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As promised, here is my first post back after my hiatus – a wrap-up of my October reading. I know that it looks like a crazy amount to some people, but my normal reads can exceed 30+ books a month – so the 16 books seen here is definitely on the low-end of a normal month tally.

Favorite Books of the Month

Dopesick – I saw this was being made into a Hulu mini-series, but I knew that I wanted to read/listen to it before watching the adaptation of it – its also been loitering on my TBR pile for several years. Dopesick garnered one of my few 5-star reads of the year – yes, it was more of a human interest story, vs. hard-hitting reporting on the opioid crisis – but I was sucked in because I felt like I was rooting for the people who were featured, wanting them to kick their addiction. I was also surprised how much of it was set in the area where I went to college (Virginia Tech – Blacksburg, VA) because the epidemic was in that area while I was going to school and I don’t remember hearing anything about it.

Battle Royal – if you take Great British Baking Show, mix in a Rivals to Lovers theme and a royal wedding – then you would have the major thematic elements of Battle Royal. I was totally sucked in during the reading – I didn’t want to put it down, which resulted in a few last nights of reading and blurry eyes the next day in class. The author (Lucy Parker) is a new to me author, but not a new author – so I’m excited to check out some of her backlist.

Manners & Mutiny – I’m not sure why the last 2 books in the Finishing School series (this one and Waistcoats & Weaponry) hung out on my TBR pile for so long – in fact Waistcoats & Weaponry sat half-finished for several years until I picked it back up in September. These last two books wrapped up the series in a pretty bow – which is something I always appreciate because I don’t have to pick up another series to see what happens. But I can see how things that happened in the Parasol Protectorate were set up in this series. I can’t wait to read more books by Gail Carriger in the future (the next series up is the Custard Protocal)

Least Favorite Books of the Month

The Echelon Vendetta – As I was reading this, I quickly realized why it had loitered on my Kindle TBR pile for close to a decade (I picked it mostly for a challenge that involves reading books that have been on your TBR shelf for a long time). While the plot was semi-decent – it was just a bit ehhh for me…won’t be continuing the series, but glad to get it off my epic TBR pile.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before – While this was marketed as YA, I can’t help but think the actions of the protagonist were definitely on the very young side of the spectrum, even though she was supposed to be a junior in High School. I don’t know if she was supposed to seem that naive, but when compared to other YA written in the same time frame, with similar aged characters, her character just didn’t work for me. But I know other people who have enjoyed this book and the subsequent ones. Won’t be continuing the series and I don’t think I even want to try the movie on Netflix.

That about wraps up my October – How was yours? What good books did you read? Any recommendations for me?

After struggling for a couple hours last night to get my WordPress account log-in working, I finally got in and was mildly shocked to realize that its been nearly a year since I’ve blogged (363 days to be exact). I guess life just got away from me – my last post occurred during Non-Fiction November 2020 while I was deployed (I was in Greece at the time). I got back mid-2021 and rolled right into an academic program – so all my reading/blogging time has been taken over with studying and paper writing school. But I’m going to try and start again, at least monthly to provide a summary of what has gone on in the previous month.

Prompt 1: Your Year In Non-Fiction

I’m so excited that Nonfiction November has kicked off (yeah, I admit, i’m kind of a dork). Typically I try to read 1-2 non-fiction books a month – but that just depends on what else is going on in life and around me. For this post (My Year in Nonfiction) – I went back through my Goodreads records to identify the books that i’ve read since NF November finished last year. Its always an insightful kind of exercise

