I adore this author and so glad he could fit lil PDX Powell's into his tour.

So interesting! I had forgotten I pre-ordered this from Blackwells and I bought it at my local US shop and now I get to look at the subtle differences between the printings.
UK is slightly (just a hair) taller, the hard cover also has the eyes stamped under the cover, and I love their cover more without the NYT& Times commentary the UK version is almost $9 less!!

I really love this book. I read it decades ago & i fell in love with Indian culture & history. I love how myths & history are interwoven
Panchaali is born from fire and is married to 5 brothers, this is her story and how they changed all things around them.
The writing is gorgeous, the characters are regal but also likable.
Only complaint is there are so many characters it can be confusing, family tree doesn't help as much as a list would have.

#20in4 #reaadathon @Andrew65 Wrapup!

Goals-
20 hours audio - Wives and Daughters (turns out Scrib doesn't like my hikes, so 9 hours of this and 7 hours of Palace of Illusions) 🎧 16/20 Finished Palace ✔
20 chapters of Clays Arc ✔ Finished!
20 chapters Trespasses (📙 10/20)
20 pages of Pattermaster - was not feeling this title so read 20 pages of The Vaster Wilds ✔

This week's TBR I am so close to being done with The Palace of Illusions and Trespasses hoping to finish at least one today.
I am also listening to Wives And Daughters which is a chunkster.
Zami is my first #14booksin14weeks read

Updated TBR shelf. I have a TBR bookcase but these are my up next. I have a cubby for #14booksin14weeks and one for my library/borrowed books June is Pride month so one cubby for The Gays I mean to read this month, one cubby for my favorite books I am rereading this year, the last cubby for the books longest on my GR tbr
Sometimes I feel I spend more time on my tbr then on actually reading books to get them off it!

I didn't update yesterday because I was so so close to finishing a book then fell asleep!

My goals:
20 hours of Wives and Daughters - 6 hours down
20 chapters of Clays Ark ✔️
20 hours Trespasses - starting today
20 pages of Pattermaster - after Clay's Ark I need a break from Butler, so changing the start book to something I feel like reading after Trespasses is

#20in4 #readathon @Andrew65

I had thought I was going to read all of Butler's work this year but this volume has really turned me off from her.
This was brutal. Lots of talk about and on page rape. Lots of other violence too, the end chapters are nothing but. The characters have been taken over by a disease that makes them want to breed - against their hosts wishes. This whole book left me wondering why I was reading.
It is an easy grammatically to read book though.

I am a bit confused with this book. It is #3 in a series but seems to have nothing in common with the other books. Reading on GR that this was published last (#5 but listed in the republication as #3).
Has anyone read this? Does Doro show up eventually? There was a man named Clay in book 2 but this does not seem to be connected to him?
Also I can't seem to find book 4 anywhere? It seems it is the only one they randomly stopped publishing?

#20in4 #readathon @Andrew65
First day!

I listened to 4 hours of Wives and Daughters and read 2 chapters of Clays Arc. Not the strongest start but I was also working and super distracted (the new season of Netflix French show L'Agency just dropped!)
Wow Molly in W&D is so childlike and annoying I keep picturing Mia Goth playing her.

@TheAromaofBooks

June #BookspinBingo

Yay!

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin

I am so excited that my GR TB is getting so close to having no 2019 books on it! I have added a few of these to the #14books14weeks2023 challenge in hopes to really get moving on these older ones this summer!

There are a couple of chunksters on here that have me a bit nervous!

Updated #14books14weeks2023 list
Next week! How did it come so fast.
I am working on getting some of the oldest books off my TBR bookcase. I have had some of these for seriously maybe a decade. Why have I not read them?

@TheHeartlandBookFairy

#20in4 #Readathon w/ @Andrew65

I have probably spent 20 hours thinking about how to do 20 in 4!

Here is what I came up with -
20 hours of audio of my #Doublespin Wives and Daughters
20 chapters of Clays Arc
20 chapters (finish it!) Of Trespasses
20 pages of Pattermaster

I am really trying to get caught up on some of my personal reading goals so these stretch goals should really help, and it is a 3 day weekend here!

