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Summer Reading: What Makes the Perfect Road Trip Audiobook?
I am fascinated by the idea of “summer reading”, mostly because I don’t quite know why it is such a big deal. It feels like this time of year, more than any other, is the time when adults (and children) are inundated with book lists and reading challenges. Is it a holdover from our years in school, when summer was our time to take a break? I find that as an adult, summer is often when I am at my busiest and have LESS time for reading. Personally, I am the most interested in books are in the fall and winter, with a cozy fire, blanket and tea. My favorite…
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More Award Winning Books: Adaptations, Interesting Narrators and More.
Hello everyone, Today I wanted to share a few books that have come out in recent years and received awards. I am always surprised by the number of books that I have never heard of when I look at award lists, and while it does get a big overwhelming, it also sometimes pushes books I have wanted to read higher up my TBR. Below are some of the ones I am interested in – if you want to learn more about the prospective awards, or find some books you might want to read, you can check out my full database of Current Book Award Winners as well. A Memory Called…
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Weekend Joys in Books and More: January 15th
Happy Friday! I know that I have certainly been shaken by what is happening in the US over the past few weeks. It is a lot to process, and I am trying to take as much time as I can to give both myself and those around me grace as we process the almost insane amount of baggage we are being handed. This week, I have 5 things to help you start your weekend off in the best frame of mind possible. 1.) When I get tense at night and have trouble sleeping, I tend to lean towards soothing audiobooks. My go to is Lord of the Rings, and I…
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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: 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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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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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…
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My Reading Month: June
Audiobook Gold, Great Sequels and Old Friends
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Small Publisher Book Prizes
Both the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year and the Independent Audiobook Awards were announced recently! Both of these awards are intended to support lesser known authors and to highlight books that do not have the dollars of a major book publishing company behind their marketing campaigns. Foreword INDIES Book of the Year: This is one of my favorite indie book awards because of its format. One of the things I find difficult about some of these awards seeking to highlight diversity is that their categories become so specific that there are too many “winners” for me to focus on. While the Foreword INDIES still follow this format, with prizes…
because stories are important
