that were so much better from this author that this book was disappointing.

#25 - Congo by Michael Crichton

Another reread because he's one of my favorite authors. I remember really loving this one the first time around but I had so many interruptions this time around that it lost a little of it's luster for me. Still, a very fun read.

#26 - The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Yet another reread. I just LOVE this book (not as much as The Lord of the Rings). I read it to my daughters. We did it last summer but the attention span was really too low for it. This year, they were super engaged with it and were (oddly enough) very upset by the fate of dear old Smaug the dragon.

51) The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but it was certainly eye opening to say the least. This book explains how the British would end up being one of the most powerful empires in the world and how they gained a foothold in India. While interesting, the chapters are rather long and at times tedious. Still, the book is well researched and has some excellent points to be made in terms of how private companies can influence the world.

52) Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer ok I’ll freely admit to liking the Twilight Saga though I’ve not read or watched the movies in quite a number of years. I read this more out of a desire to read something completely nonsensical and for pure escape given my preference for reading non-fiction or biographies. For fans it will be a fun read to get inside Edward’s head, but personally much more long winded than what I was expecting it to be given how short the original novel was. That being said it also filled in a lot of the blanks that weren’t mentioned from Bella’s perspective

#33 Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng


This wasn't a feel good book but a well written character driven story.


#34 Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano


Touching story which alternates between the characters while on the plane and how Edward copes afterward the crash.

#35 Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts


A neat peak into some of the real life events that inspired The Wizard of Oz.

53) The Travels by Marco Polo while this started out promising by the end I was struggling to finish it as I grew increasingly bored with the repetitiousness of his descriptions of the people and locales. Definitely can see why scholars have debated about whether or not Polo actually travelled to China

#36 Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner


I needed something lighter and this fit the bill.

54) It Doesn’t Take a Hero by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Well written autobiography of the man who would earn the nickname ‘Stormin’ Norman’ after the First Gulf War.

55) Crusade in Europe by General Dwight Eisenhower admittedly I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I found it rather laborious, while certainly interesting to read it through his eyes, it was extremely slow going

#37 Bad Blood: Secrets and LIes in a Silcon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou


What a nightmare! I can't believe this woman fooled so many people.


#38 American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings

After a drug cartel kills most of her family, a Mexico woman and her son flee to the United States.

This was a disturbing read. Apparently there's a lot of controversy about this book, which I was unaware of while reading. After looking into, I agree with some points but not with all of them.:

#39 Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler

I thought I'd read all of Octavia Butler's work and was pleased to find this collection had a few stories I wasn't familiar with. It also had commentary from the author. I've always enjoyed that her science fiction works focus more on relationships than just the science.

41: The Year of the Flu: A World War I Medical Thriller by Millys Altman. The Spanish flu fictionalized and from the viewpoint of a fresh out of medical school doctor in a coal mining town.

42: The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic: The History and Legacy of the World's Deadliest Influenza Outbreak by Charles River Editors. This one and #41 were chosen because I am not surprisingly frustrated with the current circumstances. People keep bringing up the Spanish flu, so I thought doing some research into it would be useful. They helped. This was more documentary style and featured a collection of letters written by people living through the ordeal.

43: Her Three Suitors by Aneka Walker. I did not realize this was a sort of retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears until I read some other reviews after I finished reading. I still don't really see it, its a flimsy connection at best. I did enjoy the story of a girl whose parents set up a house party for her and three suitors, during which she begins to believe that she is not who her parents claim she is.

44: The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews. I really enjoyed this one despite the changes I would have liked to see. A woman answers an ad placed by a man looking for a wife. It was going so great until closer to the end when the old miscommunication trope reared its ugly head. The rest of the story was exceedingly satisfying.

56) Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy 1945-1975 by Max Hastings There is no doubt that The Vietnam War was an extremely divisive conflict during the 20th Century much like of Iraq today. As divisive it was the conflict is actually a part of my own family history. My father is Chinese-Vietnamese and his childhood was shaped by the early upheavals of the early years of the war, due to potentially being conscripted my father who was 18 in 1963 was shuffled abroad as a student by my grandfather so most of what happened afterwards remains a mystery . This was eye opening for me as most of my understanding has always been an oversimplification of events coupled with what little my dad tells me.

#40 The Farm by Joanne Ramos


This book had the potential to address a lot of social issues but it fell a bit flat.

#41 Southern Lady Code by Helen Ellis


We've read so many heavy books for book club I thought we could use something light. This wasn't as fun as I hoped it would be.

57) Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang Cixi as many imperial concubines may well have been lost to history had she not produced the only son of Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty. The consequence of this would result in the downfall of China’s 2000 year old imperial system. There is no doubt that she is a polarising figure and Chang does attempt to separate fact from fiction using recently accessible imperial archives. What results though is the complete opposite and she comes across as completely bias towards her actions ignoring the fact that by installing children on the throne she as regent could control the affairs of the Qing court much of which would have dire consequences for the dynasty as a whole.