Catching up again with my best books for each month...
Sept - Theory & Practice. A literary scholar's attempt to reconcile theory and practice. I'm a sucker for a literary scholar protagonist. 🤷
Oct - The Dream of a Common Language. My only collection of poetry. But why did it take me so long to read Rich?
Nov - The Scenic Route. THIS is how you do multiple timelines! Brilliant!
@TheEllieMo #12daysof2025

What an amazing collection of weird fairy tales! Dinesen sets stories in the Danish past to explore themes of power, love, wealth, sacrifice, and dignity. Only one includes a supernatural element but they all feel somewhat uncanny and idealized. Some of them left me bemused.
The fact they were written while Copenhagen was occupied by the Nazis adds a layer of fascination.
Off to a great start 2026!

My stack of #Canlit for January #bookspin. This is 1-14.
15-17 - TOB selections
18 - Nonfiction
19 - Poetry
20 - Fairy Tale

@TheAromaofBooks

Love, love, loved this beautiful book about the women who loved Emily Dickinson and their efforts to get her work published. Exquisite!
@TheEllieMo #12Daysof2025

Missed yesterday so here are my June & July picks.
June - I read a lot but didn't love many. But tagged classic by John Wyndham has stayed with me.
July - was captivated by this somewhat creepy YA tale by Mahy

@theEllieMo #12Daysof2025

This novel was kicking around on my shelf for years and somehow, I had managed not to read it or anything else by Catherine Lacey. But this book knocked me sideways. Lacey has the kind of voice (edgy, quirky, unapologetic) I will follow wherever she wants to go. I will be reading more of her work in 2026!
#12Booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

Book ☑️
Blanket ☑️
Cat ☑️
All I need now is for someone to bring me a coffee. 😆

But seriously, I am loving these lazy days between Xmas and New Year!

Colour me shocked but I loved this! (Shocked because my reaction to seeing it on the #TOB short list was ugh. This guy??) Instead I listened to it nonstop while puzzling away. A failed academic myself, maybe I can't help but love a tale of woebegone literary scholars slogging away in 2125. Not for everyone, but if you liked Byatt's Possession, you might like this too.

My favourite book of April was Mavis Gallant's A Fairly Good Time which felt a bit like a sequel to The Dud Avocado. Fleeing to Paris and marrying a French intellectual might have seemed like a good idea but . . .
I plan to read more Gallant this year!
@TheEllieMo #12Booksof2025

My favourite book of March was this quiet collection of stories about growing up on the Canadian prairies in the 1930s. By the author dubbed Canada's Willa Cather.
#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

Update on my #10beforetheEnd. I've managed to read 7/10 which isn't bad. But I started the tagged book in July so would like to finish it before the new year. I can save the Jaouad and Bennett for 2026. @ChaoticMissAdventures

This book is amazing and was my favourite book of February -- and contender for my absolute best of the year!
#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

Needing a break from mysteries & literary fiction, I opted for this memoir about a woman who takes her jumping off point from her mother's typo telling her to "clam down." Chen takes on the identity of clam & explores what that means and ends up tracking the significance of shellfish in family, literary, cultural history. It's richer than you might think! It dragged a bit but overall a solid read. Chen's father ends up the star of the story.

This slim reading/writing memoir was my favourite book of January!

#12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

Continuing to enjoy this series but felt a tonal shift with volume 3. The first two volumes seemed more philosophical while, by the end of this one, the mood felt more dystopian. The major development is is that Tara is not the only one trapped on November 18th.
I do love Ballet's writing and how she makes ordinary objects and experiences so vivid.
Now to wait till April for Volume 4!

Thank you so much Megan! I've been wanting to read this book since they discussed it on that Lost Ladies of Lit podcast. Such a pretty edition!
And for the chocolate bar I will hide from my family.
Is it ever not fun to receive a book? 😊

Merry Christmas from the Maritimes!
@TheKidUpstairs @MaleficentBookDragon #jolabokablod

These stories were an absolute delight! Great settings, flawed characters, twisty details, and the writing was impeccable. As a bonus, a few even took place at Christmas! Highly recommend if you want a little nip of mystery reading!
First time reading PD James but not my last!
#christmascrimechallenge @Ruthiella @RaeLovesToRead

I think this book is trying to do something interesting even if I'm not entirely sure I understand it. I think it is saying something about poverty & the "American dream" and places & people that get lost & crushed by industry & capital. It is billed as re-imagining the true crime genre. Which sure? It's divided into 3 parts. 1. The story of the Greene family's unsuccessful move from NYC to CT to improve their lives. 2. Catt Greene's adult life ?

