Reviews
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Miss Marple: Murder At The Vicarage
“I know that in books it is always the most unlikely person. But I never find that rule applies in real life. There it is so often the obvious that is true.” p 216 Hello!Welcome to the first post of my 2021 Miss Marple read through. In which the choice of first person narration is confusing, we visit St Mary Mead, and the inimitable Jane Marple solves her first case with very little effort and lots of knitting. The character of Jane Marple was inspired by Christie’s grandmother, although “much more fussy and less spinsterish”, and I have always enjoyed her calm, observational style of murder solving. She is the…
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My Best Reads of 2020: Classics, Science Fiction and Plenty of Tears
So in honor of a particularly unlucky year (and because I read too many books to narrow the list further), below are my top 13 books of the year. I read a LOT this year, but these are the books that managed to capture my attention and interest in what was an otherwise pretty insane year. This is an eclectic mix, including books about places from Egypt to Montana, classics, historical fiction, memoirs, and soaring science fiction and fantasy that takes you back in time to Troy and to distant planets filled with life. The one thing that surprised me is that while I did a lot of comfort reading…
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November: Old Favorites, Graphic Novels and American Voices
Hello Everyone, November was a big month for me in terms of my 2020 reading. It started with a lot of escapist reading as we waited with bated breath for the results of the election, and ended with a lot of escapist reading when I got hit by Covid-19 and spent about a week in bed. I also started leading a graphic novel book club, and had a great time doing “research” for it! Today I have three pairs of books for you that fall into some fun categories. These books cover YA to adult, brand new to old classics, and I hope there is something for everyone for you!…
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October: A Belated Update
Whoops. Somewhere in the muck that was early November, I totally forgot to write my monthly update for October! October was a reset month for me: I finished/planned the last of my book challenges for the year and knocked out a ton of books I have wanted to read for quite a while. The truth is though, I have struggled to find books that cut through the fog of stress and overwhelming fear that was my reality for much of October. I read 15 books in the month, and I have a hard time recalling any of them unless I have them written down in front of me. They weren’t…
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August: diverse genre books (and slumps)
Eek, First of all, where has this summer gone!?! One minute it was June, and now I feel like I blinked and it was September. Honestly this month has been the most “splumpy” I have had this year (although I did get married and write my organization’s annual budget, so perhaps there is a reason for the slump. This month, I have what I consider to be a small success which is that the majority of my books were by BIPOC authors, which leads me to be give you a few recommendations of the diverse author variety, particularly in diverse genre fiction. One of the things I am working on…
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My Reading Month: July
Hello everyone, For those of you new to this blog, welcome to my monthly reading update! Every month, I highlight some of my favorite reads – this can vary from an exceptionally good audio-book to something else that caught my fancy. I didn’t read a ton this month – I have been incredibly busy, and it has been really hot. There is something about high temperatures that just saps my interest in reading anything at all. However, I did manage to make it through some exceptionally great books this month, and I am excited to share them with you! Epic Fiction: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh This is the…
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Cozy Mystery Round Up
Every once in a while, I need the book equivalent of a freshly baked cookie, something light, fluffy and without much substance. The books that give me the best “cookie” vibes are almost always “cozy” murder mysteries, especially when they have a female detective. I mean, when the world feels like it is ending, what could be better than reading about bad-ass women who can fix all the problems that they are given and still manage to enjoy themselves? My all time favorite series is the Phryne Fisher series, which was also developed into an absolutely wonderful television show. This series is set in late 1920s Australia and is based…
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My Reading Month: June
Another month down, and we are halfway through 2020. I don’t think it is a stretch to say we are having to reckon with a lot of our historic, structural issues this year in a big way. I keep seeing people talking about how they wish 2020 would take a break, and while I agree, I also recognize that most of these issues were just as present in 2019, 2018 and before and this is just the breaking point. I am struggling to find a way to respond without feeling like I am “performing” activism, outrage or simply grief. This blog is all about stories, but I don’t have a…
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On Diversity and Reading: Amplifying BIPOC Authors and Voices
This post was also posted on my original blog, Reading Diversely. If you are here because of that, please consider subscribing for more updates. When I started the “Reading Diversely” book project in 2017, I was frustrated and I was aware that the “mainstream” books that received marketing money and were likely to be recommended and receive awards most often were dominated by white men. I wasn’t angry. Yet. Over the course of that year, I fell back in love with reading, but I also became increasingly aware that the problem was so much broader and so much more pervasive than I had realized. I was shocked by the number…
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My Reading Month: May
I didn’t really have much of a reading month in May to be honest – we went back to work (in the midst of a pandemic) and between dealing with that AND a move, reading wasn’t at the top of the list of things I was eager to do when I got home at night! Also, with everything going on the world, it feels self serving to post too much about my little reading project now. What I will say is that I am working on a post that looks at books about racial equity, racism and racialized violence, and I HIGHLY encourage you to take a minute to look…