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PickingBooks

PickingBooks

Joined September 2018

Promoting appreciate of books, history, and culture through cross-disciplinary reviews and articles: https://pickingbooks.com.
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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
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1984 (School & Library) by George Orwell
review
PickingBooks
A Bend in the Stars | Rachel Barenbaum
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Pickpick

A Bend in the Stars is a riveting book. My only quibble with A Bend in the Stars is that it doesn‘t have an afterword in addition to Barenbaum‘s Q &A explaining the science or history in the book in more detail, and I had a lot of questions by the time I finished reading. Visit pickingbooks.com/blog/a-bend-in-the-stars for the answers to some of the biggest questions I had.

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PickingBooks
The Great Gatsby | Francis Scott Fitzgerald
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How much of a historical fiction purist are you? I‘m loosey goosey about the books I review on my historical book review site because there‘s so much historical relevance in both literature and books that take place after the time frame most people think historical should be set. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/historical-fiction-definition

mydearwatson I always viewed historical fiction as fiction that takes place in the past, not necessarily fiction that was written in the past. I haven‘t actually read your article, just throwing in my two cents 😉. 4y
Crazeedi I just enjoy books aet in any historical time, history is anything that occured yesterday or before! 4y
PickingBooks @mydearwatson Agreed! 🙌😁 4y
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PickingBooks @mydearwatson You are correct. 😁Historical fiction is fiction set in the past, but you can read literature written in the past as historical fiction. It gives you a new perspective on both the book and the time it was written. 4y
rwmg "To be reviewed on Picking Books, books in both genres must be written at least five years before the majority of the events described" Wouldn't this make them prophecy rather than history? 4y
PickingBooks @rwmg thank you for catching my error! I meant to say at that they must be written at least 5 years after the majority of the events described. The way it‘s written would make the books prophesy, wouldn‘t that be something! 😆 4y
67 likes6 comments
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PickingBooks
Hark | Sam Lipsyte
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What‘s on your TBR list? The Art or Leaving is still on mine along with Writer‘s Digest Guide to Magazine Article Writing, The Art of Gathering, Fashionopolis, Crisis Caravan, How Fascism Works, White Kids, and The Secrets We Kept. How will I find the time? 🤔😩

mikewoodsham1 My TBR list is so big, I could stop buying books today and still not have time to read them all! 🌷 4y
41 likes1 comment
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PickingBooks
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Jee_HookedOnBookz I absolutely loved The Master and Margarita! ❤️ ❤️ 4y
PickingBooks @Jee_HookedOnBookz me too! 🙌😍 4y
46 likes2 comments
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PickingBooks
Searching for Gertrude | D. E. Haggerty
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Anyone else get the urge to make the food you read about in books? I never had Turkish food before reading this one. Now I‘m obsessed: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/ezme

Chrissyreadit This book sounds good! 4y
PickingBooks @Chrissyreadit I enjoyed it! 4y
Branwen Yes! I just tried making hungarian goulash last week after reading about it in a book where characters were in bulgaria! It was so yummy! 😀 4y
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PickingBooks @Branwen That‘s awesome! Goulash is delicious! 😋 4y
Reggie I just picked up the tagged book and I was salivating at work as I read it. 4y
PickingBooks @Reggie I bet! I might have to get my hands on a copy of that one! 4y
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PickingBooks
Alias Grace: A Novel | Margaret Atwood
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I previously rated this book as so-so, because I found it a little hard to get through. It‘s been a while since I read it though, and the part where Grace muses, “that is the same with all quilts, you can see them two different ways by looking at the dark pieces, or else the light,” STUCK WITH ME. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/aliasgrace

pigeonsandcrows I love how sometimes you reread a book when you're at a different place in your life and it affects you in a new way. 4y
PickingBooks Agreed! 👍🙌🙂 4y
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PickingBooks
Key to the Half Worlds | Andrew Chaplin
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Mehso-so

