February felt like the most wintery month we've had since we moved to Michigan. It was bitterly cold, the wind blew at scary speeds, and it snowed. Of course, it also hit the 50s, everything melted, and it rained. Rinse. Repeat. Anyone else feel like that where they live? The great news is that it was a super month for reading. Out of the 11 books I read all but two were ... Read More...
Ten Best Books of 2019
Well, what do you know. Rather than being my usual contrarian self, I actually have ten books I consider to be the best of 2019. Of course, that doesn’t include the eight debut novels I wrote about on Wednesday, but let’s not split hairs. The point is: ALL of these books are marvelous. Even better, you still have time to get any one of them before Christmas for your ... Read More...
October Reading Recap
Hello! I know October has already ended but figured you’d all cut me some slack as I’ve been a bit busy. When I posted about taking a break because I was driving from Seattle to Ann Arbor I used a stock mountain photo, but I’m happy to report that I took this photo myself while driving through Montana. What a stunning state! I now understand its nickname Big Sky Country. There ... Read More...
Stalled: Mini-Reviews
In the past I’ve done a feature called It’s Not You It’s Me to indicate books I didn’t enjoy but that I believe other readers might like. Today is a bit different because in those cases I finished the books. With these three books I stalled out, set the book down and never came back to it. This is likely due to my personal circumstances—namely moving across country with a lot ... Read More...
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
On Wednesday I reviewed a book that I liked, but thought others might find too odd. I have the same hesitation today, but for a different reason. Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is itself a thing of beauty. His writing is poetical prose. Not surprising, because he is a poet. The novel is ruminations on his life in the form of a letter written to a ... Read More...
July Reading Wrap-Up
Oh boy, summer hit Seattle with a vengeance in July. I know for many other parts of the country temperatures in the high 80s are no big deal, but for those of us living in a region where air conditioning is not a thing in a most houses it got pretty wretched. In fact, I'll use it as the reason my reading foundered so much. I had a tough time bouncing between books I loved, but ... Read More...
