Category / 52/52

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Book 57 (of 52) – Beartown

Beartown – Fredrik Backman

Hockey is more than a sport in Beartown, it is a way of life.  When the junior team finds themselves in line for the championship for the first time in generations, things start looking up for the whole town.  But when the star player is accused of raping the daughter of the team’s GM and is arrested the morning of the final, it puts the towns loyalty to the test, a test which many fail.

Back in 2023, I inadvertently read The Winners, the third book of Fredrik Backman’s Beartown series.  It certainly took me a while to circle back to the beginning, which I have finally done with Beartown.  I retained enough of the previous book where the characters are familiar to me, but not enough to fully remember where they all end up, which, I guess, is a good thing.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t take me another three and a half years to read the middle chapter.

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Book 56 (of 52) – We Chase Shadows

We Chase Shadows – Richard Osman

When a bodyguard for a low-level drug kingpin is found murdered outside his villa in Italy with an odd threat stuffed in his pocket, the We Solve Murders crew is called in to investigate.  As more bodies pile up, they set off on another global journey, from Italy to Spain, Sweeden, and the US before settling back in England to find out who is behind the murders and why.

We Chase Shadows is Richard Osman’s second entry in his new We Solve Murders series.  This was another lighthearted, yet engaging mystery and I’ll be waiting for what comes next.

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Book 55 (of 52) – Yesteryear

Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke

A tradwife influencer seemingly wakes up one day in the 19th century, living the reality of the life she has glamorized on her Instagram feed.  As she tries to escape her believed captivity and return to her family, she relives the choices that led her to this point.

I have no recollection of how Yesteryear, the debut novel from Caro Claire Burke, ended up on my radar.  It was mostly ok, though not really my cup of tea, but the ending twist felt like a bit of a cheat.  While there were some clues along the way, there were also feints which have no other possible explanation than the one you, as the reader, are initially expected to believe.

 

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Streaking Authors

Every other year or so, we take a fresh look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  I thought it would be interesting to mix it up a bit and, instead of looking at the overall total, to instead look at the authors I have read continuously for the longest period of time.  So, without further ado, it’s time to take a look at which authors have the longest streak of consecutive years read.

Ten

Jeffery Deaver – Thanks mostly to his Lincoln Rhyme series, Deaver put together a streak of ten years with at least one book read by me starting in 2015 with The Vanished Man and ending in 2024 with Fatal Intrusion, his first collaboration with Isabella Maldonado.  After a one-year absence, corresponding with my completing the Rhyme series, he returned in 2026 to hopefully start a new streak.

Nine

Riley Sager – Sager burst onto the scene in 2017 with his first novel, Final Girls.  Every year since, he has put out a new book and I have read it, continuing through last year’s With a Vengeance.  He can extend his streak and tie Deaver for the longest if the library can deliver his latest in the next two months or so.

Karin Slaughter – Another current streak, Slaughter first came across my notice in 2018 thanks to Pretty Girls.  Due in part to her Will Trent and Grant County series, she has showed up at least once every year since, including Girl, Forgotten, which I completed earlier this year.

Eight

Richard Castle – The ghost writer for Richard Castle, the character portrayed by Nathan Fillion in Castle, made appearances in eight straight years, thanks to the novels that were supposedly written in the show, starting in 2010 with Heat Wave and culminating in 2017 with A Bloody Storm.

Six

Sarah Pekkanen – Starting in 2020, with her writing partner Green Hendricks, Pekkanen started her streak with The Wife Between Us.  Her streak outlived the partnership, continuing through last year with The Locked Ward.

Five

Nancy Holder – Thanks to her television show tie-in work, Nancy Holder was able to string together a streak of five years, starting in 1998 with Halloween Rain, based on the adventures of Bully the Vampire Slayer, and finishing in 2002 with The Burning, a collaboration with Jeff Mariotte.

Stephen King – My history with King is long but contains many frequent breaks.  His longest streak, which is current through the end of the year, started in 2021 with Later and runs through last year, when I completed his latest, Never Flinch.

Mary Kubica – The local author first came to my attention in 2015 with The Good Girl.  She appeared at least once annually through 2019, when I completed When the Lights Go Out.

Rebecca Forster – Forster was a constant presence as I worked through her Witness series, beginning in 2021 with Silent Witness and completing last year with Lost Witness.

Alex Finlay – Finlay first landed on my Kindle in 2022, thanks to Every Last Fear.  His streak continues on, thank to this year’s The Anniversary.

Richard Osman – His Thursday Murder Club series has helped him put together a streak of five years, starting in 2022 with The Thursday Murder Club and continuing through 2026 with The Impossible Fortune.

Elin Hilderbrand – We wrap up with Hilderbrand, who also has a current five-year streak going into 2027.  She started in 2022 with The Hotel Nantucket and continued this year with Winter in Paradise.

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Book 54 (of 52) – The Loop Files

The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever – Rick Kaempfer

The names are part of Chicago radio history.  Steve Dahl and Garry Meier.  Jonathon Brandmeier and Buzz Kilman.  Kevin Matthews.  Chet Coppock.  Danny Bonaduce. Wendy Snyder and Bill Leff.  Patti Haze, Bobby Skafish, and Bob Stroud.  They all worked to put The Loop, either at AM1000 or 97.9 FM, on the map as the hippest radio station in the world.  Starting in 1977, when the FM station first took on the call letters, through 1997, when it was sold to Bonneville International, The Loop took hold of Chicago, first with rock music and then with personality driven radio.  Of course, it was destined to blow up eventually and, by 1997, most of the talent had moved on, leaving behind a tremendous legacy of a station that would not happen today.

