February is short and it has Valentines Day. I like to pull out a new romance to read in February. It can be contemporary, it can be a classic, it can be cross-genre. Here are some books I have read in previous years that I would recommend: Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy…
I’m a few weeks slow on the upswing, but what a few weeks it has been! Yeah, I mean what you think I mean, but I also mean that everyone is sick with norovirus and RSV and pneumonia this January (including us with a stomach bug and flu) and I have a couple deadlines looming…
The cover. That’s what a lot of reviews mention because, well, most people expected to read one kind of thing based on the cover and then got something else. Myself, I read Miss Iceland by Audur Ava Olafsdottir (ohd-thur ah-vah oh-lahfs-dah-tur—ish) because it was a book club read for one of the clubs I am…
I got my dream job! Well, at least as far as part-time, out-of-the-home dream jobs go, I got my dream job. I am a bookseller, which doesn’t sound totally magical to everyone, but book people read me loud and clear. I am working in a brick and mortar, independent, small bookstore. I knew I was…
Over the holidays I went to a number of book-related holiday parties. This is not usual for me. In 2024, I joined six book clubs, only two of which I moved to the “casual” signification, as well as two writing groups. Well, when you do that, apparently there’s a lot more to do in December.…
Scythe by Neal Shusterman is book one of the Arc of a Scythe trilogy, one of four (almost five) books in the Scythedom, but because I won’t be reading the second or third for some time, I am going to review this one now. You can’t have missed seeing this book around, especially if you…
I have fallen behind on book reviews over the (long) holiday season. I read Andrew Joseph White’s Hell Followed With Us in October. It’s a memorable book though, and I have notes as well as a book club discussion synopsis (provided by the leader—I was unable to go). I remember that this book was way…
Warning: unpopular literary opinion. This book was everywhere last year (meaning 2023). The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by respected, successful author James McBride was called a top novel of the year, including at Goodreads. But how a third of Goodreads readers rate this five stars, I have no earthly (haha) idea. Sure, as one…
“Even a grown man can be an orphan.” –Mr. Dickens and His Carol, Samantha Silva
I had some fun while reading this book. I like Victorian literature. I like Charles Dickens (‘ books. I’ve never met the man). And I love A Christmas Carol. So it was right up my alley, especially for the holidays. And when I saw Samantha Silva’s pedigree? I was intrigued, excited even. But it was…
I really don’t know what to tell you to read for the beginning of 2025 from the books I’ve already read. I have yet to read a real winner from my list of best New Years books, and I have already told you my favorite reads from 2024. Perhaps I should reiterate them. Best reads…
This book is titled The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (by Barbara Robinson), but it is also the best Christmas book ever. I am not trying to be cute (exclusively). I am in love with this short, children’s chapter book. It is hilarious and poignant. It does have some outdated content, but I went into it…
I doubt that I have much to add to whatever discussion and reviews there might be of this book, but I do like to review all books I read, especially the classics. And The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg is a classic. Though at this point I suppose the 2004 Tom Hanks movie is…
One of my son’s favorite books as a child was Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, by Mo Willems. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh! was a big seller this season, so I bought it and made my sixteen- and twenty-year-old kids sit on the floor while I read it to them. Sure,…
Despite listening to her podcast (Books, Beach and Beyond) occasionally and hearing about her for years, I hadn’t read Elin (pronounced like Ellen) Hilderbrand (notice the r in the middle) before. So since Winter Street came up on a lot of best-of Christmas reading lists—and people love her—I bought a copy and settled in with…
I did find “Afterward” by Edith Wharton in a slim volume all by itself and read it that way, but it is really a short story, not a book or even novella. Ethan Frome is one of my favorite books, though I don’t think I have read much else of hers (like The House of…
While I read Whiteout by a bunch of authors, I was unimpressed. It probably didn’t help that I didn’t understand what I was reading until much later. But as the book went by, I was charmed by the idea of it as well as the spirit of it. And some sections were written better than…
When Among Crows entered my personal library when I attended a Halloween season reading event featuring a few authors of horror. I chose the book that looked less scary as my “with ticket” book. Or maybe I chose it because it was by the most famous author there, one that I recognized. But then I…
I was going to wait until the beginning of 2025 to post about the supposed best books of 2024, but it seems that by then I will have missed some sort of train. So here we go. Hugs to all those books yet to emerge as a favorite, in the next four weeks or so.…
This is a cute and spooky read for upper elementary and middle grades readers. It’s an easy read and is pretty pitch-perfect for the intended audience. For an adult reader, it’s a bit thin on the ground. But still cute. And still full of thoughtful thoughts and kid-problems. And hopefully the premise is intriguing, because…
