Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
lauraisntwilder

lauraisntwilder

Joined October 2016

Favorite authors: Per Petterson, Lorrie Moore, Hiromi Kawakami. Favorite genres: Literary fiction, mysteries.
review
lauraisntwilder
Gourmet Rhapsody | Muriel Barbery
post image
Mehso-so

The sections narrated by Arthens, which contain the titular rhapsodic descriptions of food, were beautiful (with the exception of a few ill-advised metaphors, such as comparing a ripe tomato to "plumpish" woman in a party dress). The alternating chapters were often too short for me to get invested. It felt like the book was arguing with itself over how much plot was needed.

quote
lauraisntwilder
Gourmet Rhapsody | Muriel Barbery
post image

The tomato sat "crimson in its taut silken finery, undulating with the occasional more tender hollow, with a communicable cheerfulness about it like a plumpish woman in her party dress hoping to compensate for the inconvenience of her extra pounds by means of a disarming chubbiness evoking an irresistible desire to bite into her flesh."

Yikes. I'm beyond "plumpish," but my goodness, I'm not a tomato! Definitely not trying to evoke that desire.

review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Panpan

I read this because my nephew has to read it for American Lit in college, and he'd like me to look over his essay. Try as I might, I just don't enjoy reading Twain. I can't shake the feeling that he was his own biggest fan.

blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

I haven't finished all the books I intend to finish in September yet, but decided to work on my October #bookspin list instead of reading. Oh well! 🎃 @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 4d
11 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

Very much like Dear Mrs. Bird, this historical novel was a quick read that had just enough reality to not be too fluffy for my taste. I enjoyed the exploration into the lives of British women war workers. This was my #bookspin for September. @TheAromaofBooks

BittersweetBooks Love the Mrs. Bird books 🥰 4d
TheAromaofBooks Yay!!! 4d
19 likes2 comments
blurb
lauraisntwilder
Emily of New Moon | Lucy Maud Montgomery
post image

Lines like these are why I always liked Emily a little more than Anne.

blurb
lauraisntwilder
Mansfield Park | Jane Austen
post image

I just started chapter 34 of my first reading, and I'm currently annoyed with everyone except Dr. Grant. 😂

TheBookHippie Ha!!! Memories!!! 5d
22 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
Our Fathers | Rebecca Wait
post image
Pickpick

I've been slowly collecting Europa Editions titles for years (probably starting with Elegance of the Hedgehog?), so I've been very much looking forward to our first #EuropaCollective read. This book did everything right for me. I'm drawn to fiction with a literally bleak landscape, and Litta was perfect. I was so shocked by the "bombshell" surprise at the end, BUT what Tommy said to Fiona at the end put everything in perspective so well.

jlhammar Yes, that ending! Shocking and heartbreaking, for sure. And I agree about the setting/landscape. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Great review! 1w
BarbaraBB Fab review! And I prefer your edition over mine 😀 1w
23 likes2 comments
review
lauraisntwilder
Midnight Magic | Bobbie Ann Mason
post image
Pickpick

Reading Bobbie Ann Mason's older works is like visiting the world I grew up in. She's from Mayfield, KY, which is only about 70 miles from my hometown in TN. She mentions locations I know well, and her characters use words and phrases I'd all but forgotten. They would be great stories without this sense of familiarity, but it does make me enjoy them even more. #storyaday2023 #doublespin

blurb
lauraisntwilder
Emily Climbs | L M Montgomery
post image

I know it's only September 2, but I'm already looking forward to what I want to read in October. Look at this beautiful blue stack! I have some witchy books, a ghost story, a murder mystery, and the next Emily book planned so far...

BooksNBowls I planned my October reads the other day too!! So excited it‘s my favorite month to read! 3w
BarbaraJean Haha… I started a list for October a couple weeks ago! All the anticipation! Also: looking forward to hearing what you think about Emily Climbs! 3w
lauraisntwilder @BooksNBowls October is just the best! 3w
See All 8 Comments
lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean This month, I'm rereading the first Emily book, which was the only LM Montgomery book I read as a kid. I loved it -- no idea why I didn't read the others then! 3w
BarbaraJean Isn't it fascinating to look back and wonder about your childhood reading? I read all three Emily books in jr. high or maybe high school, and remember thinking the first one was a bit slow, but loving the other two. Upon re-reading, I loved the first one the best. 🙃 3w
lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean It's amazing to me that I didn't read more classics as a kid. I read all the time, but when I went to PEI with my family when I was around 12, I hadn't read a single LM Montgomery book. How did that happen?! 3w
BarbaraJean Ha! Well, you‘re filling in the gaps now! The first time I remember reading a classic was when my (older) sister gave me a copy of Little Lord Fauntleroy. Not sure if she just wanted me to read classics, or if she thought I was reading crap and tried to redirect me 😂 It seems an odd choice now. But I remember thinking it looked SOOO BORING and then ending up loving it. That led me to Secret Garden and A Little Princess, which I also loved! 3w
lauraisntwilder @BarbaraJean Again, I didn't read The Secret Garden until I was an adult. Whatever her reasons, your sister must've known what she was doing! 3w
26 likes8 comments
blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

