Throwback Thursday: 17 Years of Blogging!

Two wonderful things happened 17 years ago today: my awesome nephew was born, and I started this blog!

I had recently begun reviewing books professionally, for Family Fun magazine, and I wanted to share my reading adventures with friends and fellow readers. You can read my very first blog post, Welcome to My Reading World. That post includes a bit of my reading history, plus some of my favorite books read recently.

And now, I have a 17-year record of all the wonderful books I have enjoyed!

I had fun looking back at the start of this 17-year blogging venture, and I hope you do, too!

Do you keep records of what you read?

Do you know what books you were reading 17 years ago?

Fiction Review: The Matzah Ball

My last book read in December 2022 was, appropriately, The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. This was a departure for me, as I don't normally read many romances or holiday-themed novels, but it was a special exception. Both the author and the main character share my chronic illness immune disorder, ME/CFS. It was refreshing to see my own life reflected in the pages of a novel (which is rare), but the book was also entertaining and a lot of fun.

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt's father, Rabbi Aaron Goldblatt, is a world-renowned Jewish religious leader. She was brought up on Long Island and attended the Jewish Camp Ahava every summer of her youth. When she was eighteen, she was struck down with ME/CFS, a debilitating immune disorder, though she lives her life as best as she can, within the limits of her disease. But Rachel has a big secret, kept from everyone except her best friend, Mickey: Rachel is a best-selling author, under the pen name Margot Cross, of ... Christmas romances. She knows it would destroy her parents (and possibly her father's reputation) to find out about her secret life, so she tells everyone she's a freelance writer. In her apartment, her spare bedroom/office is crammed from floor to ceiling with all kinds of Christmas decorations, posters of her books and movies, and awards she's won, plus her enormous collection of Santa figurines. Margot Cross doesn't make public appearances, but that is just fine with Rachel, since she wouldn't have the stamina for it anyway. Now, her summer camp nemesis, Jacob Greenberg, is coming to New York ... and her parents have invited him to Shabbat dinner! She has no desire to see this guy she was in love with who humiliated her in front of the entire camp when they were twelve years old, but she goes to her parents' house that weekend with an ulterior motive. Her publishing house is insisting her next book be a Hanukkah romance, and Jacob, a professional party planner, is hosting a huge Matzah Ball Max next week. Rachel just has to get to a ticket, to provide some inspiration on how to make Hanukkah seem as magical as Christmas.

So, right off the bat, even as a non-romance reader, I noticed plenty of classic romance tropes here: enemies-to-lovers, secret life, second chances, and all kinds of misunderstandings between Rachel and Jacob. But this novel is unique because Rachel isn't your typical perfect romance heroine straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. She feels very real and authentic, flaws and all. Of course, as a fellow ME/CFS sufferer, I greatly appreciated the honesty in how her restricted life is portrayed, but I don't want to give the impression that this novel is depressing. It's very entertaining, with plenty of humor and romcom-ness; it's just also real. You can expect lots of hilarious hijinks and a happy ending in this unique holiday romance.

385 pages, Mira

Harlequin Audio

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif Challenge - The Fire Is So Delightful (fire/candles on the cover)

Diversity Challenge (December mini challenge - religious minorities)

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Dara Rosenberg. and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

New E-Mail List Provider

No, this isn't a duplicate post from two weeks ago! The first new mail provider I tried using, Mailchimp, didn't work for me because they couldn't e-mail the list every time I had a new blog post up. After much research, work, and many chats with the Help line (I am really just no good at the technical stuff), I am now signed up with follow.it, a fairly new e-mail list service. 

This one is made specifically for sending blog updates, so it should work pretty smoothly. They don't currently have the ability for me to send extra e-mails, but let's be honest - I don't have time for that now anyway! What follow-it does offer, however, is an extra perk for YOU, the readers. Follow.it is a feed-reading service (something like Reddit, I think), so in addition to following my blog, you can choose other feeds you want to follow as well, including all kinds of news, sports, entertainment, and loads of book-related feeds. You don't have to sign up for anything else, but the service is there for you to use (for free) if you want to.

So, once again, you may see a duplicate post as I transition; I will turn off the old feed as soon as I send this post. After this post, you should receive updates only from the new follow.it feed.

The e-mails may look a little different, but the service will be almost the same as before: you'll receive each blog post via e-mail, probably the day after I post it.

NOTE: If you were on the list before and stop receiving e-mails OR if you'd like to sign up for the blog post e-mails, just use the quick form at the top of the sidebar on my blog.

See you in your Inbox!

Best Books Read in 2020

Despite all my best efforts, I am still a bit late wrapping up my 2020 reading year, but here it is--I had another great reading year!

First, I'll share some stats and fun facts about my 2020 reading year, then my top picks, and finally, my Top 10 (or whatever) lists in each category. I read some outstanding books last year, so these were tough choices! You can see a complete list, with links to reviews, of all the books I've read in recent years on my Book Reviews page.

 

Stats and Facts

NOTE: the numbers in ( )  are my 2019 stats, for comparison. 

Total = 81 (87)

 

Adult Fiction = 47 (50)

Adult Nonfiction = 13 (14)

Graphic Novel/Nonfiction = 9 (15)

Teen/YA = 12 (11)

Middle-Grade = 10 (12)

Audiobooks = 24 (27)

 

Women Authors: 51 = 63%(54=62%)

Diverse books: 38 = 47% (37 = 43%)

From my own shelves: 44 = 54% (45 = 52%)

Re-reads = 1

Authors read more than once in 2020: Tana French, Stephen King, Ann Patchett

 

You can also see how I did on my 2020 Reading Challenges. 