Low pick. This was a bit ridiculous but felt fresh and fun. Emma puts a 1⭐ review on GR and the author comes to kill her for it. This premise sold me. Especially with all the social media talk about how authors have been reacting to reviews lately, & after reading Yellowface which talks about publishing and reviews.
I liked that the author gave the protagonists dog a voice, at first it threw me off but it really grew on me. I also liked the 👇

Catching up on reviews - my 2nd 5 ⭐ of the year
I was enthralled. I was gasping. I love how many of the chapters start a straight forward sentence about what is going to happen - "The night I watched Athena Liu die, we were celebrating..." Amazing it kept me hooked and up reading way too late.
The characters are not super lovable, so if you need that this is not for you all of them are flawed and painfully real.

DNF'ing for now. I do not think audio is the way to go with this. I am a quarter in and have zero idea what is going on, or what the point is.
But I can sort of see what the hype is, I think it will be much better in physical form.

"How comfortable are you in your uncaring?"
Listening to Nana Kwami talk about his new novel that I loved.

Oh my. This book had me hooked from the start. I love books where chapters start off telling you things are going to get worse ?. The opening line in the book is "The night I watched Athena Liu die, we're celebrating..."
This book is about racism, white lady liberalism, the publishing industry, and the cost of fame. It is both funny, horrifying (how terrible people can be), and fascinating.
This would be an excellent bookclub book.

Action packed with lots of twists around who to trust I enjoyed this 🌶️ story enough to read it in a day (glad I gave up on Thistlefoot so I could get to this!)

Oh no! Unpopular opinion. I couldn't care less about anyone in this story.
While there are bits and pieces that I can see could be interesting, it is just not holding my attention and I am not wanting to pick it back up, so I am bailing.

#AAPI Heritage month recommendations
Historical fiction edition

Many of these you see here often - Pachinko, Kaikeyi, Island of Missing Trees. It isn't often I see people referring to The Tenth Muse - a wonderfully written book about a woman who is a math prodigy in a man's world. Or the series by Indu Sundaresan beautiful, rich sensory filled books about ancient India.
Historical fiction is my jam and there are so many fantastic books!

Oh my! This first chapter 🔥
If this doesn't pull me out of my reading slump nothing will.
I am so mad at myself for sitting on this arc!

#AAPI heritage month recommendations
Nonfiction edition

Miller is a must read, this book will make you mad, but it also gives wonderful insight & is gorgeously written.
Crying In H-Mart had me crying, but also just so honored she is sharing her story with us
Mock is gorgeous inside and out and I loved all of her memoirs
Ace had me really looking at what is attraction, love, and sexuality stellar dive into asexuality
Maladies history of cancer wow

Well. This is a first for me. Normally I love Ruth Ware, but I just cannot get myself to care about this main character, and 100 pages in I am rolling my eyes at her antics and the plot holes. So I am bailing. I might feel different when it is released later this year, and try it again but right now it's not helping my reading slump so moving on.

#weeklyforecast I have Thistlefoot on audio I also have an ARC of Naomi Alderman's The Future (author of The Power). Hoping to get through most of these, I am super busy next weekend with throwing my parents a joint 70th Birthday party so we will see how this goes!

#MagnificentMay Readathon with @Andrew65

I really thought I had done an abysmal job this week, but I am pretty proud of myself! I am fighting my way through this reading slump.

I think this coming week I need more action packed books.

#AAPI heritage recommendations
Contemporary fiction edition

I am still sore that the tagged didn't make the Women's Prize short list. From what I can see it was an audience favorite. Such a great book..
Tomorrow x3 you have seen it everywhere but have you read it??
All My Rage - Tahir is a wonderful writer. This one of hers is sad, taking on grief and struggles, but the relationship between our main characters was a sweet delight to read.

#AAPI Heritage month
This was so well done. Interconnected stories of people after 2030 when a plague is released from permafrost. Grief, lost, and survival running themes through the stories, you think you are finished with someone 's story and then you are years later and hearing the story from their mother's point of view and it all makes perfect sense. I have been in a reading slump but this held my attention and I flew through it today.

#AAPI HERITAGE MONTH RECOMMENDATIONS
magical realism edition

These 3 books are amazing. I pushed the tagged on so many when it came out, I love it so much.

Build Your House Around My Body not only a fantastic title but this was one of the 2022 Women's Prize long listed books. Filled with ghosts and mystery, so good.

Our Missing Hearts ❤️ this felt so real, #AAPI hate is already such a problem in the US I could see this happening here.