‘The Key to the Half Words‘ by Andrew Chaplin is the perfect gateway fantasy novel for reluctant fantasy readers like me. I‘m learning that you don‘t have to be obsessed to enjoy fantasy, and fantasy is SO much more than ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ and ‘A Game of Thrones.‘ More important, there‘s a lot to learn from fantasy despite its status as “genre fiction.” Read more on https://pickingbooks.com/blog/fantasy

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PickingBooks
The Ten-Year Nap | Meg Wolitzer
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Any moms out there who think they should have enough time for everything but can‘t find the time? Do you stay at home and wonder whether your education was worth it? I think I should be able to finish my to-do list, spend time with their family, and carve out an hour for personal pursuits but I CANNOT find the time! The Ten-Year Nap speaks to all these frustrations an more. Full review here: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/the-ten-year

Chrissyreadit Hmmm, I would love a nap. 4y
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PickingBooks
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Pickpick

The three leading ladies in ‘In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills‘ come from different backgrounds, but they all work together and support each other. This juxtaposed against the close-mindedness that caused the Rwandan genocide, makes ‘In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills‘ a beautiful work of art. Learn more about the book and the genocide on Picking Books: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/in-the-shadow-of-10000-hills

ljuliel I‘ve seen this book before and love the title. It‘s really beautiful , along with the cover. Guess I‘ll have to give it a try sometime. 4y
PickingBooks @ljuliel do it! 😀🙌 4y
ljuliel I stuck it onto my tbr. ( which I keep emptied out , unless I need a reminder to hunt for a specific book. ). Thank you 💕 4y
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PickingBooks @ljuliel Yay! You‘re welcome! Let me know what you think of it when you‘re done. 4y
ljuliel Will do. It may be awhile, as my reading tastes change every time the wind blows. I‘ll get to it sometime though. I‘ve noticed the book before mainly due to the title. Sometimes the titles attract me more than anything else 😊 4y
PickingBooks @ljuliel I‘m the same way! I buy way too many books because of that 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders I really liked this one!! 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @PickingBooks I said that I don't know how a book about the Rwandan genocide could be beautiful, but this one really was. 4y
42 likes10 comments
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PickingBooks
Father Divine's Bikes | Steve Bassett
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Bailedbailed

I didn‘t care for ‘Father Divine‘s Bikes,‘ but it introduced me to a historical figure I had never heard of, Father Divine (though Father Divine is more of a character in spirit). Father Divine was an African-American religious figure who rose to prominence in the 1930s. PBS calls his International Peace Mission Movement, “one of the most unorthodox religious movements in America.” Learn more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/father-divine

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PickingBooks
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Mehso-so

You can learn so much from books! Even a silly YA adventure taught me something about Italian culture. Rocissono uses Italian folklore and some Italian literature as inspiration for the Beyond the Wicked Willow. Rocissono‘s reference to La Befana was my favorite reference though: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/beyondthewickedwillow

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PickingBooks
The Great Alone | Kristin Hannah
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Some books are meant to be devoured. Others should be savored. I devoured The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. With ever-increasing stakes and intense themes like survival, love, and abuse, you can‘t help but binge read it. Full review and discussion questions: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/the-great-alone-review

Andrew65 Loved this. 4y
Buechersuechtling This was my first Kristin Hannah and I liked it very much. But I early bailed on “The Nightingale”, the second book by her I could get hold of, because I‘m absolutely not into “that kind” of Word-War-stories. 4y
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PickingBooks @Buechersuechtling I liked The Nightingale, but I‘ll read any WWII book. What WWII books do you like? I could use some recommendations! 😁 4y
PickingBooks @Andrew65 me too! 😁 4y
Buechersuechtling @PickingBooks and @Andrew65 Guys, you‘re so great. 😂 I‘m right on the hop and additionally need some time to think and browse my inner library to afterwards compare it to my physical one. But I‘ll get back to you. Promise‼️ 4y
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PickingBooks
Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood
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In her MasterClass, Atwood says, “When I wrote ‘The Handmaid‘s Tale‘ nothing went into it that had not happened in real life somewhere at some time. The reason I made that rule was that I didn‘t want anybody saying you certainly have an evil imagination, you made up all these bad things. I didn‘t make it up.” Seriously, she didn‘t. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/the-handmaids-tale

