Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2022/What I've Read in 2022

Love more suggestions! Thanks Lynn!

The odd thing is the The Incredible Umbrella Tetralogy which is all four stories came out in 2019 from Wildside Press which does lots of ebooks along with their paper ones. So why isn't in in ebook also.

If you like those kind of stories and haven't read deCamp and Pratt's Incomplete Enchanter stories yet you might like them. Not in ebook apparently.
They wrote a number of stories over a length of time. So you don't want The Incomplete Enchanter, or The Complete Enchanter, or even The Complete Complete Enchanter but you want The Mathematics of Magic which has all plus essays about them from other SF authors.

The main character comes up with a way to use symbolic logic adjusting your logic to the logic of a legend or story so you end up in it. The world of the Norse gods, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, the Finnish Kalevala, and the Irish Táin along with Oz and Barsoom.

#3 The Heroes of Olympus - The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan



The conclusion of the Heroes of Olympus series sees our heroes splitting into groups. In one group, the 7 of the Prophecy, the demigods race to Greece, to Athens, to fight the forces of Gaea, to try to prevent her from waking. In the other group, Nico, Reyna, and the satyr, Coach Hedge, must shadow-travel halfway around the world with the Athena Parthanos, in a despite bid to get it to Camp Half-Blood to prevent the Greeks and Romans from going to war with one another - if the strain of the shadow-travel doesn't kill the son of Hades first.

Not a bad book, but the conclusion to all this build-up to the war fell a little flat for me. It was almost too easy in a way. In the first Percy Jackson series, the Battle for Manhattan took up most or all of the final book. This one was mostly just build-up with what felt like too few chapters actually dedicated to the fighting. And the killing of Gaea's forces in Athens was laughably easy. Still, I overall enjoyed the series, even if I am completely partial to the original series.

Hi dcarson,

Yeah. I noticed a few days ago that the tetraology was only available in physical form.

#4 Rebel Robin by A.R. Capetta

Robin Buckley, sophomore at Hawkins High School, has tried all her life to fit in. Now, all she wants to do is stand out in some way. Deciding that she wants to spend the upcoming summer in Europe, she focuses on who to bring with her and how to make the money she requires. But her small circle of friends is more interested in dating and pushing her to date as well. Of course, the twist is, Robin herself hasn't figured out yet that she likes girls instead of boys, but we who have actually watched Stranger Things already know this. The book takes place during Season 1 of the show, but the events are barely footnotes in the overarching story (ie: Will Byers goes missing, is declared dead, returns from the Upside Down but since he's not in Robin's circle, his story is merely background noise to Robin's). It ends, of course, during the Season 3 events, with Robin getting her job at Scoops Ahoy, where we wind up meeting her in the show.

An okay book, nothing overly special or even interestingly insightful. But as far as "spinoff" books that usually wind up being completely awful, I was pleasantly surprised at how decent and how spot on it was to her character.

#9 The Turnout by Megan Abbott


This was a disturbing book. Highly damaged characters. Not a feel good read. I've read other books by this author. Her story about kids involved in competitive gymnastics captured some of the realities of that world. Her book about competitive research scientists was an utter joke. Not having any ballet experience, I don't know if she's done a decent job or not capturing that world. If this is an accurate picture, I'd want nothing to do with it. The reveal towards the end was just creepy.

#5 The Giver by Lois Lowry (Graphic Novel Adaptation)

Jonas lives in a perfect society where Sameness rules. The Elders make all the decisions - from who is assigned to be your spouse, to what "newchild" you are assigned to have (one male, one female per household), to what job you have. No one is unhappy, no one sees colors, no one even has memories of a time before Sameness. Jonas doesn't even realize this until he is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory and learns what it was like, back when people had choices (some bad, some good) and love in their lives.

I've read the Giver numerous times. It's been one of my favorites since I first read it as an 8th grader. This graphic novel adaptation was dead on faithful to the original and the illustrations were gratifyingly on-point with what I always imagined Jonas and his world to look like. (MUCH more so than that pretty awful movie they made where it was all futuristic and sci-fiy.)

I have a box of books I've picked from book recycling shelves here and there. Instead of consuming the box I seem to overflow it. Thus most of them are old or trashy romances. Probably need to read more real books and less fan fics...
This far I have read (along comics):

Catherine Cookson's The Upstart (a Finnish translation)
History setting. A shoemaker has gotten rich building his shoe empire and buys a manor and its staff along. We follow the story of his daughter when the family breaks apart and later how she finds love in a man her father doesn't accept. I felt at places that I am being told rather than shown or I could not quite understand why some characters were having bad blood. As if part of the story happened in the parts not written.

Defiant Love
Historical romance. FMC is assaulted, twice when she runs off for a nunnery to avoid marriage. Is rescued, marries the man and falls in love with him. Her husband is involved in a political plot and they are separated when she lures enemy off his trail. In the climax she runs into a battle scene with a new born baby because her sister has to go there. For her defence, this time, she took some knights along for protection.

Sunneva by Kaari Utrio
I just started this one. Also a historical novel. I seem to pick them up lately. Sunneva is a girl in 14th century Scandinavia, the most beautiful of them all, and plans to marry well. This far she has witnessed a murder, has plotted to kill an unfit suitor, was sent to a nunnery to learn manners, and is now on the run as she accidentally destroyed a valuable book. She is not a very likeable character at the moment, I think, but there might be some character growth coming as she is now facing some hardships. I like the old style this has been written in and it draws a vivid picture of how life was then and there.

