“Rise and Fall of Stan Lee” – interesting read – Lee was the face of Marvel – and there’s a good case for why he shouldn’t be – complicates his legacy – and the last 20 years of his life were bad

“Code Name Verity” – reread – from the Ms. Blount files – a book I won – did not remember it nearly as well as I thought I did

“Gods at Play” – really good book – needed a sports book – and this one was the memories of a sportswriter – new stories – I enjoyed it

“Hunger Games” – beginning of the trilogy – Katniss was a more sympathetic character than I remembered

“Catching Fire” – this is was my first reread of the trilogy – to have not watched any of the movies beyond the first one, I gave myself credit for remembering quite a bit

“Mockingjay” – good friend told me she reread the series and appreciated the politics – I didn’t remember any but the anti-war message – but I caught a bit more this time – b/c honestly, why would you wear a Mockingjay pin at the end of the book? the rebellion was just as problematical as the Capital – and I did not remember the ending as “hopeful” as the final key was

“Here to Stay” – a Ms. Blount freebie – and good – it was set in Boston – that’s all I need – but some basketball references – and the book definitely wins for most correct uses of “whom” I’ve ever read

“Blood for Blood” – highly recommendable – I am not a fan of WWII fan fiction – I think it’s overdone – but this one was well done

“Cary Grant” – book for my mother – I read it b/c it’s not like I don’t have time to read everything right now:) interesting book – sad though

“Evil Angels” – from Dr. Rush – she gave up sports radio for podcasts – and this book was about a podcast – it was an interesting book – took me 30 pages to kick it into gear, but I did enjoy it – and I’m counting the book as professional learning:)

“The Called Shot” – my sweetspot – a sports book – about the 1932 baseball season – I did enjoy that one

“Elway” – this was another sweetspot – Broncos QB when I grew up – his dad was a coach and I learned a few lessons in the book from him

“Stars of Alabama” – disappointing – I guess – I mean, if everyone likes it, that’s usually a sign I won’t, except…

“Kite Runner” – should’ve read this book long ago – very well done – SCHS summer read at some point – I got it from a former student – but very good

“She Comes by it Natural” – another pleasant surprise – about Dolly Parton – I enjoyed the book’s effort to tie Parton into feminist themes from the past 40 years – very well done

“Above the Clouds” – book on a mountaineer – but he’s also a really good distance runner – it was okay – I knew if I didn’t read it and saw people later saying it was great, I’d be upset that I hadn’t read it – so now that I’ve read it, meh, was better off not reading it:)

“Racing the Rain” – first in a running trilogy that’s my all-time fave – so a re-re-re-read – at least – but good

“Once a Runner” – probably fourth time I’ve read it – but first time in at least 5-6 years – I did enjoy it

“Again to Carthage” – the final book in the series – and, again, a great read:)