Books Read in 2024

I finished 2024 with a reading total of 66 books.

Here is my list of how many books I've read each year going back to 2014 when I began keeping track.

2014:  262 books
2015:  231 books
2016:  355 books
2017:  403 books
2018:  315 books
2019:  185 books
2020:  106 books
2021:    60 books
2022:    47 books
2023:    51 books
2024:    66 books

As I wrote in September, my reading pattern is sporadic.  I can read steadily through whatever set interests me, then I end up going weeks withing reading anything.  That is, I go weeks without reading books.  

How many of you are like me, always reading everything?  Product boxes, signs, articles, anything and everything placed in front of me.  I am always reading.  Even when I'm not reading actual books, I can spend hours each day reading something.

It's compulsive.  Put words in front of me, and I'll start to read them, even if they don't interest me.  When I'm online on social media, I end up beginning to read stuff that's of little interest when it's in my feed, simply because I can see it.  I want to learn, to know, to think.  

I always have a short list of topics that are on my mind, and I seek out information about them.  One of those topics is pandemics.  Naturally, I'm keeping an eye on the bird flu situation.

I love to read.

Here is my list of books I read in 2024.  As I have done in previous years, books I had already read prior to 2024 have been marked in blue.

January:  3 books

Percy Jackson #1 The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson #2 The Sea of Monsters
Nancy Drew Diaries #25 What Disappears in Vegas...

I watched the new Percy Jackson television series, and then I decided to reread all the Percy Jackson books.  I got bored during the third book and quit.  I get sidetracked so easily these days.

In February, I decided to read young adult books.  I found praise online for the imprint, Sourcebooks Fire.  Following that lead brought me to quite a few books that I enjoyed.

February:  11 books

That's Not My Name by Megan Lally
They're Watching You by Chelsea Ichaso
The Warning by Kristy Acevedo
The Fallout by Kristy Acevedo
Plague Land by Alex Scarrow
Plague Land: Reborn by Alex Scarrow
Plague Land: No Escape by Alex Scarrow
What Happened on Hicks Road by Hannah Jayne
Swarm by Jennifer D. Lyle
Don't Let In the Cold by Keely Parrack
The Last to Die by Kelly Garrett

March:  12 books

The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Tiffany Brooks
The Chaperone by M Hendrix
All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown
The Compound by S. A. Bodeen
The Fallout by S. A. Bodeen
The Rule of Three by Eric Walters
The Rule of Three: Fight for Power by Eric Walters
The Rule of Three: Will to Survive by Eric Walters
Wilders: A Dystopian Half-Pocalyse Series by Cass Kim
Wilders: The Change by Cass Kim
Consequences: A Wilders Finale by Cass Kim
Michael Vey #1 The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans

April:  9 books

Michael Vey #2 Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans
Michael Vey #3 Battle of the Ampere by Richard Paul Evans
Michael Vey #4 Hunt for Jade Dragon by Richard Paul Evans
Michael Vey #5 Storm of Lightning by Richard Paul Evans
Michael Vey #6 Fall of Hades by Richard Paul Evans
Michael Vey #7 The Final Spark by Richard Paul Evans
Only She Came Back by Margot Harrison
Campus Murder Club by Kristi Rose
They All Had a Reason #1 A Rumor. A Secret. A Lie. A Murder by Michele Leathers

I ran out of books that interested me, and I couldn't find anything else.  Also, May and June were months of extreme stress, so reading books was the last thing on my mind.

May:  none

June:  3 books

The Defiant Heart by Florence B. Michelson
Keeper of the Lost Cities #1
Keeper of the Lost Cities #2 Exile

I tried to start my rereading of the Keeper books, then I lost interest.

July:  6 books

The Riddle of Raven Gulch by Mary Francis Shura
Mystery of the Lobster Thieves by Elaine Macmann Willoughby
The Secret of Hallam House by Nina Brown Baker
The Gray Ghosts of Taylor Ridge by Mary Francis Shura
The Season of Silence by Mary Francis Shura
Six-Dinner Sid by Inga Moore

August:  4 books

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger
Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger
The Last Witness by Claire McFall
The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle

September:  3 books

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson
As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson

I reread Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 for the second time this year before continuing with the set.  I don't know if that rereading happened in September and/or October.  I was not keeping good track of my reading at around this time.  I have accounted for all of my reading, but I don't know where I was in the Keeper set at the beginning of October.  Also, I am only counting the June reading of Keeper #1 and #2 towards my total, so when I read them the second time doesn't matter.

October:  3 books

Keeper of the Lost Cities #3 Everblaze
Keeper of the Lost Cities #4 Neverseen
Keeper of the Lost Cities #5 Lodestar

November:  5 books

Keeper of the Lost Cities #6 Nightfall
Keeper of the Lost Cities #7 Flashback
Keeper of the Lost Cities #8 Legacy
Keeper of the Lost Cities #8.5 Unlocked
Keeper of the Lost Cities #9 Stellarlune

December:  7 books

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled
Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled
If I Tell: A Murder Mystery Thriller about a Girl and a Serial Killer by J. W. Lynne
End of Times #1 Impact by Nate Johnson
End of Times #2 Escape by Nate Johnson
End of Times #3 Endure by Nate Johnson
End of Times #4 Quest by Nate Johnson
The End of Everything #1 by Nate Johnson

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled twice through when it was released.  I am only counting the first reading towards my total.

Currently, I am mainly interested in reading modern books.  59 of the 66 books I read in 2024 have been published since 2000.

The Best Books of 2024

These books are the most outstanding books out of all of the books I read in 2024.  I am so fortunate that I read them.

That's Not My Name by Megan Lally
Campus Murder Club by Kristi Rose
The Season of Silence by Mary Francis Shura

The Worst Books of 2024

These books bored me.

Michael Vey #7 The Final Spark by Richard Paul Evans
Let the Sky Fall trilogy by Shannon Messenger
Mystery of the Lobster Thieves by Elaine Macmann Willoughby

I enjoyed this next group of books to varying degrees, but they were quite disappointing.  When I finished reading each one, I felt depressed, disgusted, or angry.  

If I Tell: A Murder Mystery Thriller about a Girl and a Serial Killer by J. W. Lynne
The Last Witness by Claire McFall
They All Had a Reason #1 A Rumor. A Secret. A Lie. A Murder by Michele Leathers

The one that really angered me was The Last Witness by Claire McFall, because it was a total waste of time.  I don't appreciate being manipulated and lied to by the author.  It is enraging. 

At present, I am still on winter break and am thoroughly enjoying Nate Johnson's books.  The books are self-published and have quite a few errors with homonyms and punctuation, but Nate Johnson writes engaging stories that have interesting characters.  I'm good to go for around the next week, and then I'll see if I can find something else that I like.

Book Reading Milestone for This Year

I feel like my book reading pace has been rather poor.  The problem is that my reading progress is very inconsistent.  I'll do great for a week or so, then I'll quit reading for weeks.  That said, I'm pleased that as of today I've matched the number of books that I read last year:  51 books.

These are my yearly reading totals since I began tracking the number of books that I've read.

2014:  262 books
2015:  231 books
2016:  355 books
2017:  403 books
2018:  315 books
2019:  185 books
2020:  106 books
2021:    60 books
2022:    47 books
2023:    51 books
2024:    51 books+

Since the pandemic, my reading has been sporadic and not what it was in previous years.  I don't know if that will ever change, since I'm under a lot of stress from different fronts.

I find that I cannot read old books at this time.  By "old" books, I mean anything written before 1940.  Those books have a different style, and I don't seem able to tolerate it currently.  This is due to stress, etc. 

Even books from the 1940s up through the 1990s are not to my liking at present.  I just want to read very modern books published since 2000.  I've read quite a few modern young adult books this year.

In fact, checking my list of 51 books, 45 of them have been published since 2000.  Early this year, I published a post that mentioned that each year's reading tells a story.  In 2024, I am focused on modern books, mainly young adult with a few middle grade fantasy books mixed in.

I'm guaranteed to match my total from 2021.  I still have to complete my fourth reading of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which I plan to do sometime between now and the release of book 9.5 in early December.  I've already reread books 1 and 2 this year, but I got sidetracked like what always happens when I read these days.  Once I read books 3 through 8, 8.5, 9, and 9.5, I will have read nine more books, equaling my 2021 total of 60 books.