Here's my #bookspinbingo board for September! My #bookspin is Yours Cheerfully and my #doublespin is Midnight Magic. Thank you, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Enjoy!!! 3w
16 likes1 comment
blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

My finished #bookspinbingo card for August. It was a very "up and down" month -- a couple really great books and a few stinkers. @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Fantastic progress!! 4w
13 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

This collection was beautiful. Set in El Monte, CA, these interconnected stories center around several recurring characters. I loved Hector and Lencho and I might have been able to come around to liking Benny if he'd been in one more story. #storyaday2023

review
lauraisntwilder
Godspeed | Nickolas Butler
post image
Pickpick

All the blurbs refer to this book as a thriller, and I was starting to wonder why when BAM! the plot went in a totally unforseen direction. Not many books make me talk out loud to the characters, but this one did. So wild and unexpected.

review
lauraisntwilder
African Town | Irene Latham, Charles Waters
post image
Pickpick

I got this novel in poems at my local indie, which is only a short walk away from Mobile Bay, resting place of the Clotilda. I thought telling the story through poems was a successful way to get multiple points of view without confusing the narrative. Still, a lot of people had to be left out. I definitely want to read some of the nonfiction accounts available. Kossola was interviewed by Zora Neale Hurston, so that's worth seeking out, I think!

lauraisntwilder I ran out of room to mention -- this was my #bookspin for August. Thanks, @TheAromaofBooks! 1mo
Eggs I just borrowed this from the library and hope to start it today! 1mo
20 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

I've been having not-so-great luck with short stories lately, but this collection was fantastic. I can't say it better than the David Sedaris blurb on the cover! #storyaday2023

21 likes1 stack add
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Panpan

A better title for this collection would be "Different Ways Men Screw Up." There was one story I was really enjoying, about a teenage girl, and then she happens upon a middle-aged man, and it was downhill from there. Great writing, but it was a chore getting to the end. #storyaday2023

review
lauraisntwilder
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe | Carson McCullers
post image
Mehso-so

I read this last weekend and forgot to post about it. I expected to enjoy this because of how much I liked The Member of the Wedding, and I was surprised that didn't really. The titular story is by far the longest and it didn't appeal to me. #storyaday2023

blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

Here's my #bookspinbingo list for September. I have 3 family birthdays in September, including my son, so I should really have been thinking about birthday gifts instead of planning this list! 😜 @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 1mo
15 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

I've read 10 pages or more of this book almost every day since July 1, and I'm really going to miss Maud. I think one day I might like to read her journals, but I'm fairly sure Rubio covers the highlights. I think my favorite detail is that it was a Globe and Mail Best Book, when long-time editor William Arthur Deacon was a total jerk to Maud. #kindredspiritsbuddyread

BarbaraJean Delicious irony on that Globe and Mail pick!! 1mo
17 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
Watson's Choice | Gladys Mitchell
post image
Pickpick

This was a quick read, with some really great dialogue. I read it for #GoldenAgeCrimeClub and I'm looking forward to everyone else's take on it. I really enjoyed it, but I actually didn't care who did it.

review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

I may still read The Blythes Are Quoted & the Chronicles of Avonlea books at some point, but I think I'm done with Anne for a little while. This one was SO much better than the last 3 books! But there were so many things I wish had been included that weren't. How did things go for Diana during WWI? Or the girls from Anne's Patty's Place days? Davy & Dora aren't even mentioned! It struck me as tragic that Marilla died between books with no fanfare.

review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Panpan

I have owned this book (& a novel by the same author) for so long that I don't remember when -- or why!! -- I bought them. There was one story in this that was okay, but the rest were...not great. One of the stories was literally a list of all the women the male narrator had made cry & then he'd fall in love with them. Barf. If you remember the "Lad Lit" subgenre, it was sort of like that, but not funny & kind of gross. #storyaday2023 #doublespin

blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

I'm ready for August! My #bookspin is African Town and my #doublespin is Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir. Thank you, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Looks fantastic!!! 2mo
19 likes1 comment
blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

