2018 Challenge - Book #3 - Bear Town

Today's review is for:  Bear Town

Written by:  Fredrik Backman
Pages: 432

This is the story of a small town who loved hockey above everything else.  Win is the only motto.  They turn out players who go on to be professional hockey players.  One such player has returned to be the GM of Bear Town Hockey.  A family tragedy has sent him and his young family from the NHL team in Canada back to Bear Town.  His wife, who has never understood what all the fuss is about, is a lawyer.  His teenage daugher would rather play a guitar than pick up a stick.  And his young son has big dreams to be a star like his dad.

The story focuses on several boys on the Junior team and their quest to win the National Hockey Championship for high school kids.  The team works like a family and they stick together no matter what.  So when one of their own is accused of a horrible crime, the team has to decide whose side they are on.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  This is my 4th book by this author.  This one was great in its own way, but it also seemed to have a lot of unnecessary dialogue that could have been left out.  A did a few eye rolls at the over "mushiness" of some of the sections - it just didn't fit the story.  However - this small annoyance did not take away from the overall story.

I recommend reading it, knowing that you may find it a bit....much sometimes. 

Stars: 4

2018 Challenge

This year I am going to do things a little differently.  I am going to just try to read 75 books - no categories assigned.  My ORIGINAL plan this year was to start to read a book from an author of every country, but now that we are in Switzerland, it is very hard for me to get books in English.  So - since I don't have a good library to borrow from, I am just going to pick books I can read on my Kindle or possibly borrow from our small English library here.  Category challenges will have to wait until we move back to the US.

I put a request out on my facebook page and the Ladies Library page I follow for ideas.  I have some avid reader friends, and they did not disappoint.  A large part of my list here are from their suggestions and recommendations.  It is going to be fun to read this year.

I did put 75 books on the list again, so we will see if I can reach it.  I am still going to be abroad this year, and we have a lot of trips planned, BUT - I need to fit in more books.  Take them along more often on my explores. 

So - here is the list as it stands today.  It may ebb and flow a bit as the year goes along depending on what I can TRULY borrow (I have done some research and it looks like I can borrow about 95% of this list) and what I can get when we return for a visit to the USA this summer.

I linked the books to their Amazon page, so if you are interested in reading about any of them - just click the title and it will take you to the description page on Amazon.

600 Hours of Edward

A Fall of Marigolds

A Confederacy of Dunces

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Prayer for Owen Meany

And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer

Anything is Possible

As a Man Thinketh

Atonement

Baby ER

Bear Town

Before We were Yours

Britt Marie Was Here

Cujo

Dad is Fat

Dark Matter

Einstein's Dreams

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Ella Minnow Pea

Evicted

Franny and Zooey

Game of Thrones Book 4

Game of Thrones Book 5

Ghost Boy

Hate List

Helter Skelter

I'm Judging You

In a Dark Dark Wood

Interpreter of Maladies

Into The Wild

Little Fires Everywhere

Mr. Mercedes

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards

My name is Lucy Barton

My Not So Perfect Life

Our Short History

Sing Unburied Sing

Sleeping Beauties

Station Eleven

Tell No One

The Amazing Adventures of Kaliver and Clay

The Art Forger

The Atlas of Forgotten Places

The Book of Lost Things

The Code of the woosters

The Couple Next Door

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

The Divine Comedy

The Glass Castle

The God of Small Things

The Godfather

The Great Alone

The Hate You Give

The Hunny Bunny

The Little Prince

The Lost Girls

The Mars Room

The Misremembered Man

The Mountain Between Us

The Namesake

The Outsider

The Secret Keeper

The Tatttoo Artist of Auschwitz

The Tumor - the Non-Legal Thriller

The Underground Railroad

The Weight of Ink

The Zoo Keepers Wife

These Are My Words

This is How It Always Is

Turtles All The Way Down

Unsaid

We Were the Lucky Ones

What ever Happened to Baby Jane

Where'd you go Bernadette

Yellow Star

Book: Ceremonial Time

 Book: Ceremonial Time

Author: John Hanson Mitchell

Pages: 246

This is my 96th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Ceremonial time occurs when past, present, and future can be perceived simultaneously.  Experieced only rarely, usually during ritual dance, this escape from linear time is the vehicle for John Mitche''s extraordinary writing.  In this, his most magical book, he traces the life of a single square mile in New England, from the last ice age through years of human history, including bear shamans, colonists, witches, local farmers, and encroaching industrial parks.

This was a good book.  I found it when I was researching for a book challenge where I needed a local author.  John is from the town I currently live so I was excited to find this one.  It is well researched

Stars:4