I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy and am on Instagram here where I post about picture books most Thursdays and often my own reading. I am on Goodreads here which I check more often than I should but always like seeing what others are reading! Or adding books to my own TBR!
A few other book posts in the past month:
And now everything else I've been reading!
You, Me, and the Sea by Meg Donohue
I think this is a really striking cover and made me think the book mostly takes place in Italy or somewhere on the Mediterranean. It does not. Girl with a rough childhood growing up on the Pacific coast in Northern California, I believe. Then she is "saved" by rich people but can't let go of some things from her past. I still don't know how I feel about it a month later, it was complicated. 3 Stars
A Simplified Life: Tactical Tools for Intentional Living by Emily Ley
This was a reread and one I appreciate especially at the start of a new year! I am ALWAYS and forever looking for ways to simplify. Full review here! 4 Stars
Another Side of Paradise by Sally Koslow
I really enjoy another book by this author and so I figured I'd try to read the rest of her fiction but I have enjoyed none of them like I did that first one (which was a random pick-up from Target 10 years ago, back when my Target trips included time for things like just browsing the books, also before I was much pickier about what books I read!). It's about F. Scott Fitzgerald and it took me about half the book to realize that what I thought was another book about his personal life was actually about Hemingway's (I have very strong memories of reading that book when recovering from my first foot surgery). It's older Hollywood which is fun to visit but I wasn't super taken with it. 2.75 Stars
When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith, and Funny People by Jeannie Gaffigan
We almost have to like Jim Gaffigan because he is also from Indiana and Catholic, Matt and I even went and saw him live a couple years ago. We end up watching his comedy specials when they show up on Netflix and I've read both of his books and so I was pretty interested when I came across one his wife had written about her struggle with having a giant brain tumor while also having 5 kids. Jeannie Gaffigan is also funny and I appreciated reading about their backstory, living with all those kids in Manhattan, and also how she mentally survived having a brain tumor. It was a fascinating read but also encouraging and funny. She talked a lot about letting go of her control tendencies which is also something I might have. I really enjoyed it. 4 Stars
Cosy: The British Art of Comfort by Laura Weir
This was the author's response to the sensation of hygge a couple years ago and she spent most of the book talking about why British "cosy" is better than the Scandenavian "hygge" but really she mostly proved that the hygge book is better. It was fun and a quick read but ehhhh. 2.5 Stars
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Fantastic middle grade graphic novel about a middle school boy who is gets into an elite private school on scholarship and his experiences there being one of the few non-white kids. It was heartbreaking and encouraging and also made me SO GLAD I will never again have to go to middle school. Just have to get my kids through it. 4 Stars
For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen
This was the next in the Molly Murphy mystery series that I have slowly been reading this year. Molly is determined to be a lady detective around 1902, at a time when that is not what ladies did. I like the look at Manhattan at that time and I'm very glad I wasn't living there (or anywhere) then. She gets a lot of lucky breaks and barely escapes multiple dangerous situations but I am still (3 books in) enjoying this series, maybe especially because I do very little mystery reading. 3.25 Stars
Lake Season by Denise Hunter
I've been reading Denise Hunter's book for awhile (fun fact: we were supposedly at the same wedding a couple years ago, as the bride told me she was also invited and I saw her name on the seating chart but I'm not sure I recognize her well enough to know if she was actually there.) and they are like more chaste Nicholas Sparks novels, with an added spiritual lesson. I know they are going to be an easy, quick, and enjoyable read but I can barely keep them all straight. And I haven't enjoyed any as much as the Chapel Springs series which was the first of hers that I read. 3 Stars
The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction by Meghan Cox Gurdon
Fantastic read on the benefits of reading aloud to others, mostly children but not exclusively. It was similar to The Read-Aloud Family which I also read and enjoyed previously. This one had a lot of studies and research to back it up (not that RAF didn't, I don't remember) and it really encouraged me even more to read to my kids, even as Luke is increasingly able to read to himself. Highly recommend to all parents of young kids. 4 Stars
The Wicked Redhead by Beatriz Williams
Isn't this a great title? Hahaha. I like seeing redheads get any acknowledgement, even for being wicked. This was the second in a series and I could barely remember what happened in the first, which maybe would have been helpful since it and the characters in it were frequently mentioned. I knew I read that one too fast so I was determined not to get lost in this one and I think I mostly succeeded. Although, looking back, not a lot happened so I'm assuming there is going to be a 3rd book? And I found myself liking the (almost) present day story line set in 1998 more than the historic (1920s?) one. Also, I really hope someone has made a giant map showing how all her books are connected because, short of rereading them all and taking lots of notes, I just can't figure it out myself. 3.5 Stars
The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
I finished this book for the third time about an hour before I sat down to write this post and, even on my third time through, still gives me the worst book hangover of almost any other book I've read. I enjoy it so. Full review here! 4.75 Stars
The Greatest Gift by Kallie GeorgeI think Luke and I must have been focusing a lot on picture books lately because we have not made much progress in our chapter books! This was a reread and one he requested - we read the whole Heartwood Hotel series last year and he liked them so much he wanted to read them again. It's about a group of smaller forest animals who live and work in an animal hotel - the Heartwood Hotel. There are 4 books, one set in each season and this is the winter book, second in the series. We will be rereading spring and summer when we get to those! 3.75 Stars
That's what I've been reading lately, what have YOU been reading lately? I am completely serious about always wanting to know what everyone else is reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment