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March and April Reads: More Sweet and Happy Books
Whoops! The past month and a bit got away with me, and before I knew it, a few Saturdays had blown right by. However, I am back to get on the right track today, and wanted to share some of my March and April highlights with you all. True to form, when I get overwhelmed, I particularly love nice happy novels that make me feel good. I also have a memoir to share that, while not cozy, is certainly lovely and inspiring! Fun Middle Grade Novels: I love listening to good middle grade and young adult novels, especially ones I have read as I go about my daily life and…
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February Reads: For The Love of Cozy Books
I don’t think I’m saying anything groundbreaking when I say that February often just kinda sucks. It’s dark and wet and cold, but summer is just too far off to look forward to. This past month hasn’t been terrible for me, but it has felt disjointed, incredibly busy, generally tough, and I honestly did not have the time or the focus to really connect with a book. However, over the last week or so, I have felt a shift and had the most lovely series of book moments, all centered around the kind of cozy, sweet books that feel like a cup of tea and a warm blanket (there was…
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My 2023 in Books: From Satisfying Mysteries to Quirky Sci-Fi
This was a strange reading year, because hiking the PCT had a massive impact on what kind of books I was reading and how I was reading them. For example, I read almost 20 books on my kindle, which was a new experience for me, and one I didn’t hate, although nothing can replace the joys of paper books. I haven’t opened my kindle since getting off the trail, but the appeal of library books I can’t get anywhere else my end up changing that. Similarly, I listened to a lot of books. This isn’t necessarily new, but the proportion of books I listened to while on the trail was…
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A Can’t Miss Author: Tamora Pierce
Hello everyone, In the past month, I have continued to dive deep into some rereads, especially as I use audiobooks to alleviate anxiety. There is something really calming about listening to books you know and love when your brain is going a million miles an hour, and for the past few weeks, Tamora Pierce has been that for me. So today, I want to take some time to explore the world(s) of Tamora Pierce, along with looking at what it is that makes her books SO great. These are absolutely my favorite middle grade/young adult books, and I especially love the way they encourage positive behaviors and normalize diverse identities…
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February 2021: Beautiful writing is its own kind of joy
Hello everyone, This month, I think I may have hit a saturation point for pure comfort reading, and I found myself reaching out for other books. What I discovered (remembered?, rediscovered?) is that while there is joy in simple, easy stories and mysteries, there is another level of joy to be found in beautifully written books. The three books/series that I want to highlight today share very little except for this fact: they are all exceptionally written and their language enchanted and delighted me. Non Fiction Essays – Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver is an wonderful novelist who has written some of the most haunting and beautiful books…
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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: 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…