This Aussie mystery was a lot of fun! Think ‘Knives Out‘ meets Richard Osman, with a healthy dose of meta-ness and a big old nod to classic era mysteries. I loved how each section was framed around a certain family member, and how the narrator broke the ‘fourth wall‘ giving the reader extra stuff along the way. I also didn‘t see most of the twists coming. Really looking forward to number 2 after seeing @Hooked_on_books review!

Catching up with yesterday‘s page…… 😏

Loved this… such a surprise. There was a thread of hopefulness, humanity and even love, that ran through the novel that I really liked. It was perfect for my book club… lots of great discussion. Would you open the box? If you did, would it change how you lived? How would we react as a whole, individually, as nations… a speculative pick that really made us all think. #52bookclub24 #pop24 #morethan3POV #morethan4POV

#52bookclub24 #anauthoreveryonehasreadexceptyou #pop24 #featuresdragons So I finally folded and read the book that ALL my booksellers love, and our biggest title of last year, and you know what…it was a great read! It‘s definitely a bit derivative in its story and themes, but I had fun. A feisty female MC, good world-building (which I normally struggle with), some spicy bits and some truly snarky and grumpy dragons. Not my usual jam for sure….

My first cry of the year! In just 30 pages, an awful lot is said. Very poignant and so personally relatable. I cared for my own mother-in-law in my home during her final days. And currently my mum is close to her end, though fundamentally lost to me already , due to the bastard that is early on-set. Complicated feelings, love in all its forms, and utterly human. Beautiful. Thanks for the recommendation @britt_brooke 💕

For various reasons, I had an enormous slump this year, and did a lot of rereading, so not quite my #top23of2023 but at least my top reads…. Here‘s to a better year in 2024! Thank you so much for the tag @BarbaraBB xx

My first Vintage mini… as I ran out of month for my #authoramonth book! And it won‘t be my last…
A lovely collection of Rushdie‘s writing, collected together from 4 places (3 non fiction, one fiction), all on the theme of ‘Home.‘
The perfect author to write on the topic, this reminded me how much I love this author‘s novels, but also now I want to read his non fiction. Beautifully evocative…. Just lovely!

#authoramonth @Soubhiville

Read for my book club….
#pop23 #setinhollywood

Very interesting story, well written, but I found it quite repetitive. Which is understandable considering the story being told, but just not for me. The repeating pattern of Chysta‘s mum‘s new relationship, moneymaking scheme, crash and burn…. Started to feel like I was stuck in a revolving door, which I‘m sure is how Chrysta felt. But just stopped me loving what I was reading. 🤷‍♀️

Complete fluff, but in a good way. Part cozy mystery, chick-lit & romance… influencers, high-school mean girls, a celeb wedding, and a coastal vibe, perfect to throw in a beach bag. But what made it for me, were the moments when our plus-size heroine was at her most relatable. Faking confidence, patronizing asides, aiming for body-confidence yet still being hurt by the so-called well-meaning insults disguised as compliments. All too familiar 🤦‍♀️

I love how bold this writing is. Unafraid, brutal, unwaveringly honest, let‘s it all hang out! Each story captures each woman so perfectly, warts and all, with all her deepest, darkest thoughts. Love this author….. really, really great.
#pop23 #bookwithaforbiddenromance #the52bookclub #letterG

Much funnier than I thought it was going to be. A coming-of-age of sorts, with 20-something, besties Rachel and James, becoming entangled with Rachel‘s charismatic professor and his wife. Nostalgic and witty, Rachel is definitely a hot mess, but endearing none the less, despite her very questionable decisions! Told by Rachel, looking back at her time as a young adult in Ireland, the “incident‘ isn‘t quite what you‘d expect. A really fun read.

The success of this satire, is how uncomfortable it can make you feel. Sharp and witty yet completely cringe-inducing, June digs herself deeper and deeper, her behavior and choices getting more and more questionable, and even despicable, at every turn. This ticked all the boxes of the moment- cultural appropriation, cancel culture, tokenism, internet trolling, but manages to still feel fresh and original. Definitely lived up to the hype for me.

