#JulyJazz Say 4: The Undefeated, Unbowed, Unbending of them #StarsAndStripes. The strength of this poetry lies in its giving space for the “undiscovered” – the amazing people who are yet to come and make a difference in this bright, broken, beautiful world we live in. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-nLY

#JulyJazz Day 3: #Loyalty

#JulyJazz Day 2: #MadeInUS with Frederick Douglass, one of America‘s heroes exhorting the importance of reading for liberation.

#JulyJazz Day 1: #CanadaDay for illustrator Lauren Tamaki who lives partly in Canada. There is so much beauty here, and grief, and also the intangibles of the imperishable. I especially loved reading the Author‘s Note which adds a deeper layer of intersectionality into the narrative. This is a must-read for everyone. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-rjb

#JuneSpecials Day 30: from Fats‘ review: If the story of Firegirl were to be divided into sections, there would be a Before, During, and After Jessica Feeney—mostly applicable to Tom. Prior to her arrival, Tom Bender liked to daydream about the beautiful Courtney Zisky, and had high hopes of riding a Cobra, a 1960s #SportsCar, someday.“ Full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-7yY

#JuneSpecials Day 29: As a young child, Yaffa loved playing and spending time with her friends and also helping out Grandma Alte who was considered to be one of the town‘s photographers, after bringing home a #camera during one of her trips to America. A lovely picturebook biography of how Eishyshok was rebuilt through photographs and memories of precious lives cherished and lived. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-pMY

#JuneSpecials Day 28: Loads of #Foodie references in this novel which I thoroughly enjoyed reading - super want to taste jollof rice now! Finished it for #CampLitsy2025 and very much looking forward to the discussion. Some Dennys goodness while in ‘Murrica with family.

#JuneSpecials Day 27: Me wearing my oversized #Sunglasses and holding on to the edited book where a colleague and I contributed a chapter. This book just recently won the UKLA Academic Book Award 2025. Yay! Title of our book chapter is: “From Mahmoud Darwish to Shakespeare, Naruto to Tintin Comics: Reading Preferences and Identities of Emirati Adolescents from the UAE” 🎉📚📚🙏🏼

#JuneSpecials Day 26: Can stand for #ChocPudding #ChocolatePudding but more like Chilis molten chocolate cake - paired with the third book in the Ember in the Ashes quartet which I simply devoured while in Seattle a week ago. I am not starting Book 4 yet so I can prolong my stay in Sabaa Tahir‘s world. Will get to the #CampLitsy2025 and #EuropaCollective titles first.

#JuneSpecials Day 25: I featured these two #Beatles themed books at one point over the years at GatheringBooks.
See here:
https://wp.me/pDlzr-an6
https://wp.me/pDlzr-bgZ

#JuneSpecials Day 24: #Canada is one of the countries featured in the #ReadTheWorld2025 challenge with @PaperbackPirate ‘s review of tagged book. I have actually posted a half yearly progress round up of participants‘ sharing on GatheringBooks here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-rsI - tagging @BarbaraBB @Kristy_K - everyone is welcome to join us - we still have (barely) half a year left to read more of the world. Let‘s do it! 📚📚📚🌍✈️🚢🚞

#JuneSpecials Day 23: #Pink

#JuneSpecials Day 22: #Kissing

#JuneSpecials Day 21: #Music - this poem is included in the tagged anthology. One of the poems I had my niece read aloud during my mother‘s cremation wake last November. 🌹

#JuneSpecials Day 20: #SummSolstice #SummerSolstice - now on a road trip from Seattle to Bay Area - first stop: Seaside Oregon. Today‘s itinerary: Powell‘s. But of course. Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

#JuneSpecials Day 19: Meet Opal Lee, Grandmother of #Juneteenth. My favourite image is the one of Opal Lee, as a young girl, reading poetry books on her grandfather‘s porch – before the pivotal event that has turned her into a teacher, an activist, a “story keeper.” My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-owJ

