Such a fascinating book. I purchased this book on a whim just because the premise sounded interesting and it did not disappoint. It‘s the sort of book that makes you look differently at so many ways society functions. A 5⭐️ read for me and one I plan to keep and dip back into again. My 6th #14booksin14weeks read

For a while there I thought this was going to be a 5⭐️ book. The writing was beautiful and the plot was really interesting. However, by the end, the magical realism took over and was just too much for me. Probably more of a reader issue than a book issue but 3⭐️ none-the-less. My 5th #14booksin14weeks read.

This was excellent, just as everyone said it would be. Very impressive for a debut novel and I loved the author note at the end that described the people in her family who had lived these events. I can remember watching Sarajevo being bombed on the evening news but it‘s so easy to forget the human side of war and this really brought that home. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and my 4th #14booksin14weeks book

I definitely didn‘t need more books but after a stressful week, browsing my local bookstores was just the balm I needed! #bookhaul

My third #14booksin14weeks read and this was a slog to get through. It‘s been on my TBR for years after I read and really enjoyed Capital by the same author. I found it s difficult to keep the characters straight in my mind and ultimately just never wanted to pick it up. On to hopefully better things to end this slump.

A soft pick for me - ⭐️⭐️⭐️. After my last pan, this was a welcome improvement. I thought the writing was good but the chapters were short (1-4 pages) which, although it made for a fast read, meant that it was difficult to really stay immersed in the story. My second #14books14weeks book

Meh. I think this is going to be a ⭐️⭐️ read for me. This struck me as a Ronald Dahl book for adults with caricatures of characters and dry humour. Whilst I loved that as a kid, it isn‘t for me as an adult. And the dog as a central character was the last straw.

This is only my first #14booksin14weeks book so I need to get moving! I just haven‘t wanted to pick this up and feel a bit slumpy but now on to better things.

My #bookspinbingo list for June. Some #14booksin14weeks2023 books, some professional development books, and some books that I have been in the middle of forever!

It‘s going to be a great summer- here is my #14books14weeks2023 stack! These are all books from my own shelves that I was so excited by when I first bought and I don‘t want them to hang around and for that excitement to wear off. My summer of reading will probably start with Lessons in Chemistry but I need to finish the tag booked first. I‘m excited to spend another day in Verghese‘s world but sad it‘s going to be the last day.

My reading has been way down for the past couple of weeks - partly because I‘m halfway through Fairytale by Stephen King and not enjoying it but can‘t seem to give up. However, it‘s going to be a quiet weekend recovering from dental surgery last week and I just saw it‘s #novelnovember #readathon! I‘m going to start a new and comforting read and aim for 24 hours of reading over the next week. Might be a tall order!

I‘m inspired by #nonfictionnovember and ever trying to hit that #bookspinbingo (although this probably isn‘t going to be the month!). Here‘s my virtual pile of possibilities

Meh. This was a 3* read that became a 2* read when I hit a stream of consciousness 2/3 of the way into the book that I was not invested enough to deal with. It is only 140 pages long but it was a slog. This was the first book from the Jubilee Reads selection and has put me off trying another one for a while.

Phenomenal. Bleak. Heartbreaking. Haunting. And with almost every trigger warning you can think of. But absolutely phenomenal. Just like Shuggie Bain was. Douglas Stuart is a master of writing stories and characters that you become invested in and I think he might be my new favourite author. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️…obviously.

Haven‘t achieved a #bookspinbingo yet but I can‘t stop trying! Making the list at the beginning of the month (and picking my first book on the morning of the 2nd) might be the best part!

The Big Jubillee Read was announced today - 70 books, 10 for each decade of the Queen‘s reign, from around the commonwealth. It looks like a great list. I‘ve read 12 but have picked out some others that I‘ve been meaning to read. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Ynpj933DJ2YG5nsMS6fn8k/a-literary-cel...

I think this book has been getting mixed reviews and the Reese‘s Book Club endorsement is usually a bad sign for me but I really enjoyed this. I loved the setting, felt invested in the characters, and looked forward to picking up the book when I wasn‘t reading it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookspin #womensprize

My #bookspin list for April. It is heavy on the Women‘s Prize Longlist as I‘m still, naively, trying to read them all. Maybe this is the month for a bingo?!

This was just ok for me. Thought the characters were moderately interesting and the writing was alright. Not much that propelled me along but I got through it. Will need to pick up the pace if I‘m going to get through the #womens prize longlist

Nope. It looks like I‘m going to be in the minority on Litsy but this wasn‘t for me. Im not sure I even understood half of it! #womensprize

On day 2 of #marvellousmarch I finished the tagged book. Wow. The writing was humorous without downplaying the heft of the situations and so insightful. This was a book I had not heard of until the Women‘s Prize longlist was announced and it was a 5 star read for me. Fantastic!

Good first day of #marvellousmarch. I finished the tag book which I wanted to enjoy much more than I did and I‘m 200 pages into Sorrow and Bliss which I‘m enjoying so much more than I expected! #bookspin

It‘s 5:30am and I can‘t sleep so it‘s time to start the #marvellousmarch readathon! I‘m going to get going with this one from the Women‘s Prize longlist. I‘ve judged it to be a ‘fluffy‘ read from the cover but maybe I‘ll be surprised. And if not, then maybe that‘s what I need at 5:30am on a rainy Saturday!