#authoramonth #aam @Soubhiville
I can see the brilliance of this author in this powerful novella that tackles environmental destruction and colonization, I just continue to struggle with this genre. The world-building aspect always sets me at a distance I just can‘t seem to navigate across. I can appreciate it more than enjoy the experience. Wrong reader for an author I know so many adore.

#booked2023 #weirdreview #BNbookchallenge #scaresthepantsoffyou

Super dark, witty and weird, viscerally stomach-churning and a psychological horror of sorts. A cruel mother-in-law from hell with a borderline disorder, haunts a young couple both before and after her suicide…. Brilliant writing and completely unhinged, I haven‘t stopped thinking about it since I finished it….and too many content warnings to mention! And it got me out of my slump!!!

#pop23 #52bookclub2023 #alliteration #bn2023challenge #nonhumancharacters

#readharder23 #favoritebookofafavoriteauthor #donnatartt

Just as wonderful as I remembered. Witty and whimsical, the perfect read for an afternoon curled up on the sofa, feeling rotten with bronchitis! Cheered me up no end. So lovely on friendship and the joys of nature… the riverbank seems a pretty idyllic place to be.

Loved this so much! A (very) loose retelling of Little women, but really more a story of four sisters, their mother, and one young man who enters their lives. Beautiful character writing, melancholy at times, so full of warmth and love. Sad it‘s over 💕
#booked2023 #pop23 #classicretelling #52bookclub2023 #publishedin23 #bn2023challenge #toughchoice

#Authoramonth @Soubhiville #pop23 #girlinthetitle #52bookclub2023 #fashionablecharacter

A good not great mystery. Lots of red herrings, two of my favorite settings (Oxford & Edinburgh) but too much of a lackluster main character for me to be completely invested.

I picked up Oprah‘s mag for the plane (and because it‘s her 100th bookclub pick edition)…. This list would probably make a great reading challenge. I‘m at only 14/100…. 📚💕

#CampLitsy23
Here‘s my 6 nominations for our summer challenge…
Thanks so much Helen, Barbara and Meg, for a challenge us slow readers can manage! 💕

The completely perfect vacation read. Funny, romantic and real, or at least as real as a relationship between a comedy writer and a pop star heart throb can be!
Sally, a self described “self-sabotaging ass-hat,” despite her highly tuned romantic cynicism, falls for aging teen heartthrob Noah, then messes it up royally. Then the pandemic changes everything and they unexpectedly become pen-pals of sorts. (Continued in comments….)

Love how Daunts Books are publishing forgotten classics and giving new life to them. These stories are full of quiet female rage, written in a time when this was even less acceptable than it is now. Penelope Mortimer writes so brilliantly about the ennui and dissatisfaction of women of her era, feelings of being trapped, having no voice, being both under and overwhelmed by opportunities, marriage and motherhood. (Continued below)…

Influenced by @BarbaraBB 😍…. Managed to grab a signed copy of this one you loved… and signed too! I always find treasures at the Books & Books in Key West…. 💕

Hoping for 4 days of mostly uninterrupted reading! Heading down to key west, and book 1 for car reading….. some short stories that fit a few challenge prompts.. 💕

The coziest of cozies…. Made me giggle, gave me Midsomer murders meets Miss Marple meets Thursday Murder club vibes… And written by the only British clergyman to have had a number one hit single. A fun palette cleanser… and such cute endpapers of Cosmo and Hilda, our hero‘s faithful pups. 😍 #pop23 #containsamap #bn2023challenge #cozymystery #52bookclub2023 #adedication

#AAM First time reading this, and wow does this little book, pack a ginormous punch. This writing is spare and lovely. The story is of friendship, poverty, brutality, loneliness and the so-called American dream, and an ending so heartbreaking it will stay with me long after finishing the story.

A 60s-set safari vacation for a group of movie stars and their entourage turns deadly. Cinematic and well-paced. A bit action heavy and character light (not in number but in depth) but definitely gripping. The huge cast of characters, given multiple chapters, featuring both memories and their present horrific events, were handled so as not to be confusing. And I enjoyed the snippets of gossip rags as clues and red herrings. Just not really my jam.

