#2023readingbracket

My favorite Nonfiction for November was Eve. (Monsters: A Fan‘s Dilemma was a very close second.)

I‘ve read quite a lot of excellent NF this year!

#2023readingbracket
The best fiction I read in November was The Goblin Emperor. (The Narrow Road Between Desires was a close second.)

Only one spot left for the year!

November 2023 wrap up

Life has thrown me a curveball and I haven‘t been able to read as much as usual (paper books), but luckily audiobooks still get me through work and commutes.

Eve was the best of the month, and also TheNarrow Road Between Desires, Monsters, The Goblin Emperor. All of these were pretty good though.

The curveball: I‘m getting divorced. Moving back to North Carolina. I‘m doing fine, but it‘s a big change!

The beginning of this sapphic historical coming of age is very good, and I loved this author‘s writing as I usually do. The end left something to be desired for me though, and I was left unsatisfied. I‘ll keep reading Donoghue‘s books though, because sometimes she hits every note right for me.

I have the hardcover from Aardvark but it‘s currently in a box, so I did the audio. Good narrator.

This is my bookclub‘s December book. I really enjoyed most of it, as the author explores ancient stories of women such as Eve and Pandora and Cassandra. She points out similarities between them, and how each can be seen as a guide to culture to keep women from gaining power. Then she offers alternative ways of looking at the stories, turning them around to empower and give validation to a woman‘s point of view.

The end got self-help-y…⬇️

November is drawing to a close #AuthorAMonth readers. 🙂 I hope you‘ve enjoyed reading Kazuo Ishiguro‘s books.

In a few days we‘ll start our Kate Morton books for December.

Now may be a good time to update your Google form tracking your #AAM reads. If you haven‘t started your form yet here is the link to do so:

https://forms.gle/TeytXus8tg53LGnk9
⬇️

My December #bookspin stack. 🙂📚🩵 Can‘t wait to see which get drawn next month!

I know we‘re all disappointed this isn‘t book 3. But it is Pat‘s beautiful writing, and Nate Taylor‘s illustrations are fantastic. I loved it. I love Bast and his interactions with the town‘s children. I even shed tears at the end. I‘m glad I didn‘t let my disappointment keep me from reading this, and I hope writing it gave him the kickstart he needed to get back in his writing seat.

Here they are! Your 2024 #AuthorAMonth lineup. As nominated and voted for by you Litsy!

If you are anything like me, you‘ll be spending time in the next few days thinking about what is already on your shelves or e-readers and looking up what other titles you might want to pick up. Have fun!

Results are in #AuthorAMonth readers! Here is the line up for 2024 Authors! Photo post to follow.

#AuthorAMonth is a no-pressure challenge in which we read books by a voted on author each month. Read as many or as few as you like. At the end of the year there are prizes. I keep of list of folks to tag. Let me know if you‘d like to be added or removed from the list at any time.

I really like Kate Quinn‘s historical fiction. This was a different point of view of a WWII story, and I love that the author‘s note explains how much of this comes from the true story and where she embellished.

My aunt Pauline recommended this to me for my 12books12friends12months challenge, and I liked it a lot.

@Mitch I received a sparkly red package in the mail yesterday! You‘ve put me in the holiday spirit 🙂❤️. Thank you. 🫶🏼

I really liked this fantasy about a half elf half goblin who unexpectedly finds he has inherited his father‘s throne, making him emperor. It‘s unexpected because he‘s the 4th son, but his father and 3 older brothers all die in the same air ship crash.

Heavy in politics and court intrigue, I‘ve heard this called cozy but I don‘t think I‘d call it that, as there are some heavy scenes. I thought the MC was complex. 👍

I mostly liked this, though I‘m not 100% sure I understood the ending. Was it straightforward? Was it alluding to something?

Ishiguro has quite an array of stories. This is my third by him, and Never Let Me Go was my favorite.

But Klara was interesting, an AI designed to be the best friend of a child, and seeing her relate to the humans in her life and try to interpret all of the unspoken things humans communicate, I thought it was well done.

I probably post this kindle deal every time it comes up. One of my very favorite books of all time. If you‘re a US ebook reader, and you like complex speculative fiction/ scifi/ difficult to pin to a genre books, I can‘t recommend this enough!

I chose this one based on #coverlove during a B&N sale.

Three siblings and their kids gather for the first Christmas after losing their mom.

At the beginning it was hard to keep all the characters straight, but once I did I felt part of this family. Complicated dynamics and interactions, regret, guilt, but also so much love even as each struggle with expressing it.

Not much happens in the first half, but hold on for the second. It‘s worth it.

I picked up 3 books at #TexasBookFestival this year. Can‘t wait to read them all! (Though I also just got Iron Flame and Bookshops & Bonedust should be here tomorrow, so I don‘t know what order I‘ll get to them!)📚 I had a fun time at the fest even though it was chilly and drizzly.

