Space Station Mir

 I've never really thought of TV shows like books until more recently, but I probably should. Especially since, these days, I can read them like texts, go back, rewind, repeat, stop there and think. I can stop a screen, and start writing how I'm feeling and reacting to characters and plot and setting on screen. I can return to favorite scenes again and again. And I can always compare the show and the book(s) because for some reason, a lot of my favorite shows are based on books--can't imagine why. Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Some of My Favorite TV Shows 1. All of the Star Treks, but right now, I'm enjoying Star Trek: Picard (The TNG cast especially my favorite Geordie!!!) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (love the episodic nature and modern sensibility and LOVE Anson Mount's Captain Pike). 2. Gilmore Girls--ultimate comfort TV, love that weird quirky impossible town.  3. New Girl--came to this a bit late, but I love how it's a wackier, quirkier spin on the sitcom wi...

What a fun unique challenge this week for Top Ten Tuesday ! I suspect most of the ones I find will be of dogs, especially corgis (for no particular reason 😎) but we shall see! I will try to include at least some books I have actually read but I may also look into some titles that I haven't read but just have an especially fun animal in the book or on the cover (although I imagine most cover art of animals would mean that animal is in the book?) Top Ten Books with Animals in Them and/or Covers with Animals on Them 1. Pax by Sara Pennypacker--Foxes, and a cute cover! I found the story sad, but do know, the fox lives. 2. Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore--Named after a bird but actually features a ton of blue foxes (I sense a theme!) And you can see a fox on the cover. 3. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler--Cannot forget the corgi in this one--he completely drives the plot. 4. Temeraire series by Naomi Novik--Dragons on all the covers! Often, Temeraire himself. 5.Heartstopper series b...

March has been my best reading month so far this year. I'm proud of myself for reading and reviewing a pretty long but enjoyable fantasy novel at the author's request (it's been a while). It's also been a while since I just browsed in the library and brought home a book--and I'm so glad that The Library at the Edge of the World caught my eye. I read a book off my TBR,  Station Eternity, and this was the fortuitous month when my book clubs overlapped and picked the same book! (They both read a lot of historical fiction, so it was bound to happen sometime.) Books Read in March 2023 The Shadow of Theron by Kathryn Troy--Beautifully written fantasy romance. See my review here . The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (BOTH book clubs)--Interesting if you want to learn more about Heddy Lamarr. Easy read. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty--I got strong Babylon 5 vibes the whole time (there's a quote in the epilogue), and the subtitle is "Midsolar Mysteries....

 Happy Top Ten Tuesday!  I am trying to write a spring TBR in line with my goals this year, so books that I already own or can get from the library or Kindle, and at least 25% by authors of color, and at least two women writers in translation. Fortunately, I have some books kicking around that should help out. Books On My Spring 2023 TBR Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare Women in Sunlight by Frances Mayes With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo LA Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura The Other Man by Farhad J. Dadyburjor At the End of the Matinee by Keiichiro Hirano

  Happy International Women's Day! To celebrate, I'm doing a post on 10 amazing writers to check out if you haven't already. I've tried to range the gamut with authors from different backgrounds and identities, as well as different time periods and nationalities. These are all books I've loved. Hope you enjoy! 10 Amazing Books by Women Authors to Check Out The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers--Perfect cozy scifi--if it were TV, it would be a bottle episode where a few characters from different species spend a few days contained together and learn as much about themselves as they do each other. The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders--Such an amazingly realized world of how humans would adapt to a tidally locked planet, and the native alien culture. The Invisible Woman by Erika Robuck--Fictionalized true story of a woman with a wooden leg from Virginia who became a spy in WWII Europe. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab-...

The Shadow of Theron by Kathryn Troy Published February 28, 2023 Amazon  Goodreads UBL Blurb (Provided by the Author) The powers of old are fading. A new Age is dawning.   Holy relics are all that remain of Theron's sacred legend.    Now those relics, the enchanted weapons forged by the Three-Faced Goddess to help Theron defeat the wicked Sorcerer Argoss, are disappearing.   Lysandro knows the village magistrate Marek is responsible, and he searches for proof disguised as the masked protector the Shadow of Theron.  But when Marek wounds him with an accursed sword that shouldn't exist, Lysandro must find a way to stop Marek from gaining any more artifacts created by the Goddess or her nemesis. The arrival of the beautiful newcomer Seraphine, with secrets of her own, only escalates their rivalry.  As the feud between Lysandro and Marek throws Lighura into chaos, a pair of priestesses seeks to recover the relics and return them to ...

February has been an okay reading month in terms of quantity but great for quality. I enjoyed Mary Jane , about a teenage girl growing up in 1970s Baltimore who becomes the nanny for a more freewheeling Jewish family. This was fun for our synagogue book club, many of whom can remember growing up in the Jewish neighborhoods in Baltimore (specifically NOT the WASP-y neighborhood where Mary Jane lives). Then, I whipped through the graphic novels that the TV show Heartstopper is based on--I like the TV show more but it's based deeply on this source material (down to exact lines and scenes) so it was fun to see that and get a sneak peek ahead at next season. Finally, I got to read Kristin Cashore's Seasparrow, which I feel so lucky to read so soon after the last book Winterkeep came out in 2021, and that it was such a chunkster (624 pages!). I hope she never stops writing this series, I love them all so much, and I'm glad I got to fall in love with the character of Hava for this...

I have a lot of top genres, of course including science fiction and fantasy, but I saw that Jana did historical fiction, so I thought I would try that too. This is an easy one for me since both of my book clubs predominantly read historical fiction! I would say this is a genre I used to read a lot on my own, but I don't know if that would still be true if not for my book clubs. I am pretty excited about some of our upcoming reads though, including one on Hedy Lamarr and one on Rosalind Franklin. And, of course, I am always adding to the list for sci fi and fantasy. Top Historical Fiction Novels I Want to Read The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict--My book club read for March, about Hedy Lamarr's history as a scientist and wife in Nazi Germany before she became a Hollywood actress. Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum--This is kind of a hist fic/sci fi crossover, about a woman who goes forward and backward in time to prevent Chernobyl. Spear by Nicola Griffith--a gender-bent ...