It has become a tradition to spend some time with Flavia De Leuce (who I think counts as a famous detective) every December. This is the 7th book in the series. And while Flavia, as always, was a delight, there were some serious cracks in the mystery and its resolution. So a light pick overall. #ChristmasCrimeChallenge @ruthiella @RaeLovesToRead

My parcel arrived Megan! And my husband didn't open it.😊 Thank you!!
#jolobokaflod @MaleficentBookDragon

More snow this morning. 🙄 Good excuse to read this quirky Canadian novella for #ChristmasCrimeChallenge
@Ruthiella @RaeLovesToRead

An intricate story about a mother/son relationship. The mother arrives uninvited in Tokyo to see her son after many years apart. He is not pleased but they reach an uneasy truce & try to find ways to get along. Both mother and son spend time apart in Tokyo & in their heads, remembering what led to the distance between them. Both feel misunderstood. But over the course of her visit, they both grow and relations between them thaw. The novel moves 👇

A soft pick.
1st my quibbles. A strained set-up. Lots of telling not showing what an oddball detective Merivale is. Women are mousey bores or sirens. The only sign of Xmas is a dusting of snow.
And yet, I spent the whole day engrossed, reading to find out who did it.
☑️ Chimney prompt for #ChristmasCrimeChallenge
☑️ book 5 / #10beforetheend
@Ruthiella @RaeLovesToRead @ChaoticMissAdventures

Sunrise, this morning. 🌅 The beauty before the snow. 🌨️
No photographic evidence but I sent off my #jolabokaflod package today! 📬 💌
Love this swap!! 🎀
@MaleficentBookDragon

Cora meets Sam at playgroup & thus launches the "ten year affair" that sometimes lives more in Cora"s imagination than in reality. This is well-trod territory with a millenial spin.I probably would have been more moved by this book at 35 when I too was immersed in the world of raising kids, managing careers & making a marriage work. At 52, I found it kind of exhausting. That said, I was moved in the end. And Somers makes some sly observations ?

Book mail!! 🎉🎉

My first mystery for the #ChristmasCrimeChallenge. A locked room.
It was also on my list of #10beforetheend.
@Ruthiella @RaeLovesToRead @ChaoticMissAdventures

Ugh, this short novel from the #TOB long list is BLEAK. It follows a young woman's descent into serious mental illness. (Schizophrenia is suggested.) Eventually she must choose between life on heavy meds or psychotic episodes. As a reader, we experience both. As well as the hospitalizations in between. The book is well written but it is rough going. Worth reading maybe if you want to understand that diagnosis? Otherwise, I would say skip.

My favourite book of the year? A definite contender! At a crossroads, somewhat aimless Sylvia travels to Europe where she meets up with ex-pat Henry who loves a good meal, fine wine, and a luxurious hotel. Together they crisscross Europe and Sylvia shares stories from her life. A simple set-up but the execution is brilliant. Somehow Kirshenbaum manages to seamlessly weave together multiple time lines. It's a meditation on memory, keepsakes 👇

In my small town, the restaurants are predictably mediocre. Occasionally there's a delicious surprise, but for the most part, the food here, while not bad ain't great either.
This book was like dining at a local restaurant. The story of two friends at near-70 reflecting on their life choices was pretty mediocre. Some wise insights were shared but most of the narrative reminded me of dining out on a serviceable steak served with too many fries.

Me too, Claudia. Me too.
I often read the end of the book to relieve my anxiety. And a few years ago, I discovered my mother does too. Sacrilege perhaps but I still do it. (And it rarely reveals much.)

My favourite (and only) swap of the year! Always a holiday season highlight. Love getting a parcel ready to send and opening mine on Christmas Eve!
Thank you @MaleficentBookDragon 🙏 for organizing again this year! You are awesome!
#jokabokaflodswap

Was I initially skeptical? Yes. Is it too long? For sure. Does it stretch a metaphor past its breaking point? Absolutely. Did I still get sucked into this wacky, witchy, saccharine, violent, weirdo world again? I did. In fact, I kinda loved it Bunny!
(No bunny was available to pose so here is Sweet Potato/Tornado instead.)

I can't decide if this is bad or so bad it's good? It's like Awad is writing her own fanfic.