While last year's total was 51 different books, the real total was 71 books.  I didn't count my second and third readings of the Keeper of the Lost Cities books in the total since they were duplicate readings of the same books.  It's possible that I might end up reading as many as 71 books this year, but it's unlikely.  My reading is too sporadic, and I'm likely to have some big gaps in reading in the next 3 1/2 months. 

I'm pleased that I will end up reading at least 60 books by the end of the year, at a minimum. 

10 Years of Reading: Each Year Has a Story

2023 marked the tenth year that I kept track of every single book that I read.  I read 2,015 books during those 10 years.  As I reflected on my 2023 reading in December, I realized that my reading from each year tells a story about that particular year.  This post contains quotes from my 2014 through 2023 posts about the books that I read.

2014:  262 books read - I use books as escapism.  (2014 post)

I have always used reading as escapism, and I become an unusually voracious reader during times of great stress, particularly when the stress is caused by a physical ailment.  I didn't realize as 2014 began that it would be a year of great stress and illness and that I would use books as escapism to a greater degree than I ever have in my entire life. 

2015:  231 books read - I realize that I like boys' series books.  (2015 post)

I have never cared for boys' series books.  That is... I didn't think that I cared for them.  The only boys' series I had read were the Hardy Boys, Perry Pierce, and Ken Holt.  While I overall enjoyed the Hardy Boys books, I did not like certain aspects of them, such as some of the boisterous behavior of the boys.  I enjoyed Perry Pierce more than the Hardy Boys, but I also didn't care for similar situations.  When I read Ken Holt back in 2010, I struggled with the great detail and some of the qualities shared with the former two series.  Based on those experiences, I concluded that I didn't like boys' series books very much.

In the last year I have read the Three Investigators, Brains Benton, the Power Boys, Rick Brant, Roger Baxter, Troy Nesbit, and Biff Brewster.  I greatly enjoyed most all of the books in most of the series.  I read the Ken Holt books again, and I liked them better than I did in 2010.  Since I responded quite well to most of the books in these boys' series, I can now conclude that I do in fact like boys' series books.  This is quite a revelation for me, since I thought that I didn't like boys' books.

2016:  355 books - I explain my reading pace.  (2016 post)

As I updated my reading progress this year, a few people had trouble grasping how I read so many books.  Reading is my favorite activity. That should be enough explanation, but here's some more.  I read instead of watching movies.  In fact, I believe that I watched not even one movie in 2016, which may be the first time that has ever happened.  Think about how much time you have spent watching movies, and there you go.  There's nothing surprising about watching lots of movies, and there shouldn't be anything surprising about spending that same time reading lots of books.

I also watch very little television.  That's more time freed up.

I don't read every word of every book.  I don't need to read the obligatory explanation of how Frank is older than Joe, their father Fenton is a detective, and so on in every Hardy Boys book.  I skim or skip over those paragraphs.  That saves time.

I am reading children's books.  Most of them do have at least 150 pages, but they are nowhere near as long as the average book for adults.  This means that I can read more children's books than I could adult books.

In "How to read 462 books in one year," Sarah Weinman explains her reading technique.  "What also seems to happen is that I read a page not necessarily word by word, but by capturing pages in sequence in my head. The words and phrases appear diagonally, like I'm absorbing the text all in one gulp, and then I move on to the next sequence I can absorb by paragraph or page."

I can't do what Sarah describes, but I do sometimes read individual paragraphs diagonally.  It considerably speeds up reading.

2017:  403 books - I attain my goal of reading an average of one book per day.  (2017 post)

The idea of reading one book per day appeals to me, even though it is a daunting task.  I set myself a goal of reading 365 books by the end of 2017.  I have some significant doubt as to whether the goal is reachable, and it depends upon the length of the books I read.  Indeed, I have set the goal at 365 to force myself to keep reading as many books as I can as quickly as I can. 

I have approximately 500 books on my "to read" list.  These are books that I truly want to read very soon, but even at one book per day, I will need around 1 1/2 years to get to all of them.  It's a bit overwhelming and even a little depressing.  By having a goal of one book per day this year, I will make good progress on my reading list.

2018:  315 books - I begin to grow tired of writing reviews.  (2018 post)

You will also notice that I did not review all books that I read.  Sometimes I do not review a book simply because I do not feel like it.  When I read a single volume by an author, I am less likely to write up a review.  The motivation to write the review is lower when the book is not part of a larger set.

I also balk at writing reviews when I did not enjoy books that were highly recommended to me or that were mentioned as having been someone's childhood favorite.  I read several such books this year.  Those books weren't bad, but they didn't do anything for me, either.  I hardly want to write up a review of one of those books saying that it wasn't very interesting to me.

2019:  185 books - I get really annoyed about people criticizing my reading choices and how I spend my time.  (2019 post)

There are books that I had purchased that I had never read.  I had a feeling that reading them would not be very satisfying but I had to try the books at some point in time.  A time with no reading goal and no strong interest in reading seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Some readers might not understand my reasoning, but it made sense to me.  I wasn't going to read much, so I figured that I should just make a task out of it and force myself to read certain books kind of like I was reading them as part of a job.  Does that help?  If not, don't worry about why.  It worked for me.

So I proceeded through one book after another.  I had to decide whether I could read the books, as in whether I could ever in my entire life manage to read the books.  If I couldn't force myself to read them at a time when I didn't care if I enjoyed what I read, then I would never be able to read them.  I wanted to list the books for sale if I couldn't read them.  I didn't want to sell them and regret it later, wondering if I would have enjoyed the books if I had tried them.  I had to try.  And try I did.

For those who think that I shouldn't be reading books that I don't enjoy... I didn't read all of them.  I read a couple dozen books partway through and quit.  Some books were read halfway.  Some books were read for only a few chapters.  The very first page or two of some books scared me off.  Never worry about me wasting my time and energy on bad books.  I know when to stop.

I must have between 8,000 and 10,000 books in my house.  I am very satisfied that I have cleared out books that took up a length of at least six feet on my shelves.  Some books have already been listed and sold.  I am very pleased to have made headway with books that were taking up place and had never been read.  That is why I forced myself to try all of those books that I found boring.

Also, some of you might be wondering why I purchased a bunch of boring books.  At the time I purchased the books, they wouldn't have been boring.  I already explained in my previous post that my taste in books has changed in the last 10 years.  If I had read the books 10 years ago, I might have enjoyed most of them.  Reading lots of boys' series books since 2014 has changed me as a reader.

2020:  106 books - I fear for my life.  (2020 post)

I am not myself at all.  I'm too worried about school starting and about everything having to do with the pandemic.  I go back to work five weeks from today.  School starts six weeks from tomorrow.  Yikes.  I feel like I'm trapped on the Titanic headed for a disaster.

I have decided that my listings on eBay and Etsy will come down regardless of how we do school.  I just don't need to be packing books or answering buyer's questions in the evenings.  I expect that both of my stores will be closed from around August 3 through at least late August.  I will have to see what happens and assess my stress level.

I keep pushing my fears into the back of my mind, but August 5 creeps closer with each day.  And of course, everyone is deeply worried about school, not just the teachers but also the parents and children.  This is a such a mess. 

With all that is on my mind, I don't get much out of reading anything.

2021:  60 books - My reading output further declines.  (2021 post)

I want to read, but most all books are unappealing to me at present.  I find that the only kind of books I currently find remotely appealing are ones about an apocalypse of some kind.  I don't need it to make sense, but I do want it to have occurred in the world we know, involve very little fantasy, and be written in an engaging fashion without a bunch of boring content.  Most of the books I try fail on one or more points.  I abandoned a number of books this year since they didn't end up meeting those conditions.

and 

I have kept quite busy, so it should be understandable why I didn't read as many books.  For a time, I thought that I wouldn't even make it past 50 books, so I'm pleased that I ended up reading 60 books altogether.  One study found that Americans read an average of 12 books per year with the median American reading just 4 books per year.  Reading 60 books is just fine.  

In closing, I want to express that I do not need any advice.  While most books do not interest me right now, I read as fast and with as much interest as ever when I come across a book that does interest me.  I haven't changed, but I have other concerns and interests right now. 