Dec 1, 2019 to October 31 2020 Non-Fiction Book List

• Memoir – The Quarter-Acre Farm: How I kept the patio, lost the lawn, and fed my family for a year
• Memoir/Animals – Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero
• Memoir/Graphic Art – Prison Island: A Graphic Memoir
• Memoir – Love Is a Mix Tape
• Memoir/Social Justice/Social Movements – I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
• Memoir – I Have Something to Tell You
• Memoir/Social Justice – When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir       
• Memoir/Graphic Art – They Called Us Enemy
• Memoir – From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home    
• Biography – A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival
• Biography/Books About Books – Bowie’s Bookshelf: The Hundred Books that Changed David Bowie’s Life
• Biography – Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Biography/History – Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America   
• True Crime – The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI’s Original Mindhunter
• True Crime – The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia
• True Crime – Mrs. Sherlock Holmes
• True Crime – Hell in the Heartland: Murder, Meth, and the Case of Two Missing Girls  
• True Crime – American Predator      
• Gender Studies – Men Explain Things to Me      
• Gender Studies – Three Women 
• History/Gender Studies – Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court
• History/Military – Joe Rochefort’s War
• History/Significant Events – The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
• History/Sports – One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season
• History/Social Movements/Social Justice – Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
• Economics – Free: The Future of a Radical Price
• Cookbooks – Cook Once, Eat All Week: 26 Weeks of Gluten-Free, Affordable Meal Prep to Preserve Your Time & Sanity
• Self-Help – Päntsdrunk (Kalsarikänni): The Finnish Path to Relaxation (Drinking at Home, Alone, in Your Underwear)

What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?

This is always a hard question for me to answer because I read such a diverse range of books and topics. If i had to pick (like really twist my arm kinda pick) – then I could narrow my favorites down to 2. Joe Rochefort’s War (Elliot Carlson) and One Shot at Forever (Chris Ballard). – I just finished up Joe Rochefort’s War in October – if you are interested in military history, especially World War 2/ war in the pacific, then this is a book that would likely interest you. CDR Joseph Rochefort was the Officer in Charge of Station Hypo in Pearl Harbor and was key in identifying where the Battle of Midway was going to take place. If you have seen either the new 2019 Midway movie or the older one – he is depicted as wearing a dressing gown and slippers (and per his biography he did because the space was so cold and clammy). – As I was reading One Shot in Forever (while stuck on pre-deployment COVID restriction of movement in Italy) – the thought that kept running through my mind was how has this not been turned into a Disney movie yet? If you like movies like McFarlane USA and Miracle, then this is a book you may enjoy.

Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? 

In general, I’ve maintained my pretty diverse range of non-fiction reads. Memoirs and Biographies have typically been top of my most read list over the last few years; followed close behind by True Crime. I think the one topic this year that hasn’t been as present in previous years is the the Social Justice/Social Movement type books – this had definately not been a topic that I had really explored in the past – beyond reading Just Mercy a couple of years ago – but with the events of 2020 and the ongoing civil unrest related to deaths of African American citizens by police – its definately something I wanted to become more informed about. Locking Up Our Own was probably one of the more insightful about racial profiling; and then reading When They Call You a Terrorist by one of the founders of Black Lives Matter highlighted huge gaps in my awareness of ongoing issues.

What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?

Nonfiction seems to be my least recommended books in general – likely because most places where I make recommendations are heavy with genre readers. That being said – i’ve definately recommended One Shot in Forever to a couple of people, including one person who blogs sports books (he’d actually already read it – but that counts right?) I’ve also recommended American Predator and Killer Across the Table (as audiobook listens) to a few people – I mean King George himself (aka Jonathan Groff) narrates Killer Across the Table).

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

What i always want to get out of Nonfiction November – most books added to my already huge TBR pile. Ha! But there is some truth in that – i like seeing what other people are reading and recommending – and I tend to keep a running list of books that catch my eye – either mentioned on Goodreads, Twitter or Blogs (I mean, i do this during the year, but on average I add probably double the books during this month). I also like finding books I can recommend to my local library system to buy (in a perfect world, I would love a job buying books for a library but alas….)

Ahh readathon hours 13-18 – also known as 3am until 8am Greek time or the time where Dee passes out facedown in her pillow spread diagonally across the queen sized bed. Ha! To be honest, i didn’t actually read/listen to much in this block of tmie. I had every intention of only napping for a couple of hours but alas, that didn’t happen.

During this time period, i read/listened until about 4:30am – during which time I finished up The Light Over London (Julia Kelly). Overall t read, however, i felt like everything just wrapped up too quickly – the whole dual time-line reveal all culminated around 90% but it just felt really quick. A solid 3 star read for me. I also listened to another 39 minutes of His Only Wife.

