Books
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My Reading Month: October
With the year wrapping up, I have been trying to tackle the last books on my Around the Year in 52 Books challenge, which has been difficult as many of them have be delving into the “classics”, which is a realm I dread. Sometimes these books lead to surprising and wonderful discoveries, but quite often I end up bored, and frustrated by archaic world views and writing that (at least to me) doesn’t hold up in today’s world. I feel like this is a challenging point of view, and I want to make it clear that there are classics that I absolutely LOVE, so this is not a blanket statement.…
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Book Award Round Up: Part 2: Women
Hello again! Today, I have a few book award details to wrap up, and these are some fun ones. The two awards I have to share with you today are special in that they are aimed at amplifying and supporting emerging authors through monetary grants and publicity. Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award This grant is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. She or he may choose activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, and retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of the work. Winner: Jessica Martinez Jessica Martinez was the 2019 winner of this prize. Her novel-in-progress…
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Book Award Round Up: Part 1: Latino, Arab and Australian!
You have probably heard the buzziest book award news in the last week as Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo shared the Man Booker prize for only the 3rd time in the history of the UK’s most prestigious book award. This was fun news and I know that I personally loved seeing two female authors, including an author of color, get such a prestigious honor. However, book awards over the last few months have also highlighted the achievements of many more authors from around the world and I am excited to share them all with you – these awards are such a great way to be introduced to the best work…
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My Reading Month – September
I had one of the biggest reading months of the year this past month – albeit through a combination of short books, audiobooks and some graphic novels. I feel like the change in light helped too. It is so much easier to read in the mornings when I wake up in the dark and can read in front of a cozy fire curled up under a blanket with my morning tea. This month, I could share a lot with you, but I sort of want to just share this one really incredible and totally out of left field book that might be one of my favorites of the year. I…
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Audio-book Guilt
As a lifelong reader, I have struggled this year as I have found myself more and more drawn to audio-books. In my current lifestyle, I drive about an hour each day, and that combined with a stressful job means that I often just don’t have the energy to dedicate to reading an actual book. However, I have been spending my commute devouring hour after hour of audio-books and I have been loving them. But I struggle with what an audio-book actually “is”. I add these books to my Goodreads account, and technically they count towards my “books read”, but I don’t know if I am reading? Sure, what I am…
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Summer Genre Awards – The Hugos
This is the award I was the most excited for by far! Awarded by the World Science Fiction Society, the Hugo Awards are the Emmys of the Science Fiction and Fantasy community, with awards going to books, TV shows and more and winners being decided by members of the society, who are often readers. They were also the center of a controversy a few years ago in which a group of science fiction readers, self titled as the “Sad Puppies” hijacked the awards in an effort to promote a right-wing, anti-diversity agenda that aimed to remove the “political” and “message-fic” books by diverse authors and women that were “taking over”…
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My Reading Month: August
So I have had a stop and start sort of reading month. I’ll be honest here – this month has flown by and between some crazy life changes and some crazy job stuff, I simply have not read all that much. When my brain gets overloaded, I tend to gravitate towards podcasts and television instead of books. I’m not sure this is necessarily the best choice, as reading is certainly equally relaxing, but it also takes so much more effort and sometimes I just don’t have it in me (and lets be honest, sometimes trashy television feels SO good). I do have one book to share with you all, which…
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Summer Genre Awards – The Ritas
Hello again! Today I have a new set of awards to share with you. While you might be inclined to dismiss these, romance novels are some of the most widely read novels in the United States (and with e-readers, it is all the easier to read them unobtrusively!) If you are interested in this at all, the following books have won the award for the best in their category for 2019, and would be a good place to start for high quality fun romps! The Rita Awards: The RITA—the highest award of distinction in romance fiction—recognizes excellence in published romance novels and novellas. Awards are given in many different categories…
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Summer Genre Awards – Eisner Awards
Well, it has been a while! I have a monthly reading post coming your way in the next few days, but in the meantime, I wanted to give you all some updates on a few great awards that have come out in the past month or so. These are great awards to check out if you have a special person in your life who loves comics, romance or science fiction, if you are curious about these genres yourself and want a good entry point, or if these genres are some of your favorites and you want to get the next best thing! Today, I am highlighting the Eisner Awards, a…
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My Reading Month: July
This is about 10 days late, but there has been plenty going on in my life lately! Between visits from family and visits to family and friends my July was fairly light on reading, but I do have some to talk about. I started a few books this month and struggled to find my groove in any of them. However, I did read some beautiful graphic novels and finish some audio-books. The two reads I want to highlight are Pride of Baghdad and The Winter of the Witch. Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan This was a beautiful graphic novel based on the true story of a group of…
