The top 6 books I read in July. All fantastic, all 4 stars and above.

I‘m not even sure how to describe this book. It‘s weird, at times unbelievably strange, and quirky and fun and fantastical. Listened to the audiobook narrated by the author. Loved her voice! Definitely the way to go although I may attempt to read the physical book at some point. Read this at the end June and I'm still thinking about it. Originally gave it 4⭐️ but I think I'm going to change that to 5⭐️

What a fantastic year so far! I've been reading some very wonderful books, some well known but others not on too many lists, though they should be. You can't go wrong picking up any of the books from up above.

For about a year now I've been trying something new with mystery reads, audiobooks. It's really changed how I consume mystery series. I can be on the go and still be absorbed in the stories. Loving it!

My 4.5 star reads from Jan-Jun:

Go Tell It to the Mountain - James Baldwin
Notorious RBG - Irin Carmon
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within - Becky Chambers
A Master of Djinn - P. Djèlí Clark
The Address Book - Deirdre Mask
The Black House, The Lewis Man, The Chess Man - Peter May
Dead Land - Sara Paretsky
Deja Dead - Kathy Reichs
Faithless in Death - JD Robb
Murder on Cold Street - Sherry Thomas
The Yield - Tara June Winch

Haven't been on here this year but I've still been reading. I recommend these 4 books without reservation. Just fantastic reads!

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall - non-fiction about the women forgotten by the feminist movement
Quiet In Her Bones by Nalini Singh - thriller by one of my fav authors
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton - historical about a musical duo in the 1970's
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - sci-fi (need I say more?)

My 5 star reads of 2020. Loved all the books but Ring Shout was my absolute favorite of the year.

Now that 2020 is finally coming to an end, I only have 4 days to finish the rest of the books on my 2020 challenge list. Luckily, it's only 2 books by 2 authors that I love.

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón &
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou

Sunday morning shelf image

My favorites of the last few years in no particular order

Interspersed with Agatha Christie audiobooks, I've been listening to Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries. Funnier than I remember them being. Lots of fun.

Still having a great time listening to Agatha Christie mysteries. Why didn't anyone tell me that listening to audiobooks of past favorites is so fun! 😜

5 Hercule Poirot (The Mystery of the Blue Train, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, Three Act Tragedy, Death in the Clouds)
1 Miss Marple (They Do It With Mirrors)

A novella that follows two timelines, the historical one where pregnant African slave women are thrown overboard in the crossing along side the tale of the current historian. Yetu is chosen to be the oral historian/keeper of how their species evolved and the pain that comes with it. Best word to describe the story - haunting. 4.5🌟 but I think I need to reread it cause I know I missed things.

These last couple of weeks I've been listening to old favorites from my library. Ended up listening to quite a few as I've been “fall cleaning“. Been lots of fun to revisit Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Amelia Peabody.

1. Anxious People
2. Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
3. All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
4. Anything written by Ernest Hemingway

@Tove_Reads
#questionsandanswers

August Reading Wrap Up: 14 books read

Best Fiction: The Night Watchman
Best Non-Fiction: Between the World and Me
Most Boring: An Unkindness of Magicians

Such a good month of reading! Looking forward to September's books.

This was the last of my summer challenge #EightPerfectMurdersChallenge, which for the most part has been fun. Unfortunately, I had to bail on this one. Got to page 138, couldn‘t go on. It came down to not caring about any of the characters let alone why Bunny was murdered. Gave it 3 chances in the summer. Time to move on and put a hold on EPM to complete the challenge.

@LiteraryinLititz & @Julsmarshall did you end up reading them all?

I always forget how much I enjoy Louise Erdrich books. The writing seems so straightforward and almost simple but to the point. Really makes you think. And it transports you to her worlds. Am thinking of rereading her Love Medicine series.

Of course all my library holds came in all at once. Which one should I start with?

So excited to start this book! Love it when the library comes through.

2019 was a fantastic reading year! 9 5-🌟!
Maya Angelou's 7 part autobiographies are a must read. They are the cherries on my reading lists and I only allow myself one a year. Highly recommend them.
Michelle Obama's autobiography is outstanding!
I was spoiled with all the good books last year.

I may have gone a bit overboard on putting books on hold from my 2 library systems...

