Keeping up with a record of what I read each year, here I go with a new ongoing list for 2016. The count may be even less than last year but I really need to complete my cleaning process.

1. The Question of the Felonious Friend (An Asperger’s Mystery 3) by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen
   [ With his Mom’s encouragement, Samuel turns his Asperger’s personality into a business of answering questions. Like The Rosie Project, I can see some of myself in him. I appriciate learning about Asperger’s while experience Samuel’s “research” process. Going to start from book 1. ]
2. The Darkness Knows (Viv and Charlie Mystery) by Cheryl Honigford
   [ Set during the golden era of radio, 1938, Chicago. A murder at a radio station. I suspected the murderer early on but did not know the motive, that means I had to read to the end, good trick! ]
3. Crosstalk by Connie Willis
   [ At first it read like too much “texting” but as I read on, I saw the effect was intentional and carried a lot of hints. I did skip many places near the end, didn’t need the repeated info. Love how Willis is able to fuse the mystic with technology in the plot. Her last books were about WWII and time travel, loved it! ]
4. Lady Cop Makes Trouble (Kopp Sisters Series 2) by Amy Stewart
   [ Now Constance Amelie Kopps works as a police person, the story tells the struggle of breaking into the male only career. Miss Kopps still manages to solve the case! ]
5. Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d: A Flavia de Luce Novel (Book 8) by Alan Bradley
   [ Flavia came home from Canada, learned that her father was in the hospital. She began to ventur out to London and we also continue to see her grow with age and events in her life. ]
6. Nemesis by Catherine Coulter
   [ Her 19th FBI thriller, my first of hers. Love the relationship between all characters. This one invovles two cases the main FBI married couple has to work on their own, though they helped each other as well. Might try another one of her books. ]
7. Deep Dark (Tracers Series 10) by Laura Griffin
   [ This murder mystery invovles the police, white and black head hackers. The romantic relationship plays a major role. Good choice for a romance reader who also wants read a serious mystery. ]
8. Girl Waits with Gun (Kopp Sisters Series 1) by Amy Stewart
   [ A historic fiction, centered on Constance Amelie Kopp, a real person, who with a sherif’s help fought the local silk company boss. ]
9. The First Time: A Time Travel Romance (The Sunflower Series 1) by Bernadette Pajer #1 Pick!
   [ Amazing flawless time travel romance! I couldn’t put it down, read my review. ]
10. Cinderella Six Feet Under (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery 2) by Maia Chance
    [ This was as fun to read as 1 and 3. Along the way, you grow to know the charaters and develop feelings about them as you would a real person. ]
11. Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery 1) by Maia Chance
    [ I read the 3rd book first, found this one just as fun, it kept me guessing. It’s interesting to see how Maia weaved the Snow White story into the mystery. ]
12. Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery 3) by Maia Chance
    [ Picked this up from the “interesting read” section at the libaray and it was interesting. Though I haven’t read the first 2 books, the story still works. An important element is based on a fairy tale abut it’s a mystery not a fantasy. Fast paced, no boring parts, good read. ]
13. The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo
    [ I’m usually not one for general fiction but the fast paced and interesting details brought me along to the end. ]
14. The Forgotten Soldier (Pike Logan Thriller) by Brad Taylor
15. Gasa-Gasa Girl (Book 2 of Mas Arai Mystery) by Naomi Hirahara
16. Summer of the Big Bachi (Book 1 of Mas Arai Mystery) by Naomi Hirahara
17. Snakeskin Shamisen (Book 3 of Mas Arai Mystery) by Naomi Hirahara
    [ Hirahara is amazing, the hero in her story can be 20 something like Ellie Rush or a 70 something gardener, Mas Arai. I enjoyed the mystery while learning some history about Okinawa. ]
18. Seven Threadly Sins (A Threadville Mystery) by Janet Bolin
    [ I think my taste may have changed. Though the story moves in a good pace, I wanted something different, something with more dimensions. Naomi Hirahara might have spoiled cozy mystery for me… ]
19. Grave on Grand Avenue (Book 2 of Officer Ellie Rush Mystery) by Naomi Hirahara
    [ Though Ellie is 20 something, I did not feel like an old lady when I read this. Hirahara did a great job writing as a young person and still keep older people on track. ]
20. Murder on Bamboo Lane (Book 1 of Officer Ellie Rush Mystery) by Naomi Hirahara
    [ My first book from her. Love the fast pace progress, Asian immurgrant culture/conflicts, interesting plot. ]
21. The Plague of Thieves Affair (Book 4 of Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery) by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
    [ The wife and husband team of mystery writers have done it again. The reason I love reading Marcia Muller is because her series don’t turn boring. This time the detectives work their own cases. I did solve the simplist one quickly but enjoyed the crime solving process all the same. ]
22. Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott
    [ Mainstream book is usually not my thing but Super Librarian Nancy Pearl suggested it, so I read it. Harriet’s own narrative was the most intriguing and the thread of the book. It calls on you to look beyond your own percecptions of people in your life. There are always more behind the other person, why each one turned out and acted in certain ways. ]
23. The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet
    [ Once again the English in this fantasy is a hard to understand for me (English is my 2nd language.) So though many said this was a funny book, my struggle only allowed me to enjoy the darker side of the plot. I do like the surprising turns of events and how he uses words (when I can understand them) ]
24. City of Stairs (The Divine Cities) by Robert Jackson Bennett
    [ Recommended by Super Librarian Nancy Pearl. I usually don’t like fantasy but this one focuses more on human mind and spirituality. Choose to read deeper into it like the main character Shara would looking closer at the reality-miracle confused city. ]

It looks like I am 3 books short from last years record of 24. As a reader and a writer, I can only aspire to be at Stephen King’s productivity level.