A fun read. A podcaster returns to teach a class, at the fancy boarding school of her childhood where she was an outsider and her once roommate was murdered. Reads like a mystery, layered with interesting takes on the #metoo movement and grooming, collective memory, race and privilege, the exploitative nature of true crime, wrongful imprisonment and so much more. Sharp and nuanced, I found the ending unsatisfying but all the more realistic for it.

I found this very lack luster…. And just because it‘s about three thirty-something women, does not warrant the comparisons to Fleabag or Rooney it‘s been getting. I found the ‘feminism‘ dated, the characters dull, and just generally this didn‘t seem to have anything new or interesting to say. It‘s a shame, because the reverse love story idea is a good one…. #booked2023 #pop23 #lovetriangle #52bookclub23 #letterH #bn2023challenge #aboutafriendgroup

Just… so… good. Love Levy‘s writing…. These are more vignettes than stories, but still loved the heck out them. Perfectly imperfect….

I arrived home tonight to a thank you card, slipped into my front door, signed by 20+ people (I‘m not familiar with) from my neighborhood, thanking me me for my LittleFreeLibrary! And a gift card for Amazon too! I‘m beyond touched, for the appreciation and so happy the little library is bringing some joy xxxx

The 1st graphic novel to win the Newbery, this story of a city kid starting at a fancy new school, is great. Tackling topics of bullying, feeling like not fitting in, struggles in making new friends, while handling being ‘different‘ in subtle ways, this middle grade is handling tough situations with sensitivity. The art is good, but it is Jordan‘s ‘sketchbook‘ pencil drawings within the book, that I fell in love with. #52bookclub23 #newberywinner

#pop23 #shortestbookontbr

Just so beautiful. Keegan writes so deceptively simply, yet each sentence has purpose, captures each act of kindness with a subtle emotional punch. The rural Irish setting gives this tale a timeless feel, and the young POV an innocence that is touching. Heartbreakingly human. @squirrelbrain @barbarabb @cortg @AshleyHoss820 @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @RaeLovesToRead @MissHel

I always love me some dark academia, and although this is no ‘Secret History‘ (what is?) I still really enjoyed this NYC story. The Met Cloisters, a museum specializing in Medieval artifacts, is the perfect eerie setting, and the study at the center of this novel is of divination and historical tarot cards. Secrets are in abundance, a fish is most definitely out of water, and motives are endlessly questionable. Twisty, atmospheric and lots of fun.

Wow. This graphic memoir of a musician and artist, who develops a rare condition after taking a headache tablet on vacation, is moving, harrowing and so heartbreaking. Such a scary story, as ‘friends‘ abandon her abroad, she goes into a coma, loses her sight, at some point her hearing and develops a terrible skin condition. As she briefly regains some sight and races against time to collaborate on this memoir, i felt for her so much. Inspiring.

Just starting this one…. Trying to catch up on my endless #ARCs ! 🤦‍♀️
Feeling good about this so far… Dark Academia is usually totally my thing. 💕

An epistolary novella, set in the seventies….. A wife of a doctor discovers the evidence of the title. As she connects with the wronged husband on the other end of the affair, a friendship forms. Told through letters between both couples, it‘s a fairly straightforward story, but the ending has a satisfying conclusion.
#Authoramonth #AAM @Soubhiville

A fun epistolary murder mystery, that slowly reveals everything you need to solve the puzzle yourself. Told mostly through emails and whats app messages, ‘The Appeal‘ has a double meaning. Both as a fund raising effort for a poorly child, and for the efforts to release the wrongly convicted murderer of the late revealed victim. Clever and witty but takes commitment. It‘s not short, and there‘s a LOT of characters! But I found it worth the effort.