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PickingBooks
Man's Search for Meaning | Viktor E Frankl
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In “Alias Grace,” Margaret Atwood challenges readers to determine whether Grace Marks is guilty of murder or not, to choose whether to look “at the dark pieces, or else the light.” This concept is useful not only in contemplating the slippery nature of truth. It‘s also a useful way to approach many of life‘s challenges, big or small. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/mans-search-for-meaning

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History doesn‘t repeat itself. Instead, it‘s patterns of human behavior that repeat, as James Holland, author of “Normandy ‘44: D-Day and the Battle for France,” pointed out on NPR and WBURs “Here & Now.” Understanding history means understanding people. But if that‘s not enough for you, and it shouldn‘t be, consider this: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/a-book-blog-inspired-by-history

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PickingBooks
Normandy '44 | James Holland
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According to Holland, history doesn‘t repeat itself, human patterns of behavior repeat. By understanding history we can better understand each other. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/a-book-blog-inspired-by-history

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PickingBooks
Home Fire | Kamila Shamsie
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My view for lunch at Brugge on North in City in Asylum in Pittsburgh. Itching to finish lunch so I can shop!

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PickingBooks
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I enjoyed this book. It‘s a relaxing read, and it‘s an interesting look at women‘s issues “then and now.” It‘s not the most riveting or fast paced book, but I loved Lillian. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/2017/5/1/lillian-boxfish-takes-a-walk-book-review

OriginalCyn620 I loved this book! ❤️ 5y
Leftcoastzen I really enjoyed this book. 5y
PickingBooks @Leftcoastzen me too! ❤️ 5y
NeedsMoreBooks Thoroughly enjoyed this book 💖 5y
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PickingBooks
Carnegie's Maid: A Novel | Marie Benedict
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Cute, light hearted, and well-researched. I live in Pittsburgh, so this book got me interested in the local history and Andrew Carnegie. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/carnegiesmaid

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PickingBooks
The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger
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Nothing quite like a well worn book! 😁

Clutterbucks_Queen Whats the year this copy was published? 😍 5y
PickingBooks 1951 😁 5y
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PickingBooks
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Does anyone else read every part of a book without fail—Introduction, prologue, afterword, acknowledgements etc?

Aims42 I do! And then when I'm in the middle of the 'acknowledgments', I'm always like, “why am I reading this? I don't know any of these people“ - every. single. time LOL 5y
wanderinglynn For me, it depends on the book. If it‘s a book I loved, I‘ll often go back and read those items. But I normally don‘t read them upfront. 5y
LapReader Sure do. Before I start. 5y
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PickingBooks @wanderinglynn That makes sense. 😁 5y
PickingBooks @Aims42 😂 I know!! 5y
rwmg Of course. But if the acknowledgements is just a list of names without any comments, I will skip them. 5y
PickingBooks @rwmg makes sense! 5y
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Buechersuechtling Interesting, elegant cover. 😍 5y
PickingBooks @Buechersuechtling Definitely one of my favorite book covers of all time! 5y
Bindrosbookshelf I love this book so much ❤️ 5y
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PickingBooks
Son of a Witch | Gregory Maguire
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“I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal... I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.” -Will Farrell as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. 🤣

In all seriousness though, who else loves the Barnes and Noble leather-bound classics? They are beautiful! 🥰