Books/Pages Read During This Time:
His Only Wife - 21pgs
The Light Over London - 225pgs
Total Pages: 246pgs

Half-way done! I can’t believe that its 3am and i’m still awake (although, there is a 99.9% chance that I’m going to nap during the next 4 hours). This last four hours included me needing to charge both my kindle and phone – so I spent a chunk of time working on the one print book that I have in progress (Joe Rochfort’s War). I’m also listening to His Only Wife (Peace Adzo Medie) – but right now I’m still listening to the portion I had previously read.

During hours 9 through 12, I also finished up Take Two (Mia Masters/R. Ramsey), as well as Sleep Tight (Anne Fraiser). Take Two was, to be honest, mediocre at best but since I borrowed it through Kindle Unlimited, I didn’t lose money on it (since I’ve already read enough books this month to exceed the cost of my subscription). Sleep Tight was a decent suspense, I’m not sure why it has been on my to-be-read pile for so long (according to my records, I bought it in 2011). I also started The Light Over London (Julia Kelly), a WW2 historical fiction/romance. This is right up my comfort read alley – although I haven’t read any boks about the Gunner Girls (who served in the British Army in an Anti-aircraft gun unit). I also continued reading some more of The Only Plane in the Sky (for time sequencing, the plane just hit the Pentagon – the 3rd of the planes of that were hijacked that day). The Librarian of Auschwitz (Antonio G. Iturbe) and Flood (Andrew Vachss) rounded out my reading for the last 4 hours.

Pages/Books Read During This Time:
His Only Wife - 56min/30pgs
Take Two - 122pgs
Sleep Tight - 143pgs
Joe Rochfort's War - 49pgs
The Only Plane in the Sky - 35pgs
Flood - 68pgs
The Librarian of Auschwitz - 64pgs
The Light Over London - 111pgs
Total Pages: 622

I mentioned in my introductory post (i think) that it was really weird starting Readathon at 3pm in the afternoon – but after 8 hours, I think I could get used to it. If I was at home, then hour 8 would be around 4pm and the long night would look so daunting ahead (especially at hours 18-24) – but right now, its 11pm and I’m still going strong. Although this could be because I pretty much slept the day away until festivities kicked off….

In hours 5-8, I finished listening (with minutes to spare in hour 8) to Plan for the Worst (Jodi Taylor) – after 11 books in the series, I didn’t think Ms Taylor was going to be able to surprise me, but i didn’t see that reveal coming. Now I have to wait for book 12 which doesn’t come out until next year (insert stamping feet temper tantrum). I started The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 (Garrett M. Graff) – I still remember where I was on 9/11 (A freshman in college at Virginia Tech) – so its a) hard to believe that its been nearly 20 years and b) still very shocking to read some of the memories of the day (from transcripts of calls from the planes; to memories of key political figures at the time and the every day workers in the World Trade Centers). I’m attempting to listen to the audiobook of His Only Wife (Peace Adzo Medie) – this is Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book of the month for October – I had previously tried to read it but didn’t get very far – so hoping the audiobook is better. I also made some progress on Joe Rochfort’s War (Elliot Carlson) – I’ve been reading this at like a chapter a night, but readathon is a good way to make some more progress. And finally, I made some more progress on Sleep Tight (Anne Fraiser); as well as starting Take Two (Mia Masters/R.Ramsey).

Books Read During This Time:
Plan for the Worst - 2hr 58mi/104pgs
The Only Plane in the Sky - 53pgs
His Only Wife - 3 pgs
Joe Rochfort's War - 27pgs
Sleep Tight - 41pgs
Take Two - 104pgs
Total Pages Read/Listened: 332pgs

Its crazy how fast the first few hours of Readathon always seem to go. I feels like I honestly just started reading/listening – but here we are at the end of hour 4 and officially 1/6 of the way through the 24hrs.

