I heard a reader say on a podcast recently that they were going to spend the semi-bicentennial year reading a book from each of the 50 states. The idea appealed to me, even though I will not be doing that this year. My TBR (to-be-read) is more than full, actually. But I could spend some…
When I received my requested ARC for Land by Maggie O’Farrell, I knew I had arrived in the big leagues of ARC-ing. (That doesn’t mean I always get what I ask for, but still.) And I was thrilled. I have now read three O’Farrell books and have two more on my shelf. I imagine I…
We’ll begin with a list that you’ll find nowhere else: My Best Reads of 2025. It’s possible that not a single book on this list was published in 2025, just that I read it in 2025. (Turns out a few of them were published this year. See asterisks.) Some of them were published hundreds of…
I like to pay attention to the literary prize winners. To a certain extent, you can trust that they’ll sift through a whole lot of books (though not even close to all the books) and come up with some good reads. Not all of them will jive with you, sure, but it’s a good place…
You have found the Starving Artist blog about books, writing, and publishing. Please follow the drop-down menus to navigate around the page (lots of reviews! some news) or just scroll down to read the blog. And why the moniker? See the first two blog posts from 2012.
I need to follow my Read the World list for Trinidad and Tobago with another list, because book club is fast approaching, and I’ve been asked to assist with making lists. We’ll project further out into the book club future in the future. Or that’s the plan. For November, Read the World is reading Ireland.…
Another month, another country explored via the Read the World Book Club. For October, we were meant to read something from Trinidad and Tobago. Now, I went with the most obvious book of all (Naipaul), but it was on my TBR. Maybe in a couple months, I’ll be more creative. Maybe. I kinda like snagging…
Blurb: Ella has spent a lifetime serving the Montgomerys when she ends up back in town and somehow in their house for the annual Christmas party… and the attempted murder of their only son. She was told he wouldn’t be there. If she had known, she wouldn’t have come within a hundred miles of the…
I have been hearing good things about the memoir Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (not the Australian soccer player) since it was published in spring of 2025. I read nonfiction, but not nearly as much as fiction, and I’m harder to please with nonfiction. I put Raising Hare on the list for the book club…
I began the Villains trilogy by V. E. Schwab because I had a NetGalley ARC (for the conclusion) waiting for me and little time to catch up (before it drops in bookstores). Based on the cover and what I saw on the back of the book, the first book—Vicious—was not what I expected, which is…
Writing book reviews for books I read in June when it’s only September? I am gaining on myself. Wonderful. But it looks like I’ll be breaking June into at least two installments because the list is too long for one blog post. Let’s dive in. I have considered becoming an L. M. Montgomery expert. To…
If you are anything like me and also have a subscription to Prime, and if you have gone anywhere near your Prime streaming in the past couple of days, you have been pitched (full-screen) the dropping of the movie The Love Hypothesis. If you are a romance reader (especially Millennial or Gen Z), you know…
Once the Heartstopper graphic novel series by Alice Oseman had concluded (just a month or two ago) with Volume 6, it was time for me to watch the streaming series and cap it with the movie (which came out shortly after book 6 and concludes the streaming series). It’s always fun to join in the…
I am going to make comparisons of The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai to two other books. The first is Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. Sure, it also takes place (partly) in India and is long and literary, but it’s more than that: it’s an epic, unfolds over time, and is beautifully…
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the nonfiction book (“that reads like fiction”), A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst. It’s a Ten Best Books of 2025 with The New York Times Book Review and a best book according to NPR, Time, The Guardian, The New Yorker, Fresh Air, USA Today, and more.…
I have joined another book club. (What? You don’t say?) Partly I have joined because it is at the bookstore where I work. Partly I love the premise—a type of book club that I have been considering starting myself, the type of book club where people read books of their choosing, given certain parameters. This…
I requested the ARC of Grim Tidings by B. K. Borison because I read Good Spirits last holiday time and really enjoyed it (for what it is, which is tropey contemporary romance). I’ve been waiting all year for #2 of the Ghosted series (episodic), and was disappointed just a little right off the bat because…
I read In the Woods by Tana French last year, my only other experience with French. Apparently, I have not yet reviewed it. (I have a couple dozen books on my backlist from 2025.) I read mysteries and crime thrillers largely because I’m forced to or they overlap with another genre, so I was happy…
Perhaps it’s a waste of your time, but I want to first say that I don’t enjoy giving negative book reviews (not that this review is ALL negative). I would love it if all reading experiences were four-plus stars and I could just rave about everything I read (especially ARCs). However, I am honest to…
My takeaway of Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher: I started out a little annoyed because it wasn’t quite what I expected or wanted, writing-caliber and Arthurian-wise. Then I took a deep breath and told myself to read the book on its own terms, which sometimes works. For this one, it…
A Tender Age by Chang-rae Lee is best read with a buddy. Not like while you’re reading it, but it’s the kind of book you want to discuss after (and while) you read. I guess that makes it a good book club read. But since it’s being published today, it might be awhile before it…
I was excited to see Project Hail Mary for two reasons. 1) It’s a book to movie, and that almost always piques my interest, and 2) it was getting great reviews, at least word-of-mouth. But then I ended up at the theater to see it before I could read the book, even though I try…
I normally do a separate book review for the books we read in the bookshop’s club (since I will be leading discussion and it helps me think through my impressions and opinions of a book), but I didn’t get around to this one—There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak—in March. (I have already…
I might have had three different sources for The Romance Revival ARC (which is atypical), which means that possibly the publisher is really pushing this one out there. But I had already heard good things about it from some of the podcasts and blogs I listen to/read that tend to read well ahead of publication,…
April was not a great reading month for me. I guess we can understand why it’s taken me so long to review this gaggle of titles. Dear Mothman by Robin Gow was on my radar before it showed up as a YA-for-Adults book club read. (For the record, it’s more Middle Grades.) This is partly…
