I LOVED THIS BOOK! I'm always happy to find a book that deals in something often done in fiction (in this case, time travel) and somehow finds a completely new approach that's a surprise the whole way through. It was a GREAT audiobook too! I'm trying to learn how to listen to fiction better (it's a whole new way of absorbing stories!) and this worked really well.

I'm mourning the official closure of my local Renaissance Fair this year, and I hoped this would help. It has a LOT going for it, including really sweet side characters and a nice cozy setting, and very good Ren Fair vibes. I just can't get into contemporary romances, I don't know what it is! I'm saying it's a pick because I think this was a good book if you do like contemporaries. I think I just have to accept that they're not my thing.

Continuing to remember recent horror reads I've loved. This one was a sci-fi horror completely unlike any I've read, with a really effective sense of dread throughout. (Picture because I'm currently browsing the horror tags of my Libby app--I definitely recommend Libby if you don't already have it!)

I read this a while ago but was just talking to a friend about how sadly few contemporary horror books there are that don't treat their female characters like garbage. This one was great about it, as well as genuinely creepy and compelling.

I needed a straightforward romance to get out of a book slump, and this delivered. It had some really great banter, often filled with Shakespeare references.

It's been a long time since I have read a 500+ page literary novel, and I finished this one in a few days. I was enraptured. It feels weird to say if surprised me because I knew it would be great, but still it did.

This book creeped me out SO MUCH but the prose was also so beautiful. It managed to have every kind of horror, from creatures to body horror to stuff making noise just out of eyesight and you KNOW it‘s there and it‘s closing in... But besides the spooky fun, it was a truly gorgeous meditation on the blurry definitions around nature & humanity & I loved it. I‘m pretty excited for the movie, how about you?

I really loved this charming collection of Christmas stories. A broad variety of genre and perspectives on the season, with a lot of humor and just the perfect blend of sentiment and sharpness. Longer review on my blog: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/miracle-and-other-christm...

This book was delightful and fun, especially in audiobook form.

Mental health has been keeping me away from reading a bit, and sadly, also from this app. Getting into romance novels has definitely helped. ❤️

Omg I love this book.

This book subverted my expectations at every turn, which makes sense for a book that wants to examine and trouble what it means to be innocent or guilty. Longer review in my blog (in bio).

This book had some good spooky moments, but also some odd gender stuff. I'm also not sure that the ending quite landed. Longer review in the blog linked in my bio.

Keeping because my partner is the Fred Vincy to my Mary Garth (although he has his life together more than Fred does...).

Some books are classics for a reason. I completely adored Middlemarch, and Rebecca Mead's book was the perfect way to fangirl about it afterwards. Longer review here: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/my-month-in-middlemarch/?...

I had never read romance before, but Book Riot talked so much about how fun and smart and feminist Sarah MacLean books were, so I decided to give them a try at a time when life was really hard, and sure enough, it got me through a lot. ❤ Don't be ashamed to find joy in reading. Longer review here: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/the-rule-of-scoundrels-se...

Starting a new series on my blog, Books & Actions. I've been thinking of Anne's strong, clear voice in light of the Muslim ban, the same "America first" ideology that kept her from safety. We must act now. https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/books-action-the-diary-of...

How I ended my birthday evening. My lovely roommates got me a time turner. :) And this is the beauty I picked up at The Book Loft. :)

For my birthday on the 19th, the boy took me to my favorite place in the world, and I bought a magical-looking kid's book to fit the whimsy of the trip.

I saw my favorite bookstore immortalized in gingerbread earlier today; now I'm cuddled up with a Christmas read. 🎄🔥☕️📚

I'm brand new to the romance genre, and along comes a protagonist who's a science geek & doesn't understand romance at all, speaking straight to my heart. Thanks @bookriot for alerting me to this hole in my life.

I'm not even sure how to review this book. A beautiful, almost ethereal experience; a weaving of memories, nature, folklore, family. It asks, how are our voices shaped? How does the world speak to us? What do we choose to say, what do we choose to keep silent? What does it mean to be able to speak? Longer review can be found here: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2016/11/03/when-women-were-birds-by-... #memoir

I've been wanting to read this book ever since I came across a Buzzfeed interview between Johansen & Roxane Gay, and it did not disappoint. The universe is rich, textured, and has a really great twist. This book tackles some HEAVY, ever-relevant questions & doesn't shy away from the horrors we can find in the answers. Longer review can be found here: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/queen-of-the-tearling-by-...

YOU GUYS. I'm a fan of Vaughan's already from SAGA, and I LOVED Stranger Things, and this is such a perfect marriage. It's more than just "Stranger Things but with more girls," though (even tho that would be enough). It's wildly creative & SUPER creepy. Vaughan's imagination is a playground and I love it. More detailed review on my blog: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/paper-girls-by-brian-k-va...

An incredibly imagined book that wonders if and how the human race could survive after a catastrophe renders Earth uninhabitable for thousands of years. Sounds like a downer (and I def. sobbed), but it's engrossing and beautiful, especially the way the smallest details of personal relationships come to have importance. More detailed review here: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2016/10/08/seveneves-by-neal-stephen...

My lovely boyfriend surprised me with a kindle for absolutely no reason, and I can't imagine how I didn't have one before. I was never particularly anti-eReader or anything but I'm completely hooked. Making my way through Seveneves now which is beautiful and smart and terrifying and has already made me bawl.

This book completely engrossed me. The relationship between Macdonald and her hawk was unlike any I've read. She was able to perfectly express both the hawk's personality and wildness; it never felt like a simple caricature, but a real, breathing animal. The backdrop of this relationship helped move me through Macdonald's grieving process over her father's death perfectly. Longer review on my blog (link in bio) if you're interested!

"But I am talking about how, in a singular situation, at a singular time--at the witching hour, if you will--a person can find herself thoroughly unsettled. At such a moment, the weakest part of you floats up through viscous liquid, up through your gut, your intestines, your fleshy arteries, through the very source points of your wateriest emotions, as unstable as water. Anything becomes possible, and a person finds she is capable of many things."

On a trip to Maine I checked out ELEMENTS: Books Coffee Beer. Scored a copy of The Lover for 25 cents off the sale cart. 🙌

Woah. I needed this.

Subtlety is apparently lost on me.

This book is thorough, fascinating, and terrifying. Schiff expertly contextualizes this seemingly anomalous stain in our history, complicating everyone involved. The result is an eerie warning of how easy it is for fear and paranoia to take over logic and compassion in a world so rigidly structured, so unforgiving of deviance. More detailed review here: https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/the-witches-by-stacy-schi...

This book is thorough, compelling, completely fascinating, and completely terrifying. Schiff expertly contextualizes the world in which these horrifying events occurred, exploring every nuance (like the one above--the accusers, whom I planned to hate, are complicated by their context). It's an eerie warning of letting fear, paranoia, and rigid social regulations dominate a society. Definitely worth a read.

Just posted about my experience going to a midnight release party (and some brief thoughts about the book towards the end). https://adventuresoffsyllabus.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/midnight-release-party-fo...

As seen from last night. I made it through Act One before crashing. #harrypotter #cursedchild

It's almost time!! 📚⚡️#harrypotter #cursedchild #midnightrelease

"I crouched in the bushes in Mama's green chiffon evening gown, wearing my crown of bird skulls. I'd collected the skulls for two years, spray-painted them gold, and glued them to a Burger King crown, along with fake emeralds and glowing shells of June bugs." My favorite short story collection to date: sharp & prescient & so intelligent, and filled with delicious imagery like this.

What I talk about when I talk about swimming. #maggienelson #essays #creativenonfiction #cnf #summer