Beating the backlist in 2023, AKA working my way through an out-of-control bookcase
Surveying my stacks of books that have now spilled out from the bookshelves and into piles, I decided it was time to participate in the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge. As per the challenge, it is: ‘designed to help you tackle all the books you…
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The Mid-Year Book Freakout – 2022 edition
1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2022 This is a tough one, but the one that made the biggest impression on me is Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go In The Dark. 2. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to Love…
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10 books with fruit on the cover
Inspired by the recent Top Ten Tuesday prompt of ‘Books with —- on the cover’, I decided to try this one out…
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5 dystopian fiction reads for AAPI heritage month
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. I’m going to be doing a mini-series on books I’ve loved by AAPI authors in different genres – last time it was lit fic, today it’s dystopian fiction… Do you have anything you’d add to this…
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5 literary fiction reads for AAPI heritage month
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. I’m going to be doing a mini-series on books I’ve loved by AAPI authors in different genres, and coming up first are my favourite lit fic reads – to be enjoyed any time of the year!…
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One-Word Reviews for the Last 10 Books I Read
This is this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic. My reviews may be many things but they aren’t brief, so this might be a challenge…
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Reacting to One-Star Reviews of Books I Love
I can’t remember where I first saw it (if you’re the creator, let me know!) but I love the idea of this book tag. Disclaimer that everyone is entitled to their own bookish thoughts and feelings and just because they’re wrong about these books, doesn’t…
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10 books with disembodied female faces on the cover
If you hadn’t noticed, the publishing industry has got a bit of a thing for this.
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5 books that exceeded my expectations (& 5 that didn’t…)
My reading fortune comes in waves. Sometimes I feel that everything I pick up that I’d been really looking forward to turns out to be a flop. But then – there are those gems that totally take you by surprise, and end up becoming firm…
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10 books with character names in the titles
I can hardly believe that I got to the end of this list without even thinking of Harry Potter once!
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10 books on my winter 2021 TBR
Here’s another overly-optimistic list to see me through the dark winter months. ‘A darkly funny, soul-rending novel of love in an epoch of collapse–one woman’s furious revisiting of family, marriage, work, sex, and motherhood.’ ‘A brilliant debut novel that brings to life an abandoned hospital…
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Six Degrees of Separation: Shirley Jackson to Lisa Taddeo
The starting book for this month is The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. I’d never heard of this short, frightening story – which caused an absolute uproar when published the 1940s in the New Yorker. So of course I had to see what all the fuss was…
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Top 10 Tuesday | Books on my autumn 2021 TBR
I think by now I’ve come to accept that I don’t have the dedication to read all the books I optimistically put on a TBR. Shiny new books pop up on my radar and distract me; life gets in the way. But as I’ve mentioned…
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Top 10 Tuesday | Books with numbers in the title
Welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday! I love these creative themes and they always get me remembering books I’ve not thought about in forever. This one is pretty self-explanatory, so here we go… A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Since I recently read…
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9 Titles That Made Want to Buy the Book
This is another Top Ten Tuesday, but since I am at the mercy of these WordPress layouts I’m resigned to just go with 9. Have you read any of these? What books have you bought on the basis of their title alone? Books I’ve read…
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Top 10 Tuesday | Books on my Summer 2021 TBR
Summer TBR? It feels like I just wrote my Spring TBR (and let’s not talk about the fact that I only finished 4 of the 10 and DNF’d 2…) but I can’t resist a list, so here goes… I can’t even pick what I’m most…
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Book Tag | Goodreads Was Wrong
This has been floating around the book blogosphere for a few years, but I believe the tag originated with Gabs About Books on YouTube. I have a love-hate relationship with Goodreads, and have used it inconsistently over the past 11 years (!!) and I’m intrigued…
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Top Ten Tuesday | My Ten Most Recent Reads
This week’s TTT topic is ten most recent reads, with a one-line review for each. I think writing a one-line review will be more of a challenge for me than writing the usual ~500 word reviews, but here we go!
