Love, love, love. Funny, witty, and weird, this memoir off the author's life growing up with a Catholic priest for a father and moving back in with her parents as a married adult pushed all of my buttons. Lockwood's poetic voice shines in this book.

This last book in the Binti series was a disappointment and had a few groan worthy moments for me.

Dark, but also so poignant and, of course, funny. The suicide of his sister Tiffany looms over this book, and many of his stories feel like his way of trying to understand what happened. Through the whole book, more than any of his other books, the love he has for his family (even as he mocks then and himself) is on full display. I really enjoyed this book.

I know that many people have found this book to be inspirational, but I found it to be absolute drivel. Hated it. It smacked of prosperity gospel to me.

This YA book was so fresh and unique with witty, smart writing. Elena Mendoza heals her crush after the Starbucks logo tells her to. Logos and other cute inanimate objects continue to talk to her telling her to heal others to prevent the end of the world. I'd love to see this as a non-YA book, but still thought the book was well done. Good for the high school crowd and up.

Okorafor's work continues to pull me in. This book written for the YA (maybe mature middle grade, but there is some bad language in here) audience reads like Harry Potter in Africa. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Read at the insistence of my son, who just read The Outsiders as required reading for school. I can see why this novel continues to enthrall kids and adults. While the cultural references and lingo have changed, the characters and situations are timeless. So much for a class to talk about - esp how society stereotypes based on class, race, and looks.

So excited for today's book mail! It's not in the Litsy book list yet, but as it's based on Camus' The Plague, that will do. Set in Vancouver, this new novel by Kevin Chong looks sooo good!

Hamid's writing style doesn't always connect with me, and Exit West was no exception. There were passages and concepts in this book, though, that blew me away. Loved the bigger exploration of refugee culture and also the exploration of the normalcy of refugees.

Holy cow, that's a stack of BOTM books for a super generous giveaway! Priestdaddy is high on my list. Check it out! #stephsbotmgiveaway

A book that I often found charming, but I also found it a bit slow.

This is the only Nora Roberts book I've ever read, but I enjoyed it. Suspension of disbelief is required, but it's a fun dystopian story with a magical twist. Glad my mom picked it up thinking it more of a traditional Nora Roberts book. She didn't care for it, but I did! 🙂

Nikki, a modern, Sikh English 20-something, takes a job as an English teacher for a group of older Punjabi widows. These women have no interest in learning to read and write, but are instead eager to tell stories...erotic stories with Punjabi women. The stories are raunchy and hilarious. The erotic stories and the overarching storyline illustrate the complex nature of aging, sex, immigration, tradition, and violence in their community.

I really enjoyed this book about a man who ages so slowly he looks in his 40s when he's actually 439 years old. The story is told back and forth between present day and his memories of the past. The story was interesting and very readable, if a bit predictable at times.

The cover says jaunty rom com - so misleading! I'm thoroughly enjoying this novel, but light it is not.

A fiery book about life in Detroit through the eyes of an immigrant teen. I never really connected with the story and was annoyed with parts (especially the deus ex machina and quick wrap up at the end), but this could be a powerful read for the mature YA crowd.

This relatively short book was a sloooow read. I'm still not sure what the purpose of the book was. I won't be reading more of this series.

Listening to this as an adult was a very different experience than when I read it as a teen. Worthwhile and chilling concepts, but I found the writing to be stilted and too stylized, and the characterization of the wives to be borderline misogynistic (not helped by the narration). Glad I reread it, but it isn't a favorite classic.

I have a soft spot for the Longmire series, maybe because I live in Wyoming. Sometimes I like the Longtime books just because they continue the story, even if the individual book is formulaic. I felt Johnson was on top of his game with Western Star.

A good YA read that challenges societal norms and builds empathy while still staying appealing to the YA audience.

Gritty, powerful, and written in a lyrical voice.

The Changeling is a creepy book with identity problems. The beginning of the book felt like a different story than the ending of the book. Is it a creepy supernatural book? Is it a book about the pervasiveness of technology and how easy it is to be manipulated by technology? Either of those books have a lot to offer. I wish The Channeling had chosen one or the other. As it is, I found the ending groan worthy.

I want to call this a light read, but the story revolves around a character dying of cancer. A light heavy read, I enjoyed listening to this book and found it gave quite a lot of food for thought.

I loved the first book in the Binti series. This one doesn't feel as tight of a story. Still...Okorafor continues to present interesting approaches to race and conflicts between those who are different. I look forward to reading the next in this series.

