I have been reading at least one picture book per month, this year. I love picture books. I sometimes feel like that’s cheating, to read a children’s book, but there is no cheating. I am making this up. I read Doug Salati’s Hot Dog because it won the Caldecott and Ezra Jack Keats awards a…
I received Cute Foods Around the World from Cupkin as an ARC, but it has been quite some time. I took it with the family on a road trip in the summer to check it out, but it has been quite some time since then, as well. Better late than never? Hopefully for the Creative…
In the past year I have read a few Irish books that I loved. Let’s throw those out there for suggested St. Patty’s Day reading: What are we looking forward to in March? Besides St. Patty’s Day and Fat Tuesday (because of paczkis)? Oh, and the year to finally begin for reals and stop being…
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: I noticed that I have read a lot…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
I can’t get away from references to James Baldwin. It seems he is a writer’s writer. And, unless there was a short story or essay somewhere along the line, I have never read him. Until now. I started with Giovanni’s Room simply because we were reading it for book club. Perhaps I should have read…
As far as Thanksgiving reading recommendations go, I have nothing different to recommend from last year. My favorite Thanksgiving-esque book is Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, by Laurie Colwin. It doubles as a cookbook, at least a little. And many of the recipes are perfect for this time of year. Beyond that, I…
I loved reading North Woods. Not everybody at book club did. There were even DNFs. I suppose it’s not an easy book and it is rather literary. But I thought it was exciting, very beautiful in its prose, unique, and well-executed. I will be looking into Daniel Mason’s other books and waiting for the next…
I don’t know if there is any real accounting for how much I liked this classic YA book. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier just struck me as a very well-written book, nailing the concept and the genre on the head while also feeling fresh, even 50 years after its publication. Even though it’s kinda,…
(Head to the end of the post to see my picks.) Sure, there’s a bunch of political stuff going on, but the book news in the past week or two has also been blowing up, unpredictably so. It all began with a little list that the New York Times put out. They put book lists…
Well, well, well… I have been out of town. On and off for a few weeks. So I missed my post for what to read in July, skipped right over the Fourth of July altogether. But I am still going to give it to you and maybe you can use it next year. Actually, I…
I consider the Fourth of July as a second-tier holiday, as far as the depth and breadth of the festivities go for me. For the past few years I have been in Syracuse, NY with my husband’s sisters and parents and their families, donning starred and striped socks and painting the bursted-bomb air with sparklers,…
Trust by Hernan Diaz took home the Pulitzer Prize, landing it on my TBR. And with all the mystery behind its structure? It’s a “literary puzzle?” Cool. But it was the subject matter that killed it for me: Wallstreet and finance in New York City in the 1920s-1940s or something. But also the characters and…
It’s summer! Or it will be this month. Some of you have already moved into summer schedules and others are soon to follow. I have a week left of driving my son to school, but I am beginning summer read #1 tomorrow (finishing up another book today). Personally, I like my summer reads to be…
I can’t help but wonder if what I didn’t enjoy in Jessica Anya Blau’s Mary Jane was just me being defensive. I mean, my book club mostly found it readable, believable, and open and fair to both families presented in it. Meanwhile, I came ready to say that it was yes, readable, but not believable…
the starving artist 