Ten Favorite Reads from 2018

January 1, 2019 by Christina

Happy New Year! While some are spending the first day of 2019 making plans and resolutions for the new year, I thought I’d take a moment to recap my reading for 2018. This past year was marked by a number of challenging changes: my mom passed away in January, my entire group at work resigned between March and early April, and I spent months applying for new jobs before relocating from Boston to the Denver area for a new position […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

20 Books of Summer 2018 Recap

September 4, 2018 by Christina

Yesterday marked the (unofficial) end to summer in the United States and the official end to 20 Books of Summer, a challenge hosted by Cathy of 746 Books. Back at the beginning of June, I shared twenty books I hoped to read for the challenge, and I’m quite pleased that I managed to read 15 of the 20 on my list. In alphabetical order by title and with links to my reviews, here are the books I read: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

20 Books of Summer 2018

June 1, 2018 by Christina

Last year, a number of the book blogs I follow participated in 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy of 746 Books. The idea is to read 20 books from your TBR between today (June 1) and the end of summer on September 3 (also known as Labor Day in the USA). While I typically try to read by whim, I’ve noticed that more and more of the books I reading are selections for my book club(s). Which is fine when […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

Ten Favorite Reads From 2017

January 5, 2018 by Christina

I took an unplanned (yet needed) extended break from book blogging in 2017, but I thought I’d dust away the cobwebs and share ten of my favorite reads from the past year. I read 69 books in 2017 — a smaller number than is typical for me, but to be expected given how the year went for me. My list of ten includes three nonfiction titles and all but one was published after 2009. Half were actually selected by my […]

Categories: 2017 Reads, Africa, Asia, Bookish Notes, Europe, North America, Oceania, Russia, Scandinavia, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam • Tags: Amor Towles, Barbara Demick, Bill Browder, Fredrik Backman, Gail Honeyman, Jane Harper, Laurent Binet, Tim O'Brien, Trevor Noah, Yaa Gyasi

The Classics Club: Two Years Later

July 15, 2016 by Christina

Two years ago today, I put together a list of seventy-five classics I wanted to read by July 15, 2017 and, thus, joined The Classics Club. Last year, I reflected back on my progress — how many books I had read so far (16 from the list + eight other classics), how I overcame my fear of Edith Wharton, and how I tackled one of the longest books on my list. This year? I’ve read two books — Far From the Madding Crowd by […]

Categories: Bookish Notes, Classics Club

Currently in March

March 27, 2016 by Christina

Enjoying | A friend came to visit on Friday night into Saturday — we went out to my favorite restaurant in Chinatown, watched “Thumbalina” as she was horrified to learn I had never seen, tried out a new place for brunch, and took the subway to the southern portion of the city to check out a long, rambling path along the Neponset River. I’ve been suffering from off-and-on knee pain for most of the month so I worried the 6-mile walk would do […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

Sunday Salon: Currently in February

February 21, 2016 by Christina

Last weekend, I spent a couple of days up in Vermont visiting a friend of mine from college. The polar vortex and temperatures dropping to -35F with the wind chill forced us to largely cancel all our outdoor plans and stick to indoor activities — wine and chocolate samplings, visiting the Ben & Jerry’s factory, shopping at the local bookstores, and cuddling with my friend’s dog. (I so want a dog of my own now.) I also accompanied my friend and her […]

Categories: All & Sundry, Bookish Notes, Sunday Salon

Recent Acquisitions

February 9, 2016 by Christina

Last month, I read five printed books off my shelves and one eBook as well as listened to one audiobook I’ve had loaded onto my iPod for almost a year. Great progress towards my goal of reading the books I own. So how did I celebrate? By going out and buying eleven more print books at a buy one, get one used book sale over the weekend! And I also bought into Persephone’s buy two, get one free marketing scheme for […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

Bookstack for #ComicsFebruary

February 5, 2016 by Christina

I know, I know. I’m supposed to only be reading the books I own until the end of March. But everyone started posting pictures of the books they plan to read for #ComicsFebruary and I got bookstack envy. So off to the library I went. I tend to be drawn to nonfiction when it comes to comics so the majority of the titles I picked up are from that section of the library. The one exception is Diana Gabaldon’s The Exile, […]

Categories: Bookish Notes, Comics

#ReadHarder in 2016

February 3, 2016 by Christina

Earlier last month, I was poking around BookRiot and stumbled across the #ReadHarder Challenge. I’m normally rubbish at challenges. Put a book on a list and I pretty much lose all desire to read it. But I started reading through the list of twenty-four prompts and realized that I had either already read or was in the middle of reading a book that counted towards six of those prompts. Twenty-five percent of the way there! So why not challenge myself to go for […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

Ten Favorite Reads from 2015

January 4, 2016 by Christina

I’ve already shared a recap of my 2015 in books complete with nerdy pie-charts, but I thought I’d pull together a list of my ten favorite books from 2015. These books may not have received a five-star rating from me when I finished them. Yet these are the books that stuck with me in the days, weeks, and months since I finished reading them. The list below includes three nonfiction titles, two graphic novels, an audiobook, two prize winners, and […]

Categories: Bookish Notes

2015 In Review

January 1, 2016 by Christina

In 2015, I read a total of 91 books — higher than the goal I set of 75 books read, but 59 books short of the 150 I read last year.  I hate to use the word “but” there as I actually feel rather good about this number. I spent a lot of time in 2015 not reading and, instead, concentrated on enjoying some of the other activities I enjoy — traveling to Iceland and Montreal, kayaking the Apostle Islands […]

Categories: Bookish Notes