2022:  47 books - I read online content instead of books.  (2022 post)

I am constantly reading, but these days what I read tends to be on Reddit and Quora.  I love reading online discussions about anything and everything and spend a significant amount of time each day doing so.  I just haven't been very motivated to read actual books.

As I've stated before, I don't need any advice.  I'm not disappointed in my reading output.  The pandemic has taken a lot out of me and continues to do so.  While the pandemic itself is waning, the impact continues.  Much of my stress this last year was caused by events that came about due to the fallout of the pandemic.  

2023:  51 books - I obsess over the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.  (2023 post)

The story of 2023 is my obsession over the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.  It's impacted me profoundly.  This sort of thing doesn't happen often.  When it does, I never forget my initial exposure.

I didn't mention in my post that my obsession stems from my hunt for clues to the protagonist's past and to something else.  I discovered early in my reading that clues are present in anagrams formed by some character's names.  Some of the anagrams are hard to decode, and I'm proud that I figured them out.  My search for clues and anagrams has been great fun.

Books Read in 2023

The quality of the reading experience is much more important than the quantity.  For that reason, 2023 was an excellent reading year for me.

I read 51 books in 2023, which was a slight increase from the 47 books I read in 2022.  While my total is just slightly higher, I actually read much more in 2023 than I did in 2022.  10 of the 51 books were read three times apiece.  If I were to count my duplicate readings of those 10 books, then my total books read instead would be 71 books.  Additionally, the 10 books that I read three times over are very long books of 600 to 900 pages each.

January:  16 books

Suzie by John Benton
Sherri by John Benton
Lori by John Benton
Marji by John Benton
Marji and the Kidnap Plot by John Benton
Nancy Drew Diaries #24 Captain Stone's Revenge
Marji and the Gangland Wars by John Benton
Julie by John Benton
Lefty by John Benton
Vicki by John Benton
Jackie by John Benton
Terri by John Benton
Nikki by John Benton
Connie by John Benton
Valarie by John Benton
Sheila by John Benton

February:  6 books

Stephanie by John Benton
Candi by John Benton
Hardy Boys Adventures #25 The Smuggler's Legacy
Sandi by John Benton
Augie by John Benton
Kari by John Benton

March:  13 books

Tracy by John Benton
Paco by John Benton
Kristi by John Benton
Lorene by John Benton
Rocky by John Benton
Renee by John Benton
Lisa by John Benton
Sally Lockhart, The Ruby in the Smoke, by Philip Pullman
Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
Keeper of the Lost Cities #2 Exile
Keeper of the Lost Cities #3 Everblaze
Keeper of the Lost Cities #4 Neverseen
Keeper of the Lost Cities #5 Lodestar

April:  5 books

Keeper of the Lost Cities #6 Nightfall
Keeper of the Lost Cities #7 Flashback
Keeper of the Lost Cities #8 Legacy
Keeper of the Lost Cities #8.5 Unlocked
Keeper of the Lost Cities #9 Stellarlune

I read through all of the Keeper of the Lost Cities books again immediately after finishing my first reading.  My second reading was from late April to early June.

June:  2 books

The Chinese Riddle by Nina Brown Baker
The Ranee's Ruby by Nina Brown Baker

In early August, I began reading through the Keeper of the Lost Cities series for the third time.  My third reading concluded in early November.

November: 6 books

Keeper of the Lost Cities Graphic Novel Part 1
The Thickety: A Path Begins, by J. A.  White
The Thickety #2 The Whispering Trees by J. A. White
The Thickety #3 Well of Witches by J. A. White
The Thickety #4 The Last Spell by J. A. White
Seniors #1 Too Much Too Soon by Eileen Goudge

December:  3 books

Seniors #2 Smart Enough to Know by Eileen Goudge
Seniors #3 Winner All the Way by Eileen Goudge
Percy Jackson #1 The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I am currently fighting the urge to read through the Keeper of the Lost Cities books for the fourth time.  I ought to be able to hold off for at least a few weeks, since I'm reading the Percy Jackson books.

I first read the Percy Jackson series 14 years ago and read through the original five titles at least a second time a few years after that.  A Percy Jackson series is currently airing on Disney+, and I had forgotten most everything about the books.  I watched the first three episodes, then I decided that I would enjoy the rest of the series much better if I reread the first Percy Jackson book.  After I finished rereading the first book, I decided to continue through the set.

I have been tracking the books I've read each year since 2014.  I was thinking about this a few weeks ago and realized that each year's reading tells a story.

The story of 2023 is my obsession over the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.  It's impacted me profoundly.  This sort of thing doesn't happen often.  When it does, I never forget my initial exposure.

March 13, 2023:

I am perusing Simon & Schuster's website, with my results limited to children's books aimed at the same age as the Nancy Drew series.  What is this stuff?  Why would I want to read these books?  I am so out of touch.

I do judge books by their covers and by their titles.  I won't try the Dork Diaries series.  I do tend to gravitate towards books with titles not completely dissimilar to classic series books.  I also gravitate towards the more nicely painted covers.

The Keeper of the Lost Cities series looks like it could be a possibility.  I am about to check out the sample on Amazon.

My goal that evening was to sample some other Simon & Schuster books in order to compare their quality to S&S's Nancy Drew output.  I didn't expect to get sucked into an obsession that has now lasted nearly 10 months and shows no sign of lessening.

I wonder about what I miss out on because I never have that initial exposure.  I'm glad that the one Keeper book stood out when I glanced over S&S's offerings on the night of March 13.  Otherwise, I never would have tried the series and would have missed out on something that I love dearly.

The Keeper fandom has grown slowly but steadily over the 11 years since the first book was published.  It was supposed to be just a trilogy but has expanded as its popularity has grown.  The fandom has grown primarily by word-of-mouth, and I am doing my part by recommending the books.

If you have enjoyed middle-grade fantasy like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Fablehaven, or similar books, then you should give the first Keeper book a try.  The worst thing that can happen is that you won't like the book.  But even if that happens, then you will be sure that you won't miss out on something that you might have liked.  

While I didn't read a massive number of books like I did around five years ago, my reading experience in 2023 was the most satisfying it's been in years.  This is because I found a special series of books that I greatly enjoy.

Blog, Facebook, and Reading Update

The last two weeks of the fall semester exhausted me.  It took me the first six days of winter break to recover to where I no longer feel tired and out of sorts.  

I listed a bunch of books on Etsy, including the rest of my Trixie Belden Goldencraft hardcover books. 

I also listed quite a few Nancy Drew Digest books plus some other stuff.  I may list some more books, but right now I may take a break.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

For the last several days, I've been working on this blog.  I first changed the template.  I went with an even simpler version this time.  For ease of reading, it's best to keep the layout simple with black print on a white background.

I then decided to change the description that shows below the title of the blog.  This is what I had:

This is where we discuss your favorite vintage series books from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to Trixie Belden and the Three Investigators to all other similar vintage series books.

This blog covers other types of books as well, so I felt like I needed to change the statement.

With some thought, I came up with this:

A blog for vintage series books like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys... featuring modern middle-grade fantasy... young adult dystopian novels... vintage teen books... vintage book collecting, buying, and selling topics... and more.

This is much better.  I acknowledge the other types of books that I enjoy reading and reviewing.  I also like writing about buying and selling topics, and so mentioning those topics is important as well.

I've always been bothered that blogs display posts in reverse order within each tag.  It makes it hard for people to read my reviews and other posts.  I have some good stuff in this blog, and I have even forgotten exactly what I have.  I stumbled across one of those posts the other day and was surprised to see it.  If I don't even know what I have, then certainly nobody else does.

I use tags (or labels as Blogger calls them) for all of the topics covered in this blog.  I have tried to use the best tag for each post, and sometimes I have used more than one tag so that the post is listed wherever it fits.  Still, some tags, like the reviews, have too many posts listed under them.  I fear that many readers never see the small link at the bottom to older posts under that tag.  It's also annoying to have to click on a link to make it back to the early reviews in the sequence.

Blogger has an option to create "pages" for the blog.  Back in 2016, I created a page listing all of my Nancy Drew reviews in order from #1 to #56.  I then never published it or linked to it.  At that time, I didn't see a way that I could make the page prominent enough for anyone to know about it.  I did nothing with it and abandoned my idea of making the reviews easier to find.  I felt like it was too much work for too little of a reward.