#JuneSpecials Day 18: #Picnic

#JuneSpecials Day 17: #EatYrVegs #EatYourVegetables- I love the transformation in this story, its quiet simplicity, and how a place filled with high-rise buildings – has now been enriched with greens through the efforts of these three siblings and their Uncle John. There is also a recipe of succotash found at the very end of the book a dish that I am unfamiliar with but I am now deeply intrigued by. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-rk0

#JuneSpecials Day 16: Abdul is a storyteller – except he hesitates to call himself as one. He finds it difficult to pin down the words that would express the images in his mind. The image above even suggests that Abdul may be suffering from dyslexia or undiagnosed #LearningDisability #LrngDisability. Eventually, Abdul discovered that the mistakes, misspelled words are part of what it means to be a storyteller. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-owi

#JuneSpecials Day 15: In an ideal world, #fathers often signify groundedness; a daddy‘s arms and shoulders providing a sense of security, stability, comfort. This picturebook depicts #fathers who speak truth, joy, comfort, learning, pride – and most of all, love. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-oA5

#JuneSpecials Day 14: #Flag - posting in advance since traveling to Seattle for our college kid‘s graduation.👨‍🎓

#JuneSpecials Day 13: #Sewing - one of my fave Atwood novels.

#JuneSpecials Day 12: #RedRose paired with my book club title last year that I abandoned. Maybe I will get around to reading it again.

#JuneSpecials Day 11: #BeautifulLife deserves the most beautiful story. Translated from Norwegian. Review is forthcoming. ✨

#JuneSpecials Day 10: #IcedTea and hot tea and teashop girls. From Fats‘ review: “It has its own voice and charm that deserve to be heard and noticed, respectively. If you wish to turn over a new leaf and add something different to your reading list, then find a copy of this book.” Her review includes a recipe for The Steeping Leaf Traditional Chai Iced Tea found in the book. More here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-7SW

#JuneSpecials Day 9: A lot of #DarkAndStormy moments in this one.

#JuneSpecials Day 8: When you are #Bestfriends with a book, it‘s the best thing ever. This is a perfect read-aloud for young ones who are on their way to discovering the many journeys they will make with a book in hand, the bestest friend anyone could ever have. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-rpd

#JuneSpecials Day 7: My backdrop looks like a #Prairie of sorts - at the foot of Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain - sunflowers in the middle of the desert. My review of Maria Ressa‘s outstanding book here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-pdf

#JuneSpecials Day 6: #DDay is explored here with the seed bank vault and deciding which of the seeds will have to go - and which ones are needed should the apocalypse come and wipe out humanity. A beautiful beautiful book. Happy that it is part of #CampLitsy2025 - gearing up to be one of my faves.

#JuneSpecials Day 5: #WorldEnvironment is explored so sensitively in this novel about so much grief and loss. Made me cry when I finished reading it last night. #CampLitsy25 June titles now done. Started with our #EuropaCollective pick for June last night.

#JuneSpecials day 4: #Cheese

#JuneSpecials Day 3: We also feature kid reviewers over at GatheringBooks and call them Quill Junior. Here is a preview of Randall Koh‘s thoughts on Horton Hatches The #Egg:
“My favourite character is Horton because he is kind-hearted, caring and helpful. Even though the hunters caught him, he did not run away from the tree. Instead he sat and he sat on the egg in the nest that was not the tree.”
Full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-1bQ

#JuneSpecials Day 2: This book features the village of Tos, in the remote hills of the Cameroons. In the introduction of the author, she described it as “isolated, with no paved roads closer to it than a full eight hours away. None but the most adventurous visitor would dare risk the steep and bumpy, rocky clay paths leading to the thatch-roofed village that clings to the side of an almost extinct volcano.” My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-Ut

