BW50: Big C, little C, what begins with C?

 

Happy Sunday!  Big C, little c, what begins with C.  Why Christmas of course and feasting. Which brings us to Brownie Day (8th), National Pastry Day (9th), National Noodle Ring Day (11th), National Gingerbread Day (12th), and Ice Cream Day (13th). This week we also celebrate International Children's Day, Christmas Card Day, Human Rights Day, National Ding a Ling Day, and Friday the 13th. Lots of things we can turn into book ideas.  

Why Christmas website provides a round up of How Christmas is celebrated around the world. 

Penguin has some delightful Christmas Classics that would be perfect for gifts. I've already bought a set to give to family. 

Pan MacMillian has The best books to gift for Christmas 2024

I recently added A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote to my stacks. Ann Patchett, author and owner of Parnassus books says she's never been able to read the book aloud to a group of people without crying. I also added another holiday tale - Comfort and Joy: A Christmas fable by Kristen Hannah. 

Plus I am reading Kingdom of Copper, part of the Daevabad series by our December author of the month, S. A. Chakraborty.  Be sure to check her out. 

Happy Reading!

BW41: October Author of the Month: Nora Roberts

 

Happy Sunday! Our Author of the Month is Nora Roberts and this week, October 10th,  just so happens to be her birthday.  Roberts is the diva of romance, romantic suspense, action and adventure, and supernatural thrillers.  I discovered her books back in 2007 and fell in lurve.  I have one very full bookcase dedicated to all her books. She is a prolific writer and has written 242 novels which include multiple trilogies and stand alone books. All of which are unique and interesting.  She writes stories that are full of world building, settings, and characters I have fallen in love with and makes me want to reread them over and over again. She also has written a unique futuristic police procedural under the pseudonym of J.D. Robb and recently published the 55th book in the ongoing series. I've reread them a number of times as well. 

Roberts and her husband also own a bookstore in Maine called Turn the Page and a historic inn called Inn Boonsboro with rooms named after literary characters including Eve and Roark from the In Death series.  

Interesting tidbits from her website:

Nora Roberts’ books are published in over 34 countries.

There are enough Nora Roberts books in print to fill the seats of Wrigley Field over 9,900 times (selling out Cubs’ home games for more than 124 seasons).

If you place all Nora’s books top to bottom, they would stretch across the United States from New York to Los Angeles 18 times.

Her official blog, Fall Into The Story, contains updates on books, conversations with readers and insights into Nora’s home life.

Although romance is an element of most of her stories, she has written a number of books that are spooky, thrilling, chilling, and include ghosts or are post apocalyptic such as The Sign of Seven Trilogy or Chronicles of The One.  All good choices for our October Spooktacular. 

Big L, Little L, what begins with L? Why Love, of course. As well as literary, library, letters, and lullaby.

Happy Reading! 

BW36: September Author of the Month - Steve Berry

Happy Sunday!  Welcome to September in which we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Classical Music Month, Baby Safety Month, as well as National Courtesy Month.  This month we celebrate Labor Day, anticipate the beginning of Fall, and commemorate 911 and those we lost as well as the heroes of the day. 

Our author of the Month is Steve Berry who writes action packed mystery thrillers mixed with history.   He is best known for his Cotton Malone series consisting of 19 books so far. He also has written several stand alone books, plus has teamed up with different authors including M.J. Rose in the Cassiopeia Vitt adventure series as well as Grant Blackwood in the Luke Daniels historical adventures. 

Our letter of the week is Q which is appropriate since Berry's books take us on different quests.  Q is also for question, quagmires, queens, and quotes. 

Happy reading! 

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BW32: August Author of the Month - Marie Brennan

 

Happy Sunday! Welcome to August and our Author of the Month - Marie Brennan who is best known for her Memoirs of Lady Trent series.  Brennan has also written several other science fiction fantasy series as well as numerous short stories.  I am currently on the third book in her Lady Trent series  - Voyage of the Basilisk - and looking forward to reading the rest of the series which just so happen to be available for free on Kindle Unlimited. 

August is also Romance Awareness Month and International Pirate Month which means it looks like we'll have some swashbuckling pirates to read about as well.  And since we're still in the Dog Days of Summer, today is National Water Balloon Day.  So fill up some balloons with water and cool down with a royal water balloon fight. 