I've been thinking more about this during the last couple months.  I created a page for my Keeper of the Lost Cities (KotLC) posts.  I have linked to that page in most of my KotLC posts.  I want whoever is reading my KotLC posts to know that I'm not insane and that I have good reason for believing what I do about certain yet-to-be-revealed secrets in the series.  Basically, I think I have it figured out, but most readers have missed all the clues.  So, the page with all of my posts is like my guide to what I have figured out.

So anyway, I got to thinking about the pages function of the blog again.  When I changed the template, I looked at the widgets that can be added to the sidebar.  I discovered that one now exists for the pages.  Oh!  I then realized that it would be worthwhile to create pages for my reviews, since I had a way of making them prominent in the blog.

I got started.  The first goal was to get pages for all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys reviews since I have such a large number of reviews for both series.  I then created pages that list my middle-grade fantasy, young adult, and vintage teen book reviews to make them easier for readers to find.  After that, I created pages for some of the vintage series that are the most popular so that readers can get to those reviews easier.

I created the widget and got the pages added to the main page of the blog on the right just underneath my avatar.  I then had to decide what to call the widget.  The default was "Pages."  I first tried "Review Pages," but I didn't like it.  I went with a few other iterations and then landed on "Selected Content."  I changed the widget title for the tags from "Labels" to "All Content."  I was feeling rather pleased, but I felt that "Selected Content" was a little off.  I hit upon "Featured Content," which is a label seen often online.  Perfect!

Always click on images in order to view at a higher resolution.

The pages listed under "Featured Content" are the ones that I created, and it was a lot of work!  I had to type or paste all of the blog article titles into the pages, and then I had to apply the link to each article title.  This was done over the course of several days.

I will find it very useful, since I have always found it annoying to try to look at my reviews.  I have a goal to post content to my Facebook page and group regularly, and I am using my old reviews for content.  For instance, yesterday I looked at my Nancy Drew #1-56 page and clicked on the post, Nancy Drew #26 and the Transition Books.  I decided that the second half of the post would work well as a post on my Facebook page.  I captured that text and edited it slightly to read better as stand-alone content in a post.  I then created an image to go with it using my dust jacket scans of Nancy Drew #23 through #26.

Having handy pages with my reviews listed in sequence will be of much use to me.  I hope others find the review pages beneficial as well.

I am spread pretty thin.  I have a number of interests.  I have two Facebook pages and my blog to maintain.  I am inconsistent in how often I post, but I do try to post regularly.

Back a couple years ago, I created a Bee Gees Facebook page.  I then abandoned it for around a year until I I realized that I had over 100 followers who were following it even though almost nothing was there.  I decided to start posting regularly.  Why not?  These people were following nothing, so I realized that the page would gain fast if I fed it content.  For someone like me, the reach of the page is becoming significant and astounds me.

Compare to the reach of my Jennifer's Series Books page.

Series books are popular, but they are nothing in comparison to the popularity of famous legacy music groups.  I am learning a lot about Facebook spam and how to deal with it.  It's an interesting experience.  

The approach I take with the Bee Gees page has changed my approach to the Jennifer's Series Books page.  I still have my blog posts publishing to it, but I now do these periodic posts like the Nancy Drew post from yesterday.  Most often, I will just pick a scan of a book to feature.  People love looking at images.  I will most often will use Nancy Drew, just because it is the most popular series.  

I wrote recently about my intent to read through the Seniors series.  It was a good idea, but the last two weeks of the fall semester were so hard on me that it derailed my reading.  I'm once again not reading at all.  I am continuing to obsess about the KotLC series.  I'm fighting the urge to read through the books for the fourth time, and I'm very close to caving in.

I continue to be frustrated over the comments of KotLC fans.  I read some critical comments the other day saying that Shannon Messenger has just been making it up as she goes and that she has no idea where the story is going.  No, I think she does.  I'm probably going to start through the books again to find more of the foreshadowing.

So, that's what is going on right now.

More Keeper of the Lost Cities Posts + a Brief Reading Update

I am on the cusp of scheduling my upcoming Keeper of the Lost Cities posts for publication.  The posts were not written in the order that they will publish.  Some of what will publish first was written last. 

This means that some of my commentary on certain theories might be contradictory or circular in argument.  I have decided not to edit too much and to let what I wrote stand for itself.  For some theories, I continue to go back and forth on what I think, so I will contradict myself at times.  I can't help that.

In preparation for this latest round of posts, I put together a page listing all of my posts on the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.  I have split the posts into two lists for posts that are spoiler-free and for posts that contain spoilers.  The posts with spoilers contain major late series spoilers and should be avoided until all books in the series have been read.  Spoiler-free posts are fine for everyone to read.

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

I set up a Tumblr account a few months back.  I'm finally using it for some of my Keeper of the Lost Cities content.  

Series Books for Girls on Tumblr

The total number of different books I've read in 2023 is pretty low at 42 books.  If I'm allowed to count the Keeper books multiple times, then that will raise my total to 62 books, which sounds better.  Since I usually don't read books multiple times during the same year, I think I will go with the number of different books, placing my total so far at 42.

I hope that I can get myself to read some other books in the coming weeks, once I finish reading Keeper #9 Stellarlune for the third time.  

It does occur to me to wonder how many books I read last year.  Oh!  I only read 47 books in 2022.

Books Read and Media Consumed in 2022

Gosh, that means that I've read more this year than last year.  I have read the equivalent of 62 books, although only 42 different books.  Hmm.

It seems like I could motivate myself into beating last year's total by reading just six more books.  I should try!  I'm not sure what I would read. 

Maybe I can find something that will appeal to me.  I will attempt to read at least six more books.  If I do it, then great.  If not, then at least I will finish 2023 having read the equivalent of more books than I did in 2022.

January Reading and Selling Update #2

Last night I published my overview and introductory post for The Living Hope Library Series by John Benton.

The Living Hope Library Series by John Benton

I will be publishing reviews of each book.  I hope that I can make it through the set and follow through with a review of each book.  I feel that using the word "hope" in this case, considering the series name, is a bit of a pun.  I don't mean it as such.  I sincerely hope that I can make it through the set and write reviews like I used to do.  We'll see.

Three of the books were read in June 2022, so those reviews won't be much more than the back cover summary and a single statement about how I felt about the book.  I'm not going to read those books again.  I want to work on the ones that I haven't read.

As of now, I have reviews finished for eight of the books.  That's not a bad start.

On Monday I mentioned the possibility of reopening my eBay and Etsy stores at the end of this week.  I have been going and and forth each day this week with no idea which way to go.  Open or stay closed?

While I haven't been feeling bad, I also haven't been feeling that great.  Each day this week, I have been quite tired in the late morning and have revived myself with an energy drink.  In the evening, I don't really feel tired.  In fact, I have insomnia, but I just don't feel that good.  I'm not sure how I'm doing.  

Whenever I have a thyroid medication adjustment, I go in six weeks later for a blood test to see how my levels have adjusted.  I will be doing that next week.  I feel like my levels may be off even after the dose increase.  I could need another dose adjustment.

I have continued to go back and forth on my decision whether to reopen my stores.  Tonight I finally came to a realization.  If I can't make up my mind which way to go, then I should stay closed.  And so I will stay closed.  Perhaps in a week or so I will reopen.  Perhaps not.  The store hiatus will continue.

I expect to begin posting the Living Hope Library reviews within the next few days and will stagger them two to three days apart like I used to do when I reviewed books.

I also have a review of the new Nancy Drew Diaries book, #24 Captain Stone's Revenge.  I will wait at least a few weeks on that one to give fans a chance to read the book.

Early January Reading and Selling Update

I ended my post about the books I read in 2022 as follows.

I have started reading Suzie by John Benton.  This one is also hilarious.  Suzie buys a gun and practices in the basement.  To cover her practice, she also buys a whip which sounds a lot like a gun.  Suzie calls herself "Suzie the Wonder Whip."  OMG.  This is fun.

I am now feeling strongly motivated to read through all of John Benton's books.  I hope I can keep myself going, but going back to work could put a stop to it if I end up too tired.  I will read as much as I can this week and will hope for the best beginning next week.

After I read Suzie, I read Sherri and then Lori.  I posted about Lori on Facebook.

