I found this at a library book sale at some point and it‘s made a few moves with me. Tried to start it today, but within a few pages I could tell it‘s not for me. Oh well, on to the next book.📚
I found this at a library book sale at some point and it‘s made a few moves with me. Tried to start it today, but within a few pages I could tell it‘s not for me. Oh well, on to the next book.📚
I thought this was a well written story of two enslaved women and their community through the beginning of the civil war and beyond into abolition times.
May Belle and her daughter Rue are midwives, but also know plant medicine and are healers. Some people refer to them as Conjure Women.
The cover and spine caught my eye, and I‘m glad, the inside is just as good!
What a strange and bittersweet book. The friendships Peggy formed with James and his family were complicated and her emotional attachment to them strikes multiple chords.
In not sure if I‘ve ever read about a 8 foot tall person unless it was in fantasy. This really felt like historical fiction, I would believe it if told it were based on a true story.
@AmyG I feel like you might enjoy this one.
March‘s #bookspin
This weekend I walked a new-to-me trail which took me by a library with adorable reading statues out in front. Cute right? Well Sietje and my aunt‘s dog Wall-E (who you can see in the background) did not find them cute. They refused to pose with them, Sietje wouldn‘t go anywhere near this one, and Wall-E barked at them. Oh well, I enjoyed them. 😹🐶🤷♀️
I borrowed this audio for #naturalitsy. I thought it was well written and contained a wealth of knowledge about how human civilization evolved around water, the issues we‘ve caused by overusing and polluting, and a discussion of how we can change our habits and laws in order to fix the looming water shortage crisis that will arise if we do nothing.
I really appreciate that the author included extensive solutions and hope that this can be fixed.
My topics bookclub‘s theme for March is “written in an unusual format” and this was the first thing that came to mind. I‘ve seen reviews of it here with pics of its set up. Very different!
It‘s a fast paced scifi, with letters, text messages, military reports, lots of redacted documents, transcripts of video footage, and more. I think it might be YA. I really liked it.
Sietje was cozy on the couch this morning 😁🐶💜.
I‘m not sure why this drew me, except maybe morbid curiosity about the end of Hefner‘s life? I watched some of the reality show back when it was Holly and Kendra, but knew nothing of the later years and honestly was surprised he ever got married.
I‘m glad Crystal felt comfortable telling her story, and can only hope the more stories like these are told that maybe fewer women will fall into patterns and situations like this.
Tomorrow is #bookspin day! My March list is ready. I‘ve started the tagged already for bookclub, I wonder what else @TheAromaofBooks will pick?!
It‘s March #AuthorAMonth readers! Time to pick up something by Jane Harper. What are you hoping to read?
Now may be a good time to update your Google form tracking your #AAM reads. You may either track your books monthly on the form or once at the end of the year, it makes no difference to me. If you want to start the form now, here is the link to do so:
https://forms.gle/3N5rn4hdF86TXvUFA
All the rules and prize info are on the form.
Gilda has anxiety and depression, and this book is from her point of view. She finds a flyer about a therapy group and goes to a church to get more info, and accidentally accepts a job there as a receptionist/ office staffer. And then finds out the previous woman in her position died mysteriously.
This is funny even though it gets dark. It doesn‘t shy away from the dirty gritty things depression can put one through. But it‘s also hopeful. *CWs!
Ann Patchett recently recommended this on her bookshop‘s social media account. It‘s a short novel about a court case, from the point of view of Juror C2, who we learn towards the end of the book is named Hannah. Patchett admires the author‘s ability to weave intricate stories with few words, and I have to agree. Even though it‘s short, it has a lot to say.
The story ends up being more about Hannah‘s life and feelings than the actual court case.
Caught Igor mid yawn, lol!
I really liked this novella! Tetley lives in Garbagetown, which is a floating community built of trash after humans have allowed our environmental damage to deplete the ice caps, flooding the entirety of earth.
Obviously dystopian, it‘s comprised of a short story that was previously published in an anthology, “The Future is Blue,” and the second titular part.
A quick enjoyable (dark) read.
My other new art acquisition! 🤩🪼
This was a fun short scifi mystery that takes place on Jupiter, which future humans have colonized after ruining Earth. It‘s a Sherlock style murder investigation, except the main characters are women, and the body is missing. I believe book 2 was just published, and I will probably pick it up.
This wasn‘t for me… at another time I would have liked it I think. It‘s about Paul, who can shapeshift, and uses his abilities to become a woman to have multiple and wild sexploits.
Pictured with my new cow art. Some friends of mine are moving and I got to choose a couple paintings from their eclectic art collection. ❤️🐮
Multiple time lines follow several members of a family. In 1924 Josephine is a landowner who escaped enslavement. We hear her story as a child working with her parents and also as an adult running her own farm.
In 2017 Ava, Josephine‘s granddaughter, has decided to take the position of caregiver to her other elderly grandmother, who is white. Ava and her son King move in and have to adapt to Martha‘s fall into dementia.
Complicated, emotional.
