Beautiful cover and interesting premise -- Neferura is the daughter of the best-known female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Discussion topics are provided for book clubs, and author q and a.

I adored the setting, historical references, and variations of female power, but would have preferred less palace intrigue and more Ancient Egypt. I geeked out more about the history provided at the end than much of the story. And I found Neferura naive throughout.

This is such a beautiful book, the cover really doesn't do justice to some of the images inside. It delves into the craft of globe-making from the perspective of one company, and the journey that they went on to build these beautiful spheres.

This is the story of Medusa, in all of its mythological complexity. It also delves into Athena's motivation for cursing her with a head of snakes, Perseus's motivation for beheading her, and what happened to her head following said event, which some readers seem to take exception to because those parts aren't about Medusa ... but they do enrich this story. My favorite part was the chapter told by snakes 🤘

A smart book about the art world that makes you contemplate what part of an artist's life is performance and the strangeness of our society. I got a little pandemic ptsd due to the covid scenes, but there were some really interesting moments and in the end I liked this book.

Ok I'm with y'all on this one 🥹🥹

Starting my Thanksgiving five hours of cooking with what I hope to be a wonderful accompaniment 💯, and various wines -- today should be a good day! Happy Turkey Day everyone, hope your tables are full 🍽️💕💖

Finished this today for #lmpbc and will send it out shortly! I hope that you guys end up liking the story more than I, but it was fun to mark this up and get one of these #botm books off of my backlog! @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks @BarkingMadRead

I've been shouting from the rooftops about Fourth Wing with the rest of y'all, but Rebecca Yarros lost me in the sequel. Just go ahead and tell me the next time you want $30 Rebecca because these are beautiful, but I'm no longer invested 😩😆

Finally picking this up after sitting on my shelves forever. I'm excited to mark this all up with @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks & @BarkingMadRead ! #lmpbc #botmbacklog 😊

I put this on my TBR ages ago because I am generally a person who could have better boundaries, but this book isn't just for people who struggle with them.

I think that anyone who has relationships -- personal, professional, via social media, could learn something from this book that would help them improve and maintain them.

The author Nedra Glover Tawwab does the audio herself, and she's amazing.

Not for me

GREAT sequel to One Dark Window 🤌. I gave ODW three stars, but this is a 4-4.5 for me. This duology is complex without being overly confusing, and does something new for me -- both stories have a romance element, and I didn't buy into ODW's. I preferred TTC's main lovers & they made me care a lot more about this world. The fantastic elements are just top tier, this world is so dark and creepy, and the story is so satisfying. Lots of love from me!

@BarkingMadRead @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks In my defense I have read about 50 BOTM books, so I'm not a total failure! But these are some of the 26 that I've not gotten to thus far ... let me know if you've read any, or if you want to!

This is a fun and quick read! But I feel like I've read this story before, a few times? I'm looking forward to seeing how the duology ends in Two Twisted Crowns, which I have up next. And these covers 😍

The guy who authorized the use of nuclear weapons and the guy who painted Guernica have a nice little day. This book utilizes that meeting to explain the political and artistic situation of the time period post-Truman presidency, but the meeting is anticlimactic and doesn't occur until the last chapter. I love art history and really enjoyed listening to descriptions of Stieglitz's gallery & The Armory Show, etc. Fun background audio for me.

Tess is really the saddest novel. This was a reread of a favorite from high school lit, it hit differently as an adult. I remember thinking that Tess had the worst plight of all women, I now think of variations of her story as standard female experiences.

Part of me is impressed that a man in 1891 was able to capture the contradictions and difficulties of the female condition this well; part of me is just mad for Tess. Either way, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me.

Changed my reading challenge from 75 to 100 because I finished it in August ... completed it again w/ one of my favorite books of the year 😌.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Lengthy review on Goodreads because I really loved this and have so much to say about it. For now I'll just say that I was moved and impressed by the depth of emotion & successful storytelling. This is an exercise in feminism -- the "crazy party girl pop princess" of my childhood took back her narrative and I'm 100% here for it.