Lori is a troubled teenager who wants some painkillers.  She plans to have her younger sister, Peggy, steal the painkillers for her.  But Lori needs to create a distraction.

Lori strips off her clothes and runs around inside the drugstore while Peggy steals the painkillers!  I could hardly read due to how hard I was laughing!

For the scans of the text, follow this link.  You should be able to view the images even if you're not on Facebook.

Despite my initial enthusiasm, my ability to stay focused and continue to read books is quite weak.  I nearly lost my focus this weekend.  I started reading Marji... and lost my enthusiasm.

Marji is a wealthy woman of 25 years old.  She turns down the opportunity to run her father's company.  Rather, she wants to share God's love with the prostitutes and junkies of Lower East Side, New York City.  Very quickly I realized that this book would be different in that the primary character had it together and would be helping others.  I lost my enthusiasm, since I just wanted to read over-the-top crazy stuff.

I went around 48 hours without attempting to read past the beginning of the book.  I was at a standstill, and I told myself that I couldn't let this stop me from reading through my set of John Benton's books.

I didn't want to abandon the book, but sometimes that is the only way.  I will not attempt to force myself to read a book when doing so will cause me to quit reading completely.

When I read through the entire Sweet Valley High series, I ended up reading 171 of the 181 books in the set.  I skipped 10 books because I found them boring.  Someone commented, "Just curious, but why did you skip 10 of the special series?  You were so close to reading all 181, it seems like a shame to stop 10 short..."

What a way to invalidate my accomplishment of reading nearly the entire SVH set.  I replied, "I was already halfway sick of my SVH reading experience by the time those books appear in the set, so trying to read them might have caused me to quit reading the set.  It's better to skip a few books than end up stopping short of reading the set by 50 to 75 books.  I am quite pleased with myself that I read 171 of 181 books, even if others might think I failed by not reading every single one of them."

Anyway...

I want to read John Benton's books, but I'm not going to waste energy on a book if it doesn't interest me.  After 48 hours, I decided to give Marji another try.  I read a little more to give the book a better chance of grabbing my interest.  I quickly learned that Marji's family has a big secret.  Oh...!

I became intrigued.  Marji's family isn't as together as I thought.  Sure, they're quite wealthy, but the family has a black sheep.  Marji didn't even know.  Ooh, I wanted to know more, and I knew instinctively that Marji would cross paths with the black sheep.

The book had captured my interest.  I quickly read through all of Marji and then started on the second book in the trilogy, Marji and the Kidnap Plot.  I hope that I can keep going, but the last few days have been a reminder of how tenuous my hold on reading is.  If I end up finding any of Benton's books uninteresting, then I will be at risk of being derailed.    

On December 31, I wrote:

I expect for my stores to remain closed for at least two to three more weeks.  It could be a bit longer, depending upon how events play out.  Since I'm on winter break, I'm doing okay.  I am having spells of sudden deep fatigue, but I'm at home where it doesn't matter.  I can loll around for an hour or so until my energy level recovers.  The real test will be when I go back to work on January 6.  At that time, I'll truly know how I'm doing.

Now it's two weeks later.  I went back to work on January 6 for a half day of meetings and ended up wiped out on Saturday.  I slept for a few hours during the day and continued to feel quite tired all evening.  I spent the entire evening watching all four Bonita Granville Nancy Drew movies from the 1930s.  Feeling lethargic finally got me to watch all four of those movies, which I have never been interested in watching.  They were what I expected, but at least I've now seen them.

Today was the first day of the second semester.  For around 1 1/2 hours this morning, I felt like death.  I don't use the expression "felt like death" lightly.  I mean, it was bad.  I drank an energy drink and began to feel better.  Fortunately, the very worst of it was during my planning period, and I was okay for the rest of the day. 

I do want to begin selling again, but I must let this week play out to see how good or bad I end up feeling.  I will have an idea tomorrow when I will see how today has impacted me.

If this week goes okay, then I might reopen my stores later this week.  If this week goes badly, then I might end up waiting two or three more weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I do want to reopen.  I have even thought of a few more items that I could sell from my collection.  

Books Read and Media Consumed in 2022

I read 47 books in 2022, which is a far cry from my reading output of a few years ago.  47 books is a respectable number, but it's really low for me and the lowest number I've had in the last decade.

I am constantly reading, but these days what I read tends to be on Reddit and Quora.  I love reading online discussions about anything and everything and spend a significant amount of time each day doing so.  I just haven't been very motivated to read actual books.

As I've stated before, I don't need any advice.  I'm not disappointed in my reading output.  The pandemic has taken a lot out of me and continues to do so.  While the pandemic itself is waning, the impact continues.  Much of my stress this last year was caused by events that came about due to the fallout of the pandemic.  

I am currently dealing with a thyroid flare-up caused by the bivalent Moderna vaccine from September 2022.  A close relative had problems caused by the original Moderna vaccine (shot #2 from February 2021).

Many students have emotional problems that are undoubtedly part of the fallout of the pandemic.  Many of the parents aren't doing that great, either.  What is going on with students and parents is adding to my personal stress.

Many people continue to struggle because they have lost loved ones from Covid-19.  While nobody close to me has died, I do know four people who died of Covid.  One was a former student of mine who died at the age of 21.  There have been so many losses, and everyone has been impacted in some fashion.

I am showing far more grace to students than I did prior to three years ago.  I must continue to do so for the foreseeable future.     

We have a ways to go, but better times are ahead.

Early in the year, I did okay with my reading.  I came up with a great idea, which was to state which book I enjoyed the most for each month.  I did that for January, February, and March, then my reading collapsed.  I have no favorite book for each month from later in the year.  

January:  3 books

Nancy Drew Diaries #23 The Blue Lady of Coffin Hall
Hardy Boys Adventures #24 As the Falcon Flies
Carolina Hurricane by Marian Rumsey 

Favorite January Book: Carolina Hurricane

February:  5 books

Girl Scouts in the Ozarks by Nancy Nance
The Whispering House by Jean Hager
Drina Ballet #1 Ballet for Drina
Drina Ballet #2 Drina's Dancing Year
Drina Ballet #3 Drina Dances in Exile

Favorite February book:  The Whispering House

March:  12 books

Drina Ballet #4 Drina Dances in Italy
Drina Ballet #5 Drina Dances Again
Drina Ballet #6 Drina Dances in New York
Drina Ballet #7 Drina Dances in Paris
Drina Ballet #8 Drina Dances in Madeira
Drina Ballet #9 Drina Dances in Switzerland
Drina Ballet #10 Drina Goes on Tour
Drina Ballet #11 Drina Ballerina
The Secret of Riverside Farm by Jean Hager
Tom Swift Inventors' Academy #8 Depth Perception
The Silent Message by Afton Huff
The Boys' Life Book of Mystery Stories

Favorite March Book:  Tie between Drina Dances in New York and Drina Dances in Paris

This was where I quit reading for an extended time.  

April:  0 books

I watched season 2 of Hardy Boys on Hulu.

May:  0 books

The book and series for The Handmaid's Tale kept getting mentioned online because of Roe v. Wade.  I realized that the premise is dystopian, and I like dystopian books.  I wanted to check out the Hulu series, but I felt that I should try the book first.  When a series or movie is based on a book, I want to read the book first.

I tried to read the beginning of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.   

A chair, a table, a lamp.  Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out.  There must have been a chandelier, once.  They've removed anything you could tie a rope to.

A window, two white curtains.  Under the window, a window seat with a little cushion...  

I do not like the writing style.  I understand that the book is apparently great and loved by many.  It's not for me.  I cannot stand the way the information is presented in a disjointed fashion.  I skimmed through most of the Kindle sample just to try to get into it.  I couldn't do it.

Off to Hulu I went.  I watched all four seasons at a rate of around one episode per day.  I really enjoy the show, even though it jumped the shark long ago.  

I didn't read any books in April and May because I was watching The Handmaid's Tale.

June:  7 books

Falling Skies by Harley Tate #1 Fire and Ashes
Falling Skies by Harley Tate #2 Thunder and Acid
Falling Skies by Harley Tate #3 Wind and Chaos
Falling Skies by Harley Tate #4 Escape and Evade
Denise by John Benton
Debbie by John Benton
Carmen by John Benton

July:  0 books

I watched season 2 of Only Murders in the Building.

