Would baby wipes work? I don’t use wipes to remove makeup but I’ve heard of people using them and if they’re formulated for babies they might be more gentle?

Not quite. I’ve been mostly alternating with books for my book club.

Oh interesting! I’m on season 4 now and have been bothered by River’s inconsistent levels of competency. I wonder if he’s more consistent in the books now.

How fo the Slow Horses books compare to the show? I’ve been curious to give them a try since I’m enjoying the show so much.

It was probably my favorite book I read last year. I highly recommend it!

I am reading Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 4). I’m really enjoying this one, it may be my favorite in the series so far!

Thank you for running this! It was really fun to track through the year!

I didn’t go out of my way to try to complete squares, just tracked what I read and what squares it would count as through the year. Overall, I finished with 19 squares completed and 34 total books read in the challenge timespan.

1A: Older Than You Are - Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare -
1B: Water, Water Everywhere - Tom Lake by Ann Patchett -
1C: What’s Yours is Mine - The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence -
1D: Family Drama - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah -
1E: It Takes Two - The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson -
2B: Plays With Words - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin -
2D: Bookception - The Paris Bookseller by Keri Maher -
2E: Disability Representation - Age of Assassins by RJ Barker -
3A: Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie - Hex Education by Maureen Kilmer -
3B: Stranger in a Strange Land - Endurance by Alfred Lansing -
3C: FREE SPACE: One Less - I Am Legend by Robert Matheson -
3E: LGBTQIA+ Lead - Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah -
4A: Now a Major Motion Picture - Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman -
4C: Award Winner - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver -
4D: Mashup - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke -
4E: Local to You - Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane -
5A: Debut Work - Educated by Tara Westover -
5D: Minority Author - Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride -
5E: Among the Stars - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

He’s great! I saw that Sanderson is planning to write a novella about him in a year or two.

I’m just continuing with Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. I finished Oathbringer and Dawnshard and will start Rhythm of War next.

I finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It follows two friends and video game devs from childhood into adulthood. This author did some really interesting things and I intensely loved parts of the book. At the same time though, parts of the book really frustrated me, pulled me out of the story and made we want to stop reading it entirely. I’ve never been so conflicted about how I feel about a book.

Now I’m continuing to read Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 3). It’s been very slow going but I am really enjoying it.

I finished Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredunle Voyage by Alfred Lansing. It was a well written account but the story really made me dislike Shackleton.

I also read Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson, a novella in the Stormlight Archive universe. Now I’m on Oathbringer (Stormlight book 3). Only just started but already enjoying it immensely. I feel like with where book 2 left off, this will be the book where I really start to see payoff of everything that’s been built up.

I am still reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 2). I’m about 3/4 of the way through and enjoying it immensely. However everything I’ve read so far feels like set up, which is a little frustrating because mistborn did not have this feel to it.

I’m still reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 2). It’s going great so far! Some moves that I really wasn’t expecting from Sanderson. And amazing characters all around.

I finished The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It’s a historical fiction taking place in occupied France during World War II. It was a very well plotted story, but the writing felt so distant and some scenes felt very unrealistic. It felt like a story I should have liked more that I did.

Now I’ve started Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 2). Far too early to have opinions, but I’m excited for this one.

I finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 1). Massively enjoyed this one. Spent more time than I should have during the holidays reading it.

Now I’m reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It’s a historical fiction novel set in occupied France during World War 2. I’m finding it ok so far. It’s easy to read and the plot is fine, but I’m not very emotionally invested and don’t love the writing style.

Edit: I want to clarify that the topics and themes visited in this book are very emotionally heavy. However, the writing feels like an emotional stiff arm to me. It’s just so distant and impersonal, that it reduces the impact of the difficult topics.

Dreary is a good word to describe The Hero of Ages. I still love it, but the hopeless feeling is wearing.

I finished Age of Assassins by RJ Barker and I loved it! It does have a bit of a debut author feel, but was well-plotted, with fascinating characters and world building. Some twists were predictable, but some I did not see coming at all. I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy.

But the rest of the trilogy may have to wait a while because I started The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. My friend has been hounding me to read Stormlight for months so I finally gave in. I’m only about 100 pages in so far, but I can already tell this world is massive and well thought out. I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes!

I’m currently reading Age of Assassins by RJ Barker. I’m only about a quarter of the way through and I’m really enjoying it so far! Interesting world building, an enjoyable protagonist, and a gripping plot. I’m excited to see where this story goes!

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

David Copperfield is ok. I really liked the writing style and found the characters interesting. It dragged on for too long though and the main character didn’t have much agency throughout the story which can be frustrating.

How are you liking The Well of Ascension on reread?

I finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Overall a solid book with some good commentary on modern poverty, foster care, and the opioid crisis. The first half stuck too close to the plot points of David Copperfield, but thankfully it stood more on its own in the second half. The ending felt a bit rushed.

Now I’ve started Hex Education by Maureen Kilmer. If it wasn’t such a short read, I would not be finishing this book. Almost every character is unlikeable. I was hoping for a campy witchy book where I want to hang out with the characters, but instead I got a suburban mom who married rich and can’t stop humblebragging about it.