“People, aging and mortal, are like flowers, seasonal, wilting and finite; while I'm like a tree.”
Quiet and melancholy, a vampire story planted firmly in the ‘sad girl‘ genre, and I loved it. All vibe, little plot (i.e. totally my jam!), Lydia is a lonely young artist, trying to find a place in the world, without her mother for the 1st time, struggling with her ‘food‘ issues, and her immortality. Gorgeous writing, a really great debut. #netgalley

This was delightful, with definite Thursday Murder Club vibes. Richard is a middle aged Brit, running a B&B in the Loire, separated from his wife, and trying hard to blend into life‘s background. A Parisian divorcée Valarie, gives Richard‘s life the kick start it needs. They solve a village mystery, and we meet some pretty hilarious characters along the way. The sweary cleaning lady being a favorite! Funny and silly, and a lovely pallet cleanser.

#netgalley #arc Charming and quirky, but nothing ground breaking. But still think the notion of ‘death cleaning‘ is just brilliant. 3⭐️
#readharder2023 #under500goodreadsratings
#bn2023challenge #ajourneyofself

Loved this book to pieces. Beautifully melancholy, and quietly chilling, I was swept away by this heartbreaking story. In a near future, an environmental dystopia where few creatures remain, Franny finds a ragtag found family of fishermen, to take her on her journey. Whilst following the few remaining Arctic terns on their final epic migration, we slowly learn of the trauma of her past. The writing is so gorgeous, I couldn‘t put this down.

#manicmonday @CBee
#LetterW
📚(&🎥)We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
✏️Sarah Winman
📺The West Wing
🎥When Harry Met Sally
🎤Paul Weller
🎶What you know - Ali Dineen https://open.spotify.com/track/0tyJfyJdTswLpFmK1tZuHm?si=1HeIWu4MQmmtnZ01KJFDlw&...

5 chapters in and LOVING this so much! @BarbaraBB Thanks so much for sharing this with me…. 💕

I‘ve been meaning to try a Manga, as it is such a huge seller at work. But nope! This retelling of Doyle‘s villain, with a murderous ‘Robin Hood‘ vibe, was not for me. Lacking the wit of Doyle‘s stories and the characters fell flat. The art style lacks a bit of variety and nuance in the facial expressions for me, making it sometimes difficult to tell characters apart. I tried, and maybe I‘ll try a different manga series….But this one was just meh.

I loved this! Fabulous characters, booksellers at the center, an unwanted ghost…. plus Louise herself being a side character! I loved spending time with Tookie and her families, both work and home. In a lesser writer‘s hands, there could have been too much to juggle, but not here. My third Erdrich and possibly my favorite… 💕 #authoramonth @Soubhiville #readharder2023 #pastprompt #setinabookstore #bn2023challenge #indigenousauthor
@AshleyHoss820

It‘s an apocalyptic ‘groundhog day‘ meets ‘endless sunshine of the spotless mind‘ that focuses on a friendship between 30-somethings Kate and Bertie. As a world ravaged by climate disaster and terrorism surrounds them, they take a trip to Paris before Kate leaves their hometown for a new job. As tensions arise, the time-loopy stuff commences, and things definitely take a turn. A great premise and writing, but that ending, took a pick to a so-so!

#LetterV @CBee #manicmonday a bit late again!
📚A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Eagan
✏️Simon Van Booy
🎥Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona
📺Vera
🎤Vanessa Carlton
🎶Valerie -Amy Winehouse & Mark Ronson https://open.spotify.com/track/6kopmMZiyLmw7h66uXcXR7?si=0h2iHOVTReunkce5sN0dkw&...

#LetterU #manicmobday
📚The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
📺Unforgotten
🎶Unfinished Sympathy-Massive Attack https://open.spotify.com/track/28jaG0nLqlijtHGQzZqGWK?si=KFuyq9KSRO2PEiKGJ-RoTQ&...

Oddly lovely. The title perfectly represents this collection of short stories and short comic panels, portraying all sorts of love…. I love Audrey‘s imagination, and although I‘m usually besotted with her artwork too, it was a great collaboration with her partner, artist Eddie Campbell. ‘Digging up the Cat‘ was my favorite. Perfectly weird and sentimental. #shortstories for both #booked2023 & #readharder23 and #bookimeanttorradlasyyear for #pop23