I was selling books and had a lot of extra responsibilities.

August:  0 books

The extra responsibilities continued, and school started.  I quit selling books.

September:  4 books

Inheritance Games Trilogy by Jennifer Barnes #1, 2, 3
Arrow Through the Heart: The Biography of Andy Gibb 

I watched season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale weekly as new episodes were released.

October:  5 books

The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike
The Wicked Heart by Christopher Pike
Gimme a Kiss by Christopher Pike
Witch by Christopher Pike
The Eternal Enemy by Christopher Pike

I read the Pike books in preparation for the release of The Midnight Club series on Netflix.  I watched the shows in early October.  I also watched the first Enola Holmes movie again and then watched the sequel.

I started selling books again.

November: 5 books

All the Young Dudes Harry Potter fanfic
Harry Potter #1, 2, 3, 4

In early November, Pocket presented me with an article about the All the Young Dudes Harry Potter fanfic.

How a 500,000-Word Harry Potter Fanfiction Blew Up Online

Since I am constantly reading even if it's just stuff online, I followed the link.  I was immediately intrigued.  From the article:

It’s called All the Young Dudes, and it's a 526,969-word fic that currently has a whopping 7.5 million hits on the fanfiction site, Archive of Our Own.  All the Young Dudes is set in the era when Harry's parents attended Hogwarts (ahem, known as the Marauders era), and features both familiar faces, and a budding romance between two of the series' most beloved figures: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

The 188-chapter story has now spawned a fandom of its own.  For many original HP fans, the story has become canon, and the ways in which it extends far beyond the universe J.K. Rowling created are all part of the appeal.  All the Young Dudes has a huge presence on social media, spawned audiobooks, has 16,000 ratings on Goodreads, has been fancasted, and is even the subject of a conspiracy theory involving Taylor Swift. 

My mind blown, I decided that I must check this out.  My favorite Harry Potter book is Prisoner of Azkaban, and if this fanfic even remotely deserved its fandom, then I had to see for myself.  I started reading it, and I liked what I read.  I didn't know what to do with myself when I finished, so I had no choice but to read the Harry Potter series again.

December: 6 books

Harry Potter #5, 6, 7
Teenage Runaway by John Benton
Crazy Mary by John Benton
Patti by John Benton

After I finished the last Harry Potter book, I was lost again.  I wanted more.  I then made a sudden decision to try to resume reading John Benton's Christian young adult books again.  I had to force myself to read Teenage Runaway followed by Crazy Mary.  By then, I was beginning to feel motivated.  I read Patti and found it to be LOL funny.  I love crazy books.  So fun.

I will admit that I finished Patti at 1 AM today, but most of it was read in 2022.  I decided that was close enough.  The book must go in one year or the other instead of in both.

I have started reading Suzie by John Benton.  This one is also hilarious.  Suzie buys a gun and practices in the basement.  To cover her practice, she also buys a whip which sounds a lot like a gun.  Suzie calls herself "Suzie the Wonder Whip."  OMG.  This is fun.

I am now feeling strongly motivated to read through all of John Benton's books.  I hope I can keep myself going, but going back to work could put a stop to it if I end up too tired.  I will read as much as I can this week and will hope for the best beginning next week.

Overcoming My Review Writing Slump

A response that Neal Shusterman (author of Unwind Dystology and more) made on one of his recent Facebook posts resonated with me.  The post and comments are well worth reading as there are several great tidbits.  Someone asked how to get past writer's block.  Shusterman replied as follows.

Write.  That might sound facetious, but it's not.  The way to get past "writers block" is to reframe it.  Sometimes writing is easy, other times it's extremely difficult.  That's not a "block" that's writing.  If you accept the fact that struggle, and frustration is a normal part of the process, and work in spite of it, eventually you'll be able to move forward.

I took the response to heart and concluded that I could use that approach with my reviews.  I am not reading much, but it would be nice to write reviews of the few books that I have read.  I have lost all motivation to write anything.  I realized that I could write something anyway, even if I don't like the book (which will be quite likely) or even if the review is inadequate.  If I could begin moving back in the right direction, I might be able to start reviewing books in a fashion similar to what I once did.

Last week I wrote a review for the first time in some time.

Carolina Hurricane by Marian Rumsey

After I published the review of Carolina Hurricane, I wrote up some thoughts on the last three Hardy Boys Adventures books.

Hardy Boys Adventures #22 Trouble Island, #23 Mayhem Express, and #24 As the Falcon Flies

That took care of some unfinished business.  I have mostly managed to write a review of the latest Nancy Drew Diaries book, although I am struggling somewhat. 

I decided that I should post my reviews of the Moonstone Mystery Romance series.  I wrote those reviews more than six months ago.  Those reviews were done when I still had some motivation.

I selected a random book that I have had for a few years, Girl Scouts in the Ozarks by Nancy Nance and started reading it.  I am writing a review!  I will confess that the book is a bit weak but has some interesting parts.  I find it easier right now to complain about a book than to write about a book I like.  Perhaps I can expand to writing about what I like sometime soon.

I give you fair warning that any reviews that I might write could end up full of complaints.  That's where I am right now.  I'm not enjoying most books much if at all.  If I do read a book, I probably still won't enjoy it that much.  If I write a review, then it won't be a positive review.

Some of my readers dislike negative reviews and have complained in the past.  If you are one of those people, you might not want to read my reviews.  Back around three years ago, I was beginning to spiral down down into this slump.  I read many books that I didn't like, but I did manage to review them. 

I was told that I was reading the wrong books, and I was given unneeded suggestions on where I could find suitable reading material.  Both then and now, most all books are the wrong book for me.  I can't change that.  I need to get in a better place, but it's going to take time.  I am the only person who can get myself in a better place.  I am the only person who can decide what I should try to read.

I do not need advice.  Any advice will set me back.  When I received the advice about what to read, it hastened my departure from writing reviews.  Actually, it was that and the command to quit reviewing Sweet Dreams and get back to reviewing children's series books.  Being told what to do caused me to lose much of the motivation that I still had at that time.  It's not surprising that I completely quit reviewing books.  It's going to be hard for me to come back from this, so...

Please resist telling me what to read or what to review.  I have a house full of books, probably around 10,000 of them.  Several times in recent months, I actually looked through the list of what I own and thought about which ones I could try.  I pulled various books off the shelf and tried to start.  I found that I could not summon any interest in reading a book that I have read before.  If I'm going to read, then I'm going to have to read a book that is new to me. 

The problem with that is that I don't know which ones I will like.  I try to read books that I will like.  At least, I try books that sound appealing, but I can't help it if the books do not hold my interest.  Some books start out great and then fall apart.  All I can do is try.  

The pandemic-related stress is off the charts, and my goal each day is to get through each day.  I will read as I can, and I will write what I can.  I will not cause myself additional stress by setting goals or placing any kind of requirement on myself.  I do not care how few books I read this year.  For the record, I am currently at 3 1/2 books read in 2022.  I will read what I can.  And that's good enough.  

Books Read in 2021 and Why I Didn't Read More

As an afterthought, I realized that I should write up this post summarizing what I read in 2021.  Reading has not been a priority, and I struggled to finish many books that I started.  I also started quite a few books that I could not read.  I didn't care much about writing this post, but I became interested once I got started.

I began the year decently motivated, and then my reading output dropped.  It then dropped more and stopped completely for some time.  Looking over the monthly totals, I understand why it happened.  