Hello #AuthorAMonth readers! We‘ve got about a week left in February with Lauren Groff. I hope you‘ve been enjoying your time with her.
March‘s author is Jane Harper. It might be a good time to place your library hold or order. 📚❤️🙂
Have a great week!
I just finished this for a bookclub, otherwise I don‘t think I would have gotten all the way through.
Don‘t read this without looking into content warnings if you care about those- very graphic descriptions of a lot of unpleasant situations.
Had I looked at previous reviews I would have known to expect more of a biography of Sandra, who has had a difficult life in so many ways. The cleaning itself is included, but takes a back seat. Intense.
Full disclosure that I‘m rating this only based on the first 3 stories… I‘m just not in a short story mood right now. I did really like the first two though. I have enjoyed all of the Lauren Groff I‘ve read, and I expect I may return to this at some point. #AuthorAMonth
I‘ve seen this compared many times to Daisy Jones and the Six, and while it has a similar topic and is written in a similar format, it‘s a very different story.
I liked this one better, as it feels more important. Opal shines as an oddball character I really related to.
I was planning on using the photo of Sietje sleeping with the book, but then Venkman got all dramatic and supermodelesque and I had to add him 🙂.
#doublespin for February.
@UwannaPublishme you are so sweet! Thank you for the book, journal, bookmarks and stickers, and this adorable squishy soft creature Squishmallow! It arrived today and made me so warm and fuzzy. Thank you for thinking of me. (The kisses are out of reach of the fur-kids, I‘m enjoying those as well.)
It‘s been a very long time since I‘ve read poetry, I‘m looking forward to seeing what Kingsolver‘s is like!
I‘m reading The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, and Venkman gives me a little blep face. 🐈⬛🖤
I do often have to try to read around his head. Totally normal, right?
I loved this! One of my bookclubs chose it for February and I‘m so glad!
4 young siblings visit a fortune teller who can predict the date of one‘s death. They each learn their dates, and decide to never discuss what they learned. Each is affected by the knowledge in a different way, and the author writes about each of them in turn.
An interesting view on mortality and morality and what might be the important things in a life. Loved it!
I had heard that electric cars might be worse for the world than gas, and the batteries are the problem, but didn‘t know why. One huge reason is that they require cobalt- all rechargeable batteries do. Cobalt comes from the Congo, where people of all ages (yes, children too) work in the worst conditions you can imagine, risking their lives, for on average a dollar a day. And they have no choice, it‘s the only work available.
Makes me think ⬇️
I‘m excited about these #Bookspin and #Doublespin draws this month! Thanks as always @TheAromaofBooks for hosting my favorite monthly challenge. 🙂
Did you know that the road systems humans have built interrupt migrations, isolate animals in territories too small for them, kill an impossibly huge number of creatures daily, and pollute soil and waterways?
A main focus of this book is wildlife crossings by underpass, overpass, culvert, even tiny pipes for rodents, and the amount they cut back on road deaths is astounding.
I wasn‘t expecting the section on roads isolating humans.
Excellent!
My January wrap up. The best of the month for me was Pomegranate. But there wasn‘t anything I didn‘t like.
@CBee thank you so much for this blast of love and happiness. I so appreciate your support. I look forward to reading all of these, and digging in to the snacks. I haven‘t ever tried spicy pistachios, but they sound delicious! I love Reeces, and the gnome is so cute! He‘s perched on my bookshelf now. Sietje enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper 🐶. You are so sweet. Thank you again. 💞
It‘s February #AuthorAMonth readers! This month we will be celebrating Lauren Groff by reading her books. What are you planning to pick up?
Now may be a good time to update your Google form tracking your #AAM reads. You may either track your books monthly on the form or once at the end of the year, it makes no difference to me. If you want to start the form now, here is the link to do so:
https://forms.gle/3N5rn4hdF86TXvUFA
⬇️
This self published fantasy popped up on a list, probably from book riot, for “if you liked Legends & Lattes”.
Cozy fantasy is a fun new genre. My bookclub‘s theme for the month is COZY, so this was the perfect fit.
A mage and a palace guard decide to runaway together and open a tea shop/ bookstore. Both are shirking duties and that will lead to trouble, but their love and dream calls stronger. #treasonandtea
Igor refused to wake up for a pic.
I‘ve enjoyed several other of Ackerman‘s books about birds, so I was excited to see that she had a new one focused on owls.
The coolest thing I learned: to defend their nests or scare away threats an owl might dive bomb, and they can hit with many many times greater force than their body weight.
We need to do more to conserve these birds. Like most wildlife we‘ve destroyed so much of their habitat, many of them are in danger.
Wow! I think I chose this based on @Megabooks and @Cinfhen ‘s reviews. I picked it up on Libro.FM months ago. And it‘s definitely the best of January for me!
We see Ranita in the present as she is released from prison and starts to try to pick up the pieces of her life and reclaim her relationship to her children, and also see her as a child, teen, and young woman in Boston dealing with trauma, abuse, and addiction.
