This year I’m going to avoid signing up for any new challenges, but will continue with the ones I enjoyed most last year. The TBR Pile Challenge, hosted by Roof Beam Reader, asks you to take 12 books, plus two alternates, that have been… Continue Reading “2019 Reading Challenges”
With three months left to finish the Read Harder 2018 challenge, I’ve been putting off the toughest category on the list: an assigned book you hated or never finished. For obvious reasons — who wants to reread a book they hated? My mind immediately… Continue Reading “Read Harder 2018: Revisit a Classic You Hated”
1984 has to be one of the most disturbing books I’ve read, between the creepy parallels with our current political situation, and the torture and brainwashing. Animal Farm has always been one of my favorite books, for its basic but powerful allegory about political corruption. … Continue Reading “1984 by George Orwell”
Every year, the RIP challenge encourages bloggers to review Halloween-themed reads (paranormal, mystery, horror). This is my first review for RIP X. I appreciated Portrait of a Lady, even though I didn’t enjoy it, nor did I sympathize much with its heroine. With this… Continue Reading “Spooky Halloween reads: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James”
Last November, the Classics Club posted a survey with 50 questions. I didn’t want to post 50 questions all at once, so I thought I might take them ten at a time. I’ve been slacking on the classics lately but meaning to dive back… Continue Reading “The Classics Club 50 Question Survey”
Happy New Year! Last night the husband and I stayed in, cooked a nice dinner, drank a “special occasion” bottle of wine. A pretty good New Year’s Eve as far as I’m concerned! Today I worked on getting the blog ready for the new… Continue Reading “Ready for 2015: Reading Challenges”
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I’ve always loved fantasy, and while I don’t always say I’m a horror fan, fantasy and horror are pretty similar genres. I practically grew up on Stephen King novels —… Continue Reading “Top Ten Books to Get You in the Halloween Spirit”
The Haunting of Hill House was written by Shirley Jackson in 1959. A finalist for the National Book Award, it’s considered by many to be one of the best horror stories out there, at least in the ghost story/haunted house category. It’s been remade… Continue Reading “The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson”
The good news is, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is everything I hoped (and expected) it would be. The bad news is, I’m not feeling terribly academic these days, so I haven’t been able to motivate myself to be really thoughtful about this book. … Continue Reading “Reading Huck Finn, Chapters 1-16”
Okay, not surprisingly, I didn’t hear a ton of interest in reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But even if I’m talking mostly to myself, here’s my schedule in case you’re thinking about it. November 9: discuss Chapters 1-16, post questions on chapters 17-30… Continue Reading “Reading Huck Finn, Part I”
This article in last Sunday’s New York Times caught my eye with its cheerful cover of a board book called Moby Dick. Moby Dick? Yes, for overachieving parents there’s a new line of board books based on literary novels such as Pride and Prejudice… Continue Reading “Chew on This: Literary Board Books”
Reading, Writing, Cats - Life is pretty good.
Books and Beverages
Book Recommendations From One Book Lover to Another
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde
A book blog. Plus a little extra.
A Life Amidst Books
Reading for the critical eye
Reviewing books, society, adulthood, and more.
Books. Movies. Travel.
For mostly adult, literary, fiction; focusing on historical, contemporary, biographical, and women.
Life, literature, music, food & nature. Put the kettle on ...