Sally Jane Smith was an avid traveler when, in 2006 on a trip to Sri Lanka, her bus had a head-on collision, resulting in severe long-term injuries and understandable anxiety about future travel. A decade later, she pulled out her mother’s journal of her own travels in Greece as a young woman, and she followed…
May was a fantastic reading month. I read four books from the Women’s Prize longlist. I also read two backlist books from new favorites, Mimi Matthews and Kate Clayborn. Here’s what I read in May: My favorite reads: My favorite was The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff, a book I only picked up because it was nominated…
This year’s winner of the Women’s Prize will be announced June 6. These books are up for the award: In addition to these books, the 2023 longlist included: This year I’ve read 8 of the 16 books on the longlist. I’ve described them in order of my favorites. The Bandit Queens: This was a fantastic surprise…
Cathy at 746Books.com is once again hosting her 20 Books of Summer event. It’s a low-key challenge that I enjoy because it helps me organize my summer reading and pushes me not to just reach for the latest “beach read” (however you define that). You can also choose a 10 or 15 book challenge, and she’s…
I was very happy to receive an ARC of Klune’s new book from NetGalley. I loved his last two books, The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door. I didn’t like this one quite as much, but the bar was really high, and I enjoyed the mix of humor, adventure, and heart.…
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is the books we recommend the most to others. Nonfiction: As I was making my list, I noticed that nonfiction came up more than fiction. I think that’s because fiction is so much more dependent on individual tastes, where great nonfiction can appeal…
April was a much better month than March – I got my dad settled in a new home, my sisters visited, and life is starting to feel a bit more normal. I didn’t get much reading done, but I’m feeling good about what I’ve accomplished. My family, and my work, have been really supportive which…
Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG will appeal to readers who love food memoirs and are also very interested in the law. Karst covers both in great detail, while also depicting the life and accomplishments of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in this story about a single dinner. In…
Recently I posted about books that combine historical fiction and fantasy in interesting ways. This book is a great addition to that list. Set in 1915, Adelaide Henry has just buried her parents on their farm in California, and she heads out to Montana to stake a claim for land in the only place she…
I didn’t have much time to blog this month, and I kept my reading pretty light. I loved Less is Lost, which was a funny, moving and clever sequel to the excellent Less. In this book, Arthur takes a road trip as he tries to earn money to save his home for his beloved Freddy…
In March we lost a member of our family, my father’s wife Lily. Lily and my father met around the age of 70; for each it was a second chance at love. They met in 2004 through an Jewish online dating service, something that still makes my family laugh – they were quite the trendsetters…
If you loved Paull’s The Bees, you’ll probably love this one too. It’s not an easy read, for a couple of reasons. One is that, like The Bees, you have to really get into the mindset of the ocean creatures in this book. There’s a fair amount of unfamiliar terminology, sometimes related to the biological functioning…
The Book Stop 