We're counting down the year with our A to Z and Back again challenge and this week's letter is U.  Big U, little U, authors names that begins with U. Uris, Unger, Undset, Ure, Underhill to name a few.  Also, look for books with U in the title such as Unbroken, U is for Undertow, The Ugly Duckling, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Uncle Fred in the Springtime, or Under the Net.  

Understand? 

Have fun uncovering unique and uplifting or ubiquitous reads!

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BW28: July Author of the Month - Ashley Poston

 

Happy Sunday!  Our July author of the month is Ashley Poston.  I recently read The Dead Romantics and fell in love with the charming story about a ghostwriter who falls in love with a ghost. It was humorous as well as touching and hit me in all the feels.  Which meant I wanted to read more of her stories and added the time slipping romance, The Seven Year Slip as well as her young adult science fiction adventure Heart of Iron to my stacks. 

Plus her newest novel, released on June 25th, A Novel Love Story:

"Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book. 

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own."

I love books about books.  We probably all dream of getting lost in the fictional settings from our books at one time or another.   Which fictional setting would you most like to dive into? 

Big Y, little Y, what begins with Y:  Yesterday, Yearn, Yum, Yoga, and Yabba Dabba Doo!

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BW23: Words

 

Welcome to June and our month of celebrating fathers, summer, gardening, and the great outdoors.  This week is devoted to the window of the world with words.  The wild and wacky, wonderful and winsome, the witty and weary, world of words that whisper and weave the wonderous who, what, where, when, and why of words. 

Our author of the month is Akwaeke Emezi, a Nigerian author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as a film writer, musician, and artist. Last year, I read one of her stories - You Made A Fool Out of Me with Your Beauty.  There were so many layers to this story:  loss and grief, sexual attraction, choices, and love, sorrow and learning to live again. After the loss of her husband, Feyi is trying to figure out if she can ever love again. She plunges into the dating waters full steam ahead, trying to figure out who and what she wants. She's a woman exploring the sexual waters and falling in love with someone she didn't expect. The beginning of the story fooled me when it went full boil with a sexual escapade, but I gave it a chance. It simmered down and the more I learned more about Feyi, the deeper I became invested in her story. It was crude, it was raw. It was full of angst, full of sorrow. Full of choices, and full of love. 

“It was like a fork in the road has closed, shut off by an avalanche of grief, choked with rocks and a broken heart. It wasn't supposed to open, and honestly, it still hadn't, but somehow, an entirely new path had formed, green and creeping.”

You Made A Fool Out of Me with Your Beauty sticks with you long after finishing it and makes one think. One of the themes is all about choice. The choice on the characters who wants to make a choice for himself, when in the past, all his choices were for his children. When he choose himself, it got me to thinking about some decisions we make which aren't about the other person but about us. Food for thought.

I'm looking forward to reading The Death of Vivek Oji next.  

Her stories aren't for the faint at heart as they contain LQBTQ supporting cast characters, graphic sex, and crude language, so if you'd like, stick with our letter of the week, and check out Oscar Wilde, E.B. White, Elie Wiesel, Laura Ingalls Wilder,  Colson Whitehead,  Alice Walker, or Martin Walker to name a few. 

Happy reading! 

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BW10: March Author of the Month - Rebecca Yarros

“I am the sky and the power of every storm that has ever been. I am infinite.” ~ Fourth Wing

Happy Sunday! Welcome to March and National Irish Heritage month as well as Women's History Month. Today is also Namesake Day in celebration on the history of our names.  Years ago, when we were thinking of names before our son was born,  our relatives managed to turn every name into a nick name, prompting us to change our minds several times. We settled on the name that meant to most to us historically, musically, and personally.  Remind me to tell you the story one of these days.  

Our author of the month is Rebecca Yarros, a military mom with six kids who writes stand alone contemporary romance, military romance, as well as has a new fantasy series.  Her stories will make you laugh and cry and cheer and give you all the feels.  Yarros was a new to me author when I read The Last Letter and her writing and the roller coaster of emotions experienced while reading the story made me want to read all her books. Which leads me to the first two books in her  young adult fantasy series Fourth Wing and Iron Flame all about dragon riders. 

"Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die."

It is the year of the dragon after all. Join me in reading Fourth Wing. 

