Books of 2017- Installment #22

106.The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan 
I read the first book earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so I planned on reading this one once Christmas approached. And here it is, Christmastime. Well, this book delivered! A delightful love story- not the initial days but after the original attraction and getting together. It is the growing-together part. It is great! It put a smile on my face many a time (especially when the dog, Boris, destroys a Donald Trump chew toy in a 5 seconds flat).

107. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
I've never read anything by Louise Erdrich despite the fact that I've been interested in reading a novel by her for a long time. (I read The Red Convertible for the first time 20 some odd years ago.) I remember that when I worked at Walden Books in '93 or '94, I got an advanced copy of one of her books. I don't remember which one (but probably The Bingo Palace), but for whatever reason it didn't grab me. This title intrigued me, and I just had to check it out. It's a very interesting look at a dystopian future where we, all inhabitants of the Earth, are devolving. I have no idea if this was meant as an homage to the Postman by David Brin or not, but I really enjoyed the mail carrier who is a hero. She even named him Hiro (and I won't quibble with her saying he was a Korean-American man named the very Japanese name Hiro)!

108. Artemis by Andy Weir
I love Andy Weir's writing! I was really excited to get this book, but my husband wanted me to wait to start it until after he did because he's not been able to spend much time reading lately. Then he wanted me to hurry up and read it but I had all these library books piling up around me! This book made me laugh and in these times of trouble, that's a good thing!!!!

109. Christmas Stars edited by David G. Hartwell
I saw this book at the local comic book store and wanted it. But I didn't get it right away. Eventually, though, I found myself back there, and I'm so glad I did! This book hit the spot! It gave me great Christmas stories without any of the schmaltz that so many Christmas books do. I also got to read the story that inspired the movie It's a Wonderful Life. I didn't realize it had been a short story originally, and I certainly didn't realize it had been self-published! 

110. The Speaker by Traci Chee
I really enjoyed The Reader and have been looking forward to reading the sequel so I was so pleased when it finally became available at the library!

111. The Monkey's Paw 猴爪 by W.W. Jacobs,‎ John Pasden,‎ Renjun Yang,‎ Cui Yu,‎ and Jared Turner 
This was a fun way for me to practice my Chinese. It's enough like the original that I could easily read it, but different enough that I wasn't exactly sure how things would play out.