I also saw Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah talk about Chain-Gang All-Stars, but it was in a theater and they didn‘t allow photos.

Justin Cronin and Ben Fountain were on a panel together for Texas Writers today. Justin is on the left. Paulette Jiles was supposed to be here as well but didn‘t make it.

I loved The Passage series, and I picked up a copy of The Ferryman and got it signed. ☺️

I got to see Katie Williams and John Scalzi in a scifi panel at Texas Book Fest today. Scalzi is hilarious. I hadn‘t heard of Williams‘ book, but the premise sounds great so I plan to read it.

It‘s Texas Book Festival weekend! Yay!

I started in this room with Brendan Slocomb and Laura Warrell, saw Ben Goldfarb and Dayton Duncan, a debut author panel with Alice Winn, Shelley Read, and Lindsay Lynch. Rebecca Makkai talked about her latest. And finally the tagged book and author along with Melissa L Sevigny.

It was a great first day, I have so many books on my Libby TBR that weren‘t there this morning! Looking forward to tomorrow!

It‘s time to vote for our 2024 #AuthorAMonth lineup!

All nominations came from you, and the results will be decided by you. Everyone is welcome to vote, even if you have not participated in #AuthorAMonth yet.

More info on form. Results will be announced in around two weeks. Have fun!

https://forms.gle/DvkUUK4GLHyh91Q97

(Can someone confirm that the link worked for you and you voted successfully? Thanks!)

I really enjoyed this! How women‘s bodies evolved, and how the female body may have led a lot of evolution.

There is so much info here about reproduction and mothering and social norms changing and progressing. I was fascinated through the entire book. This is in the running for the best Nonfiction of the year.

#NonFictionNovember

Read this on audio for bookclub, and was pleasantly surprised since short story is not a favorite genre of mine.

This is a collection of funny, feminist, thought provoking stories. I expect our conversation around it to be really fun!

A short story collection I‘d actually recommend. 👍

My October pick for fiction is Go As a River. It wasn‘t a match for James Baldwin though, and The Overstory so far is the stand out for the second half of the year. Can you believe there are only 2 months left to fill?

I laughed and also was conflicted about having Patrick Stewart‘s memoir, the best of October Nonfiction, face off against Terry Pratchett‘s biography! Two of my favorite men! Ultimately Rob Wilkin‘s perfect portrayal won for me. So funny that the only two memoir/ biography in the brackets so far this year had to face each other.

Can you love the art of an artist who is or was a monster? It‘s a question I think most of us ask ourselves and others.

Personally I love the Harry Potter books, even though I feel morally conflicted by Rowling‘s politics. And Michael Jackson‘s music will always live in my head.

This explores that huge question and different ways of looking at the answers and why our emotions vary on the topic. Very well thought out!

My October wrap up is a bit light, but I traveled a bit and life has been a lot lately.

I don‘t think I rated any of these fiction at 5 stars, but my favorites were Empire of Wild and Go As a River. I did very much enjoy my only Nonfiction of the month, Making It So.

Why is this topic fascinating to me?

Having read quite a lot of other books in a similar vein, some of the anatomy lab stories were things I‘ve heard before. There is some cross over with her other book as well. Not for the faint of heart, Black discusses working at terrorism sites and natural disaster sites, as well as crime scenes. The attention to detail she needs for identification of victims is mind boggling.

This is the second book in Marske‘s magical mystery romance series. It takes place on a ship bound from America to England, and begins with a mysterious death. The main character is Maud, sister to the main character of the first book. She is traveling with the woman who dies, and sets out to discover if she was murdered and by who. Seeking helpers, she meets Violet, and things get pretty spicy.

Fun books, I like the magic. Look forward to #3.

It‘s almost #bookspin day! I‘ve got a few challenge and bookclub books here, then mostly fantasy and sci fi, cuz that‘s my current mood. And 3 exciting new releases this month! New Travis Baldree, Martha Wells, and Rebecca Yarro! Hope I can get to all of them.

Sietje and I are all set up for our annual books and candy trick or treating!

It‘s the last evening in October #AuthorAMonth readers. In the morning we‘ll be picking up our books by Kazuo Ishiguro. What are you planning to read?

Keep posting your October books if you haven‘t yet, I hope you all enjoyed your readings of Simone St James.

Check previous posts on this same book title for info about #AuthorAMonth and our prizes 🙂.

Happy Halloween 🎃!

This may be the only book I‘ve ever heard of that takes place on the Western Slope of Colorado, which is where my mom and sister live. So of course I wanted to read it!

It starts as a forbidden live story, when Tori meets Wil and immediately falls for him. But it quickly becomes so much more. Tori also loves the part of CO where she grew up, and when her farm is going to be flooded by the new reservoir, she plans to move the peach orchard.

As others have said already, I was drawn to this cover, and to a MC in her 40‘s dealing with big life changes.

While I love the premise of Grace being fed up with circumstances that feel out of control and just abandoning her car in a traffic jam, I agree with other reviews that in the middle the story lost some momentum and dragged a bit.

