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Anyone that has read NAKED and BARREL FEVER, or heard David Sedaris speaking live or on the radio will tell you that a new collection from him is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris from New York inspired these hilarious new pieces, including ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’, about his attempts to learn French from a sadistic teacher who declares that ‘every day spent with you is like having a caesarean section’. His family is another inspiration. ‘You Can’t Kill the Rooster’ is a portrait of his brother, who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers of food and cashiers with six-inch fingernails.
It’s my in-person bookclub’s August Book of the Month.
The Quotes
“After a few months in my parents’ basement, I took an apartment near the state university, where I discovered both crystal methamphetamine and conceptual art. Either one of these things are dangerous, but in combination they have the potential to destroy entire civilizations.”
“When asked “What do we need to learn this for?” any high-school teacher can confidently answer that, regardless of the subject, the knowledge will come in handy once the student hits middle age and starts working crossword puzzles in order to stave off the terrible loneliness.”
“I can’t promise I’ll never kill anyone again,” he once said, strapping a refrigerator to his back. “It’s unrealistic to live your life within such strict parameters.”
“In other parts of the country people tried to stay together for the sake of the children. In New York they tried to work things out for the sake of the apartment.”
My Thoughts
This book has been on my TBR for 20 years! I keep hearing such great things about it but I just never got around to reading it. I’m glad I finally did; David Sedaris is hilarious! There were times I couldn’t be sure if he was being serious when telling his stories or if they were just stories. I especially love reading about his family; his sister, Amy, and her pranks and antics, his father with his extreme frugality and subsequent disgusting behaviors. I also relate very much to his dislike of people who collect books when he got a job as a mover. I used to have lots of physical books, and I’ve moved many times without the help of a moving company, and I too dislike myself very much for collecting so many books!
I really enjoyed reading this book. I only wish that I could’ve listened to it on audiobook instead, because people praise the audiobook too. Not to worry, now that I’ve had a taste of David Sedaris’ humor, I’m sure I will continue to read his other books as well.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Murders and Metaphors (Magical Bookshop #3) by Amanda Flower
January means ice wine season in the Niagara Falls region, but the festivities leave Charming Books owner Violet Waverly cold, still reeling from a past heartbreak. Little do either Waverly women know, the ice wine festival will turn colder still when Violet finds Belinda in the middle of the frozen vineyard – with a grape harvest knife protruding from her chest.
Belinda grew up in Cascade Springs, but she left town years ago after a huge falling-out with her three sisters. One of those sisters, Violet’s high school friend Lacey Dupont, attends the book signing in the hope of making amends with her sister, but Belinda and Lacey end up disrupting the signing with a very public shouting match and Lacey quickly becomes the prime suspect in the sommelier’s murder.
Violet is sure Lacey is innocent, and to keep her friend out of prison, Violet asks for guidance from her magical bookshop. The shop’s ethereal essence points her to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, but what have the four March sisters to do with the four Perkins sisters? If she can’t figure it out, Violet, herself, may turn as cold as ice.
Rachel Dulude. Still all good! I’m really enjoying her narration.
My Thoughts
I’m going to quit while I’m ahead. I really love the idea of this series; the magical elements, the bookshop and all the books, the smarter than average animals, the cozy mystery, the romantic tension… But I’m getting more and more annoyed with the MC, Violet Waverly, because she keeps doing (and saying) stupid things. I like the romantic tension but it feels a little forced this time. And the fact that all these murders are happening in a small town like this; we are running out of victims and suspects, and if it’s not the usual suspects, it’s going to be the new characters, which makes it too obvious.
Oh, I don’t know. I love the idea and all the elements of this series, I just wish they were put together better. Feeling a little sad about it, but I do think it’s smarter to quit while I’m ahead and still enjoying what I got out of the books.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Prose and Cons (Magical Bookshop #2) by Amanda Flower
Magic, books, and cats collide in a village near Niagara Falls in the latest Magical Bookshop Mystery from the author of Crime and Poetry .
In Cascade Springs, New York, Violet Waverly and her grandma, Daisy, are the proprietors of Charming Books, where the power of the written word is positively enchanting…
October in Cascade Springs means tourists are pouring in for the annual Food and Wine Festival, and Daisy hopes to draw those crowds to the store. She asks Violet and the local writing group, the Red Inkers, to give a reading of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in the shop’s back garden to entertain the revelers. Everyone eagerly agrees.