Picked them up yesterday and now I have to decide which one to start with. #riches

Only had 2 5🌟 books for 2018. Lots of good/great/lovely books but these 2 were the standouts.

Listened to #WeShouldAllBeFeminists on audio and I loved it just as much, if not more, than I did in 2015 (gave the paperback 5🌟 as well). Gave a copy of it to several people in my life.

#DestinyDisrupted was so interesting! To read about history through the non-Western perspective was eye opening. Highly recommend it.

#DecadeofBooks

Who knew I would absolutely love a book written in prose? Not me. I often shy away from it. Should've known that Elizabeth Acevedo wouldn't let me down. Clap When You Land is such a wonderful and, at times, bittersweet story about 2 sisters finding each other after their father has died. Loved that we got the story from both perspectives. Read it in one day. A top read for this year. 5🌟 all the way!

Early July has been a dive into romance/chick lit/adult fiction. If I can't get to the beach this summer, then I'm throwing fun reading in. Any and all suggestions welcome!

One of the last people to have read Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Always shy away from hyped books & wait a while before I pick them up. Definitely worth the wait!

Beautiful cover! Read the first short story (by Amerie) and it was fantastic. Can‘t wait to get to the stories by Elizabeth Acevedo, Justina Ireland, Charlotte Nicole Davis among many others.

Really good books for the last week of June.

Favorite of the week/month was Washington Black. Read it!!

The Borrowed was made up of 6 interlocking stories about a Hong Kong detective. Great.

Double Indemnity was part of #EightPerfectMurdersProject. Didn't think I'd like it but it was very good. That leaves me with 2 more books to complete before reading EPM, A Secret History and Malice Aforethought.

Liked The Moor's Account as well.

4/4

One more Agatha Christie, this time The ABC Murders which I read for my #EightPerfectMurdersProject. Hercule Poirot is the best. Enjoyed the book and the watched the episode on #britbox. Fantastic!

Another great series is Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope mysteries. Watched the series first and then started the books. Telling Tales is the second one. Good writer.

DeathTrap-one more for the EPM project. Ok.

The Guest List was pretty good.

3/4

Network Effect was the book I had been most anticipating early this month. And it was great! If you haven't read this sci-fi series, I highly recommend it. There are 4 novellas and then this full length novel. Can't wait till her next one.

Completed the Tommy & Tuppence series by Agatha Christie. Still like Hercule Poirot the best and then Miss Marple.

Read The Lager Queen for book club. Eh.

2/4

June's book reviews in 4 parts. Weirdly I ended up reading 4 books per week 🤷🏻‍♀️

Had an Agatha Christie week continuing the Tommy & Tuppence series and then a Miss Marple mystery. I've decided to read through her mysteries for however long it takes (assuming into next year).

Surprisingly I disliked The Southern Book Club's Guide. Had been looking forward to it. Oh well.

1/4

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a cook but I do enjoy reading about food usually through a travel memoir. Was surprised in 2017 to find Eight Flavors a 5🌟 read. Who knew the history of food could be so interesting?

Other 5🌟 for the year: One of Us is Lying, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore & All Our Wrong Tomorrows.
#DecadeofBooks

*I'm thinking of buying all my 5🌟reads for my home library. Anyone else do that?

A book that should be read in school! There's so much I didn't know whether by omitted history taught throughout K-12 or by my own lack of seeking knowledge outside my comfort zone. I had/have the privilege to ignore anything that discomforted me. Time for me to step up. #blacklivesmatter

2016 was a great reading year with six 5🌟 books. Looking at what I loved I remember each one. For me the stars are about how the books made me feel, did I fall in love, was I sucked in, did I read it all the way through? Can recommend these all unreservedly.

My library holds came thru for curbside pick up. You wouldn't even believe how excited I was! My reading for the next week:

~White Rage by Carol Anderson (non-fiction)
~The Glass Room by Ann Cleve (detective fiction)
~The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami (historical fiction)
~Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (historical fiction)

My #DecadeofBooks posts continue with 2015. Only 3 5 stars books. Looking back only one of them really continues to be a 5 star today. I'd probably give Big Little Lies a solid 4.5 star and Greyhound a 3.5-4 stars.

We Should All Be Feminists is outstanding. 48 pages of solid gold. Ended up buying several copies and gifting them to friends and family.