Overall I did like it though. It discusses quite a few difficult topics. Life is messy, well reflected.

Misty! I love this pretty little bookmark, thank you!
(Reading the tagged book.)

#tlt @dabbe

I don‘t usually participate in these, but this one is too fun and I‘ve been enjoying seeing everyone‘s words!

1. MotherD🍆ck! (Points to you if you know what show I got this from! I‘ll put it in the spoilers below!)
2. Phenomenon
3. Sussurus

If you read this you‘re tagged! What words do you love saying?

#AuthorAMonth readers (and anyone else who is interested)

It‘s time to nominate authors for next year‘s reading list!

I will build the poll in 2-3 weeks. Nominate anyone you‘d like, but I‘ll remove all authors we‘ve already read from the poll list.

Authors can write any genre, but must have several books published.

I‘m looking forward to seeing who you suggest!

Althea separated from her husband when she found out he was cheating with someone she thought was her friend. She isn‘t sure what turn her life might take, when she gets a letter saying her great uncle has left her his house in his will. So she goes to Scotland to check it out, and discovers a fabulous library of collectable books.

This fit my mood well and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Sietje was reluctant as usual to pose with a book. 🙂📚🐕

I‘m afraid I‘m not in the right mind space to enjoy this very strange book. It was too convoluted for me just now. There are so many characters and storylines, I‘m just not really sure what happened.

There were parts I really liked, especially the bee/pollen mutation and hive mind infestation that developed from that.

Overall, 🍌👖 and downright strange.

We‘re halfway through October! I hope everyone is enjoying reading Simone St James for #authoramonth!

Reminder for those who like to plan ahead, next month‘s author is Kazuo Ishiguro. 🙂📚

I loved The Next Generation. My family watched together every week. I‘ve been a PS fan ever since. His sonnet readings during lockdown were a daily highlight for me.

Hearing his memoir in his own voice was the only way to read it for me. His childhood and personal life were unknown to me, so seeing that behind the screen and off the stage part was insightful. I enjoyed his school stories most I think. And his regrets in relationships.

Airport reading. ✈️ Headed to Colorado to visit family.

This is a strange one! Not sure yet if I‘m enjoying it or not. I‘ll let you know 🙂📚

Harold had a friend at work, Queenie, who he hasn‘t seen in 20 years. He gets a letter from a care home that Queenie is dying of cancer. He decides to walk from south England to where she is on the Northern coast, and along the way explores his memories of his troubled marriage and broken relationship with his son.

Highly emotional, a deep dive into humanity and what is important in our lives. At times difficult, but also beautiful.

A supernatural thriller by an indigenous author, maybe verging on horror? It definitely doesn‘t shy away from the dark.

I loved the voices of the characters. The legendary creature and the steps that can be taken to prevent encounters or to protect yourself, very cool.

I‘m not sure why the author chose to end it where and how she did, but that‘s my only complaint.

Big content warning for animal cruelty, but check for others.

“The parking lot was a poem about white.”

That‘s a line that has stuck in my head for 2 days. I love it. (Photo is Central Park, from Pinterest.)

This book is dark, of course, it‘s horror. But man it‘s got some powerful imagery!

I‘m trying to balance spooky and sweet reads this month so I can sleep 😆.

This romance was recommended to me for #12challenge- 12 books, 12 friends, 12 months.

I don‘t read much romance, but I thought this was pretty good. Lots of spice.

Lucy is a seamstress and an art student. She stumbles upon a passed out drunk and naked man in an alleyway and paints his figure into a mythical work. Turns out he‘s a Duke, and a rather naughty one.

This is a short novel in translation (from German) about an elder gentleman who delivers books to a fun cast of characters from a bookstore. He has literary nicknames for each of his customers, and little routines at each stop. It‘s mostly light and fun, though there is a bit of violence, check warnings if needed.

I‘m enjoying the return of my bee garden after a bit of rain and drop in temperature.

I haven‘t looked too much into books coming out next year, but every January I await the latest Wayward Children book. I‘ve preordered Mislaid in Parts Half-Known and I‘ll read it as soon as I have it in my hands!

Congratulations on your 6 year Litsyversary @BarbaraBB ! I‘m glad you‘re part of our reading community! #BBGiveaway

Celebrate with us @RaeLovesToRead @Hooked_on_books 🙂🤩

@dabbe I got your books today, thank you! I look forward to reading them. 🙂📚

I believe these are the last #book2book books I requested. Thank you again @AllDebooks , my TBR exploded!

“…his only two books, Moby Dick and Lonesome Dove, a duo I‘ve taken to calling Lonesome Dick.”

⬆️ had me cracking up! But also sad… I‘ve never read Lonesome Dove, but can you imagine only having 2 books and one of them is Moby Dick? That‘s a tragedy.

I enjoyed this, but was expecting it to be a bit more of a thriller. It‘s a great story though, I‘d read more by this author.