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…
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…
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is about our favorite books written before we were born. I haven’t written about my favorite classics for a while, so this was a nice opportunity to span a couple centuries of great literature and pick out my favorites. In making this list, I…
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 on your TBR list for over a year. I often find…
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 jumped to my own book-nemesis, Jane Eyre. So many bloggers count…
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. 1984 takes this idea to a very different level. Written in…
In 2016, the Classics Club is hosting the Women’s Classic Literature Event. This year long event will have quarterly check-ins where we can share thoughts and posts. The Classics Club describes it in this way: This event is way more a celebration than a “reading challenge.” It’s about hunting out those forgotten titles which didn’t…
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 book, however, I may have decided that I dislike James’ writing…
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 in. 1) Share a link to your club list: https://thebookstop.wordpress.com/2015-reading-challenges/ 2) When…
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 year – updating links, cleaning up my TBR list, etc. I…
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 — the old ones like Firestarter and The Dead Zone. I think…
The Book Stop 