No secret that I am and always have been a book lover. I can thank my mother for this – we made weekly trips to the library when I was growing up, where I and my siblings would all come home with a stack of books to dive in to. I’m now a regular library aficionado, and always make sure to have a few book requests on my ‘Hold’ list so that I don’t run out of having something to read. (I know from my fellow booklovers that this is a common fear – that of not having a new book on-hand to read.)

I’ve had a goal for a few years of reading 50 books a year, but the closest I’ve gotten so far was in 2019 with 46. Surprisingly, during our 2020 covid year, I only knocked out 22 books. In 2021 I’m at 23 completions, with about 2 1/2 months to go in the year.

Since I’m always on the hunt for a good book to read, I always make notes about what my friends/colleagues/acquaintances are reading, so there’s a running list of options for the next good read. I thought I’d share my list from this year as well; just like Gretchen Rubin, one of my favorite bloggers/podcasters, says – if a book is on my list, you know that I enjoyed it. Life is too short to finish books that you have to struggle to get through, so if a story doesn’t grab me shortly after starting it, I let it go and move on to the next on my list.

One book gets special mention – that is the second book in the series of Port Stirling mysteries, written by friend Kay Jennings. Code Tsunami is a great read; you might want to read her first book, Shallow Waters, before you read this one, so you can get to know her main character, Police Chief Matt Horning. That book is soon to come out in audio form too. Congrats to Kay on her success!

And here’s the rest of my list for this year so far:

If you’re a book lover like me, you get a good giggle from the various meme’s that pop up on social media. Here’s one of my latest favorites.

Thanks for reading – and further happy reading to you!

Adena