(Also the audio is top tier & I had watery eyes for the entire 5.5 hours ?.)

Guys I got this book vase off of Amazon and I really love it 😊😊. I am a huge fan of fresh flowers, but I keep about 50 indoor plants and so I do not like to overdo it with the cuttings. This little vase just makes my day.

The tiny little topics covered here are space, time, matter, and the mind. The influence of neuroscience on physics is discussed, and what can be gained from the pairing is contemplated. I definitely did not understand everything here, but appreciated the depth with which George Musser explained the concepts presented and tried to get me to learn them.

4.5 stars because I absolutely devoured this, also in two sittings, and thought it was going to be a 5 star read ... but there's one thing that I can't get past 😂. If you're in the mood to suspend your disbelief, this is a real creepy gothic treat 👀

💯💯

I read this in two sittings because I was so addicted. Kara Alloway's debut makes me want more books from her, I would even read more reality TV books from her. She's a Real Housewife and has the qualifications, why not? She certainly learned a thing or two about capturing the drama.

If I was the type of person that owns a coffee table, this would be its book. At 224 pages, it explores more than collars -- discussing Justice Ginsburg's life, career, and major Supreme Court opinions (and dissents 😉) There are women in history that have opened doors and shattered ceilings, and then there's Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her career is fascinating to me, not least of which because so much of it was conducted in rooms full of men.

I am inspired and recharged because I engaged with this book and got so much from it. Through tarot, astrology, and other oracles, this book explains how to find your greatest creativity. I took 21 pages of notes, played with my tarot and Oracle cards, analyzed my birth chart, and dug deep emotionally and creatively. I just loved the whole experience and would recommend getting this book for people that you love.

Dan Patrick does a great job with this love letter to the game of football. I particularly enjoyed the history here -- I learned that footballs were never made of pigskin, but they are made in Ohio (appropriately.) I laughed quite a lot while reading this, and learned a bunch about how the NFL became the league of today. It's also a problematic, dangerous mess, which Dan addresses, too.

This book was on my radar because I saw the author on Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, where Rainn travels the world to find happiness -- including to Bulgaria, allegedly the unhappiest country, where Georgi Gospodinov lives and set this novel. I remembered that this book won the Booker and I googled it. I was drawn in by the premise and thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing.

I neither loved this as much as those of you that love this nor hated this as much as those of you that hated this. I do want to know what happens next, though.

This is just a really good book. Robert Jackson Bennett created an extremely thorough fantasy world as the backdrop for a murder mystery/crime novel, and it is going to be a trilogy! The vibe here is an ... environmental steampunk vaguely-nautical situation that I really enjoy. The investigators have a Sherlock & Watson thing going on and the fantastic elements are interesting.

I liked this better than Legends & Lattes. It's a prequel, and goes into a rest that Viv took earlier in her career. The story is more developed than L&L, but keeps the cozy feel and adorable characters. And the Epilogue had me tearing up a bit. I'll definitely read new installments in this series.

Gideon's Trumpet is about the Supreme Court case that guarantees legal counsel to those on trial for felonies, regardless of their ability to pay. I am a former public defender & loved reading the procedural history, summaries of briefs, selections from oral argument. Book is extremely dated and only uses masculine pronouns for attorneys, clerks, etc., despite the presence of women in the profession at the time of publication.

I have a strained relationship with the seasons because I grew up in a part of the US without them, and only learned later that wintering is valuable for stepping back from society and resting, as is slowly coming back to life in spring. A Year in Practice inspired me to think of the creative process the same way, allowing breaks from expression in times when the outside is fading away and following the cue of the late spring and summer to build.

I loved this. It would be a great book club pick bc the characters are so morally debatable. The characters are roughly my age and it's set partly in 2023, and I thought the author did a great job of capturing us. I could picture Cassie's bougie momcore Instagram stories ... and laughed too hard at all of the relatable bitchiness, but there was some genuine suspense and horror here, too. A very good book, will be enthusiastically recommending.