Our post is sponsored by the letter J for justice, juggernaut, juxtaposition, and journaling. 

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BW6: February Author of the month - Ben Aaronovitch

 

Welcome to February and Creative Romance Month, An Affair to Remember Month based on the 1957 film, Black History Month, American Heart Month, and as well as Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday, Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon. 

Our author of the month is Ben Aaronovitch who was born on February 22, 1964. Once upon a time, he was a writer for Dr. Who, Casualty, and the soap opera Jupiter Moon.  While working at Waterstones in the Crime and Fiction sections at Covent Gardens, the Rivers of London series was born.  

The series involves Peter Grant, a mixed race detective, for the London Metropolitan Police who works for Detective Chief Inspector Nightingale, the head of a magical and supernatural Special Operations Unit.  A combination mystery, fantasy, and police procedural, the series is both serious and hilarious. 

There are nine primary books in the series, as well as comic books/graphic novels, and numerous short stories.  I fell in like with Peter Grant in the first book Rivers of London in which the rivers are ruled by water Gods and Goddesses, Peter is trying to solve a murder with a ghost as an eyewitness, and learn magic at the same time.  I'm currently reading the second book, Moon over Soho, in which something or someone is killing jazz musicians.  The stories are creative and entertaining and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. 

Happy February! 

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BW36: September Author of the Month - Dame Hilary Mary Mantel

 

Happy Sunday!  September is upon us which means Fall is on the way. This week we celebrate the anniversary of Emma M Nutt, the first woman telephone operator, International Bacon Day, Skyscraper Day, Labor Day, Be Late for Something Day, Read a Book Day, Neither Rain or Snow Day which was the day the first post office opened in 1914, and International Literacy Day.  

Plus our author of the month is historical fiction writer, Dame Hilary Mary Mantel who passed away at the age of 70 September 22, 2022.  Mantel has written numerous books and essays and is best known for the Thomas Cromwell series - Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and Mirror and the Light.  She won the Man Booker Prize twice, and the Hawthornden Prize for Literature in 1996. 

Hilary Mantel reading list: a guide to her Booker nominated titles and other best works

Hilary Mantel: her 10 greatest books

Hilary Mantel Thinks the Last Book Is Her Best

Hilary Mantel, The Art of Fiction

Our post is brought to you by the letter Q for quintessential, quiet, and queen. 

Y'all know what to do. Leave a link or comment below!

BW27: July Author of the Month - Cormac McCarthy

 

Happy Sunday! Summer is officially here on the west coast as we begin our four day weekend with triple digit temperatures. But we can't complain because this year we actually had beautiful spring weather for quite a while before the heat hit.  

Little did I realize when I picked our author of the month at the end of last year that we'd be celebrating his life and death. Cormac McCarthy passed away last month on June 13th at the age of 89.  

In 2021 I read The Road and was enthralled to say the least. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. McCarthy's writing pulled me deep into the apocalyptic world of the man and boy and their journey through a devastated world, bleak and dangerous, full of obstacles to overcome from nature itself and the people left behind. I began to wonder what and why? Why did the man need to get to the coast? What was he expecting to find there? Who was he expecting to find? When they found safe places with water and food, why didn't they stay here. What would I have done in his place? I, for one, would have hunkered down in the bunker and stayed there. What was this great need to keep going? It was bleak and dark, but full of perseverance, hope, love, and goodness in the face of evil. I'm glad I finally read it.  

"He pulled the boy closer. Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that. You forget some things, don't you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget."

Once I finished, I wanted more but McCarthy, for me, is one of those authors you have to be in the mood for and read slowly and deliberately. Much like Proust. So I'll be working my way through his books over a period of time. On the nightstand for this month are his last two books - The Passenger and Stella Maris. 

Remembering Cormac McCarthy

The Final Triumph of Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023

Cormac McCarthy obituary: Stripped-down novels mirrored his dislike of trappings of success

Join me in reading Cormac McCarthy!

 

We’ve reached the halfway point in our reading and will be working our way backwards through the alphabet from z to a. No zipping, zapping, or zooming through your reads. Enjoy!    

BW18: May Author of the Month - Kirsten McKenzie

 

Kirsten McKenzie

Happy Sunday and Welcome to May!  May is Mystery Month as well as Gifts from the Garden Month, National Bike month, and National Photograph month.  This week is Be Kind to Animal week. Let's gather around the maypole, honor our brothers and sisters, meditate in the garden, celebrate all things Star Wars, party on Cinco De Mayo, read a free comic book, and wear a fancy hat for Kentucky Derby day. 

