February Books of the Month

March 20, 2020 by Christina

February feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? I know it was a busy month for me because my calendar is packed with book club meetings, dinner plans with friends, and an introduction to quilting class on Sundays. Yet, from the vantage point of mid-March, it feels unimaginably footloose and fancy free. What did I do when I could go and do whatever I wanted? Well, what I did was read an astonishing 17 books during this month thanks in […]

Categories: 2020 Reads, Amish, Animals, Audiobook, Awards and Prizes, Book Club, Canada, Caribbean, Classics, Classics Club, Crime, Europe, Feminism, Fiction, Food, Indigenious Peoples, Juvenile, LGBTQA+, Mountain West, Nonfiction, North America, Persephone Books, ReadDiverse, Religion, Travel, United Kingdom, United States, Women's Prize • Tags: A. J. Finn, Adam Darlin, Audre Lorde, Becky Ohlsen, Brendan Sainsbury, Catherine Bodry, Chris Chalk, Christopher Ketcham, Coco Morante, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Edwidge Danticat, Jesmyn Ward, Jia Tolentino, John Lee, Jon Krakauer, Kamila Shamsie, Kevin Harrison Jr, L. M. Montgomery, Linda Castillo, Marghanita Laski, Richard Thomas, Rutina Wesley, Shelly Frasier, Steven Higashide, Susan O'Malley, Sy Montgomery

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

March 25, 2019 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Translated from the German. Read by Frederick Davidson. Blackstone Audio, 2009. Originally published 1812. 10 hours, 18 minutes. Library copy. Wyss’ novel follows a Swiss family figuring out how to survive on an uninhabited island after a violent storm wrecks their ship among the rocky outcropping of an uninhabited island. The rest of the crew headed to Port Jackson, Australia via the East Indies abandoned the family, taking all the lifeboats but leaving the livestock and provisions […]

Categories: 2019 Reads, Audiobook, Classics, Classics Club, Fiction, German, Juvenile, Oceania, Translated • Tags: Johann David Wyss

Roger Lea MacBride’s Little House: The Rose Years Series (Books 5 – 8)

February 27, 2019 by Christina

As I mentioned in my post about the first four books in MacBride’s series, I decided to reread the series as I found myself in need of a counterbalance to the heaviness that comes with reading Crime and Punishment and a nonfiction book about human evolution. In my eagerness to share my thoughts on the books, I became a bit longwinded and had to cut the post into two parts. This part, the second, covers the final four books in the series. ‘Little Town […]

Categories: 2019 Reads, Fiction, Juvenile, North America, Reread, United States • Tags: Roger Lea MacBride

Roger Lea MacBride’s Little House: The Rose Years Series (Books 1 – 4)

February 25, 2019 by Christina

Growing up, I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series and eagerly read the books over and over again. So much so that the spines of my paperback copies are all cracked, and a couple of pages are marked with the sticky fingers of childhood. Long after I outgrew the series (in terms of reading level), I discovered the continuation of Laura’s series through the eyes of her daughter, Rose, for sale at Half-Price Books. Over time, I bought what […]

Categories: 2019 Reads, Fiction, Juvenile, North America, Reread, United States • Tags: Roger Lea MacBride

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

December 15, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Read by Jim Dale. Listening Library, 2007. 21 hours, 45 minutes. Library copy. Rather than return to Hogwarts for his seventh and final year at the wizarding academy, Harry Potter decides to finish Albus Dumbledore’s quest to find and destroy Voldemort’s horcruxs in order to vanquish the Dark Lord once and for all. The task was entrusted to Harry and Harry alone, although Dumbledore gave him permission to Ron and Hermione, and Harry refuses to include the members of […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Chunkster, Europe, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile, United Kingdom • Tags: J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

November 21, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Read by Kenneth Branagh. Listening Library, 2013. Originally published 1955. 3 hours, 57 minutes. Library copy. Two young children named Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer decide to explore the connected attics their family’s homes in London during the summer of 1900. During their exploration, the two children stumble across Digory’s Uncle Andrew, and Polly is convinced by Uncle Andrew to touch a yellow ring, which causes her to immediately vanish. Horrified, Digory learns that his uncle has been playing with magic and […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile • Tags: C.S. Lewis, Kenneth Branagh

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince By J.K. Rowling (Reread)

November 20, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Read by Jim Dale. Listening Library, 2005. 18 hours, 31 minutes. Library copy. Returning to Hogwarts for his sixth year, Harry Potter is horrified to learn that Severus Snape, potions master and a Death Eater that Harry’s beloved headmaster claims to trust with his life, has now taken over the Defense Against the Dark Arts post. Harry is convinced Snape’s true allegiances lie with Voldemort rather than with the Order of the Phoenix and, as such, is  playing Dumbledore […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Chunkster, Europe, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile, Reread, United Kingdom • Tags: J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

April 30, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Read by Jim Dale. Listening Library, 2003. 26 hours, 32 minutes. Library copy. Now that Lord Voldemort has returned, Harry is desperate for any kind of news – Muggle or wizarding — during yet another miserable summer with the Dursleys. His so-called friends keep sending him owls with evasive answers, hints to something really important going on, and promises to tell him everything when they all return to Hogwarts in September. Harry tries to listen to the […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Chunkster, Europe, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile, United Kingdom • Tags: J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

April 9, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Read by Donada Peters. Tantor Media, 2008. Originally published 1877. 5 hours, 19 minutes. Library copy. According to Peters’ introduction to the text, the lace collared suit worn by young Lord Fauntleroy in this children’s novel was so well-described by Burnett and then drawn in Reginald Birch’s accompanying pen and ink illustrations that the “Fauntleroy suit” became the height of fashion for young boys in the era. This probably had less to do with Burnett’s description of […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Classics, Europe, Fiction, Juvenile, United Kingdom • Tags: Donada Peters, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

April 6, 2015 by Christina

Fiction – audiobook. Read by Jim Dale. Random House Audio, 2001. 20 hours, 30 minutes. Library copy. Beginning like the previous three novels towards the end of summer vacation, this novel finds Harry Potter in slightly better conditions than the previous three summers because the Dursleys are terrified he will report them to his godfather, an escaped mass murderer named Sirius Black. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia aren’t exactly hospitable to Harry forcing the skinny boy into abiding by his […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Chunkster, Europe, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile, Reread, United Kingdom • Tags: J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

February 28, 2015 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Jim Dale. Random House Audio, 2000. 11 hours, 48 minutes. Library copy. Third-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are allowed to visit Hogsmeade, a town that looks like it came right out of a Christmas card, provided they have permission slips signed by their parents or guardian, of course. Uncle Vernon refuses to sign Harry’s permission slip after a disastrous incident where Harry Potter inflates Aunt Marge, but Harry figures the permission […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Europe, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile, Reread, United Kingdom • Tags: J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

January 21, 2015 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Jim Dale. Listening Library, 2001. 9 hours. Library copy. Twelve-year-old Harry Potter is eager to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year and escape from the home of his dreadful relatives, the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon has locked Harry’s school things — his books, broom, and cauldron — in the cupboard under the stairs despite the fact that Harry has homework and forbid Harry from contacting his friends or, “those people” […]

Categories: 2015 Reads, Audiobook, Europe, Fantasy, Fiction, Juvenile, United Kingdom • Tags: J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale