I get annoyed by all the copycat book covers out there. Publishers seem to want every book to look like a knockoff of the latest hit. I realize it’s helpful for bookstores to have clear indicators of where to shelve a book, and for people to easily find the latest book that’s just like the…
July began great, with my first plane trip in a year and a half, and I got to see two of my sisters this month. It looked like things might be getting back to normal, but of course now we’re going back to masks, and I know of two people who have gotten COVID recently…
Which books would you want if you were stranded on a desert island? That’s the subject of this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It immediately made me think of long, weighty books that you can spend a lot of time with. It also made me think about the books I…
I picked up this book partly because I saw Zauner interviewed on the Daily Show, and partly because it was recommended in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Guide. I was intrigued by the title and the subject — it’s a book about family and loss, about being biracial and the daughter of an immigrant, and…
As we’re halfway into the year, I’ve been thinking about how I’m progressing on my reading and blogging goals. Reading: In my New Year’s Resolution Post, I wrote about my reading goals for the year. At the end of June, I’d read 56 books, roughly half audiobooks. According to The StoryGraph, most of thee books…
I wasn’t initially a fan of Chambers, but after Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, I’ve come to like each of her books more and more. This one was no exception. Psalm is a novella and the start of a science fiction series about man and robot. As a novella, there wasn’t as much…
June was a month where I concentrated on taking care of myself — I’m doing yoga, meditation, and generally trying to keep anxiety levels at a manageable level. I’m working on appreciating my life more and worrying less about things I can’t control. Easier said than done, but I’m learning some good approaches. Here’s what I…
I have so many mixed feelings about this book, but in the end, Emily Henry told a story where I cared deeply about the characters. I can tell I’ve reacted emotionally to a book when I’m thinking about the characters in the days after I’ve put the book down. It’s a combination of missing the…
I love novels that are so steeped in history, they meld fiction and nonfiction. These are most often historical novels about real people who did noteworthy things, where the author builds the story around both fictional and nonfictional characters and dialogue. The best of these novels are deeply researched, and by the end I’ve experienced history in…
A few months ago I posted about the 2021 Women’s Prize longlist. At the time I had only read two of the books, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (both excellent). Since then I’ve read four more of the books from the longlist: Piranesi, Luster, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps…
There’s no shortage of summer reading guides, but one of my favorites is issued by Modern Mrs. Darcy, also known as author/reader Anne Bogel, and this year is the Guide’s 10th anniversary. I find her recommendations really useful, mainly because I’ve relied on them in the past with much success. I also think she has…
May was a good month for a lot of reasons. I got vaccinated, made plans to travel and see friends, and enjoyed the warm weather in my garden. I read two books this month from the Women’s Prize longlist (winner to be announced in July), but mostly kept it on the lighter side with some…
There's always room for one more...
I read, breathe, and live in bookish worlds.
Book Reviews
"Books are a uniquely portable magic" - Stephen King
*somewhere to collect my (mostly) bookish thoughts*
"She had read novels while other people perused the Sunday papers" - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
"The world was hers for the reading."
Thoughts on Literature, Expressing Creativity, Being Authentic
books, libraries, life