Soubhiville They are gorgeous! 5y
JaclynW Hilarious quote! Lovely books! YOU are a big deal! 😉😁 5y
PickingBooks @JaclynW 😂 Why thank you. 5y
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PickingBooks
Searching for Gertrude | D. E. Haggerty
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PickingBooks
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“The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden. It can‘t be shirked. You carry it everywhere. There‘s nothing for it but to get to know it.”
-Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States

#historybuff #history #historybooks #historynerd #igreads #bookworm #books #bookstagram #bookish #summerreading #summerreads #beachreads #bookstgrammer #bookspine #bookspines #compassion #understanding

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Truth... and beautiful photo 💙 5y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @PickingBooks you‘re welcome 💗 5y
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PickingBooks
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“‘My dear Mrs Casaubon,‘ said Farebrother, smiling gently at her ardour, ‘character is not cut in marble - it is not something solid and unalterable. It is something living and changing, and may become diseased as our bodies do.‘
‘Then it may be rescued and healed,‘ said Dorothea.
-George Eliot, Middlemarch

#quotestoliveby #quotestoinspire #positivepsychology #middlemarch #bookstagram #bookcover #igreads #pickingbooks #amreading

Clare-Dragonfly ❤️ Farebrother. 5y
readordierachel This book 💚 5y
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PickingBooks
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Jeannineth Lol 5y
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PickingBooks
Precept | Matthew De Lacey Davidson
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In honor of Juneteenth, learn about Lincoln‘s surprising views on emancipation and how they changed in the Picking Books review of Precept by Matthew de Lacey Davidson.📚 https://pickingbooks.com/blog/preceptquotes

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PickingBooks
The Silver Chair | C. S. Lewis
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“Four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow.” -Puddleglum, The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

ephemeralwaltz What a pretty cover! 5y
PickingBooks @ephemeralwaltz Yes! I love it! 5y
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PickingBooks
The Great Gatsby | Francis Scott Fitzgerald
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”I couldn‘t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .”

Buechersuechtling I loved this book when I had to read it for my English advanced course – and this quote made me remember why. 😃 5y
PickingBooks @Buechersuechtling Yes! I love this book, but I especially love this quote! 5y
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PickingBooks
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“‘They were obliged to have him with them,‘ the Mock Turtle said: ‘no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.‘ ‘Wouldn't it really?‘ said Alice in a tone of great surprise. ‘Of course not,‘ said the Mock Turtle: ‘why, if a fish came to me, and told me he was going a journey, I should say ‘With what porpoise?‘”

Slajaunie Love that pillow! 5y
LibrarianRyan Please tell me that is your actual pillow case and you can tell me where you got it. 5y
PickingBooks @BookFrog thank you!! 5y
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PickingBooks
City of Girls | Elizabeth Gilbert
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Bed time reading! So excited to start this one! Anyone read it yet? Thoughts?

Ruthiella I‘ve heard good things! I liked The Signature of All Things. 😀 5y
PickingBooks @Ruthiella Thanks! I‘ll have to check out The Signature of All Things. 5y
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PickingBooks
Cat's Eye | Margaret Atwood
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“Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.” -Margaret Atwood, Cat‘s Eye

TheKidUpstairs I think every adult feels like that, eh? 5y
Readingismyescape This is so me. 🙂 5y
PickingBooks @TheKidUpstairs You are probably right! 5y
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PickingBooks
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Pickpick

Was anyone else skeptical of Marie Kondo‘s take on tidying up? I was, but her new Netflix series “Tidying Up” piqued my interest. So, I checked out Marie Kondo‘s audiobook, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” on Libby. By the time the introduction was over, I found myself folding laundry Marie Kondo style into little rectangles that stand up on their own. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/marie-kondo-konmari-method

wanderinglynn I haven‘t tried it. But a friend of mine did and said she freed up an entire drawer by using the Kondo folding technique. 5y
PickingBooks @wanderinglynn It does save so much space. I was actually keeping all my pjs and athletic wear in my nightstand before I started folding this way. Now it all fits in my dresser with room to spare. 5y
wanderinglynn I will have to try it. I have a ton of t-shirts that take up way too much space now. 5y
PickingBooks @wanderinglynn Go for it! 🙌😁 5y
DGRachel I do this for t-shirts. I didn't even realize it was her thing. It was something my mom showed me. I like it because it makes it so much easier to see the t-shirts to pick out the one I want. :) 5y
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PickingBooks
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Pickpick

