celebrating books & the literary lifestyle
I had a slow start to reading in 2022 and remember wondering if I would even find five new books to strongly recommend by the end of the year (as is my tradition).
But by early fall I was finishing one really good read after another, and I had to give some thought before narrowing it down to five of my favorites (published in 2022). Some of these books I finished so recently that I haven’t had a chance to post about them individually.
Continue readingI’m bringing two book recommendations to you today – both of these are new releases off of my fall reading list.
One is a climate fiction (what happens when Florida is no longer sustainable) and the other is one of my favorite genres, WWII historical fiction, but a specific horror I had not read about before.
Continue readingLast week I posted my fall reading list and I’m back to review the first book, which I had early access to thanks to NetGalley. The book is now available to all:
Picoult was the author of a book I truly enjoyed last year – Wish You Were Here – so that’s why it first attracted my attention.
In Mad Honey, two moms are starting over; their kids fall in love. One ends up tragically dead and the other is accused of murder. What follows is a family and courtroom drama as well as a murder mystery and a love story told from two points of view (the mom of the accused and the girl who died). Without giving more plot details away, here’s why I liked the book:
Continue readingJust in time for Fall reading, I am presenting a list of nine new books I’m eagerly anticipating. There’s a good mix here – historical fiction (of course), thrillers of climate and family, non-fiction about the evils of social media, new books from critically acclaimed authors and another on death row.
Check out my reading list and read with me!
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I just returned from a summer road trip where – thanks to the S.S. Badger – my family visited Michigan and Wisconsin without driving through Chicago, and enjoyed long, sandy beaches and massive water parks during the same vacation. For me, vacation = reading so I can also recommend two books today while reminiscing about my fun travels.
Continue readingAgain I have to thank the University of ILLINOIS alumni book club for introducing me to a book I loved.
Before it was The Glass Hotel by one of my now favorite authors!
My most recent book club read is A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende.
Continue readingI want to share my favorite travel books. These are the books I browse through over and over to plan and dream about vacations.
If you read this blog often you already know that I love planning vacations. And because the actual vacation usually includes driving and/or flying, and relaxing, vacations and BOOKS go so well together.
Related post: My four book vacation.
Most recently I wrote about trips to Jamaica and Memphis.
I love reading travel books, and this is one of my favorite sections in the library; I always have a couple of books borrowed from this section! But these books I’m listing below, I actually own, and I use them again and again.
Continue readingHappy summer, readers!
I want to recommend several books I’ve enjoyed recently and tell you what’s still on my summer reading list!
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Back around the turn of the century (wow!!) I traveled to Memphis often because my hometown BFF lived there. (And she still does, more on this later.)
But I hadn’t been there for about 20 years (again, wow) so I invited myself along while suggesting that my mom finally make her pilgrimage to Graceland.
And by the end of the trip, I found myself to be just as big of an Elvis fan!!
We traveled with Timi’s Tours out of my hometown. You may know from previous posts that I love planning my vacations and obsess over every detail. I will admit, however, there were some nice things about having someone else do all of this for me.
Continue readingI am a huge fan of The Great Gatsby and have read it several times. I also loved the 2013 movie (with Leonardo), and I wrote a post on that several years ago about how I will always consider this movie when thinking of the book.
The copyright on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book expired in 2021 so it is now in the public domain, making it legal for someone to write a different version of it, which Jillian Cantor has done in:
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