Space Station Mir

 Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! I feel like we've done a lot of similar ones before, but I'll try to include some fresher favorites. Also, what a lap of luxury, to have TEN books on my proverbial desert island :-) 1. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 2. Middlemarch by George Eliot 3. The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders 4. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 5. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers 6. The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich 7. Devotions by Mary Oliver 8. Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott 9. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson 10. The Ultimate Survival Guide by John Lofty Wiseman

 There are many amazing kinds of books out there, but there is a special magic in a certain kind of book or sometimes a special uninterrupted block of time, which for me often comes during the High Holidays or a vacation or even just a weekend with nothing to do (aka nearly every pandemic weekend), when you can just sit and read and read until you're done. As a result, a lot of these books have very specific place memories for me, like when I was given my copy of The Outsiders in English class, proceeded to read while walking to, at, and from a pep rally, and did not stop reading until I was finished. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour reminds me very specifically of how I used to read in my desk chair in my freshman dorm, with my knees propped up against the desk, because I couldn't sit up in my bed, which was lofted above the desk and dresser, the only way all the furniture could fit in my triple. The most amazing part?  That book wasn't even published when I was a freshman. I

It's been a busy summer, so I am just getting around to posting my assorted fiction reads for June. Two Jennifer Weiner reads, and I don't regret it! I'm also probably going to read another Fredrik Backman novel in July, and I've already read two more Maggie Stiefvater. There's comfort in finding an author you know you'll like or that you can just trust to immerse you in a world besides your own.  Books I Read This Month 1. The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith (Book club read: finally, a modern work of historical fiction with only ONE plot, time period, and cast of characters! Hallelujah!) 2. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (I am officially a Weiner fan).  3. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman (Oof. An emotional whopper, like all his books. Also, like the ensemble point-of-view. I aspire to this.) 4. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde 5. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner (Book club read. Didn't love it as much as Good in Bed but represents an interesting foray