“The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov is another reminder that we are all, in the words of George Eliot, “struggling, erring human creatures.” I loved the book and learned a lot about Soviet Russia thanks to the detailed notes sprinkled throughout. Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/two-reasons-youll-love-the-master-and-margarita #bookreview

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PickingBooks
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Pickpick

“Calm The F*ck Down” by Sarah Knight (provided to me by the publisher) is a tongue-in-cheek guide to accepting the things you cannot change, finding the courage to change the things you can, and using straight up logic to tell the difference. I loved it! Read more: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/calm-the-fuck-down-review

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PickingBooks

”That everyone is a critic means, or should mean, that we are each of us thinking against our own prejudices, of balancing skepticism with open-mindedness, of sharpening our full and glutted senses and battling the intellectual inertia that surrounds us.”

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PickingBooks
Hark | Sam Lipsyte
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Can‘t wait for February! What‘s on your TBR list for February? https://pickingbooks.com/blog/the-books-i-picked-for-february-my-tbr-list

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Untitled | Unknown
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Looks like 2019 is going to be a busy reading year. 😁 Anyone else prefer a paper reading list?

Sarah83 🖐️ meeeee 💓☺️ 5y
j9brown 🖐️😊 5y
Soubhiville I have a couple different book journals and a spreadsheet in Google Drive. I do love my journals best! 5y
Lattes_lipstick_literature I have multiple lists which include a Excel sheet, a paper list and a photo 😃 5y
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PickingBooks
Searching for Gertrude | D. E. Haggerty
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Anyone else get the urge to make the food you read about in books? I never had Turkish food before reading this one. Now I‘m obsessed: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/ezme

Jeannie Yes, I do this all the time! I‘ll read about some food in a book and won‘t be able to get it out of my head until I make it :) 5y
HannaPolkadots In my book club we always serve food "from the book" at our meetings. It is fun and makes for very varied menues ? 5y
Buechersuechtling 🙋🏽‍♀️ Yeah, me too‼️ 5y
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Cedar_and_Grapefruit Yes! I've been grain-free for some time now, but after reading a book set in France, all I've been craving are baguettes and croissants! 5y
PickingBooks @Jeannie That‘s what happens to me too! 5y
PickingBooks @HannaPolkadots I love this!!! 5y
PickingBooks @Cedar_and_Grapefruit Books set in France are the worst/best! I went through a French food phase after reading Little Paris Bookshop even though I really didn‘t care for the book! 5y
Cedar_and_Grapefruit @PickingBooks My scale and tightening pants commiserate!🍾🥐🧀🍷 5y
readinginthedark All the time, although I rarely follow through and actually make the food. 😕 5y
PickingBooks @readinginthedark You should sometime! 5y
Itchyfeetreader If you don‘t already I would recommend following @DebinHawaii who does excellent book and food pairings! 5y
PickingBooks @Itchyfeetreader Thanks for the recommendation!! 5y
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PickingBooks
Alias Grace | Margaret Eleanor Atwood
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Mehso-so

I love Margaret Atwood, and Alias Grace was interesting, but Atwood‘s writing style is so different in Alias Grace than in her other work. Still a good book, but a little slow. I did love decoding all the hidden meaning in the book though. Read more on https://pickingbooks.com/blog/aliasgrace.