I‘m in between jobs next week and I‘m going to go for it. Would 7 books be too ambitious?! I‘d be really happy with 5 but I‘m also in the middle of a couple so I‘ve got a head start! I want to get the tagged book finished at a minimum - I‘m finding it a slog and it‘s slowing me down. #marvellousmarch

This is one of those books that is hard to rate - I don‘t really enjoy the story and actually found it a bit of a slog to get through but I can appreciate that this is a talented author and the writing was excellent. I wanted to give it a ‘pan‘ but that wouldn‘t do the author‘s talent justice, so it gets a reserved so-so or ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #doublespin

February was a bad reading month but I‘m going to just accept it and move on. At the end of this week, I leave the harrowing job I have been in for 10 years and then have a 2 week staycation before starting a whole new chapter in my life. Whilst there are many things I *should* do during that vacation, I‘m going to trying to give myself permission to do what I *want* to do instead. This is the list! #bookspinbingo

I read 8 books last month but just missed a bingo. Let‘s try again this month! #bookspinbingo

Wow. Just wow. I have no idea who recommended this book to me but…wow. After following the hard life of Maggie from childhood to middle age, I feel like I know this woman and am already missing her. I keep wanting to tell other people about her story as if it‘s real. Warning: this is a bleak read (it reminded me of Shuggie Bain) with many trigger warnings. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me and I‘ve already bought another of Jennifer Down‘s books. #doublespin

This was a miss from me but I recognize that my own reaction played a big part. The first half describes infidelity in a supposedly ‘perfect‘ marriage which seemed unbelievable and I was ready to DNF. However, there was a twist in the middle which I didn‘t see coming (impressive) and that kept me reading to the end. The plot was actually quite clever but not completely believable. Just not for me.⭐️⭐️ #bookspin

I‘m ready for a great reading year! #bookspin

Starting my last book of 2021. I want 2022 to be the year that I make more progress on my garden. We moved into a house 18 months ago and this is the first time I‘ve had a garden (or at least been responsible for one). I‘ve done a bit since then but it‘s time to tackle some bigger projects. I am inspired but very intimidated. I guess I just need to ‘dig in‘! 😂

I‘m ready for #bookspinbingo ! So excited about so many of these books but the Doerr arrived this morning so I think I‘m going to jump in early

A book with a child narrator had a low chance of being a pick from me anyway so maybe this isn‘t a fair review. But the cliched lonely librarian and successful/nasty ex-wife meant this was definitely a pan. I‘m surprised that this was on the #bookerlonglist. I‘m not having much luck with those books so far this year but I‘ll persist!

I only gave this 35 pages before bailing, which is very unlike me, but there are just so many other books I want to read. I don‘t mind unusual formats but there‘s got to be some sort of plot or character interest! Moving on… #bookerlonglist

I wanted to love this. I thought the premise was clever and loved the idea of following characters through their whole lives. However…I really struggled to keep all the characters and their stories straight. This might just be my issue but I suspect we just didn‘t get enough time with each character to make them memorable. I‘d definitely be interested in picking up this author‘s other book however. #doublespin

No bingo in July but I‘m going to keep at it. This month will be a combo of some hangovers from last month, the booker long list, and the book tube nonfiction finalists. So many great books, so little time! #bookspinbingo

For those in Canada… Shuggie Bain is an Amazon kindle daily deal. I thought this book was excellent - a 5⭐️ read for me

My #bookspin book for July. At the he halfway point I was ready to DNF this but a plot twist had me reconsider. The second half was certainly better than the first but still such a disappointing read overall. I had read The Innocents by this author and still think about that book all the time so maybe my expectations were just too high. ⭐️⭐️

This idea of this book intimidated me. Maybe it was the unusual title or the fact that it won the Booker prize. This was such a surprise. So accessible, so engaging, and so well written. Shuggie seemed reals and is a character that I will be thinking about for a while. 5*

My #bookspin book for July! It‘s 7am on the first day of my vacation so I am going to get in the hot tub with my kindle. Luxury! My workout can wait!

July involves a road trip to Lake Louise so I‘m using this as a reason to focus on kindle books this month. I‘m so bad at buying kindle daily deals and then never looking at my kindle. There are some great books here! #bookspin #bookspinbingo

I‘m struggling to get into this book but this paragraph stopped me in my tracks. Isn‘t this the truth?

1. England, in the suburbs of London
2. Vancouver, Canada
3. A twin sister
4. The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit. My Dad got the book free with a magazine and I read it so many times!

@Eggs #wondrouswednesday

It‘s going to be a good month! #bookspinbingo

I wasn‘t going to do #bookspinbingo this month because I am in the middle of a dozen or so different books but then realized this might be exactly what I need to get some of them finished! And my best chance at a bingo! I hope no one minds the cheating 😉

I‘m currently in the middle of so many books so obviously I‘m going to start another one! I‘ve heard great things about this one and it‘s due back to the library in 5 days. I‘m thankful it‘s short!

An impulse purchase after seeing the Women‘s prize long list. I hadn‘t heard of this at all but it‘s a fantastic book so far. It covers lots of difficult themes and in a month when I‘ve been focussed on how stressful my life is, it makes me realize that my worries are all trivial compared to the lives some women lead. This is why I read.

“In spite of this discovery...” 😂😂

My February #bookspinbingo! I have 4 days off work so I‘m going to dig in. I‘m thinking this could be the month for my first bingo. Wish me luck!

My #bookspinbingo for February! I didn‘t get a bingo or read my book spin book last month but it motivated me to have one of the best reading months for a long time. So I‘m at it again!

I have no idea how to rate this book. I felt so disturbed reading it and that made me dread picking it up. But I‘m amazed by the strength of emotion that this book evoked in me. That would normally make it a 5* read although I would struggle to recommend it. I can‘t wait to see what else this author does but I hope she picks a different subject matter next time