From One Book Lover

I love My Library. Often I visit virtually, but I treasure my trips to the wonderful building. I traveled to my local branch Friday afternoon, and I carried out some really good books on home organization, world history, sci fi, and more. My cat Ginger — pictured below with (or, rather, on) my library loot — supports my reading, as long as my lap remains available for her occupation. So far, so good. My Library helped me channel my Inner Organizer with a few books on home organization and decluttering. When I got the message from the library that my books were ready, I hurried on over to pick up: Love the home you have Living simple, free & happy: how to simplify, declutter your home and reduce stress, debt, and waste Knack organizing your home: decluttering solutions and storage ideas Whether or not any of that wisdom sticks, My Library did its part. I had considered writing a Haggadah for my family because I had yet to find one that inspired me (nothing personal, ...

In 2017, I read 60 books.  I think. Keeping track isn't as easy as it should be. Marking e-books as "read" on Goodreads is easy, thanks to a feature that prompts readers to "mark as currently reading" when opening the book and automatically listing them as "read" when flipping the last page. Alas, print books don't offer the same auto-prompt when a reader cracks the spine. However, I try to remember to record completed print and audio book titles on my cloud drive, and cross-check my drive list against Goodreads from time to time. It's a handy resource to remind myself why a book seems so familiar . (Ahem, Mariana !) Which is a long way of saying, "In 2017, I am pretty sure I read 60 books, give or take." It's not a personal best, but it is a healthy number considering my bout of reading ennui this summer. A friend experienced the same thing last year, and I didn't understand until I stood in front of my bookshelves and...

Warning: ahead be spoilers. Continue at your own risk. I was looking for a book that was a good October read (fantasy or something equally unique) that wasn't a series, a fete increasingly hard to accomplish. I had begun listening to it a few months ago, and it was interesting, so I gave myself a reason to carry on. I am so glad I did. That was one rocking, rollicking ride!  Every time I thought a storyline was resolved and wondered what in the world could come next, Naomi Novik came up with something totally original, logical to the story, and fantastic.  It felt like an Old World fairy tale, and the audiobook reader had a Polish accent - which, after reading the afterward, made total sense. I also thought it was brilliant to include Baba Yaga, the European witch of lore, and introducing Jaga was a very subtle move to provide that element and make it feel as old as that tale. As much as I love the first line — indeed, the first paragraph — the story started out a li...

I love Dan Brown. From Angels & Demons to The DaVinci Code , he was on-point. I'll never forget the early excitement and thrill of the chase with the brilliant Harvard swimmer — er, professor. But my love for Robert Langdon and his adventures thins out in subsequent novels, and Origin  doesn't revive it. In fact, I stopped reading Brown's latest novel about a quarter of the way through.I feel like I kept reading a lot longer than I wanted, but I was trying to get to the "good part" before I surrendered. Origin made me start counting how many ways smiles could be used as adjectives. The villain nearly twirled his big black mustache every time he appeared on the page. The villain was so much like Silas, deep in his misguided faith in his boss and his deity, I kept expecting references to albinism. I appreciated Brown's patient, thorough, and loving description of the Guggenheim Bilbao; someday, I may return to the book just to see to what other ...

Happy autumn!  It's been a busy reading summer. I tried to keep the pages turning relatively consistently as the summer progressed, but at times battled  reading ennui .  However, I refused to be thwarted, and managed to get a couple dozen books under my belt under the summer sun — or in the summer air conditioning. Either way, I read. I didn't beat my personal best — that would be  summer 2015  — but I read widely and bravely. Plus, I read  multiple books at a time, so my TBR shelf continues to groan from books begun in the heat of summer. I re-read  The Magicians , because the author will be at this year's  Fall for the Book Festival .    When I originally read it a few years ago, I really wanted to like it. This summer, I can honestly say I liked it, and have just begun reading the second novel in the series.  I discovered some great graphic novels, including one about a young girl with cystic fibrosis and her older s...

August was my month away from most social media (and a few other distractions), so I finished quite a few books. I got into a groove with a few graphic novels. I laughed, I cried, I coveted the skill of illustration. (My stick figures frighten children, so I don't doodle. I take copious notes. Seriously, people, even my less than stellar handwriting is better than my doodles.) I met a few characters I never knew, including relatives of daring adventurers pressed into service in a steampunk world and an impetuous man-child who really needed the very role model he lost. I indulged my new interest in mystery novels with a couple of ridiculously fun novels that featured smart women and their cats. (I could have done without the romance, but at least one of the series isn't too sappy about it.) I read a new novel by an old favorite author — and hated it. I read a book I read once before, a few years ago, and all the while kept wondering why it was so familiar. And, jus...

August is Summer Reading Program go-time! Looking for a good book? E-mail me for suggestions, or pick a title or two from my summer reading list: The Descent Wolf Hall Bone Season The Keeper of Lost Things The Book of Harlan The Clockwork Scarab Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter  The Sixth Extinction See you in September — let's compare our reading list successes then!