Here is the list of books I’ve read all the way through and it includes some I read, more like studied, for work. Books I gave up reading are not listed.

1. The Insider Threat (Pike Logan Thriller) by Brad Taylor
   [ This is the 8th Pike Logan novel yet I am still amazed at how Brad manages to take things from many different directions and tide everything up without missing any details. ]
2. You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispenza
   [ I’ve always believed that mind over matters, Dr. Dispenza not only presents scientific evidences, he also offered an user friendly way to make your mind work for you instead letting your aimless mind live your life. POINT: brain-emotion-physical connection. Non-fiction. Recommand! ]
3. The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne
   [ The main character, Melissa, opened her own personal “adviser/shopper” business as Honey and helped many clueless male clients. I loved her business ideas and struggles between being Mel and Honey. Fast pace, twist, and funny. Observation: this English author writes almost like an American. ]
4. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
   [ Fun to read an Australian novel, different wording but closer to US English than British English. Love the tension and suspense in waiting to see what the characters might do though not the usual material I’m interested in, marriage, old-relationship, motherhood, etc. ]
5. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (人生がときめく片づけの魔法) by Marie Kondo (近藤麻理恵)
   [ It CHANGED my life as promised. I felt better on the 2nd day of cleaning my cloth out (read KonMari related posts.) In her Japanese videos, she said to just try it even if you don’t believe it. I didn’t need to, it made perfect since to me. I have so much stuff, I’m only up to the document category after 1.5 months into it, but I know I have to do it right so I will never have to do it again. ]
6. Lair of Dreams: A Diviners Novel (2) by Libba Bray
   [ It’s a thick book but Libba didn’t let the middle fall flat. I love how she strings words together like an artist with beads. I do recommend reading the two books together. I waited so long for the 2nd book I forgot most of the 1st one. ]
7. The Agency 4: Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee
   [ If you are new to The Agency Series, read The Agency 3 review. Lee writes great characters, even though I had guessed the plot, I still wanted to know how each person would react as the story progress. And I love how she weaved history, race issues, and mystery together. ]
8. The Intern’s Handbook: A John Lago Thriller (1) by Shane Kuhn
   [ John Lago is an trained assassin who found himself as he finishes his last assignment. Lots of twists in the book, good use of words. Found it a bit screenplay-ish which does works in this novel. ]
9. A Discovery of Witches: All Souls Trilogy (1) by Deborah Harkness
   [ Interesting concept of uniting witches, vampires, and demons, like nations on Earth should. However, I wasn’t interest in parts of book about wines and European/religious history, took much effort to finish this thick book. ]
10. Survive the Unthinkable: A Total Guide to Women’s Self-Protection by Tim Larkin
    [ Read as part of my research, found his Target Focus Training makes most sense among other women self defense books. He asks you to become more aware in the first place and for women to take the power back from their attackers. ]
11. Edison Effect: A Professor Bradshaw Mystery (4) by Bernadette Pajer
    [ Wow, this is the best Bradshaw case yet, Professor grew into a modern man and I didn’t guess the actual murderer. ]
12. Capacity for Murder: A Professor Bradshaw Mystery (3) by Bernadette Pajer
    [ Bernadette is getting better and better, the relationships between people are getting deeper and the plot is even more interesting than the the first two books. ]
13. Fatal Induction: A Professor Bradshaw Mystery (2) by Bernadette Pajer
    [ Perfect series for engineers who want to read for clean fun, I had guessed the ending early for the first book (A Spark of Death). This one is more complex and has more interesting science and history. ]
14. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley
    [ Flavia left home for the first time, she has to survive in the all girls boarding school and solve a mystery at the same time. All the while, she realizes she misses her sister and how she turns out to be much like her mother who she never really knew. ]
15. I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella.
    [ Best romance novel I’ve read so far (No sappy romance for me, thx!). It’s funny and it has depth. As we discover the characters, we also discover the plot. The story runs on constant warp speed so I’ll need to read a few other books until I can read another one of her books. ]
16. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine.
    [ A perfect book for people who love their sisters. A reminder of how we help each other survive. (read my review) ]
17. The Rosie Effect (Don Tillman Book 2) by Graeme Simsion
    [ Though the 2nd “Rosie” book didn’t hit me as hard, it’s fun to see the struggles in a relationship during a pregnancy. To me, though Don has issues with reading emotions, I think all expected mothers will encounter as many problems as Rosie. And it seems if people can be honest with each other without taking it personally, everything might work out sooner and easier. ]
18. The Rosie Project (Don Tillman Book 1) by Graeme Simsion (Must Read)
    [ The best self-help book I’ve ever read and its a ROM-COM fiction! I see so much of myself in Don, I am applying what he learned in my own life. Read my reactions in 3 parts. ]
19. No Fortunate Son (Pike Logan Thriller) by Brad Taylor
    [ Brad as skillful as before, begins the story with multiple threads, with actors in each thread serving for their own interest (as they logically should), created hit and miss for the heros Pike and Jennifer. ]
20. Son (4 of 4 in The Giver Quartet) by Lois Lowry
    [ Written a while back but still reflects the negative side of human nature that is still true today. The conclusion offers one way to see the evil, also a way to resolve it. ]
21. The Body Snatchers Affair (Book 3 of Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery) by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
    [ The wife and husband team of mystery writers are at work again. Of the two cases, I managed to solve the first one pretty early on. The thread though out this series is the relationship between the two detectives. Being written by a real life couple, the ups and downs between them ring true. ]