Our author of the month is Kirsten McKenzie.  She is the author of the time travel books - The Old Curiosity Shop series which includes The Fifteen Postcards, The Last Letter, and Telegram Home. She is currently working on a spinoff series, the Ithaca Trilogy. The first book Ithaca Bound is available now.  She has also published a horror thriller Painted and thriller The Forger and the Thief. 

Our post is brought to us by the letter R which stands for random, romance, realism, and racing. 

Join me in reading Kirsten McKenzie's works this month.

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BW14: April Author of the Month - Barbara Kingsolver

 

Happy Sunday! April is a fun month of the year since it is National Poetry month as well as National Humor month, National Frog month, and National Kite Month.  Today we celebrate Palm Sunday as well as Children's Book Day, the 3rd is Find a Rainbow Day, the 4th is School Librarian day, the 5th is National Walking Day, the 6th California Poppy Day, and the 7th is Good Friday as well as World Health day, and the 8th is All is Ours day.

Plus our Author of the Month is Barbara Kingsolver, best known for the Poisonwood Bible which I found to be an absolutely amazing story and stayed with me long after I finished it. Nathan Price knows nothing about the Congo or its people, but is determined to start a church and save all the natives.  The story is from the perspective of Orleana Price and her four daughters.  Rachel, a teenager who vain and self absorbed; twins Leah and Adah, both extremely intelligent, but physically different.  Adah disabled from birth and can't speak.  Leah adores her father whereas Adah views him and the world more realistically. And Ruth who sees the world through her five year old eyes.  While Nathan insists on the natives conforming to his view of the world, Orleana and her daughters do their best to survive, learning about the world they now are forced to reside it. 

The Poisonwood Bible is full of African history and culture. Because there are many different meanings to the same words, whether the emphasis is on one part or another, it leads to many miscommunication between the Prices and the villagers. Throughout, the villagers remain a constant.  They end up teaching the Prices about life, individuality, liberty, and death.  Africa changes the Price family, for better and for worse, forever.  I didn't expect to enjoy this story as much as I did but from Rachel's self absorbed rants to Adah's metamorphosis, the lives of the Prices and the story of Africa completely enfolds you.  If you haven't read The Poisonwood Bible yet, I recommend it. 

Kingsolver has written many books which I am looking forward to reading. She was an editor for Best American Short Stories in 2001. Plus her stories are part of the core literature curriculum in many high schools and colleges. 

Join me in reading Barbara Kingsolver's works this month. 

Our post is brought to us by the letter N which stands for narrator, night, national, and names. 

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BW9: March Author of the Month - Douglas Adams

 

Happy Sunday!  It's time to say goodbye to February and hello to March. March is Irish American Heritage month, as well as Nation Peanut Month, National Craft Month, and National Women's History Month.  Hmm, let's see. Read something historical by an Irish American Woman while knitting and eating peanuts. *grin* 

This week we have February 26th which is Carpe Diem day, the 27th is No Brainer Day, the 28th is National Chili Day,  March 1st  is World Compliment Day, the 2nd is Old Stuff Day, the 3rd is I want You to be Happy Day, and the 4th is Huge a GI Day.  So be sure to seize the day, eat chili, compliment at least three people, do something different, make someone happy, and show some appreciation for the men and women in our armed forces.  

Plus our March author of the month is Douglas Adams, whose birthday is March 11, 1952.  He is best known for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.  My brother introduced me to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy way back in the 1980's and once I read it, went on to consume The Restaurant at the End of the Universe;  Life, The Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish; and Mostly Harmless.  Plus his other books Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, and Douglas Adam's Starship Titanic by Terry Jones.  I'm looking forward to reading them all over again. 

This week our post is sponsored by the Letter I.  How fortuitous as I stands for Irish, industrious, Iambic, Innuendo,  Irony, and Imagination. 

Happy reading! 

 Please share your thoughts and reviews. Link to your website, blog, Goodreads, Google+, Tumblers, or Instagram page. If you do not have a social media account, please leave a comment to let us know what you are reading. The link widget closes at the end of each book week. 

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