During this first 4 hours hours, I managed to listen to 3 hours and 4 minutes of Plan for the Worst (Jodi Taylor) This series is one of my favorites because it has a nice blend of romance, humor, historical events all wrapped up in time travel (although St Mary’s will never actually admit to time travel, they just observed periods of historical significance in contemporary time). This is book 11 in the series and its one that i always eagerly await the new release. I also finished up Hers to Keep (Serena Akeroyd) which i borrowed from Kindle Unlimited. I also read 64pgs of Sleep Tight (Anne Fraiser).

Books Read During This Time:
Plan for the Worst - 3hrs 4min/108pgs
Hers to Keep - 166pgs
Sleep Tight - 65pgs
Total Pages Read/Listened: 339

If you are participating in Readathon – how you doing so far? Have you finished any books?

Every October, I eagerly start checking the Dewey calendar to see when the next Readathon will be – so that i can make sure i set that date aside. This October, being that I’m deployed, I wasn’t sure if that was going to be doable – since if we were underway, then its working 7 days a week but in port, I could potentially swing it. Thankfully the stars all decided to alig and we have been in port in Crete, Greece and will be here for a little bit longer. We were also lucky enough to be given liberty out in town (being that we had been isolated to prevent the spread of Covid since end of September) – so right now I’m chilling in my AirBnB – enjoying a kitchenette and a queen size bed for the first time since mid-July when I left Norfolk

Books In Progress
- I have something to tell you - Chasten Buttigieg (audiobook)
- Plan for the Worst - Jodi Taylor (audiobook)
- Flood - Andrew Vachss (kindle/TBR pile)
- The Librarian of Auschwitz - Antonio G. Iturbe (kindle/library)
- Joe Rochefort's War - Elliot Carlson (print)
- Sleep Tight - Anne Fraiser (kindle/TBR pile)

Other Books On Readathon Pile:
- The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 - Garrett M. Graff
- The Rookie - Kimberly Kincaid
- The Heartbeat Hypothesis - Lindsey Frydman
- The Light Over London - Julia Kelly
- Seven Signs of Life - Aoife Abbey

Who else out there is participating in Readathon? What is on your pile? What book are you most excited about?

Free: The Future of a Radical Price
Author: Chris Anderson
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆
Dewey Decimal Challenge: 658 General management

Description:
Far more than a promotional gimmick, Free is a business strategy that may well be essential to a company’s survival. The costs associated with the growing online economy are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long.

Just think that in 1961 a single transistor cost $10; now Intel’s latest chip has two billion transistors and sells for $300 (or 0.000015 cents per transistor – effectively too cheap to price). The traditional economics of scarcity just don’t apply to bandwidth, processing power, and hard-drive storage. Yet this is just one engine behind the new Free, a reality that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy.

Anderson also points to the growth of the reputation economy; explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you’re trying to sell.

Review:
Its been a while since I’ve dabbled in my Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge. Not that I haven’t been reading any non-fiction, I still probably average a book a month – but I definitely fell into my comfort zone of biographies since I stopped blogging. So a SRC (Seasonal Reading Challenge) task to read a non-fiction book that had been shelved as Economics seemed like a good way to get back to it.

Free is a word when it comes to services that we think a lot about. For many of us, we use many free services every day – especially if you are on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are all free. For the readers among us, Goodreads is free or my other often used site MyFitnessPal (where there is a free and a premium option). Most recently Strava, a running/cycling app, announced that many of the benefits that used to be free were now going to be exclusive to members (for $4 a month) – but the number of people I observed who talked about no longer using was significant. Chris Anderson’s book talks about how services can offer, what are oftentimes robust, services for free. How they can pursue funding with limited costs and other economic benefits.

Honestly, many of the things he touched on, I had never really considered. I’ll admit (guiltily) that I spend a significant amount of time of Goodreads most days which is a prime free site for readers; I’ll also admit that I pay the premium fee for MyFitnessPal (mostly because it allows a slightly greater level of customization that I enjoy). This book made me things about free, nearly free and services that cost. It was kinda dry at times (but honestly that is just economics in general for me – i think i went through 5+ books for this task – all borrowed free from my library – before settling on this book).

Overall 3 stars.