In The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever, former Loop producer and DJ Rick Kaempfer strings together the oral history of the station based on his interviews with the people who were there.  I started listening to the station in the mid-90s, starting with Danny Bonaduce at night and eventually moving through all of the other air shifts throughout the day. Towards the end, as personalities moved on to other stations, like Wendy and Bill to Q101, Kevin Matthews to CD94.7, and Steve Dahl to WCKG, I went with them and, by the end, the AM and FM stations were sold to different companies and the magic was gone.

 

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Book 53 (of 52) – Actually, Nevermind

Actually, Nevermind – Taylor Tomlinson

Comedian Taylor Tomlinson, the former host of @fter Midnight on CBS, released her first book, Actually, Nevermind, last week.  This collection of essays covers many of the same topics as her standup specials over the years, including the early death of her mother, her estrangement from her father, her complicated history with religion, and her acceptance of her sexuality, while also broaching new topics.

As part of the book launch, I attended an event at the Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture, which I had honestly never heard of before, last week where Tomlinson talked about the book and what brought her to this point.  Included in the price of the event was an autographed hard cover, so that gets added to the collection.

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Book 52 (of 52) – The Woman In Suite 11

The Woman In Suite 11 – Ruth Ware

Ten years after her adventure on the Aurora, Lo Blacklock is happily married, living in New York with her husband and two kids.  Looking to get back to work, she is thrilled to be invited to the opening of a new luxury hotel in Switzerland.  While trying to get an exclusive interview with the hotel’s mysterious owner, she finds herself confronted with a ghost from her past: the woman who eventually helped her escape from the Aurora who now claims she is being held prisoner and needs Lo’s help to escape.  While they initially get away and retreat to England, a surprising murder lands Lo in trouble with the police.

The Woman in Suite 11, the latest from Ruth Ware, is her long-anticipated sequel to The Woman in Cabin 10.  While it has only been a couple of months between the two for me, the two were published nearly ten years apart.  I enjoyed this one a little more than its predecessor, although I did not have a recent Netflix adaptation to color my judgement this time around.

For the fifth straight year, I have completed my goal-reaching 52nd book.  Given that I am a couple of weeks ahead of last year’s pace, I should be able to give my personal record of 66 books, set last year, a run for its money.

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Book 51 (of 52) – It Could Have Been Her

It Could Have Been Her – Lisa Jewell

When a found dog puts her on the trail of a missing young woman, Jane Trevally, finding herself with nothing else really to do, starts to investigate, digging into the girl’s identity and the people who live in the mysterious house where she once had a traumatic encounter.  Through her network of old friends and some actual private investigative work, Jane is able to put much of the story together.  But, to get to the bottom of the mystery, she will have to go back to Thornwood and face the demons of her past.

Lisa Jewell’s latest, It Could Have Been Her, recovers some from the last work of hers I read.  She plays well with the creepy family in the scary house at the end of the road trope, mixing in enough doubt as to who the bad actors are along the way that you are never quite sure who to feel for or whether something bad has happened to the missing girl.  I’m sure I will be revisiting her work in the not-too-distant future.

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Book 50 (of 52) – The Waiting

The Waiting – Michael Connelly

When a petty thief steals Ballard’s badge and gun from her van while she’s surfing, she turns to her friend Harry Bosch to help her get them back.  When the trail leads them to a group of domestic terrorists who plan to shoot up Santa Monica pier on a busy holiday weekend, they turn to the FBI for help, but the blowback puts Ballard in hot water with her captain.  Meanwhile, a recent arrest collected DNA that puts Ballard’s Open-Unsolved Unit on the track of a serial rapist from 20 years earlier and Bosch’s daughter joins the team with a hot lead, the identity of the Black Dahlia’s killer.

The sixth, and, to date, final entry of Michael Connelly’s Renée Ballard series, The Waiting continues with the changes introduced in the last book that helped to land the Ballard series on Amazon Prime.  Bosch plays a lesser role in this go around, though his daughter joins the team to help pick up some of the slack.  I’m not sure if this is the end of the road or, having just been released in 2024, I’ve just caught up to the current release cycle, but I hope there is more to come.  If not, I may be forced to go backwards and start the Bosch series at the beginning.

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Book 49 (of 52) – Nothing Tastes As Good

Nothing Tastes as Good – Luke Dumas

Struggling with his weight all of his life, Emmett Truesdale joins a clinical trial for a new drug called Obexity which the company claims will help him lose weight with no lifestyle changes.  While the weight quickly starts to fall off, Emmett finds that he is suffering from blackouts, which mysteriously coincide with the suspicious disappearances/deaths of people who have slighted him in the past.  He eventually learns that the drug is turning him into a cannibal but doesn’t want to give up the weight loss.  When he learns who is behind the new drug, however, he goes over the edge.

Nothing Tasts as Good is my first experience with the work of Luke Dumas.  This story hits a little close to home, as I have been on a weight loss journey powered by a wonder drug for the last year.  Thankfully, the horror elements were not part of my side effects, so my experience has been much better than Emmett’s.  Dumas tells an interesting tale here and I look forward to reading more from him in the future.