Mary Poppins by P.L.Travis was read for an art challenge. It‘s my first time reading it in English, and it was indeed a different book from the one I grew up with. Much more nonsensical and also somehow, more down to earth. I was surprised at the amount of gaslighting happening along with the magic. I guess I‘ve forgotten a lot of what was going on. Overall this book was more charming than not.

My favorite book moments are when I grab a random book (in this case an audiobook because I didn‘t want to clean my house in silence) and it turns out to not only be a very pleasant read, but also sparks new or dormant interests in me. Gingko Season by Naomi Xu Elegant is such book. 🎧 A slice of life, full of various tidbits that make up a personality of the main character/narrator, a love letter to Philadelphia which I want to visit now.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman 🎧 a very nice magical realism novel, it flowed nicely and had an intriguing premise. It felt slightly flat in the middle but then made me tear up in the end. Now I am on the market for some dark fairy tales .
Trigger warning:

A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross 🎧 the final book of July, wrapping up the Cadence duology. It was nice. It felt less dynamic than the first book and it took me a while to get through it. But the story wrapped up well. Romance was fleshed out more, there was some pretty tame mature content, the magical system held up overall. I enjoyed this duology.

The Way of Nagomi by Ken Mogi. 🎧
This book is a bit different from the most reads on Japan and what makes the Japanese way of living special. It rather steps deeper into the underlying philosophy. It was very interesting and I learned a lot.

Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar. Second chance romance. It started pretty strongly with some interesting plot, excellent chemistry and plenty of tension. The second half felt more crumpled with things going in circles. I got tired and wanted for it to finish, but it felt the author kept adding more and more details that were already stated. I was entertained overall, but probably won‘t reread. Soft pick.

One of my May books is finally done. 🎧 read by Jefferson White. Haymitch and his backstory were even more tragic than was alluded in the original trilogy. Reading a book that doesn‘t have a lot of hope in it, but lots and lots of pain is hard, so it took me a while to get through it. A pretty gorey book. More connections to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I am looking forward to the movie.

🎧 Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz. This book gives a timeline of how social media was changing in the past two decades. Human connection, greed, grift, opportunities, hateful things, doors that open and close, inequality. Heavy focus on the money made from it.

Continuing education, reading about the icon of #kidlitillustration. Took me a long time because I was taking so many notes

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins 🎧
I am usually not particularly fond of villain origin stories. But I enjoyed this book. It raised questions of choices, and of being too much inside own‘s head. The descent from sincerity into selfishness felt a little too steep to me. Music is a central theme in this book. This book gave a lot of context to what happened in the original trilogy and made sense of certain obsessions.

Soft pick. The second romance by Megan Clawson was a bit underwhelming. I didn‘t like the main characters at first and it was a bit slow. But then it picked up and there was character growth even if a bit choppy. I enjoyed the second half of the book a bit more.

Reread, on audio. Always a treat, but especially this year, as I listened to it walking around Italy, even if I didn‘t make it to Portofino, and the castle that inspired the book, there was still wisteria and sunshine.

This was such a cute and fun read. Sweet little “will they won‘t they”. (Also a proof that a romance book can work without spice in it) Sure there were snags, but I‘ve read way worse. Most importantly I learned SO MUCH from this book. I had no idea people lived within the walls of the Tower of London, all the fun facts, a glimpse to the inner workings of it all, absolutely fascinating.

The premise seemed interesting, and the book definitely wasn‘t. There was not enough difference in characters‘ voices, their personalities kept shifting, they behaved like middle schoolers, and wrote like middle schoolers. Lots of telling, not nearly enough showing of anything. Unconvincing romance. Cringey sex scenes. I felt the author was writing what she thinks a romance reader would like, so the story is all over the place. Mature content.