Light and fluffy chick lit. It took me a while to get into this book, but at some point I did find myself enjoying the read.

I lurk more than I post, but it's time to play as little catch up and record the books I've read this year. I'll try to do better in the future (famous last words).

This book just didn't do it for me. Unlikeable characters, a depressing storyline with issues, and an unfulfilled promise of a happy ending.

Always fun to discover a new indie bookstore. Wind City Books in Casper, WY - so cute and a great selection of books! Definitely had to reign myself in. My 5th grade daughter had a great book haul, too.

I checked this out from Hoopla audio on a whim as I remember hearing good things about it when the translation came out. I'm bailing halfway through because I cannot take the narrator anymore. His character voices and cadence would be better suited for a 1940's noir book... or a cheesy spy novel... not a hard sci fi novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese cultural revolution and after.

Light, fluffy chick lit. It started with a The Devil Wears Prada meets advertising vibe. Took me a long time to get into this book, but I eventually became invested in the storyline.

I've just started this book and don't have an opinion on the story or writing yet, but I am not digging the typeface they chose! I don't typically have a strong reaction to typeface, but this one just feels so... wrong. It might as well be in Comic Sans. So weird.

Meh. Almost a thumbs down for me. While the concept was good, this book didn't click with me. The 1st third was rough; the middle third was better, and I skimmed the last third just to see what happened.

I'm not a big fan of mysteries, but I love the characters Penny has created in her Inspector Gamache series. The narrator of this audiobook was a good one, too.

So much to love about this sci fi afrofuturism novella! This little book was packed with so much - sci fi adventure, cultural introspection, mathematics as a way of thinking and doing, and a bold tribal young woman as the protagonist. Boundary busting, but at its core, just a good story. Bonus - the narrator for the audiobook is amazing.

A charming and heartwarming story about an unusual relationship between a troubled teen, an elderly widow, and his elderly neighbor. I liked the book, but through it all, I felt like it was missing something. It felt a bit like the story was building toward something more that never came. The ending was lovely, and despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed the book.

I listened to this book and didn't love the narrator, but I still found this book set mostly in the land of the djinn enjoyable.

This book started out with so much promise - exploration of cultural differences, characters that didn't slot into neat stereotypes - but then it morphed into a predictable sappy YA romance. Such good buzz for this book, but it just didn't do it for me.

Slow reader problems... Finishing your book 2 days before Christmas with several book shaped gifts waiting under the tree. :-/

Disturbing and eerie retelling of the Lizzie Borden murders. I'm really curious about what bits were historically accurate and which were the author's inventions.

We no longer have a cat, but our lunk of a dog is here to represent! He loves a good foot scratch when he lays at my feet while I read. #dogsoflitsy

Happy day! Thank you @Liberty for this gorgeous haul of books. Perfect timing, too. Now...what to read first?

I loved this quirky, sweet, a bit melancholy book. Weylen Grey is an orphaned boy raised by wolves with inexplicable powers that can control the weather. His story is told from multiple points of view by people whose lives he affected. Thoroughly enjoyable

If Andy Weir had written Artemis as his first book, we'd all be saying, "Andy who?" The plot was fine, but it couldn't overcome the immature writing for me. Disappointing.

My daughter loved the How to Train Your Dragon series. This is a must buy Christmas gift for her this year (and happily, she knows nothing about this book)! #raisingreaders #bookfriday2017

I generally hate celebrity memoirs, but this one...Wow! Noah's childhood in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa was fascinating. The cultural and historical insights into South Africa, along with observations about race and society within a framework of great storytelling made for a great book. I listened to this book and think that Noah's narration really added an extra dimension to the book.

Question for anyone that has managed to read this already - should I read Practical Magic first or does it stand fine on its own?

This book was a lot of different things - a story about relationships, finally embracing adulthood, and dealing with a parent's dementia among them. Told through diary entries, I found it quirky and engaging.

Bookstores make a difference! Marking my calendar to order from Square Books (my fave bookstore anyway) that week. More here: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/journeytojustice/2017/08/15/square...

1. Northern Wyoming
2. News of the World by Paulette Jiles
3. Meddling Kids by Cantero
4. A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle
5. Shawshank Redemption
6. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

#letstalkaboutbooksbaby

Predictable, fluffy click lit. I groaned the whole way through, and yet it was still somehow a good choice for my reading mood this weekend.