Space Station Mir

I've put blogging on the backburner for a bit, but I read a lot of books in July, including book club books, books for review, and escapist contemporary romances from Kindle Unlimited. The Let Them Theory is a book I'll be thinking about for a long time--it's basically a distillation of boundaries/thought exercises you can learn from therapy, but I liked how Robbins broke it down and supported each chapter with expert advice and research. Books Read in July 2025 Nine Women, One Dress by Jane L. Rosen (Book club read) The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins The Best Advice by Amy Dressler (LibraryThing review) The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See (Another book club read) The Best Book Boyfriend by Holly June Smith The Worst Guy Ever by Holly June Smith The No Rules Roommate by Holly June Smith

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders Release Date: August 19, 2025 I was honored to be one in a chain of readers sharing an ARC from the author. It was a pretty cool idea; we each were mailed a copy, read it, and received an address to mail it on to the next person. As one of the last readers, when I received it, the inside cover was almost filled with messages and signatures from previous readers! No one, however, had marked the book in any way, so I will have to wait until I get my own preordered copy to do all my underlining and annotating! This was such a beautiful, melancholy yet hopeful, contained yet genre-expansive, story of an 18th century Brit lit grad student who teaches her mother magic, with somewhat disastrous consequences. I enjoyed the embedded 18th century Brit lit discourse and the interpolated fictional 18th century novel, and particularly the spotlight on real 18th century women writers (Sarah Fielding, Jane Collier). The novel wrestles with the eth...

This was fun! These are a mix of books I have and haven't read, but what I'm most proud of is I came up with all of these off the top of my head. I guess books with honorifics are pretty widespread, although not usually identified as a category. Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Books With Honorifics in the Title Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis Mrs. Nash's Ashes by Sarah Adler Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winnifred Watson Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

 Once again, I feel like I've got a lot of reads going at once, for book clubs, pleasure, and learning. I finished more of them in June, and there are a lot that I would recommend, in addition to a few that were just okay or just not for me. Books Read in June 2025 The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (Book club read)--This was one of the best memoirs I've read in a while. I didn't realize Kelly (formerly Carole) Bishop not only originated the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line , but "At the Ballet" is based on her real life. I loved learning about her life in show biz, including her time on one of my favorite shows, Gilmore Girls! Family Family by Laurie Frankel (Other book club read)--Interesting perspective on different types of adoptive families. Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us, edited by Colleen Kinder--I was entranced with these letters to strangers from various writers. D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins--I loved...

  The Best Advice by Amy Dressler (Shakespeare Project, Book 2) Publication Date: July 8, 2025 After reading a second book of hers , I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm a fan of Amy Dressler and I look forward to reading more of her books, particularly this Shakespeare retelling series! Her first book, How to Align the Stars,  retells my favorite Shakespeare comedy, Much Ado About Nothing , and The Best Advice  follows up with a retelling of my second favorite Shakespeare comedy, As You Like It.  In both books, Dressler deftly transplants the scenarios and characters of the respective plays to the contemporary Pacific Northwest. However, unlike the most creatively imagined setting for a performance of the original script, Dressler makes the bones her own, sculpting and weaving them into lived-in and relevant characters and settings in a novel for a modern audience, with playful references to the original text (e.g., Phoebe Shepherd-Shepherd) and (mostly) ironing ...

 I missed this topic last week, so this freebie post is my chance to make it up! A lot of mine would probably be the same as Jana's , but I'll try to throw a few different ones in there. It is definitely shaping up to be an outstanding year for the fun, cozy books I'm most drawn to these days! (And I'm clearly not the only one.) I discussed a lot of these in my last post , so I've only added quick descriptors for the ones I didn't. My Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025 Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders, Publication Date: August 19, 2025 All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert, Publication Date: September 9, 2025 The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez, Publication Date: September 9, 2025--"A gorgeous, atmospheric debut fantasy that reimagines the Jewish myth of golem in a tale rooted in history, folklore, and sapphic romance"--Say less! The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah...

Unfortunately, I missed posting yesterday, but I still wanted to get this out. I'm really excited for summer reading this year! I've been on a reading roll lately, and I'm excited about a lot of books that are coming out this summer or summer-related books that are already out. It's also finally time where I can spend a lot of time sitting and reading outside, which I enjoy every summer.  Books On My Summer 2025 To-Read List The Best Advice by Amy Dressler, Publication Date: July 8, 2025--Last year, I reviewed Dressler's Align the Stars , a modern retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, which I enjoyed, and I'm excited to review the eARC for this one ahead of the publication date. I already love its spin on As You Like It. Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders, Publication Date: August 19, 2025--Already preordered this sure to be amazing and poignant book from one of my favorite authors. Might even get an ARC if the stars align. All the Way to the Ri...