I tried a Jude Devereaux book that had a time travelling plot but I don't know if I'll finish that. I read some reviews and its conclusion was a disappointment for some. I keep yelling at the writer about anachronistic pieces of clothing after watching one too many period dressing up video on Youtube.

#10 LIfe after Life by Kate Atkinson


I didn't think I was going to finish this one. The concept was a little tedious. But as the girl finally got older, all the different permutation of her life became more interesting. A very cool concept.

#11 Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena


Typical thriller with silly unlikeable characters. Good read for a trip.

#12 Wish You were Here by Jodie Picoult


It's official - this author drives me nuts! She comes up with some really interesting ideas and then goes way off. I loved parts of this book. I hated parts of this book.

#13 That Summer by Jennifer Weiner


Me Too movement prompts a victim of a rape to search for her rapist. In the process, she befriends his wife. Some interesting parts about women's choices, though one of the characters tended to blame her husband rather than putting effort into her own happiness.

You can tell I was traveling this week!

#6 The Ickabog by JK Rowling

One little lie takes down an entire kingdom.

An okay fic that thankfully avoided the pitfalls of Harry Potter - that is to say, this fic was short and to the point and didn't meander into unnecessary territory over and over again. Very much a political commentary, most of the comparisons did go over my kids' heads. However, in light of what's going on between Russia and Ukraine right now, the parallels were almost uncomfortably close (ie - the Chief Advisor eliminating anyone who dissents). Predictable in a lot of ways, but kind of endearing too.

#7 Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie

Pretty little rich girl is murdered on a boat full of people voyaging up the Nile River. Everyone is a suspect.

I hated it. It was slow and boring and the characters fell into only three categories for me - annoying, forgettable, or downright revolting. I found myself not caring about a single one of them, didn't care about who died (there's more than one murder), and I didn't care about who did the killings or their motives for that matter. (As it turns out, I was mostly right in my guess.) I found the author's style to be just awful - very abrupt and stiff, not one of the characters felt like an actual, real human to me.

#14 The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman


Definitely a cliche romance, complete with instant boyfriend from the past. Good for a car read.

I finished Sunneva. It ended up being a two-parter. I didn't learn to like the MC. I read the author's note in the end and apparently this was her first published novel. It was visible, now that I think of it. Anyways, interesting peek into medieval times (I misremembered the century).

Another book I grabbed was Marietta by Fabricius (its name in English is something else). Not my type of book as it didn't have any particular interesting plot. We followed young Marietta's years of growth until she marries. This is part of a trilogy. I am not going to read the rest, I don't have those parts and the only mentions I managed to find of the series suggests that it will be of no interest to me.

Now I am reading Ruth Rendell's book The Veiled One (or sometving like that). A detective story. Quite boring. As in the victim is boring, there is one suspect but he is boring too and he is mostly suspect because one officer has fixated on him, the police is boring... So I am expecting a twist in the end. And who is the mysterious woman who was seen with the victim before the murder? Side plot about assassination attempts on the detective's daughter which almost kills the detective himself.

@scifiJoan: I hope the "car read" was as a passenger and not the driver or .

Isn't that the truth! My husband loves to drive so it's reading time for me.

#15 The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams


This was fun. The chapters alternated between Vivian in 1964 and Violet in 1914. Some parts pushed credibility but it was an entertaining read.

#8 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

Three men are the sole survivors of a mission to find out what sea monster is sinking ships around the globe. Instead of a monster, they find the world's most advanced submarine and its captain, a man who calls himself "Nemo" (Latin for "No One"). They become his unwilling crew for about a year, all the while alternatively learning about the marine world in ways they never could have imagined and plotting their escape.


Okay, so this was very, very abridged (Illustrated Classics edition) that we read to the girls (in preparation for a Rick Riordan book that ties into it). Still, it made for a fun and exciting read, and the girls were totally into it.

#9 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

A girl finds a stray dog in the new town she's just moved to. The dog helps her make friends.

I want to start off by saying that I love dogs. I really do. But this book was just flat out boring. And the ending was horrible - basically just ended in the middle of a scene. It really could have used an epilogue giving us an overview of how things went on from the summer described in the book. My kids loved it and demanded that I read this one. And then they wanted to watch the movie, which was an embarrassment to filmmaking. I've seen more thrilling/less boring Hallmark movies.

#16 This Tender Land by Willaim Kent Krueger


A beautiful coming of age story. Just as good as the other book I read by the writer.


Deadly Chakrum, I must confess that I really liked the "Because of Winn-Dixie" movie.

If you want to read an unabridged version get the US Naval Institute press edition. It was translated by someone that understands French naval terms and added back in all the parts of Nemos story that being anti British empire the UK translators eliminated. So about 25% longer.

#17 My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russel



This was not a feel-good book. I was very frustrated by the narrator's choices but that also provided insight into how such an awful experience would affect someone.

#10 Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan


As per Amazon: Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana's parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family's she's got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana's freshman year culminates with the class's weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it'll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives.

But wait, there's more. The professor accompanying them informs Ana that their rival school, Land Institute, and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war for a hundred and fifty years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full broil, and the freshman are in danger of becoming fish food. In a race against deadly enemies, Ana will make amazing friends and astounding discoveries about her heritage as she puts her leadership skills to the test for the first time.

I think we all enjoyed this book although if I would have realized that it would touch of certain more mature subjects (Ana gets her menstrual cycle whilst aboard the ship she and her classmates are to have their trials on), I would have waited another year or so before reading it with my girls. Nothing wrong with it but we haven't had that talk yet because they're still a tad young for it. So there was some editing that my husband and I had to do on the fly. But overall, it was a minor point in the overarching story and we all found it an enjoyable read.