 

Top Picks - Best of the Best

There were some books--like Michael J. Fox's memoir on audio-- that I could have chosen for multiple categories, but I tried to spread out the accolades!

Best Novel

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

(A December read that stole my heart)

Best Adult Nonfiction

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

(Fascinating true story of the strangest crime ever with lots of history)

Best Memoir

NoTime Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox

(Another outstanding memoir from Fox--funny, warm, and powerful)

Best Audio Book

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

(Excellent novel about siblings and read by Tom Hanks)

 

Best Teen/YA

 Solo by Kwame Alexander

(Novel in verse with music - outstanding on audio)

 

Best Middle-Grade

Back to Blackbrick by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

(Warm, funny, tender story of family, love, and loss) 

 

Best Graphic Novel/Nonfiction

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

(Tough choice but this historical fiction graphic novel was powerful and moving)

 

 

Top 10 (or Whatever) Lists of 2020

(books listed in alphabetical order and some appear on more than one list)

Top 10 Adult Fiction:

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Faithful Place by Tana French

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Top 7 Adult Nonfiction:

Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard

Educated by Tara Westover

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

Top 8 Teen/YA Books:

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Feed by M.T. Anderson

A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

Out of Reach by Carrie Arcos

Solo by Kwame Alexander

Top 7 Middle-Grade Books:

Back to Blackbrick by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes by Kate Hannigan and Alex Graudins

Notorious by Gordon Korman

The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery by Chris Schweizer

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

Trespassers by Breena Bard

The Way to Stay in Destiny by Augusta Scattergood

Top 5 Graphic Novels/Nonfiction:

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes by Kate Hannigan and Alex Graudins

The Roanoke Colony: America's First Mystery by Chris Schweizer

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

Trespassers by Breena Bard

 

Top 10 Audio Books

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Educated by Tara Westover

A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

Solo by Kwame Alexander

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

 

Bookish Christmas 2020

Lots of books under the tree!

It's always a bookish Christmas at our house, and this year was no exception! My husband, our oldest son, and I are all avid readers, so we always give lots of books as gifts to each other. Here's what we gave and got this year:

My haul:

I made out very well this Christmas, with two new classics and three novels related to time travel, time shifting, or alternate timelines (they know me well!)

My Book Gifts

 

That thin one on top is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde - I have never read anything by him or by John Updike, so I am looking forward to those. And I've already started The Midnight Library!

My husband:

My Husband's Book Gifts

As you can see, he loves thrillers, so this stack should keep him busy for a while! He'll probably read some of mine, too ... and vice-versa! Oh, and I also gave him Ready Player Two, which I can't wait to read, also!

Our son:

Our Son's Book Gifts

Our son loves epic fantasy novels (and The Far Side!). Besides these, he also got Red Sister by Mark Lawrence in his stocking (I think he's got it in his room already). He's excited to dive into all of these!

What books did you give and receive this holiday season?

Fall Books & Movies

I have fallen behind in sharing my columns and reviews published at Shelf Awareness here, so I thought today - Halloween - was a good day to catch up on a couple of recent seasonal book columns (click the links to read the columns).

Dark and Creepy Fall Reading
As you well know if you've read my blog at all in the past couple of months, I love to devote this season to dark and creepy reading and have been thoroughly enjoying the RIP Challenge (which ends today!). This column features 4 excellent choices for suspenseful novels that feature dark settings and/or plots - both my husband and I enjoyed all four of these. The spooky season might be ending today, but a good thriller is always in season!

Books Coming to the Big Screen
This column features four movies, all adapted from great books, coming to theaters this fall - several of them are already out. I want to see all of these, but at the moment am trying to find a friend to go see The Hate U Give with me - I need some of my book blogger friends to live closer to me! Set the books down for a couple of hours to enjoy these movies that all promise to be excellent.

Time for me to go finish my last dark & creepy books in print and on audio before midnight!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Earth Day - Celebrate with a Book!

Kayaking on Prince Edward Lake in Twin Lakes State Park, VA

Happy Earth Day, all! Sorry I have been absent - we took a much-needed week long camping vacation to Virginia, hoping for some warmer temperatures, though it's a cold spring there, too! We celebrated Earth Day all week long, with hikes, kayaking, campfires, and lots of time outdoors (and books, too, of course!).

I'll be catching up here tomorrow with my Monday post, but I wanted to share this timely column I wrote for Shelf Awareness, Earth Day: Dig Into a Good Book! You can read the full column at that link. It includes 4 different book suggestions related to nature, the environment and conservation - two nonfiction and two novels.

Hope you can get outside today and get your hands dirty...or read a book!

Reading while dinner cooks on the campfire.

My First Shelf Awareness Column: Spring Has Sprung!

I just wanted to share with you one of my new freelance writing jobs: writing From My Shelf columns for Shelf Awareness' twice-weekly newsletter. So far, I have been writing about two columns each month, so these will be appearing regularly.

My first column, Spring Has Sprung, was published in the April 6 issue - you can read it at the link. It's a round-up of five different books (both fiction and memoir) related to spring to put you in the mood for this season of renewal and hope!

I really enjoy writing these kinds of columns where I can share a bunch of my favorite books on a related topic. I previously wrote a monthly book column like this for Vital! magazine.

I won't post every column I write here on the blog, but you can sign up for the Shelf Awareness newsletter yourself (see the sidebar at the link), and I will also post my columns on Facebook and Twitter.  I have also begun writing author interviews for Shelf Awareness, which I am loving so far! It's like having my own private book group meeting with an author after reading his or her book. The first of those will be published in May.

Hope you are enjoying spring! Word is that it might finally warm up above the 40's here today!