I liked some elements of this story but I'm not sure whether I'll finish with the series. I'm not that interested in these characters and felt that most of this was just a couple of people struggling to figure out things that were pretty obvious early on.

agustina bazterrica >>>

Really didn't hit for me.

A beautiful contemplation of the novel as an art form. A book that illustrates novels to explain their narratives, and thanks Junot Díaz for his friendship in the Acknowledgements. It breaks down the elements of novels and uses our most beloved books to demonstrate its meaning. I will refer to my notes and highlights in this book while writing for years to come. #arc

I got some tips and picked up some inspiration, but this is more of a coffee table book for me than "street photography masterclass," as it's 144 pages, and most of them are photos. On the non-photo pages, the text is heavily indented and features prominent quotes in text. There is very little in the way of technical instruction, the tips here are much more general. #arc

I laughed so hard at the dialogue. Kiley Reid is a genuinely funny person. I related entirely too well to the southern university students that said such cringeworthy things. If I took myself too seriously I probably would have hated this book, instead I just laughed for being a white girl from the south with two many friends named Becca. I was on the edge of my seat to learn what would happen to these characters and I loved the ending. #Arc

A new favorite book is added to a long-beloved series. I finished it. It was exceptional. If you like this series and Light Bringer is sitting somewhere on your TBR -- trust me, move it up. I'll reread it before Red God comes out, I'll reread all of them, then it's just once more into the breach for this crew. Hail libertas & hail Reaper.❤️

Life is too short for the books that I don't vibe with 🤷🏼‍♀️

A beautiful story that I will remember for a long time and recommend enthusiastically. Protest culture in 1960s Cambridge, Mass and 2018 Paris are considered through stories of love, and I was completely engrossed in both timelines. The writing is lovely and I am certainly going to add We Play Ourselves to the TBR. Jen Silverman has a new fan. ( Thanks to NetGalley for the #ARC )

This is a very well-organized and thorough overview of three Queens: Catherine de Medici of France, her daughter Elisabeth de Valois, who became Queen of Spain, and Mary Stuart, or Mary, Queen of Scots. I found the writing engaging and enjoyed the purpose of this book -- to show how three women gained and maintained power, illustrating how Queens managed nations that had anything but faith in their gender. ( Thanks to NetGalley for the #ARC )

& with the tagged book, I completed my Goodreads challenge !! Not bad for August 🤓. I also started this Litsy account at the beginning of the year, so that's 75 books since arriving 🙃

Jordan Peele is a favorite artist of mine, horror is a favorite genre, and I love short story collections, so of course I wanted to read this. It really didn't even need to begin with an N.K. Jemisin story to draw me in – but it does, it really does. ( Thanks to NetGalley for the #ARC )

I had to post this because I have had a Goodreads since approx 2012, updated constantly, and I have entered hundreds of giveaways! I have NEVER, EVER won😂, but today I got a book that I'm actually really looking forward to! I enjoyed the Tower of Babel series by this author and this one seems right up my alley 🤓

This beautiful book is a sapphic retelling of The Selkie Wife, an Irish/Scottish folk-tale in which a man compels a Selkie to marry him, causing her to long for the sea and her true home. Although I knew generally what the story was about, the plot kept me guessing. There are some dark elements here. I found the beginning a bit slow, but by 20% in, I was hooked. ( Thanks to NetGalley for the #ARC, full rvw on Goodreads.com/xtinalea )

"The edge of glory cuts both ways. Condolences."

I haven't posted much because I have put reading on hold while I devour the third installment of Red Rising's tetralogy, which follows the trilogy. This book is a hallucinogenic roller coaster and all of my favorite characters are in serious trouble. Trying to remember that these books are about surviving when hope is lost 🫠

I am actually taking this slow, savoring, avoiding, listening at 1x speed. I'm real scared .. hic sunt leones 😭

"Was it a man who said 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? It must have been, to imagine something so petty as scorn to be the utmost misery a woman could suffer ... do not fear for me. Instead, pity them."

This book ??