#AAPI heritage month #recommendations
Graphic novel edition

3 books I pulled from my bookcases -
The Prince and the Dressmaker blew me away! I adore this story of a prince who has been hiding himself & the woman who comes along w/ out judgement to make his dreams a reality.
George Takei's They Called Us Enemy should be required reading -his story of being forced into an American Japanese internment camp during WWII History we need to know

This is my least favorite Han Kang book. I absolutely love her first three (English translated) books, and she is an auto buy author of mine. But this book was so slow, mixed with my general reading slump I had a hard time caring about the characters. A book that should have taken me an afternoon to read took me over a week
As always I LOVE Kang's use of language, her translators do such a great job. I might try to read this again later this year.

I have been in a reading slump lately. Which is such a bummer because it is AAPI Heritage month and I was hoping to get to these fabulous books. We are almost half through the month, and I am in the middle of 4 different books, but the tag has to go back to the library so hopefully I can get to that one at least.
I really struggled finding adult novels by actual Pacific Islanders so if anyone has any recs? I found one but would love more.

A wonderful ghost story about family.
I loved reading the aunties parts, makes me miss my own.
I enjoyed this magically written, dreams, and hauntings, not scary but with a reflective undertone.

Joining @TheHeartlandBookFairy for the #14in14 challenge!
I pulled 14 books that I think have been on my bookcases the longest. Would love to get them read, some of them have moved house with me 3 or more times!

#WomensPrizeshortlist

Wonderful writing, often hard to read due to the content. This is excellent.
I wish I had been in a different mood, I think it would have hit harder, I have been craving much lighter reads lately.
I am glad this made the shortlist, it is an interesting story, and I don't see many Jamaican -British novels. I also loved the thread of music throughout, recommend the audio for the rhythm and some music.

After bingeing Queen Charlotte I found it hard yesterday to get into any of my regular books so today I went with the unusual for me, a romance. This is so tender, and such a character driven book that I really enjoyed it! I try to stear away from women who write M-M romances but saw this on TikTok and gave it a try and I am glad I did perfect for what I needed today.

#magnificentMay #readathon @Andrew65 #readinggoals -
I have been looking forward to Greek Lessons so starting there, then I need to read Poverty for an IRL bookclub. Then tackling my library books, I have 2 more ready for pickup so need to tackle that this week.
Also listening to the tagged on Audio.

#2023Reread
This year I am rereading a favorite book each month to see if they hold up.This was April's reread, and it does! I love this story of a... kidnapping? Such a complex story. A Japanese business man is brought to a South American country for his birthday to hear his favorite opera singer perform. The room is filled with people from all over the world, and when the lights go out a terrorist group breaks in and holds all guests captive.👇

#MagnificentMay #Readathon
Joining @Andrew65 for this readathon. This first week of May I have been spinning my wheels on books and not getting anywhere so a readathon sounds like a great idea to get things moving.

Love a clean board!

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

#bookspin
The War of the End of the World
#doublespin
Wives and Daughters

@thearomaofbooks

April Bingo Board #bookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I was able to complete my #bookspin and get 2 bingos in April, not too shabby but much worse than March. Come on May lets see what you got for me!

My April reads! My favorites were Black Butterflies and The Bandit Queens.

I read some super interesting things this month. A few misses, a few that were just nicely odd and a departure from the norm.

I think everyone should read A Knock At Midnight. It is incredibly important if you are American. We need to know the damage the "war on drugs" did to society.

3.5 ⭐
This was fun!
Myfanwy is a secret agent at a supernatural bureau in London. Someone in the agency is a traitor, and has tried to kill her, only problem is Myfanwy lost all of her memory during the attack!
Quick paced with easy to follow action. The characters are fun and interesting.
A good time.

Tulip is a Persian word!
"Many people assume that since tulips are associated with Holland, they originated there. They're actually descendants of wildflowers native to Central Asia."

Got very little reading done this gorgeous weekend, went with my favorite ladies to a tulip festival, picnic and walking the fields was a beautiful and exhausting day!

Happy independent bookstore day!!
My haul and the cute goodies my indie was giving 😍

ARC out in May
This was super hit or miss. I was literally laughing out loud at the first 2 essays, and then 3 pages into the 23 page Sex in the City one I had to skip to the next one.
The humor feels crasser than her previous book. I am not a prude but 20 pages of dissecting Nun porn was too much.
But then I would turn the page and be laughing again at her essay on Dave Matthews.
It is a book to borrow if you enjoyed her others.

This was so good! Fast paced, the story spans 2 weeks, the first 2 weeks of our very relatable and likable main characters new job on a new planet. She has been studying their language and culture most of her life and now she will be her planets ambassador, only problem is she also has to figure out who killed her predecessor, but wait are they trying to kill her too!!
Liked everything about this.