This is my second novel by Lisa See, and I felt they were similar in a lot of ways. Both Island of Sea Women and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane are slow-paced multigenerational family dramas, that cover a primary character from childhood to old age. Both concentrate a great deal on history and culture. Both involve…
Every year I think I’m going to focus on the series I’m in the middle of, rather than starting up new ones. And every year that doesn’t happen. In 2021 I did make a strong effort to continue series. Some favorites were the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal, the League of Extraordinary Women series…
George Eliot, a classic Victorian novelist, has created characters that are so distinct from other novels of the time. Published in 1860, this novel is set around the 1820s in Lincolnshire, England. I was drawn into this story from page one, with little Maggie Tulliver playing on the banks of the River Floss. Maggie is smart,…
I’ve been focusing on the same few challenges for a few years now, and I decided to mix it up a bit this year, but with this caveat: I don’t want to add pressure to my reading life. That means I’m not going to focus on what or how much I read. Instead, I’m choosing challenges that…
On the last day of the year, I’m thinking about reading challenges and my reading this year. I haven’t decided what challenges I’ll do in 2022, whether I’ll continue the ones below or start something new. 2020 and 2021 have given me reason to pause and think about why I participate in reading challenges. As…
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is our favorite books of 2021. Here is a list of my favorite books this year, broken down into six categories. These are books I read this year regardless of when they were published (though quite a few were published this year): Contemporary fiction:…
I hope you had a very happy Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a safe and healthy holiday. In this post I’m talking about the best new authors I read this year. If I’ve calculated correctly, I read 58 books in 2021 by authors that were new to me. That’s out of 111 books, so…
‘Tis the season for “best books of year” lists. One of my favorites is the New York Times 100 Notable Books, which I prefer because getting a list of 100 books is much better than trying to distill the best reading of the year down to a handful of books. In fact I didn’t really care for…
This is a book I’ve been recommending lately, and it’s one you may not have heard of (I discovered it through Modern Mrs. Darcy’s summer reading list. This debut novel is a story about a dysfunctional family in small town Texas, and it’s based on the stories and themes of classical mythology. I thought it was fantastic.…
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is about our winter reading list. I’ve recently gone back to making quarterly TBR lists as a way to plan out my reading. My idea is that each of my quarterly TBR lists should include: a classic next in a series I’m reading ARCs…
There was a lot of interest in this book from my Nonfiction November post about books on habits and productivity, and since I’m finding this book quite useful, I thought I’d share a little more about it. Brewer is a neuroscientist and psychiatrist who studies habit formation and mindfulness. His website says he is “passionate…
It’s the end of Nonfiction November, and Week 5, hosted by Jaymi at The OC Bookgirl, is about which books we’ve added to our TBR list. First, I took a look at my TBR post from last year, where I added Here For It, Get Well Soon, Catch and Kill, and The Body Keeps the Score. …
Travel, adventure, books, life and stuff
Life up close
Based in Romania, reading all over the world. Mostly fiction, some memoires and a little bit of poetry.
A book blog and a celebration of diverse books and authors (with a side of your favorite brew)
The literary journeys of a 20-something, bilingual, elementary school teacher.
a book blog
There's always room for one more...
I read, breathe, and live in bookish worlds.
Book Reviews
The Book Stop 