My #weekendreads
1. Anna Karenina (reread)
2. Mort by Terry Pratchett (reread)
3. The Enchated April (reread on audio)
4. Not In My Book by Kait Holt

My quest towards a meaningful change continues. This book had some shaky examples and some of author‘s ideas might seem a bit extreme, but the overall idea is pretty attractive to me right now. Making space in my home and in my head becomes more and more of a priority. The book ties well with The Art of Frugal Hedonism which I‘ve read a while back. Perhaps I can find that balance and freedom I crave

Orbital by Samantha Harvey follows six astronauts inside the space station as they go around the Earth in the span of 24 hours. This book doesn‘t really have a plot, nor action, just life. And love, so much love for our planet, and for people. It felt like I was reading poetry and my heart felt a little bit more at peace after.

Kokoro by Beth Kempton. I expected something lighter and more self-help-y and fun-fact-y. In reality it was a very personal journey through a midlife malaise and profound grief. It came to me just when I needed it, however different my challenges are. I have a lot of things to ponder, as I navigate my current crossroads. This book helps.

The second book of Strange the Dreamer duology. I enjoyed it very much. More background on the magical system. Dynamic resolutions. There were more snags and some questions went unanswered, and I can‘t believe I‘m saying this but the romance felt a bit much and I thought it was getting in the way of plot. BUT I still loved it and would love to see more from thjs world. I will definitely read Laini Taylor‘s other works.

Recommended by my daughter. A fun spin on a familiar tale, with a dash of romance we all wished was in the movie. The only hiccup was that the story tended to go in circles, some repetition in conversations too. Otherwise I enjoyed it. 1/2 read on paper, 1/2 audio 🎧

Finally got to Strange the Dreamer, and it was an excellent read. Well-developed characters, delightfully constructed romance, vividly imagined world. On to the second book!

January is such a struggle. Hence this comfort reread

Finished reading this one on Christmas morning. A bit of a mixed bag, but I enjoyed most of the stories. My absolute favorites are: Your Temporary Santa by David Levithan, Krampuslauf by Holly Black, and The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.

Finally finished Murtagh a year after I bought it. Enjoyed it! I‘m glad I reread the entire Inheritance saga beforehand, even if it wasn‘t strictly necessary. New adventures, new dynamic plot. Sort of a redemption arc for Murtagh and Thorn, plenty of background info. A set up for, hopefully, more books about this duo.

Powerful, raw, terrifying, beautiful. So many parallels with Educated, so many things I now realize slip through in conversations and little casual things. Terrifying how many people would be totally ok with this becoming a reality for our daughters.
I

Discworld marathon continues! 2/41, The Light Fantastic. Reread almost 10 years since the first read. Enjoyed it tremendously. Just so much fun to watch the book universe form. Though it‘s still not quite as polished as later works, it was great fun.

I‘ve loved this book when I was a kid. And bought it in English a while ago, but reread it for the first time only now. And it was amazing. Very vivid depiction of the Canadian wilderness (I even looked up the places), gripping adventure, gorgeous romance. The dog‘s POV was masterfully woven into the narrative. I am immensely thankful for that ray of literary light in a truly horrible week that just passed.

Book 50 of 2024! 🌟 The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame in beautiful Folio edition. strangely enough it was my first read of this charming story and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Reread as a part of my Discworld marathon (1 down, 40 to go!). Turns out my first read of this novel was 10 years ago, how symbolic! I enjoyed this reread tremendously. Yes, this book is indeed very chaotic, I forgot how wild a ride it is, but oh, so much fun!

Dual POV Romantasy set in 16th century Germany. Sadly, mostly a disappointment. Not a total loss due to some action in the middle but overall not for me. Mild spice. There's a second book which I won't be reading either.

I very much enjoyed this collection of short stories. The prose is lovely, Gina Chung is a master storyteller for sure. I don‘t normally like reading short stories, but in this case I found myself engrossed in each - be it a slice of life, or a magical tale. Would definitely read more by this author.

A quick and super fun read about an apocalyptic event and people being people in it. Scathing social commentary. As the situation was getting more and more absurd, I couldn‘t help thinking “yep, that‘s EXACTLY how it would go down”. Reflection on personal choices. Solid book, and I would watch a movie if there is ever one.
Oh, and for those of you who do an alphabet challenge, here is that coveted title with letter Z!

