Space Station Mir

 A fresh new year! I've been reading a lot of different books, but not finishing or enjoying as many as I would like. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store , technically my first read of the year, was an exception, but I started that in December. I hope that changes soon. I've got books checked out of the library for four different book clubs, and some of these are books I've wanted to read for years. Of course, as soon as I have them in my possession, I'm less keen. I feel like I should finish the books I'm already reading, or I don't want to start them in case I don't like them as much as I thought I would. Here's to better reading months for the rest of the year! Books Read in January 2025 The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Book club read)--Loved it--I love everything McBride writes--but it was fun to read a book by him with more Jewish characters, and I love how he understands exactly how each ethnic group in this story is oppressed in...

 I discovered a lot of new authors in 2024, mostly thanks to Kindle Unlimited and Stuff-Your-Kindle days and also that I've newly gotten into the genres of romance and romantasy, which has opened up a lot of new authors to me as well. It feels nice to support new authors both as a reader and as a reviewer (and a member of 4-5 book clubs), and I hope I get to do more of it in 2025.  Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! New-To-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024 Megan Van Dyke--I started seeing her posts on Instagram probably sometime in 2023, and I finally read Captive of the Stolen Empire in early 2024, and then I was hooked. I love her standalones, fairytale retellings, and fae realm books--she does lush worldbuilding, intense characters, and spicy romance. I plan to keep reading books as long as she keeps writing them! Allie Lasky--I found her by searching for Hanukkah romances on Kindle Unlimited. Her characters are Gen Z and very alternative, but she delivered...

 Most of the books I buy these days are ebooks, or books I'm technically "renting" (I guess that's the right term?) on Kindle Unlimited. I also get a few ebooks for review, usually from LibraryThing or directly from authors. Mostly I get books from the library, but I also try to buy/preorder from my favorite authors--sometimes ebooks or sometimes an actual book if I don't have a signed copy from that author yet! Here are the most recent books I've either bought or rented (TBR would be a whole other list!). Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection Everlasting Spring: 101 Poems for Every Season of Life by Sonya Matejko (Ebook for review from LibraryThing) Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawagachi (Kindle Unlimited) Spark by Allie Lasky (Kindle Unlimited) The Hannukah Hook-Up by Jessica Topper (Kindle Unlimited) Hooked by M.C. Frank (Kindle Unlimited) A Dance of Blood and Destiny by K.R.S. ...

 I posted my Bookish and Not So Bookish Goals for 2024  last year. I accomplished a lot of them! First, I'll review how I did on my goals from 2024, and then I'll share my goals for 2025. Bookish Goals for 2024 Read 42 books--I again wanted to go a little easy on myself, but feeling up to this since my goal last year was 36 and I read 48. Well, I read 90 books in 2024, mission accomplished! Read 11 (25%) books by authors of color, from this specific list (below)--I haven't been doing well with this goal in the past, so instead of the more vague "25%" goal, I'm defining 25% of my reading goal and actually creating a list of books I want to read that fit this criteria to choose from. If you're interested, my list below includes books that have been on my TBR awhile, including some literally on my shelves. I read 13 books by authors of color, some of which were from the included list but most were not.  Read and review all the books I've accepted for revi...

 I never got around to this survey in 2023, but unexpectedly, in 2024, I had the most prolific reading year of my adult life (checking back, I did read 89 books in 2019). Honestly, I would guess it's both because I was missing a personal laptop for parts of the year and also because there were a few weeks or months when I went mostly off social media. I'm going to enjoy basking in this glow because I don't know if it will ever happen again!  I also met most of my bookish goals for 2024 (more on that later), but for now I'd like to share the stats from the survey I've been using for over a decade (I think?!), which I modified from the discontinued book blog,  Boston Bibliophile . 2024 Reading Stats How many books read? 90 Fiction/nonfiction? 78 fiction, 8 nonfiction, 4 poetry Female/male/nonbinary author ratio? 74 female, 13 male, 1 collection with writers of multiple genders, and 1 unknown Writers of Color/Minority Writers? 13 books by writers of color, 14 Jewish wr...

Instead of a list of books I want for Hanukkah, I thought I'd make a list of my favorite Hanukkah books, because there are finally starting to be enough (at least, popularly and commercially available fiction) that I can have favorites. Most of the adult ones I find are romances, which I do enjoy, but I'm hoping it will catch fire and branch out to other genres, if you know what I mean. 😜 Happy fourth night to everyone celebrating!🕎 Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel; illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman--This was my favorite as a kid, and I still love it! I would like a series of illustrated, reinterpreted Herschel of Ostropol stories! The Hanukkah Bear by Eric A. Kimmel; illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka--This one is a really sweet and funny kids' story! The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer--This was the one that turned me on to Meltzer, and now I've read all of her books! It's so relatable for anyone Jewish growing up in the U.S. who's at all religious...

Phew! It's been a minute. I didn't have a personal computer for a while there, so blogging was hard, but I sure did a lot of reading. I'll go through the lists quickly--my favorites for each month are highlighted, although I really enjoyed a lot of these. I got Kindle Unlimited and went wild on cozy romantasy and a few other genres for variety! Books Read in September Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum (Book club read) Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen (Another book club read) The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck (Yet another book club read) A Different Sky by Randie K. Berman (Rec'd by the author from a shared fb group--I loved it!) Books Read in October Ensnaring the Siren by Desirée M. Niccoli (Haven Cove #3) (LibraryThing review--and fit the romantasy kick--with mermaids!) The Orc and the Innkeeper by Cora Crane (Elderberry Falls #1)  The Gargoyle and the Songbird by Cora Crane (Elderberry Falls #2) Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate (audiobook) Party of One: Be Your Own Best ...