This last month ended up being another successful reading month (though not so much for cooking and recipes… we’ll get there!). I gobbled up three 4-star reads and am currently working my way through a library stack. I have a vacation coming up next week, and although I’m traveling for some of it and working on the nursery for another some of it, I’m hoping to sneak some extra reading in as well! Wish me luck 🙂
I’ve got another month of “required reading” ahead of me: a couple of blog tours, evermore book clubs and lots due back at the library. I’ve had a really productive last week of reading — mostly quick reads — but it’s got me thinking anything is possible. Bring on all the books!
Here’s a look at what I’m hoping to tackle in September:
I excitedly picked Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie as my Book of the Month in March, but since life gets in the way, I didn’t get a chance to read it until recently. I was so looking forward to it that I chose it as a part of a reading challenge I’m doing with Deanna (who you’ll remember from Gilmore week) now that she’s moved away. It fit perfectly in the “book with a one word title” category.
Queenie is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, where she works at a newspaper. After a recent breakup with her long-term white boyfriend, she’s struggling to cope in a healthy way. She can’t concentrate on her job, and her “getting back out there” has disastrous results.
It’s been a little while since I participated in Top Ten Tuesday, but I’m excited to be back and I’m super excited about this topic! This week is a freebie, and since I missed May 28th’s topic, I’m doing a mini-throwback to that one: My 10 Favorite Books Released in the Last 10 Years. It’s one I was really excited to dive into.
We’re supposed to be limiting it to one book per year, and honestly, I did my best, but for two of the years I just couldn’t decide, so I’m going with a tie. As a bonus, you get two extra wonderful books this week! Without further ado, here are some of my favorite books published within the past decade:
I recently joined a group of women in my town who were interested in starting a book club. With my other local book club disbanded (due to most of the members moving away), I was excited to have the opportunity to join another, and to be one of the founding members! The woman who brought us all together, Alissa, chose our first book, The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See.
My Meetup-based book club really enjoyed Lisa See’s previous novel The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane when we read it last year, so I was looking forward to this one as well! Unfortunately, most of us didn’t finish it in time for the discussion (including me), but I made sure to finish it up afterward. I thought the story was very intriguing.
As you may recall, Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter was one of my favorite books the year I read it. So, naturally, when I heard he was releasing a new similarly thrilling sci-fi novel, I was looking forward to it. I was lucky enough to get a copy of Recursion through NetGalley before its release (though it’s available now; it came out June 11th). And, most importantly, I am so happy to report it lived up to my high expectations!
Just like with Dark Matter, it’s hard to describe Recursion without giving too much away. But here’s what I can tell you: Barry Sutton is a New York City cop who stumbles into an investigation on something called False Memory Syndrome, in which those affected suddenly have a whole set of real, vivid memories from another lifetime; one they haven’t actually lived. Helena Smith is a researcher obsessed with memory. She has dedicated her life to trying to preserve those memories most precious to us, so they never get lost.
Hello again! For those of you who are avid followers of my blog, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been missing these past few months… and you would be right. My posts have been few and far between, and there are a couple reasons for that:
And, and now that I’m safely in the second trimester, I’m starting to feel much better and am getting back into reading (and cooking). So yay! Without further ado, let’s get into a long-awaited Show Us Your Books!
Valencia and Valentine is a contemporary fiction debut from Suzy Krause that came out just a few days ago. The novel is described as quirky and charming and perfect for fans of Maria Semple, Graeme Simsion, Fredrik Backman and even Gail Honeyman — all of whom I’ve enjoyed. Naturally, with those comparisons, I was excited to have the opportunity to join the blog tour hosted by TLC Book Tours!
