#Celebrate Day 13: This epistolary novel is definitely #CharacterDriven - either Sibylle grows on you or you find the entire premise unbelievable. I am of the former camp and came to the university with my eyes swollen after reading the entire book the night before. Cannot wait to discuss as part of #WinterCampLitsy. Paired with v60 coffee to find out what the hype is about - found it too fruity with notes of sour fruit, so yeah, pass.

#Celebrate Day 12: This picturebook biography of astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne definitely fits #STEM title. As I noted in my review: “The book creators used the metaphor of a star being born as juxtaposed and layered into the life narrative of Cecilia” - more here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-rdg

#Celebrate Day 11: #MagicalRealism, Islamic revolution, and stories told by a ghost girl in this unforgettable novel. As I noted in my review: “There is anger in this novel – and a wound that can never be healed – except maybe when filled up with greengages or songs of mermaids or ghosts who beat the living shit out of police officers who are torturing their fathers.” More here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-mZT

#Celebrate Day 10: The book on the left (tagged book) fits into the #LockedRmMystery #LockedRoomMystery - I gifted both titles to the two daughters of my former student whose family lives in Seattle. 📚📚📚 And yes, I got both books from the Kinokuniya branch in Seattle.

#Celebrate Day 9: This is a #ChoseWoutBlurb #ChoseWithoutBlurb type of book - because, hello, Hala Alyan. I loved both her Salt Houses and The Arsonist‘s City and her co-edited poetry anthology, We Call to the eye and the night. So yes, I will read absolutely anything she writes. This is her latest one that I got while in California. 😍

#Celebrate Day 8: Imagine a dystopian world where chickens are sentient beings. While the setting demonstrates that the world, as a whole, is generally accepting of the rights of chickens as identical to that of human beings – as mandated by the United Nations, no less – they still experience discrimination and xenophobia (or chicken-phobia, in this case). #InclPhobia #IncludePhobia. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-mA7

#Celebrate Day 7: These are two #NF #Nonfiction titles I am proud to own. Tagged book has made it to my #Top25of2025 in books. 💕Here is the rest of my fave reads last year: https://wp.me/pDlzr-s3E

#Celebrate Day 6: This #HolidaySetting book interrogates what it means if you are the only Muslim family witnessing Christmas in your neighborhood. And as I noted in my review: “Just as I was searching for narratives that depict what it is like from an insider‘s vantage to truly celebrate Eid as a family, this book comes along.” Here‘s more: https://wp.me/pDlzr-rfq

#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.

#Celebrate Day 4: This one #HasAuthorNotes that are cleverly annotated by the unreliable narrator. I have abandoned it last year but wish to get back to it hopefully this year. I see very mixed reviews about it.

#Celebrate Day 3: An oceanic #Journey to witness the northern lights turned into a nightmarish near-death experience. A rare case of me enjoying the movie adaptation more than the book. Read this as part of my face to face book club who is hosting a netflix watch party instead of discussing the book next week in Dubai. Makes perfect sense, I thought. Book is paired with BJ‘s Dubai chocolate pizzookie and dubai chocolate espresso martini.

#Celebrate Day 2: #SetInLrgCity #SetInLargeCity specifically New York and Singapore (city-state). Margaret Leng Tan, born in 1945 in Singapore, hailed by The New York Times as the “Queen of the Toy Piano” won a scholarship to study piano at Juilliard in New York when she was sixteen. A fascinating picturebook biography of Singapore‘s neurodivergent national treasure. My feature here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qJU

Very excited to share our 2026 reading theme over at GatheringBooks: #AuthorAMonth2026 and #BIPOCIntlAuthorArtist2026. Will do my best to highlight authors who are BIPOC and whose books are published in languages other than English (and translated into English).
Here‘s the link to our announcement post: https://wp.me/pDlzr-s78 Do join us, too, if you are so inclined. What reading challenges are you joining this year?

#Celebrate Day 1: Happy New Year to my favorite book people in the internets!!! This #TitleBasedOnSong is what inspired our 2010 reading theme in GatheringBooks: Picturebooks That Sing. Joni Mitchell‘s Chelsea Morning illuminated. Lovelovelove Joni. Here‘s my full feature of the picturebook illustrated bt Brian Froud: https://wp.me/pDlzr-6b

I just posted my #Top25of2025 in books. What‘s yours? Do we have any overlaps? It‘s been a good year of reading with 202 books read in total.

https://wp.me/pDlzr-s3E

#DashingThruDecember Day 31: #Silver

#DashingThruDecember Day 30: These books and the tv adaptation feel like #XmasRomance #ChristmasRomance

#DashingThruDecember Day 29: My sister-in-law‘s husband is wonderful with #Decorate-ing their place for our baby gay‘s 24th birthday two days ago. Posting in advance since will be traveling soon. 😍🤩

#DashingThruDecember Day 28: A powerful wordless recently-released #Picturebook that I just borrowed via Libby. Review is forthcoming.

#DashingThruDecember Day 27: #Remembering all the books I have ever read is impossible, indeed - but they make up who I am as Emerson noted.