tammysue Great review! :) 5y
ephemeralwaltz Great review!! It's interesting how she made the switch to 19th century language. I haven't read any of her other work yet but I can understand that this might be a slower read. 5y
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PickingBooks @ephemeralwaltz Thank you! You should check out her work! I LOVED Cat‘s Eye and Then Handmaid‘s Tale. 5y
Mcoun This was actually the first Margaret Atwood book that I read and I loved it. It inspired me to get back into quilting! I agree that it is very different from her others. 5y
ephemeralwaltz @PickingBooks YES! Cat's Eye is next on my radar!😍 I'm really interested in it. 5y
PickingBooks @Mcoun I love it when books remind you of something you used to enjoy!! 5y
PickingBooks @ephemeralwaltz Yay! I read it at the same time as Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, which was interesting because the narrators told similar, or rather complementary, stories even though they were from different generations. 5y
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PickingBooks

I recently read “On Keeping a Notebook.” I liked Didion‘s take on notebooks, but I struggle to keep one, only junk journaling when I‘m particularly stressed out. Do you keep a notebook, journal, or diary?

Literary_Siren I used to. I wrote daily from elementary school all the way up to my senior year. After that I just really didn‘t have anything to write about. I miss it and I‘ve made several attempts to start again but I fail epically. 5y
PickingBooks @Literary_Siren Funny how that happens. l liked writing poetry as a kid. I‘m sure it was all terrible, but I‘ve never had the urge to write any as an adult. 5y
EchoLogical I used to keep diaries but stopped when I had my first child. I've recently started bullet journaling but haven't kept up with it due to giving birth to my second child. 5y
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bookandcat I have a daily question journal (it's a five year format, so short answers) that I also use to list my gratitude of the day. I also have a bullet journal to use however I want. 5y
bookandcat I also used to journal when my now husband and I were long distance dating - we would each journal about our day and swap books when we visited each other, continuing where the other left off. We have many of those books. 5y
PickingBooks @EchoLogical kids are time consuming! 5y
PickingBooks @bookandcat That‘s so cute! What a great idea! 5y
PickingBooks @bookandcat do you like the question journal? I‘m always tempted to get one, but the questions usually seem cheesy. Or I can imagine how I‘d respond to them. 5y
EchoLogical @bookandcat Love that idea, might try to talk my husband into doing it over deployments. 5y
MayJasper Hello nice to meet you 😊 I have an journal app called 'Journey' which I use mainly to paste in prayers or significant moments in my faith journey. 5y
bookandcat @PickingBooks I have the Q&A brand journal, and like I said I answer as short as possible before listing things I am grateful for or that made me happy from that day. I think it's cool to look back on what I've answered and in years past and I haven't found this journal's questions to be cheesy. They range in seriousness from "how do you describe home" on one day to "what was the last tv show you watched" on the next. It's like a time capsule! 5y
bookandcat @EchoLogical we found it really fun and useful to know more about the other's day (more than what is often remembered to be said over the phone) and was so nice to reread what the other person had written when we were apart. Also journaling is a great stress coping skill for anyone! 5y
bookandcat @EchoLogical should also mention it was my husband's idea - must give credit where credit is due lol 5y
tpixie @bookandcat journaling while apart was a great idea!!! 5y
Clare-Dragonfly I keep a bullet journal! It‘s a hodgepodge of daily tasks, monthly and future planning, writing ideas, quotes and notes about books, and whatever else comes to mind that I‘d like to capture. Current journal is a Hufflepuff notebook from Universal Studios! 5y
PickingBooks @Clare-Dragonfly I love that you have a Hufflepuff notebook! Bullet journaling is great! Do you use your index and go back over your notes and plans? I never did, so I didn‘t feel like the setup time was worth it. 5y
Clare-Dragonfly I do! Not on any consistent schedule but when I think of something I want to look for, the index helps me find it. I used an index for previous writing notebooks, but it was electronic so not as convenient when I had my notebook and not my computer/phone. 5y
PickingBooks @Clare-Dragonfly I also think there is something inconvenient about electronic notebooks even though I almost always have my phone. I was listening to the Crazy Genius podcast yesterday and Meredith Broussard, author of Artificial Unintelligence said that we get so caught up in thinking that technology is always the best a most efficient tool that we forget that sometimes the best tool is a pencil and paper. She called this idea technochauvanism. 5y
readinginthedark I've been keeping a bullet journal the last few months, but not so much for the sake of journaling as for the sake of keeping regular task lists. It's been so much easier keeping track of things! That being said, I've started expanding into some extra pages lately--plans for my baby's room, a family tree (I've been working on some genealogy), etc. I also have a reading journal, which used to contain my thoughts while I was reading but lately... 5y
readinginthedark ...has just been random quotes and lists of where I am with my challenges. I'm thinking of incorporating that somehow into my bullet journal once I finish the current one, but I'm undecided. 5y
PickingBooks @readinginthedark I love the idea of a reading journal, but I can never stick with one. I‘m a make notes in the book kind of person. You probably can combine the bullet journal with the reading journal. That‘s what the index is for right! 5y
readinginthedark Oh yeah, it makes sense in theory. My debate is that it takes me longer to go through a reading journal, and I usually like to hold onto those and go back over them from time to time. But I don't really plan on holding onto my bullet journals; they're more just to keep me on task with whatever I'm doing at the time. 🤷‍♀️ Maybe that will change. We'll see! 5y
60 likes22 comments
review
PickingBooks
Key to the Half Worlds | Andrew Chaplin
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Mehso-so