Finally finished this reread! It took me a really long time but I enjoyed it. I noticed convenient plot resolutions and infodumps much more than I did 12 years ago when I read it first. But it this time around I actually liked the ending, it made sense. The part I liked 12 years ago I still liked a lot. I am now ready to read Murtagh, which I bought last November omg. Excited for the continuing story and curious to see the author‘s growth.

Finished this space opera novel today. It was cute at times, at times cozy, overall entertaining. It‘s very diverse when it comes to characters and relationships. We never really dove too deep in any of those and I didn‘t feel there was a clear conflict/problem, but it was a fun read and I am simply glad I was able to finish a book this month, even if it didn‘t blow my mind. It‘s a genre I don‘t often read, so it was nice to branch out a little.

DNF at 57%. Things started to stir a little bit at last but at this point I don‘t even care anymore, and the world building was too watery to pull me in. This is not my author I guess, which I kind of felt with another book of hers I couldn‘t finish a while ago. Oh well.

40% in and nothing happens.
We‘re still establishing roles and gingerly getting to know the characters. I am getting antsy.

Came across this early graphic novel by Hayao Miyazaki. It‘s a retelling of a Tibetan folk tale, about a search for golden grain in a land of god-people. This graphic novel was published two years before Studio Ghibli was formed. The main themes of Miyazaki‘s stories are prominent here: a search/quest, sacrifice, fantastical land, disconnect- both societal and environmental. Beautiful watercolor work. Definitely recommend to fans of Studio Ghibli.

A comfort reread, never fails to make me smile

That was an absolutely absurd combo of a victorian romance and pirate romance (with magic). A funny read, with some pretty sweet enemies to lovers worked in. Some mature content surprisingly. Overall it was amusing, but at the same time a tedious read, maybe because the plot points were surrounded by all the frills, maybe because pirate romance was never my thing. Soft pick.

That was a very good read. An author explores what drives us to keep making the choices that don‘t serve us and avoid those that do. I liked how personal it was for the author. It was an encouraging read. The answers are not something most of us haven‘t heard before but that makes them all the more true. I think I‘m on the path of positive changes and learning why things weren‘t working before from the evolutionary point of view was super helpful.

Another romance, randomly picked up from a library shelf. A very soft pick.
It was alright, though I almost quit it twice. I liked the family storyline, and the travel philosophy bits were compelling. I didn‘t like the main leads, the relationship was ok but also a bit flat. There were books in the same universe preceding this one, though it‘s a stand alone but maybe if I‘d read prequels I would like the heroine more.

A book about cognitive biases and how they shape our life. About 20% information and the rest — author‘s musings. Not bad but somewhat underwhelming, perhaps because there was very little new information for me.

It was a good one! Sweet romance, solid friendship, but also a deep dive into childhood trauma. Mixed bag but it worked. Just a smidgen too long for me, but otherwise pretty perfect. Mild mature content.

The treasury of Mary Oliver‘s life work. Each poem selected by her before her passing. Bookmarks on every other page. The way she expressed her spirituality- in profound gratitude, in marveli, in love.

A pretty sweet summer read, excellent small town set up, funny banter. A pretty vibrant story. Dual POV though, both first person. A little too long and editing occasionally puzzled me. Spicy scenes read like they‘re afterthoughts but that‘s ok. Mature content.

Final book of May - a sweet little romance. It‘s set in Ireland so a lot of charm is in the atmosphere of the book. The romance is a bit of a slow burn, mature content while there, is modest compared to most of the mainstream reads. I felt that romance was secondary to the heroine‘s personal journey. I enjoyed it, but it could be a little bit faster paced.

🎧 📖 : our road trip read - The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien. Brilliant performance by Andy Serkis! He did voices that sounded remarkably like the actors‘ from the movie and in general was such an engaging narrator.
Our only complaint is that the sound mixing is weird -the loud parts are blaring and the quiet parts are so very quiet. We constantly had to adjust the volume. In the car and headphones - same issue.

Bailing at 20%, not for me. Cringed on every other page.

Hm. 18% in and I‘m getting too many eye-roll moments. Should I persist, or drop it…