I love a book that is based on careful research and historical detail. Beanland provides a historical account of one of the deadliest fires in early U.S. history, which took place in 1811 in Richmond, Virginia. It was the night after Christmas and the house is packed. This fictionalized account describes how the fire came…
I love Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Guide. It has tons of great reading suggestions (50 titles in all) and I trust MMD’s recommendations. I also like the way it organizes and describes the books, so I can tell what I’m most likely to enjoy. There’s a section that describes which books are “awesome on audio” and…
Readers interested in mental health issues and in the lives of families will appreciate this novel by Elizabeth Nguyen. Like her main character Anh, Nguyen is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees who raised her in Hawaii. She is also a psychiatrist with an interest in the intersections of mental health, spirituality, and nature. In her novel,…
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…
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…
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 year I signed up for a challenge to read more books about the environment (hosted by Gum Trees and Galaxies). I haven’t read too many yet this year, but I read these two in June and July and it made sense to write about them together. Both books are pretty impossible to “review” in…
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is books on our summer TBR list. I’ve already written about my summer TBR in this post about the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge. My summer TBR list, with what I’ve read so far, is below. Normally at this point in the summer I’d be much farther along, but June…
It’s two days until June 1, and that means the start of 20 Books of Summer, hosted annually by Cathy at 746 Books. Many of you know summer is absolutely my favorite time of year. And putting some thought into what I’m reading makes it even better. Here’s how I did last year. Why make…
I’m always sad to see summer ending, but it’s nice to see kids going back to school, and we are going on vacation! I’ve been working hard and need this break. We’re going to Hawaii to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We seriously considered whether to cancel, in light of COVID, but we are vaccinated, our trip…
This summer I read several powerful books about race that I’d encourage everyone to read, particularly if you’re interested in U.S. history and racism. In my last post, I wrote about Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. After Caste, I read Gilbert King’s Devil in the Grove, a Pulitzer Prize winner that describes racism and the justice…
This summer I read two powerful books about race that I’d encourage everyone to read, particularly those interested in U.S. history and racial issues. This is a discussion of the first of those two books. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson, is a book you’ve probably already heard much about. I found it…
The Book Stop 