‘The Key to the Half Words‘ by Andrew Chaplin is the perfect gateway fantasy novel for reluctant fantasy readers like me. I‘m learning that you don‘t have to be obsessed to enjoy fantasy, and fantasy is SO much more than ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ and ‘A Game of Thrones.‘ More important, there‘s a lot to learn from fantasy despite its status as “genre fiction.” Read more on https://pickingbooks.com/blog/fantasy

CrowCAH Welcome to the Litsy family!!! 📚 5y
PickingBooks @CrowCAH Thank You!! 5y
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PickingBooks
Untitled | Unknown
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PickingBooks
The Ten-Year Nap | Meg Wolitzer
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Pickpick

I loved ‘The Ten-Year Nap.‘ Great literature is unique in its ability to transcend the self and reveal universal truths, and the universal truth at the heart of The Ten-Year Nap is that motherhood is a paradox. Full review here: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/the-ten-year-nap

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PickingBooks
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Pickpick

This book is incredibly helpful for anyone who writes articles or blog posts! I used it for a write up about journalism, fake news, and what we can do to pop our filter bubbles: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/how-to-spot-fake-news

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PickingBooks
The Death of Truth | Michiko Kakutani
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A London Fog, a slice of toast, and a new book! Can‘t ask for a better way to spend a drizzly Saturday afternoon. Photo courtesy of my five-year-old, hence the patronizing smile.

Ye_Mighty_Andy_Spare Could I ask what the thing is on the wall by the window? It looks really interesting 5y
PickingBooks @Ye_Mighty_Andy_Spare It‘s a Dr. Seuss kangaroo bird. It is fun! 5y
Ye_Mighty_Andy_Spare Just googled it. Amazingly cool :-D 5y
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DocBrown ❤️ the 👓! 5y
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PickingBooks
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Pickpick

The three leading ladies in ‘In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills‘ come from different backgrounds, but they all work together and support each other. This juxtaposed against the close-mindedness that caused the Rwandan genocide, makes ‘In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills‘ a beautiful work of art. Learn more about the book and the genocide on Picking Books: https://pickingbooks.com/blog/in-the-shadow-of-10000-hills

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PickingBooks
Dorian | Will Self
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“I‘d wager that the upsurge in printed-book sales, such as it is, is due to greater exports and the continuation of, in the asset at least, a storage demographic reversal, since for the first time in history we have societies where the old significantly out numbering the young.” —Will Self in this month‘s issue of Harper‘s

This explains why most of my readers are 65 and older!