#JuneSpecials Day 1: #GoBarefoot - This book is an account of the mythical, larger-than-life Barefoot Woman who fashioned a displaced life to one suffused with pride, preparing her young to claw their way eventually into the lives that they truly deserve, regardless of present circumstances. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-kPf

#Bibliophile Day 31: #FoundInTitle

#Bibliophile Day 30: #LostInTitle - this book was gifted to me by the amazing Leila who was here in the UAE a year ago as an invited guest speaker for the Sharjah Children‘s Book Fair. We knew each other from our Singapore days and it was so lovely to reconnect with each other. This is the first book I know that tackles the Armenian genocide with such depth and sensitivity and grace. My review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qth

#Bibliophile Day 9: this novel is more than just about mystery, suspense, or pulling off the perfect #heist – it‘s about eschewing mediocrity, dealing with superstition and unexamined loathing, trust and betrayal, and reinventing one‘s self. Definitely a must-read.

#Bibliophile Day 28: #BigSecret

#Bibliophile Day 27: #NatureVibes - just discovered this title via Libby. Review is forthcoming.

#Bibliophile Day 25: My Favorite Thing is #Monsters book 2 is my most anticipated read. Found this in a bookstore in Paris but refrained from purchasing it because of the weight. I hope the book finds me soon. My gushing review of Book 1 here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-jkn

#Bibliophile Day 24: This book is a good fit to #LostRoyalty. In this story, the reader gets to see how this impetuous, staunchly-disobedient young girl was able to chart her own path and meticulously follow a set of enchanted rules (which includes recognizing her man no matter how horrible the shapes he would magically assume) – to save the day and be the heroine in the story. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-3oQ

#Bibliophile Day 23: #AllTheRomance in this series (or so I suspect). I bought Books 1-3 but haven‘t gotten around to reading them yet.

#Bibliophile Day 22: #ZInTitle - part of my book haul of adopted books: https://wp.me/pDlzr-fal

#Bibliophile Day 21: #AuthorWPseudonym #AuthorWithPseudonym - well i will do you one better, actual “name” is Pseudonymous Bosch - how clever, right? This Secret Series is one that I own (not sure if I have all the books), but haven‘t gotten around to reading yet. Fats posted this as part of her book haul back in 2012 at GatheringBooks: https://wp.me/pDlzr-4JF

Well well well, look at what just came in the mail. #CampLitsy25 titles with the exception of the very last title (the SA Cosby) which I plan to buy while we are in the US next month, I do have some time. Plus, I got our #EuropaCollective title for June - and I am like, really? Three books in one month plus the last two titles of the Ember in the Ashes quartet? Really now? Lols. Well, good intentions count for something, right? Right.

#Bibliophile Day 20: Fats featured these three titles in GatheringBooks. As she noted: “I‘m happy to share with you wonderfully written picturebooks about three #robots who have personalities of their own.” Full review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-8KA

#Bibliophile Day 19: what happens when your big sister can see #Dragons? Big Sister provided a ‘dragon eye‘ technique that consists of rolling up one‘s eyeballs that would allow the dragons to surface in one‘s peripheral vision - yet this young girl simply cannot see them. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-dVr

#Bibliophile Day 18: This #RedCover book is the first in the Ember in the Ashes quartet. I am now in book 3. Review is forthcoming. Fantastic series. Anyone who has fallen in love with this series? Apparently it came out in 2016 - I have no clue why it was never in my radar until now! Sabaa Tahir is a league of her own.

#Bibliophile Day 17: This #LongTitle is still waiting for me to get back to it. Been distracted by #ToB25, my EmiratesLitFoundation Book Club Titles that led me to Sabaa Tahir‘s Ember in the Ashes quartet - where I am now in Book 3. Then we move into #CampLitsy25. Backman, I don‘t know when I can return to you, honestly, but will get there soon.

#Bibliophile Day 16: #SetInSoAmerica #SetInSouthAmerica - Galeano would always be one of my fave South American writers. My full review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-hRd