#DashingThruDecember Day 26: Mary Oliver‘s books, particularly this one, are my #FaveXmasBk(s) #FaveChristmasBook - filled with light, beauty, and blessings. Posting in advance as I may be out of commission in the coming days especially as we head back home to the Emirates on the 27th.

#DashingThruDecember Day 25: The #Red book is the one I need to get to early next year, that‘s for sure. I wish to find all the other titles in this list, too! The #Red book is the only one I own. 😍

#DashingThruDecember Day 24: This Dubai Chocolate pizzookie qualifies as giant #Cookies too (of sorts). Paired with a Dubai chocolate espresso martini. It‘s like our two homes (Bay Area and Dubai) collided today! 🍸

#DashingThruDecember Day 23: #Bells

#DashingThruDecember Day 22: This #Nutcracker board book is a delight. This dance primer is not only a celebration of classic ballet, it also highlights the many colours, the diversity of dance and its infinite variations. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-j34

#DashingThruDecember Day 21: I made personalized hand #craft-ed notes marked with cutesie stickers on the 40 books I bought to be given away to family and friends this Christmas - I feel like a book deity dispensing book blessings. ✨🌟🌙 Note on the left is for the tagged book, “The Arrival.” It was our baby gay‘s 24th birthday on the 21st so I am posting late. Here‘s my review of tagged book: https://wp.me/pDlzr-1ne

#DashingThruDecember Day 20: In this illustrated version of e. e. Cummings‘ poem, two siblings celebrate the joy of #WhiteChristmas. My fave lines from the poem:

“put up your little arms
and i‘ll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won‘t be a single place dark or unhappy”

My feature here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-4ST

#DashingThruDecember Day 19: #Snowball

#DashingThruDecember Day 18: Lots of #Wreath above our heads while on the Happy Place on Earth November of last year. 😍

#DashingThruDecember Day 17: Find out what happens when #StNick retires in this hilarious picturebook. My review is forthcoming. 🤞🏽 Maybe in time for Christmas 2026, lols.

#DashingThruDecember Day 16: These books qualify as #HolidayMystery along with several other middle grade mystery novels that Fats reviewed here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-j9O Enjoy!

#DashingThruDecember Day 15: All the pizzookies put together look like #Candy - especially the Dubai chocolate. 🍫

#DashingThruDecember Day 14: As befits the title, the women are indeed adventurers: participating in #sled dog races even when discouraged from doing so (Susan Butcher), circumnavigated the globe even when told that this is not possible (Nellie Bly), touched down on the moon and orbited around the Earth (Valentina Tereshkova) - among others. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-l3J

#DashingThruDecember Day 13: All Christmas #Ornament(s) in place here in my sister in law‘s home in the Bay Area. 🌷

#DashingThruDecember Day 12: My #Wishlist consists of books, naturally.

#DashingThruDecember Day 11: I found my favorite #HolidayCocktail and our #EuropaCollective pick for January here in the Bay Area. Let the winter break begin! Now if only my blasted colds will go away right about now.

#DashingThruDecember Day 10: This #Gold book was my longest read last year (2024). Cannot wait to see my stats for 2025.

#DashingThruDecember Day 9: Old clothes for dinner including #HolidaySweater - my review of the picturebook is forthcoming 🤞🏽📚📚📚🤓

#DashingThruDecember Day 8: I have three versions of Dickens‘ Christmas #Carols featured over at GatheringBooks three years ago - from Classic Arthur Rackham to Steampunk Zdenko Basic. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-aR1

#DashingThruDecember Day 7: #SecretSanta book club style - this was back in Singapore - I do miss my book tribe there. 😘

#DashingThruChristmas Day 6: Loads of #HolidayRecipe in this hilarious book - my review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-yL - posting in advance as we are doing a road trip to San Diego. 10 hours, baby!

#DashingThruDecember Day 5: The #LightDisplay we witnessed in Versailles last year was phenomenal and definitely a core memory to last a lifetime.

#DashingThruDecember Day 4: Still our family‘s fave #HolidayFilm of all time. Fats‘ review of Van Allsburg‘s classic picturebook here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-aMS

#DashingThruDecember Day 3: #Snowflake - mother and child listening to Snow On The Beach when it first came out.

#DashingThruDecember Day 2: Ice hockey does involve #IceSkating. One of my absolute fave series. Backman is Love. Although full disclosure, I did not particularly like his latest one.

#DashingThruDecember Day 1: This Danish classic is #Green - gifted to me by a lovely PhD student.

#ARichLife Day 30: #Satisfied

#ARichLife Day 29: #Humble

#ARichLife Day 28: Lots of #Bread paired with Saramago‘s novel as I was on my way to Lisbon last year. Posting in advance as I will be traveling in two days‘ time.

#ARichLife Day 27: A veritable quesadilla explosion very Chili‘s type of #Feast. Delish paired with Ken Liu‘s newest book. And did I just mention that I will be moderating his session for the Emirates Lit Fest in Dubai this January? Oopsie, big reveal!! Soooo excited!