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...

 I am really not feeling planned reading lists these days, especially since I have 2 planned reads each month anyway, with my book clubs, so I really like to stay open outside of that. That said, the #Blackout reading post from last year came up as a memory on my Fb, so I was thinking I would like to maybe do that again--buy two books by Black authors from Black-owned bookstores. I wouldn't necessarily read the books in June, but at least buy them and then I might end up reading them too. So, here's a list of books that I know I'll read this summer (aka book club reads) and some I'm interested in reading, and we'll see if I feel like it. Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Books On My Summer 2021 TBR Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater (probably going to reread before Mister Impossible) Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare (book club for June; if I can ever get it out of the library) Big Summer by J...

 There may be nearly a hundred of these formative books in my life, but below I've thought of some that were my childhood doorways into genres, others that led to niche fascinations, some of them continuing, and a few that fostered more recent obsessions, who knows where they will lead! I'm here for the journey and looking forward to the wonderful fresh content being published every day, plus all of the lost and hidden gems still circulating.  1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle This was my first memorable foray into science fiction (even though it's now sometimes shelved as "science fantasy"). My dad had mentioned it being one of his favorites as a kid, I found it at the library, and it was my absolute favorite book from ages 9-11--until I read LOTR. Years later, I realized there were MORE, and I read all of the Time Quartet, plus almost all of the later O'Keefe family books, Austin family books, and a bunch of L'Engle's stand-alones.  2. Th...

It was quite a month for reading, especially comfort reading, as you'll see by my list. I'd been meaning to get to the Grishaverse for a while, but it was on the backburner until it came out on Netflix. After I parceled out the TV show, which I definitely enjoyed, I binged all five of the books the series is/will be based on. The creators of the show made an interesting choice to combine the casts and overlap the plots of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, which are separate in the books.   It will be interesting to see where that goes. The first trilogy is a much more traditional good hero versus evil villain epic fantasy with some Russian-esque words thrown in for flavor (don't get me wrong, this is the epitome of a comfort read for me!), while the Crows duology is grittier, picaresque heroes coming up in the big bad city. Bardugo is great at characterization, especially biting dialogue, and plays well with the implications of the magical Grisha powers in the universe she...

 Happy Top Ten Tuesday! I had to go through my Goodreads list, but I did find at least ten books I've read with complete sentences for titles! It's certainly an intriguing collection. One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross by Harry Kemelman Don't Overthink It by Anne Bogel My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Mr. Rogers by Tim Madigan Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

Again, honestly, I read more than I would have predicted with how busy I've been at work and with my doggo's surgery. She is done and a few days into her recovery, she's already standing on her leg a bit! There's a lot of care and work between now and projected full recovery but at least it feels like we're on our way. I've been coping with immersive reading when I can! Books Read This Month Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell (would not recommend) Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline ( a fun ride, v reminiscent of the first) Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders (see below) The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich (book club read, really enjoyed, adding more Erdrich to my list) The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline (potential book club read, historical fiction about an aboriginal girl taken from her family and two convict women transported from England to Australia, specifically Tasmania) Favorite Book This Month I mean, it was always going to be Victories G...