I finally read this 800 page YA novel that's been sitting on my shelf for years, a leftover from my teaching days. It took over a month & I don't even know how to review it. Definite ups & downs. Places where the narrative went off the rails. A TERRIBLE ending. Some beautiful parts woven in. A complex depiction of teenage life. So I guess overall it's a pick because a) I managed to read the whole thing & b) I have complicated feelings about it.

Half of my books for #10beforetheend. I've been working away at the Nin & Pinkola Estes for a while.The other five include:
The Frequency of Former Things by Nick Fuller Googins
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Award
On the Calculation Of Vol. 3 by Solvej Balle
Big Kiss, Bye Bye by Claire-Louise Bennett
The Dead in their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley

@ChaoticMissAdventures

It's hard to explain the appeal of this book. Everyone is awful. And yet, I found this scathing depiction of a dinner party hosted by wealthy NYC cultural elites quite compelling.
Recommend if you feel like hating terrible rich people and can handle lots of cynical takes on art and culture.
Between a pick and and a so-so.

This is an excellent novel. This cover is atrocious (and I could not resist buying it.)

I picked this up for a pound in a charity shop in London. A coterie of French intellectuals & artists are all somewhat miserable. No one is married to the person they are in love with, and even those that find love, know it will be brief and unsatisfying. Happiness is ever elusive. It felt very French. Indeed, almost a parody of very French! While my eyes did roll, I liked Sagan's simple, stripped-down prose. I still want to read Bonjour Tristesse

Moving right along!
Preordered Volume III this morning.

So into it!!

Enjoyed this Canadian middle grade timeslip novel from the 1980s.
After her grandmother dies, twice-orphaned Rose is sent to live with her aunt's big family in a ramshackle farmhouse on Lake Ontario. She is miserable until she finds a root cellar and travels back to the days of the US Civil War. What follows is an adventure for Rose that helps her discover where she belongs.
The book earned honours back in the day and I can see why.

I don't know how I first learned about this 1986 YA novel by NZ author Margaret Mahy but it's been on my Goodreads TBR since 2016.
And it's fantastic!
Middle daughter Harry (real name Ariadne) is a quiet bookish middle daughter in a bustling family. At their summer house for Xmas holidays, three young men crash the party. And it's unclear who or what they are. Did Harry conjure them through her writing?
The story is weird & complex 👇

Zipped through this excellent memoir about Moss's complicated relationship with food and subsequent eating disorder. She writes so well! And finds innovative ways to work within the genre. Loved how she seamlessly wove in literary analysis as well and explores how many classics support restriction and control of female bodies. It ranks up there with In the Dream House which is high praise!

Quite enjoyed this tale of Dawn, a Trinadadian woman who gave up a baby for adoption when she was 16. The book explores the impact of that decision on her life. Now at 58, divorced, with two grown sons, she is still searching for her daughter.
I especially enjoyed learning more about Trinidad and its relationship to Venezuela. Is this a "Booker" book? (It's on the long list.) I don't know. It is a well-wrought novel that I found compelling.

Visited an out-of-the-way used bookstore today. It's in the middle of nowhere and only open on Sat and Sun afternoons in the summer. All the proceeds go to the local heritage society. Nevertheless,it had a great assortment and the Canlit section was particularly good! Oh, and the books are reasonably priced. This stack was $23.00.

Finished this re-read for my book club. Robertson Davies was a force in Canlit when I was growing up. I read and loved his books in my late teens/early twenties.
His world is the university & the eccentrics therein. He pokes fun but there's no doubt that it's a place of wisdom & intellect, a force against bourgeois, materialist 20th life. I bought it at 22, harder to swallow at 52. Still a somewhat thought-provoking & entertaining read.

Sweet Potato is getting bigger! (This is a rare photo of him asleep!)
Started tagged audiobook on a whim and went in without any foreknowledge, a selection from the #bookerlonglist. About a Trinadadian woman who gave a baby up for adoption at 16. So far, so good.

I have decided to attempt #TheSealeyChallenge again and read a book of poetry every day in August. (No way I will manage it but worth a shot. Worst case is I read some poetry.)
Day 1 is a collection by Mi'kmaq poet Rita Joe (1932-2007).

Tidied off my bedside table and was left with this stack . . . Feels pretty representative of my current reading mood/obsessions.
And RIP Andrea Gibson. What a loss! Having her words flood Instagram this past week has been such a gift. I find it WILD she's from Calais, Maine - the border town closest to me. Proof that amazing art can emerge from anywhere!!