#Celebrate Day 5: #StickerOnCvr #StickerOnCover on this book for being a National Book Award finalist. I suspect this one is perfect for our #BIPOCIntlAuthorArtist2026 reading theme.
pickI‘ve read this twice before and I still love this book of short stories, essays, and recipes. It‘s just very soothing at such a busy time of year.
pickThe stories in this book were fantastic (not to compare but this book satisfies what I was hoping to read in Bliss Montage). I picked this book up on a whim at Rose City Reads - a used bookstore in NE Portland - and I‘m so grateful that I gave it a chance. I already have the author‘s other books on hold at the library. Well written and thought-invoking stories - the whole lot.
I was on a short fiction streak in Oct/Nov and this was a truly stellar collection. All the stories were fantastic, but the ones I loved best tied into the novels I've read.
#12Booksof2025 November
A few excellently spooky stories for October. It's Edith Wharton, so even the boring stories were well-crafted.
#12booksof2025
My 13 Favorite Books of 2025:
1. Henry V - Dan Jones
2. . For Whom The Belle Tolls - Jaysea Lynn
3. Once In A Blue Moon - Simon R. Green
4. Odyssey - Stephen Fry
5. Why We Love Football - Joe Pasnanski
6. Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
7. The Angel of The Crows - Katherine Addison
8. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
9. The Shattering Peace - John Scalzi
10. The Summer War - Naomi Novik
11. Lake of Souls - Ann Leckle
pickThere are over 50 "stories" in this 174-page book, so no surprise that they are very short, some being only one line. Naturally, then, most of the ideas are conceptual: you get the gist and fill in the blanks yourself. Matsuda gets this to work more often than not, and her surreal feminist commentaries on Japanese (and global) culture mostly hit home, but I think I'd have preferred some editing to either remove or expand the ones that don't. 3.5⭐
pickWhat an amazing collection of weird fairy tales! Dinesen sets stories in the Danish past to explore themes of power, love, wealth, sacrifice, and dignity. Only one includes a supernatural element but they all feel somewhat uncanny and idealized. Some of them left me bemused.
The fact they were written while Copenhagen was occupied by the Nazis adds a layer of fascination.
Off to a great start 2026!