So beautiful, sad, hopeful.
I got my local library card today. I feel like it was a good way to celebrate being here 4 weeks! My one reading goal this year is to #readmyowndamnbooks, but of course I had to check a couple out as well.
Cerulean Sea was on their $1 paperback FOTL shelf, and I couldn‘t resist. I loaned out my original copy and it never came back to me. I‘ll definitely reread it at some point!
Both of the other authors were at #TXBookFest last year 😁.
My favorite thing about this collection is catching glimpses of ideas in some of the stories that Terry later developed into pieces of Discworld.
I felt like the first few showed a clear influence by Dahl, but were kinder and funnier.
My favorite of the stories was the one about the gnomes in the rock garden, but all of them were fun. I‘m glad they were collected from those early newspapers so we can feel the joy in his writing once again. 🖤
We have a little more than a week left in January #AuthorAMonth readers. 🙂 I hope you‘re enjoying reading Jane Austen‘s books.
Quick reminder that February will be Lauren Groff‘s month of recognition. Do you need to put a hold on a book from your library or place an order with your local indie bookseller?
I‘ll be posting the 2024 google sheet at the end of January.
Happy reading!
I did it! I finished P&P, probably my only classic for the year.
I know there are a lot of folks who love Austen, and I can see why. I find classics challenging to read, but the personalities of Lizzie and Darcy were funny and genuine enough to pull me through.
Thank you #AuthorAMonth readers for voting Austen one of this year‘s authors and inspiring me to give this a try. I will say I didn‘t love it, but I am glad I read it.
I love this series of novellas. A group of kids who have each visited another realm through magical doorways, I feel the excitement of seeing their various worlds and their longing either for something they miss of that world or something they needed to return to their homeworld for.
I was glad to spend more time with Antsy from the last book, and travel with her and some characters from previous ones as well.
This is book 7, and Sietje.
The third in a trilogy (I think), and I thought this tied up the story pretty well. Recommend for lovers of queer fantasy/ magical realism/ historical fantasy/ romance. They do have spice. I liked the main relationship in this one, as well as different views of previous characters.
It‘s a lighter pick, as I‘m sure within a few months I won‘t remember many details, but an enjoyable read/ listen.
When it‘s cold, we snuggle. Who am I kidding, this is pretty much every day.
I loved this slow moving story of Alma, a botanist who after exhausting the study of plants in her father‘s greenhouse turned to mosses. Her life is an unusual one, mostly solitary though she lived with her father and adopted sister, and melancholy. The writing here is beautiful, the pace perfect for Alma‘s life.
I enjoyed this just as much as I did The Maid. I really like main character Molly, and this mystery focuses on the murder of an author in her beloved hotel.
I think the narration by Lauren Ambrose fits these stories perfectly and recommend them if you like audio.
Although not graphic, CW for sexual harassment.
It‘s here! I braved the cold to walk to the mailbox and get this, so you bet I‘m starting it right now! Accompanied by hot chocolate and pets cuddled up with me.
I‘ve had this on my shelf for years. It‘s from a small press, and I think my aunt got it for me because she knows the author? Can‘t remember.
It‘s sort of a slow burn thriller? With a supernatural element? It‘s very atmospheric and even has a little bit of a gothic feel. I guess it‘s a bit genre defying.
I wish it had been a bit faster paced, but I liked the unique story. I also felt a little lost at the end. 🤷♀️
Glad to pull it off my TBR.
Guess what #AuthorAMonth readers? I find myself with an extra copy of The Witch Elm from the prize packs. Who has not read this and does not already own a copy? Comment below if so, and I will draw a random name tomorrow at 9AM EST and send this to the winner.
Pictured here with Sietje who is pouty after having a bath. 🐶😢😆
Packages to winners will go in the mail tomorrow. 💌
In a city where magic is taboo, Wynd has to hide his true identity. He wishes he could be normal, so that he could have a life in the open, maybe meeting the boy who works in the royal gardens.
I thought this was a good first installment in a fantasy graphic novel series. It doesn‘t stand alone, so I‘ll have to see if I can get the next book from the library. Great art, thoughtful characters.
Venkman would like to get back to his nap now, thx.
I‘m glad this was drawn as my #doublespin for January, I‘ve been meaning to read it for so long!
It‘s a book of short stories with each one from the point of view of a different tenant in a big apartment complex in Harlem. Themes of a school system with teachers who aren‘t in touch with their student‘s needs, gentrification, and living in constant struggle to make enough for rent. Brilliant writing that lands you right in the thick of it.
Announcing the #AuthorAMonth 2023 prize winners:
“Most read” came out a tie this year! With 28 books each the winners are: @Andrew65 and @Jas16 !
From the “Every Month Club” the randomly drawn winners are: @Texreader and @Deblovestoread !
And the randomly drawn winner who completed at least 1 AAM book: @Susanita
All winners please email me- see first comment.
We read 498 books together in 2023. The most read author was Louise Erdrich: 64📚⬇️