So many good reads this month! #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Fantastic month!!! 2mo
15 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
The Quiet Tenant | Clemence Michallon
post image
Pickpick

One last book finished in July and it was a LOT. Suspenseful, yes, but so much more than that. Here's a story about a terrible man that ends up being about three women and the resiliency of women.

review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

Overall, I liked this one. It's sort of weird that it's considered part of the Anne series, considering Anne is barely in it. While reading Montgomery's bio, I've learned that she was pressured for more Anne books long after she ran out of ideas for her. It was written before Anne of Ingleside, so I sort of understand why there aren't better descriptions of the Blythe kids in that book, even if today Ingleside is numbered earlier in the series.

blurb
lauraisntwilder
post image

Page 314. Will we ever be free of this man?! @BarbaraJean @TheAromaofBooks

BarbaraJean 😂😂 2mo
TheAromaofBooks Like a bad penny! 😂 😂 2mo
15 likes2 comments
blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

Here's my #bookspinbingo list for August. Starting in May, when my son's school year got crazy and then ended, taking our usual schedule with it, I've gotten very behind in #Clarissa and my #storyaday2023 goal. My main focus for August is going to be getting caught up (I added 9 short story collections to this list). I'll also be reading the pick for #goldenagecrimeclub and #kindredspiritsbuddyread. @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Things always seem to go off the rails a bit in the summer! 😂 2mo
15 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
Fell Murder | E.C.R. Lorac
post image
Pickpick

I enjoyed this one. I loved the descriptions of the countryside. I want to take a nap on a hillside in the heather! How do I sign up for that? SO many suspects and I honestly didn't know who did it. I was suspicious of all of them by the end. #goldenagecrimeclub

review
lauraisntwilder
Bitter Orange | Claire Fuller
post image
Pickpick

This was so atmospheric that it was almost easy to see how Frances got so wrapped up in Cara and Peter. The food all sounded absolutely amazing and I'm a sucker for a story with a big, old house.

23 likes1 stack add
blurb
lauraisntwilder
post image

review
lauraisntwilder
Homecoming | Kate Morton
post image
Pickpick

I finished this up yesterday evening. It's interesting reading Lorrie Moore and Kate Morton in the same month. They're so very different, but I love them both. Morton's novels have all been epic and this one was no exception. I thought it was better than her last (Clockmaker's Daughter). So interesting to read about Australia at Christmas, aside from the intrigue of the plot. As always, she got me with the twist at the end!

review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

Completely fantastic writing from beginning to end. Tevis details things that range from the horrific to the poignant: nuclear bomb testing, closed factories, floods, jukeboxes, Buddy Holly, and her own life. The juxtapositions are woven together seamlessly.

This was my #doublespin for July. @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2mo
14 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

It was amazing to me that a book that's about an elaborate lie was written in such a way that it never made me anxious. I felt confident Shibata would figure out how to deal with everything. When things took a turn for the surreal, I became aware of my own hopes for how things would turn out and how conditioned I am to the traditional roles of women.

BarbaraBB It sounds so good! 3mo
lauraisntwilder @BarbaraBB It is! And it's a very quick read. 3mo
18 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

Lorrie Moore remains a wonder and a gift. She makes me want to write, as in, actually changes the way words form in my head. It's like she fires off all my neglected synapses. This amazing novel explores death and grieving and is primarily set in the upside-down year of 2016. All the trauma of 8 years seems somehow compacted down into a 193-page gut punch.

jlhammar Love your Lorrie Moore shelf! I‘m also a huge fan of her writing so looking forward to this. 3mo
BarbaraBB Fab review. I totally see what you mean and agree she‘s a fantastic writer, I just didn‘t feel the story the way you did. (edited) 3mo
lauraisntwilder @jlhammar Thanks! I hope you enjoy it, too. 😊 3mo
lauraisntwilder @BarbaraBB It definitely hit me while I was in the right frame of mind and that always helps. 3mo
22 likes2 stack adds4 comments
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

I guess this is a pick? The first 2/3 of it definitely was. The last third, I'm not so sure. It was a bit of a mess. I was originally interested because it's set in Galveston and I did enjoy the setting and the world of vaudeville and dance marathons. Without spoiling anything, the story took a turn that was uncomfortable and ended up feeling historically inaccurate. This was my #bookspin for July.

blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

Here's my #bookspinbingo card for July! My #bookspin is Last Night on the Starlight Pier and my #doublespin is The World Is on Fire.