January:  15 books

Friday Barnes #3 Big Trouble
Friday Barnes #4 No Rules
Friday Barnes #5 The Plot Thickens
Friday Barnes #6 Danger Ahead
Friday Barnes #7 Bitter Enemies
Friday Barnes #8 Never Fear
Nancy Drew Diaries #21 Danger at the Iron Dragon
Spirit Town by Suzanne Roberts
Bicycles North! by Rita Ritchie
Hardy Boys Casefiles #45 In Self-Defense
Windswept #17 Mirror, Mirror by Virginia Nielsen
Windswept #23 A Date with Danger by Edward Hunsberger
Windswept #27 Mystery Cruise by Carole Standish
Windswept #33 Weekend of Fear by Virginia Nielsen
Lou Dunlop: Private Eye by Glen Ebisch

February:  6 books

Windswept #4 The House of Three Sisters by Virginia Nielsen
Friday Barnes #9 No Escape
Moonstone Mystery Romance #5 Something Out There
Heartbreak Cafe #1 No Experience Required
Heartbreak Cafe #2 The Main Attraction
Heartbreak Cafe #3 At Your Service

March:  6 books

Hardy Boys Adventures #22 Trouble Island
Heartbreak Cafe #4 Catch of the Day
Heartbreak Cafe #5 Love to Go
Heartbreak Cafe #6 Just Desserts
Moonstone Mystery Romance #1 Deadly Design
Moonstone Mystery Romance #2 The Shadowed Path

I did not like the Hardy Boys Adventures book at all.  Since I couldn't be bothered to write a review, I'll say it here.  The ghostwriter tried to telegraph a certain boy's race to the reader by being as vague as possible.  This is what I wrote while I was reading the book:  "I am really annoyed that the son has medium brown skin but I don't know which race.  His hair can be tucked behind his ear.  What am I supposed to visualize?  It's an epic fail when I have no idea.  I decided just to picture a white kid who is really tanned."

I know how bad that sounds, which is why I included it here.  I actually have grown to enjoy diversity in books and media, and I enjoy learning about people who are different from me.  I love the diversity of the Nancy Drew television series on The CW.  I shouldn't have to do mental gymnastics while reading a book to figure out the characteristics of diverse characters.  Attempting to picture the kid as white was what enabled me to cope.  Even so, I was bothered the entire time I was reading, because I knew that he wasn't white.  Also, (SPOILER ALERT) the kid with the medium brown skin is the culprit.  

April:  9 books

Moonstone Mystery Romance #3 Dangerous Beat
Tom Swift Inventors' Academy #6 Augmented Reality
Moonstone Mystery Romance #4 Fatal Secrets
Moonstone Mystery Romance #6 When Darkness Falls
First Love from Silhouette #1 New Boy in Town
Roswell High #1 The Outsider
First Love from Silhouette #2 Girl in the Rough
First Love from Silhouette #3 Please Let Me In
First Love from Silhouette #4 Serenade

Eventually, I will hit "publish" on my Moonstone Mystery Romance reviews.  I am quite confident that "moonstone" is used in the title of the series as a nod to the Nancy Drew series.  I also have at least two First Love from Silhouette reviews written.  I need to publish those at some point.

May:  9 books

Roswell High #2 The Wild One
Roswell High #3 The Seeker
The First 30 Days: A Zombie Apocalypse Novel by Lora Powell
Thunderbolt House by Howard Pease
The Front Page Mystery by Graham Dean
First Love from Silhouette #8 Special Girl
Nancy Drew Diaries #22 A Capitol Crime
Hull-Down for Action by Armstrong Sperry
First Love from Silhouette #135 Bid for Romance

It was in late May that I began to go off-track.  On May 22, two of my teeth began to hurt and continued to hurt through the summer until they were removed on August 3.  The pain was consistently a 7 to 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. 

Also in around late May, I threw myself back into my 30-year-long fandom of the Bee Gees.  This involved listening to all of the albums, watching biographies again, and buying merchandise.  In June, I decided to paint a room, which was a massive amount of work, since I had to move hundreds of books.  While all this was going on, my reading slowed to a crawl.

June: 3 books

You Should Be Dancing: My Life with the Bee Gees by Dennis Bryon
Hardy Boys Adventures #23 Mystery on the Mayhem Express
The Resistance Trilogy #1 Recruitment by K. A. Riley 

I enjoyed the Resistance Trilogy book enough to try the second book.  The second book lost me.

July: 2 books

Sweet Dreams #113 Private Eyes
Sweet Dreams #153 The Perfect Catch

August: 4 books

Tragedy:  The Sad Ballad of the Gibb Brothers by Jeff Apter
Sweet Dreams Special #1 My Secret Love, Janet Quin-Harkin
Tom Swift Inventors' Academy #7 The Blurred Blogger
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

I liked the Tom Swift book for the most part, but I once again could not write a review.  I really enjoyed One of Us Is Lying.  I tried reading the sequel, but I found it boring.

September:  1 book

Fall of Houston #1 No Way Out by T. L. Payne

I thought maybe I could get back into reading by reading dystopian series.  Unfortunately, I found the Fall of Houston books to be not that interesting.  I did not finish the second book.  At this point, I quit reading for nearly two months and didn't even notice that I wasn't reading.  School was going pretty badly during this time, besides all of the pain I was in due to the aftermath of the tooth extraction.

October:  none

November: 2 books

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

In late November, I made another attempt.  Since I couldn't find any good dystopian books, I tried young adult mystery books.  I found The Inheritance Games and quickly read the two books that have been released so far.  Both books are excellent. 

Since I cannot be bothered to write reviews, I want to comment on a thought I had regarding Jennifer Barnes' treatment of race as compared to the Hardy Boys Adventures book.  On page 14, a character is introduced as a "Black man, forties, with a military bearing, who stood with his back to a wall and maintained a clear line of sight to both exits."  I knew immediately that this man was security and that he was Black.  A bit later, he is introduced as John Oren, and I already knew what I needed to know.  That made me happy.

Close to a month went by, and I tried to read again near the end of December.

December:  3 books

Arc of a Scythe #1 Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Arc of a Scythe #2 Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
The Wasteland Chronicles #1 Apocalypse by Kyle West

I tried reading the third book in Arc of a Scythe, but I didn't find it interesting.  I then got the idea to look for free young adult apocalypse books.  That gave me some different titles.  I found some that sounded promising.  I started to read one of them, but I didn't feel like I was enjoying it enough.  I then tried the first book in the Wasteland Chronicles series.  Oh, this was about my style.  I enjoyed it, so if the plot and writing don't fall apart in the second book, I should be able to read some books in January without difficulty.

I want to read, but most all books are unappealing to me at present.  I find that the only kind of books I currently find remotely appealing are ones about an apocalypse of some kind.  I don't need it to make sense, but I do want it to have occurred in the world we know, involve very little fantasy, and be written in an engaging fashion without a bunch of boring content.  Most of the books I try fail on one or more points.  I abandoned a number of books this year since they didn't end up meeting those conditions.

I mentioned the tooth pain that began in May.  My tooth and gum pain lasted a total of 4 1/2 months.  The pain was intense.  Once the teeth were removed, my gums became very inflamed.  It was an autoimmune reaction exacerbated by the stitches.  In short, I ended up with burning mouth syndrome which lasted for around two months.  I lost weight during that time due to how painful eating was.

I got my dental implants on December 22.  This wasn't anything near as bad as having the teeth removed, but I can tell that the gum inflammation has started up again.  I hope that it doesn't turn into burning mouth syndrome and also that it doesn't last for two months.  

As an additional unneeded problem, I acquired a virus with the dental implants, as best I can guess.  I've been so careful, so I'm pretty sure that was where I got the virus.  I went one year and nine months virus-free.  This one has been quite unpleasant, probably because it had been so long and my immune system hasn't had to fight an actual outside invasion.  

I tested negative for covid, so I'm confident that this was just a cold.  My overactive immune system saw the virus as a dire threat and launched quite an attack against it, causing me to be quite unwell for most of the last week.  My symptoms are lingering but gradually easing.

Reading is not my top interest at this point in time.  I'm much more interested in passive media.  

I purchased all three seasons of the current Nancy Drew television series on Amazon prime video.  I watched all of the old episodes again this fall.  I watched some of them more than once while I was figuring out some plot points.  That was fun.

I watched the three Netflix Fear Street movies back in July.  I recall watching the first movie on the day that I began taking an antibiotic for the infected teeth.  I felt so bad that day.

On Sunday, I watched the movie Don't Look Up on Netflix, and I watched it again a few days later.  The movie is an allegory about climate change, but the story works quite well as an allegory for the pandemic.  I have found the pandemic to be the most fascinating (and stressful) train wreck, so the movie capped it off for me.

I also watched the second season of The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix months ago.  It's a really cute show, and I especially adore Claudia. 

I watched Only Murders in the Building on Hulu this fall.  The show's plot ties in with the Hardy Boys books, which are prominently featured in several episodes.

