This is a humorous and emotional saga of a Vietnamese family in America. Though not a perfect book for me, I expect this book will resonate quite a bit with those who are mothers and who are Vietnamese-American. Generations ago, the family is cursed because a woman runs off with a man who isn’t her…
Plastic may not be the worst issue impacting the environment, but it does feel like one that an individual can more easily do something about. And if you’ve seen the photos and videos of marine life with bellies full of plastic trash, it’s pretty hard to look away. I picked up McCallum’s book as part…
Every year I enjoy participating in 746 Books‘ 20 Books of Summer Challenge. I read all year round, of course, but something about summer reading is special, even though I’m no longer a kid treasuring long summer days to myself. Long-time readers know how much I love summer and feel sad when it’s over. Even…
Today I’m doing a look at my 2022 reading challenges, while there are still about four months in the year, so I can get readers’ suggestions about what books I should read. I try not to put a lot of stress into reading challenges (life is stressful enough) but challenges often push me to read…
Many readers of Donoghue’s other works will probably be disappointed by this one. She’s a beautiful writer and a powerful storyteller, and I appreciate how different her books are. This one isn’t my favorite of hers, but it was a thought-provoking read. Haven tells the story of an island off of Ireland called Skellig Michael,…
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is about books I love that were written over 10 years ago. I decided to narrow my list to the ten year span between 2002 and 2012. For more favorite books, you can see this list of favorite books written before I was born,…
I loved this novel about a small community in Monterey, California. I think I expected something more industrial from the title – Cannery Row refers to Monterey’s cannery district, where most of the men of this town make their living. But it’s also an ode to the natural beauty of coastal California, something that really…
Brideshead Revisited was written during World War II by Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh. Brideshead reflects many aspects of his life, from experiences at Oxford, his friendships with the British aristocratic set, and his military service. He published his first novel in 1928 at the age of 25. Also around that time he was married, then…
In July, life felt a little bit more normal — I was able to take more time for myself and even went back to working regular hours. Since we couldn’t go on our vacation in June, we’ve planned a trip to California around Labor Day. Coastal drives, sunsets on the beach, and wine tasting —…
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is ten books from seasonal TBR lists you haven’t gotten to yet. It was interesting to go back through those lists, and see which books I’d read, which I no longer had interest in, and which ones I imply haven’t gotten to yet. Here are…
I’ve read 65 books so far this year. Of these, StoryGraph characterizes my reading as predominantly “emotional”, then “reflective”, “funny”, “mysterious”, “light-hearted”, and “informative”. My most frequent categories of books are romance, historical, contemporary, memoir, and literary (as categorized by StoryGraph, which isn’t necessarily the way I’d categorize each book). I’ve read more nonfiction than…
I loved this novel about a strong, opinionated woman in the early 1960s who is a chemist, a single mother, and the star of a cooking television show. This sort of novel could easily become trite but it never did. Elizabeth Zott has to deal with sexism, harassment, and assault, as she navigates the world of science…
"From that time on, the world was hers for the reading." - Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
My meanderings through life and writing . . .
Reviews, Recommendations, Discussions and Book Hauls
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.
Celebrating stories by diverse voices and their impact on the world
The literary journeys of a 20-something, bilingual, elementary school teacher.
a book blog
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The Book Stop 