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Six Degrees of Separation | Douglas Stuart to Zakiya Dalila Harris
This month’s starting book is Booker-prize-winning Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, which sets the tone for the rest of this list – brace yourself for a heavy one…
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Pairings of fiction and non-fiction books
So, I initially wanted to participate in this as part of non-fiction November, but life happened – five months later, here I am! I really enjoyed reading other readers’ pairings last year, and I love the concept. Meng Jing, ‘Little Gods’ and Mei Fong, ‘One…
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Top Ten Tuesday | Yellow/Green/Purple covers in honour of Mardi Gras
Finally, a tangible pay-off for colour-coding my bookshelves! This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a showcase of yellow/green/purple book covers in celebration of Mardi Gras, a festival I knew nothing about before moving to the US (we call it Shrove Tuesday in the UK, and…
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Covers That Could Do Better | Book Tag
I first saw this tag over on Ally Writes Things (originally created by CJ Reads) and it just felt like such frivolous fun that I’m giving it a go. I love browsing the library shelves and bookshops (pre-covid) and judging books by their covers, and…
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Six Degrees of Separation | Judy Blume to Diana Evans
Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate. Each month, everyone starts with the same book and we see where our links take us. Our starting book for this month’s Six Degrees is Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume. This book is celebrating its…
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Six Degrees of Separation: from Henry James to Sylvia Plath
Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate. Each month, everyone starts with the same book and we see where our links take us. The starting point for this month’s Six Degrees is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, a gothic horror published at the…
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Six Degrees of Separation: Curtis Sittenfeld to Bernadine Evaristo
Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate. Each month, everyone starts with the same book and we see where our connections take us. This is my first time participating in this #booktag, so here we go! Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is our starting book. It’s on…
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Book Tag | The Mid-Year Book Freakout
The fact that it is the middle of 2020 is mind-boggling. On one hand, I am mentally stuck in March, but on the other, it feels like this new reality has been with us for much longer than four months. About the only positive thing…
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Top Ten Tuesday | Books with summer vibes
Out of respect for yesterday’s #BlackoutTuesday, I am posting this a day late. I will be reading, donating, and continuously learning about how I can give my support, and I encourage everyone to do the same: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ On a roll from participating in Top 10…
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Top Ten Tuesday | Best Opening Lines
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It’s been a looong time since I took part in this tag, but what better time to start again…
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Book Tag | Would You Rather
Thank you to Hannah at Books & Bakes for tagging me in this! I enjoyed reading her responses and she’s come up with some very thought-provoking questions that were fun to ponder. Hannah’s questions & my answers are below… Would you rather read an amazing…
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Top 5 Wednesday | Books I Want to Read Before the End of the Year
‘Top 5 Wednesday’ is a weekly meme currently hosted on Goodreads, and while I haven’t participated in ages, I thought this would be a good opportunity to reflect on my TBR for the rest of 2018. Into The Water by Paula Hawkins The Girl on the…
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Top Ten Tuesday | Books I Could Re-read Forever
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly featured hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. I am the kind of person who, if I find something I love, will want to read it/watch it/eat it again and again. This might explain why I have devoured the whole first…
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Top Ten Tuesday | Bookish Resolutions
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly featured hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week I’m looking ahead to 2018 and my book-related goals (I’m a big one for making resolutions, and even if I don’t manage to stick to them I find the reflective…
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Top Ten Tuesday | Bookish Settings I’d Love to Visit
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and the theme this week is one I very much enjoyed thinking about – settings in books that I would love to visit. There’s not quite ten here, but close enough!…
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Top 5 Wednesday | Books You’re Thankful For
Since having recently moved to the US, this is my first experience of Thanksgiving! This is also only my second participation in Top 5 Wednesday, a weekly feature hosted by ThoughtsOnTomes. You can join the group on Goodreads to find out the topics for each week. Here goes… 1.…
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Top 5 Wednesday | Non-horror Books that Scared You
Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by ThoughtsOnTomes. You can join the group on Goodreads to find out the topics for each week. This is my first time participating, and what with Halloween almost upon us, I couldn’t resist…
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Top 10 Tuesday | Top Ten Unique Book Titles
I’ll be the first to admit that an interesting title, even more so than an interesting cover, is what catches my eye. I have bought a great deal of books on the basis of the title alone – and so far it has almost always…
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Autumn/Winter TBR
I feel like it might be a little late to start a TBR for autumn, but since I have just moved to the sunny climes of the United States South-East, where it very much does not feel like the British autumns I am accustomed to,…
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NOVELS AND TEACUPS 