I have kept quite busy, so it should be understandable why I didn't read as many books.  For a time, I thought that I wouldn't even make it past 50 books, so I'm pleased that I ended up reading 60 books altogether.  One study found that Americans read an average of 12 books per year with the median American reading just 4 books per year.  Reading 60 books is just fine.  

In closing, I want to express that I do not need any advice.  While most books do not interest me right now, I read as fast and with as much interest as ever when I come across a book that does interest me.  I haven't changed, but I have other concerns and interests right now. 

Books Read in 2020

This year wasn't all about books.  I consumed a good amount of recorded media, and this naturally reduced the number of books read in 2020.

With reading, my problem has been that nothing much has interested me.  I have not been able to enjoy the typical vintage series book, and I have quit reading many books partway through, ones that I would normally have enjoyed.  My reading has been sporadic, sometimes not reading for a few weeks and then reading several books rapidly.  

I found that recorded media interested me much more during the last year, and my consumption was the most since in the time period from 2006 to 2010. 

As the year began, I watched Nancy Drew on The CW each week.

As always, books in blue are books that I had read before.

January:  9 books

When I pasted my list into this post, I was struck by how long this year has seemed.  I stared at the first book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs, with surprise.  I surely read that book at least two years ago!  Life was so much simpler at the beginning of the year.  I read the book by Harriet A. Jacobs after seeing it mentioned in an article that I read on New Year's Day, probably this one.  That seems like so long ago.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs
Arden Blake #1 The Orchard Secret
Arden Blake #2 The Mystery of Jockey Hollow
Arden Black #3 Missing at Marshlands
Nancy Drew Diaries #19 Hidden Pictures
The Hollow Wall Mystery by Mildred A. Wirt
Sweet Dreams #50 Lights, Camera, Love
Sweet Dreams #53 Ghost of a Chance
Sweet Dreams #56 Campfire Nights

I was still trying to slog through the Sweet Dreams books at this point in the year.  January was a rather normal month, all things considered, but it was around January 25 that I realized that we had a huge problem looming.  The clock was ticking...  Would I be able to go to the big book sale?

February:  4 books

Sweet Dreams #58 Rhythm of Love
Sweet Dreams #59 Please Say Yes
Sweet Dreams #60 Summer Breezes
Sweet Dreams #61 Exchange of Hearts

In February, I was consumed by reading about the pandemic.  I read only four books because of my distraction, but also, because I was quite bored with Sweet Dreams.  Fortunately, I was able to attend the big book sale, just before everything fell apart.

March:  5 books

#1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
#2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
#3 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
#4 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
#5 Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix

In March, I escaped by reading Harry Potter after not having read them in many years.  I watched all eight Harry Potter movies for the first time right after I finished reading the seven books.

April:  16 books

#6 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
#7 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Tom Swift Inventors' Academy #4 The Virtual Vandal
Hardy Boys Adventures #20 Return to Black Bear Mountain
American Adventure Series #1 Crossed Trails
American Adventure Series #2 Hollywood, Ho!
American Adventure Series #3 The Hills of Home
Sweet Dreams #65 The Two of Us
Sweet Dreams #70 Special Someone
Sweet Dreams #71 Too Many Boys
Sweet Dreams #72 Goodbye Forever
Sweet Dreams #75 First Summer Love
Sweet Dreams #80 A Shot at Love
Sweet Dreams #81 Secret Admirer
Sweet Dreams #88 Wrong Kind of Boy
Rick Brant #1 The Rocket's Shadow

Somehow or another, I was able to get into reading books during April.  This was the only month in 2020 where my reading pace was anywhere near what has been normal for me.  It was also the month in which I finally gave up on Sweet Dreams.  I haven't gotten back to them.

Reading the three American Adventure books was the bright spot in April.  Not only that, but reading those books was the highpoint of my 2020 reading year.  I remember that time with happiness.  After I had read the books, I posed a question about whether anyone would care if I put up scans of the books, since they are nearly impossible to find and are in the public domain.  Around three or four of you expressed interest, and I could tell that it was genuine.  That motivated me, and I scanned all three books.  At least one or two of you read and enjoyed them.  That made me happy.

May:  9 books

Rick Brant #2 The Lost City
Rick Brant #3 Sea Gold
Rick Brant #4 100 Fathoms Under
Rick Brant #5 The Whispering Box Mystery
Rick Brant #6 The Phantom Shark
#1 Beverly Gray, Freshman
#2 Beverly Gray, Sophomore
#3 Beverly Gray, Junior
#4 Beverly Gray, Senior

In May and June, I tried to read some vintage series.  I chose two of my favorites.  It just didn't work for me.  Maybe some other year...

June:  11 books

#5 Beverly Gray's Career
#6 Beverly Gray at the World's Fair
#7/6 Beverly Gray on a World Cruise
#8/7 Beverly Gray in the Orient
#8 Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt
Wishing Star #6 Too Much in Love
Windswept #2 Someone Is Out There
#9 Beverly Gray's Return
Nancy Drew Diaries #20 The Vanishing Statue
#10 Beverly Gray, Reporter
#11 Beverly Gray's Romance

July:  9 books

Wishing Star #1 The Lost Summer
Wishing Star #2 The Girl Who Wanted Out
Wishing Star #3 Blind Sunday
Wishing Star #4 The Two Worlds of Jill
Wishing Star #5 Francesca, Baby
Wishing Star #7 Don't Look Back
Wishing Star #8 Katie
Wishing Star #11 Honey
Wishing Star #13 The Night Skiers

In July, my final Sweet Dreams posts were published.  One person told me to get back to reading vintage series books, since they were tired of Sweet Dreams.  This proved that some people take me for granted.  

August: 10 books

Wishing Star #12 The Great Lakeside High Experiment
Wishing Star #14 Jealousy
Wishing Star #15 The Loving Year
Wishing Star #16 Walk Beside Me, Be My Friend
Wishing Star #18 Secrets
Wishing Star #19 Sisters
Wishing Star #20 Why Did You Leave Me?
#1 The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak
#2 Midway by Melanie Karsak
#3 The Shadow Aspect by Melanie Karsak

In late August, I abandoned reading the vintage teen books.  By this point, I was floundering, unsure what to read, not finding anything of interest.  I returned to dystopian teen novels and was able to find some that interested me.

September:  13 books

#4 Witch Wood by Melanie Karsak
#5 Torn World by Melanie Karsak
Hardy Boys Adventures #21 Treacherous Tide
Tom Swift #5 The Spybot Invasion
After the EMP by Harley Tate #1-9

Around the beginning of September, I watched a few episodes of the television series, Goosebumps, on Netflix.  They were okay, but they made me think about Friday the 13th: The Series, which I wanted to see again.  This is the television series featuring Micki, Ryan, Jack, and later Johnny, who recover cursed antiques sold by Louis Vendredi, who had made a deal with the devil.  The series shares the same name as the movie franchise with Jason Voorhees, but otherwise, it has nothing to do with it.

I purchased the complete set of all three seasons.  From September through November, I watched all 72 episodes.  I loved seeing those shows again.  I was at quite a loss when I finished.  I wanted more!

October:  9 books

Southern Grit by Harley Tate #1-3
Northern Exposure by Harley Tate #1-3
Western Strength by Harley Tate #1-3

November:  5 books

Enola Holmes #1-5

December:  6 books

Enola Holmes #6
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
The Thing in B-3 by Talmage  Powell
13 Tales of Horror by 13 Masters of Horror, edited by T. Pines
Friday Barnes #1 Girl Detective
Friday Barnes #2 Under Suspicion

In early December, I watched Enola Holmes on Netflix.  I then watched Hardy Boys, the Hulu television series.  In late December, I still craved television similar to Friday the 13th: The Series, so I watched the 2019-2020 Twilight Zone on CBS All Access.

I read 106 books in 2020, but I also watched more than 120 episodes from television shows.  I watched more recorded media in the last year than I read books.

In 2014, I began keeping track of how many books I read.

2014:  262 books
2015:  231 books
2016:  355 books
2017:  403 books
2018:  315 books
2019:  185 books
2020:  106 books

Ever since my reading peak in 2017, the number of books I have read has dropped each year.  In the short term, I don't expect my reading to increase.  I hope by the middle of the year that I will be more motivated to read than I have been.  That, of course, depends upon what happens.