Thank you, Sarah! @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Looks fantastic!!! 3mo
17 likes1 comment
blurb
lauraisntwilder
The Winners | Fredrik Backman
post image

My favorite book of 2023 so far is no surprise.

Clare-Dragonfly It‘s right there in the name! 3mo
lauraisntwilder @Clare-Dragonfly Ha! It sure is! 3mo
16 likes2 comments
blurb
lauraisntwilder
Reading Goals: Extended Readers for Basic Reading | Glenn McCracken, Charles Child Walcutt
post image

I'm SO pleased! I've always wanted to read more and I've finally found some habits/approaches that are working for me. I've had a 50 book yearly reading goal for ages and last year was the first year I met it. My final book count for 2022 was 62. I didn't want to change my goal for 2023 because I wasn't sure if reaching it in 2022 was a fluke.

JamieArc Congratulations 🎉 🎉 3mo
lauraisntwilder @JamieArc Thank you! 😊 3mo
Ruthiella Congratulations! 👏👏👏 3mo
lauraisntwilder @Ruthiella Thank you! 😄 3mo
15 likes4 comments
review
lauraisntwilder
AS YOU WERE. | ELAINE. FEENEY
post image
Pickpick

I have a feeling this one is going to stay with me for a while. I always love a story where characters are thrown together and become a united group: passangers on a train, students in a dorm, etc. In this case, the characters are patients in a shared hospital ward. Their life stories are played out for each other in ways that are both poignant and cringeworthy. How do we touch each other's hearts in those situations? How do we move on? Loved it.

blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

Here's my finished #bookspinbingo card for June. Not bad, considering there was a whole week when I didn't read anything! @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Fantastic month!! 3mo
11 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
Anne of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery
post image
Pickpick

A low pick. The children all kind of blurred together and there were at least three frustrating times when the characters or narrator made negative comments about how fat someone was. Still, I enjoyed characters from previous books making appearances here. My favorite part was when I got to Rilla and the cake and suddenly remembered my sister reading that part aloud to me when I was a kid. I could hear her in my mind saying, "burnt to a crithp!"

blurb
lauraisntwilder
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
post image

Here's my #bookspinbingo list for July. 😊 @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3mo
11 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

I don't normally read spicy books, but this one came highly recommended by an indie bookseller so I gave it a try. It was half adventure, half romance, like a really good episode of "Poldark," if Ross Poldark was gay.

This was my #bookspin for June.

review
lauraisntwilder
Malice Aforethought | Francis Iles
post image
Pickpick

You know the murderer on page 1, but this still managed to be suspenseful. Seeing the world from the perspective of a sociopathic killer definitely called into question all the perceptions I had of all the characters. Was Madeleine really so bad? Maybe, maybe not. I felt sorry for Ivy, for sure. A great, but twisted read. #goldenagecrimeclub

review
lauraisntwilder
post image
Pickpick

I finished this one today for the #kindredspiritsbuddyread. I won't say too much ahead of our discussion, but I enjoyed this. Two thoughts -- 1, I wish there was a sequel covering Montgomery's adult life, and 2, the flowers on the cover should be lupines (this cover is pretty though).

BarbaraJean Yes to a sequel! Her years of college and teaching, and her early career, would be so interesting to read in a novelized form. 3mo
23 likes1 comment
review
lauraisntwilder
Sense and Sensibility | Jane Austen
post image
Pickpick

I forgot to post that I'd finished this one. It was my first time reading it and I'd never seen an adaptation. The ending wasn't what I expected. I had something completely different in mind! In retrospect, *of course* it ends the way it does. Still, my version could have been good! 😂

Clare-Dragonfly Did you hope Elinor and Colonel Brandon would get together? I hope that every dang time 😂 3mo
lauraisntwilder @Clare-Dragonfly Yes, I was totally convinced that was going to happen! 3mo
31 likes2 comments
blurb
lauraisntwilder
Anne of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery
post image

155?! Diana is supposed to be fat. At 155. 😣 Nope.

BarbaraJean Uggghh, yes—I was so annoyed by this part!! 3mo
Ruthiella Maybe she is only 3 feet tall? 3mo
13 likes3 comments
blurb
lauraisntwilder
post image

I have barely read anything so far this month. I spent a week at Disney World with my husband and 13 yo son having so much fun and eating so many snacks! Then I had a week recuperating, feeling tired and sad that my vacation was over. I'm *woefully* behind on #Clarissa. I'll have the house to myself for most of next week though, so fingers crossed I'll get caught up and back to normal!