So many good books in 2014! Loved books across genres with myths, reincarnation, classic, historical, science fiction, memoir of one of my favorite movies ever, and a lovely contemporary. But I have to confess I don't remember Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. I almost feel like I should reread it. Why did I love it?
#DecadeofBooks

Have been doing my #DecadeofBooks for the past week or so. These are my 2013 5 stars. I highly recommend all 5 books but I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is definitely the top of the list. If you haven't read it, take the time to do so. Ms. Angelou is one of the best writers I've read. She has 7 memoirs about different parts of her life. Beautiful writing & so engaging.

A look back at my 5🌟 in 2012 #DecadeofBooks

I loved every single one of these books! Each so unique and wonderful or adventurous or funny or sweet or a deep dive. I highly recommend each and every single one.

My look back on a #DecadeofBooks with a focus on 2011 today. Only had 2 - 5🌟 reads, which I'm really surprised about because I did read 114 books. Had 40 - 4🌟 & 46 - 3🌟 books. So not a bad year of reading.

84, Charing Cross Road is such a charming read! I can't recommend it highly enough.

The Sister Brothers is a quirky, bizarre and funny western. Never in a million years did I think I'd enjoy a western about hired killer brothers.

2.5 🌟
Not a mystery but a psychological suspense I guess. Wanted to like it but it mostly left me meh.

#EightPerfectMurdersProject

Year: 2010
Decided to take a look back at what my 5 star reads were since I started keeping track of my reading. Can't believe that I read these books a decade ago. The Shadow of the Wind remains one of my all-time favorite reads.

#decadesofbooks #5starreads

2 🌟 The mystery was alright but the book is so badly outdated that it took me much longer to read than it should've. Will have to see what this brings to the Eight Perfect Murders.

Second book in my #EightPerfectMurdersProject

First book in my #EightPerfectMurdersProject. Solid mystery, enjoyable narrator. Good start.
3🌟

Currently Reading: The Drowner
On Deck: Strangers on a Train
#SummerReadingProjects

Am thinking of a summer project of reading the eight books that are referred to in this book in preparation for reading it. Anyone else do that?

A. B. C. Murders by Agatha Christie
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
Deathtrap by Ira Levin
Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
Malice Aforethought by Anthony Berkeley Cox
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
The Drowner by John D. Macdonald
A Secret History by Donna Tartt

5 🌟
Picked this up on a whim and wow! It is fantastic. Was engrossed from the first couple of pages on. Grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go, so intense and gripping. Am so excited that there's a second in the series out already. Definitely my next book.

Started reading this series at the beginning of this month and I am head over heels for Amory and her husband, Milo. Cozy mystery series staring a wife and husband team (though mostly wife) with some romance thrown in there. I'm so invested in their partnership. I've sped through 3 of the 6 books in no time and have the next one waiting for me.
Highly recommend this series if you're looking for something a bit lighter in these stressful times.

April Book Wrap Up: 12 books read

Pretty good reading month: 2 4.5-🌟, 5 4-🌟, 3 3.5-🌟, 1 3-🌟 & 1 2-🌟

Best Book: Toss up between Strange the Dreamer & The Prisoner in the Castle
Weirdest Book (Book I didn't connect with): The Hike

The second half of March was weird, like it was for most of us. Though I have over 100 books sitting on my bookshelves waiting to be read, I only read 2 which brings up my total for the month to 8. Usually read 12-14 per month. The last book I read, The Girl in the Spider's Web took me from the 19th to the 30th!! Not because it was a bad book, in fact I really enjoyed it, just had no desire to read.

Mid-March wrap up:
Best book: Golden in Death 5🌟
Most unusual book: Oona out of Order 3.5🌟- Fun book! Oona jumps her own timeline in no particular order. Everyone should give this one a try. It's a contemporary but it's not. It's a time travel but not in the way that we're used to seeing in so many sci-fi books.
Most disappointing: Arm of the Sphinx 2.5🌟-was expecting so much more!! Oh well, still unsure whether I'll continue with the series.

Can't believe we're in March now! Productive reading month. 12 books read total.

Best Book: A Gentleman in Moscow 5🌟 (in previous post)

Books read in the first half of February. So lucky to have had a good run. Lowest rated was a 2.5 stars. Not bad.

Best Book: A Gentleman in Moscow 5 big 🌟
2nd Best: The Starless Sea 4.5 🌟

Reading now: Leviathan Wakes