Yet their enthusiasm is soon extinguished when Violet discovers one of the writers dead during the event. After the shop magically tells Violet she’ll need to rely on Poe’s works to solve the murder, she enlists the help of her trusty tuxedo cat, Emerson, and the shop’s crow, Faulkner. But they must act fast before someone else’s heart beats nevermore…
Rachel Dulude. Still all good! I’m really enjoying her narration.
My Thoughts
I love that each book focuses on one “book theme”; the first book featured Emily Dickinson, this one featured Edgar Allan Poe. Their works provide the clues to solving the mysteries that the MC, Violet Waverly, has to figure out. However, I sometimes feel like it’s a bit of a reach and the clues don’t really do anything to help Violet. Or else Violet isn’t very good at solving the cases. She still makes stupid decisions, which I forgave in the first book, but that are starting to annoy me in the second book.
I do love the cat though. Emerson is the best cat and I love him. There are a lot of good things about this book. I love the ensemble characters. I love Chief Rainwater. I love Grandma Daisy. I love Sadie and Lacey, and I love Lacey’s husband for his food and making me hungry through the page. I love that there’s magic and books and smart animals. It’s a fun read.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Posts I’ve Written That Give You the Best Glimpse of Me
My blog is less than a year old and I don’t feel like I’ve got a lot of posts that give you a good glimpse of me. Maybe in a couple of years’ time I’ll have more to choose from, but for now, I’m going to share ten books that have somehow shaped me or meant something to me.
This is so difficult because obviously there are a lot more than ten books that have shaped me and/or meant something to me, but I’ll try to choose the best representations.
Top Ten Books That Give You The Best Glimpse of Me
The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie – I got this book as a gift when I was 11 years old and I’ve been rereading it regularly since. It was one of my favorite books as a child and it’s still a favorite now. It’s not very well-known, but I recommend it as often as I can to anyone I can! I loved it because it showed me how strong girls and women can be, that they can make waves in a man’s world even when everything is stacked against them.
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin – I read the first book right before I got diagnosed with cancer at 19 years old, and I bought the next two books right after. It got me through a tough time. Obviously, it’s really good and I think I would’ve loved it even if I wasn’t going through cancer. This series was my go-to answer for “If you could only bring one book with you to a deserted island…” for years. I cheated because it’s a series, but still!
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – I remember the first time I read this book; it was a long weekend and spent it all reading this book. I read it while having meals, if I remembered to eat. I fell asleep with the lights on because I kept reading until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. I woke up and immediately went back to reading. I’m not sure if I took a shower until I finished the book. It was so intense, I could not stop reading and I just needed to know what happened next. I’ve reread it many times since and I still love it.
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo – This book is the closest representation to my history and culture I’ve ever come across and I love it. It’s set in Malaysia in the 1900’s and it reminds me so much of my family and the superstitions I was brought up with. It’s also just a really good story and I love it!
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown – Maybe better to say, everything by Brené Brown. I love her work and everything she puts out really helps me become a better person. I learn a lot from her books, and I’m still learning to apply the lessons.
Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery – You’ve heard me talk about these books recently because I’ve been rereading them. I just love them because Anne is such a happy, magical-thinking, kindred spirit, and it’s so wholesome and always gives me such a happy outlook to life. Rereading them has brought back a lot of childlike wonderment for me.
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – These books are darker, but somehow they mean so much to me because of stuff I went through. Although I love being happy and optimistic, sometimes bad things happen, sometimes people hurt you, and sometimes life is unfair. This book helped me understand that although some things are out of my control, I can still choose what I do with what I have. I love them more now than when I first read them because every time I reread, I discover something more meaningful.
Thirst series by Christopher Pike – Christopher Pike was one of my favorite authors as a child and I read everything he wrote. I preferred his books over R.L. Stine even though Stine is apparently more popular. Previously known as The Last Vampire series, Thirst is still one of my favorite vampire stories.
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster – Also a recent reread, and one that gives me so much nostalgia. I mentioned in my recent review that this book helped shape a lot of my own journaling style and irreverent nature in my journals. It also makes me wish I had more penpals! Bonus: The Conversations with God books by Neale Donald Walsch were also great because that’s when I learned to talk irreverently to God too. 😂
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – I love the whole idea of morning pages, because journaling. But more than that, a lot of what’s in this book feels really healing and cathartic to the artist within me. I’ve gone through this book a few times and sometimes I’ll listen to the audiobook, and even when I don’t do the exercises, it just makes me feel encouraged and supported.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
So Many Buddy Reads
Last week I mentioned that I joined this book community that does a lot of buddy reads. Well, the inevitable happened; I got caught up in the excitement of shiny, new things, and I signed up for so many buddy reads, and now I’m contemplating my life and all my questionable life choices. 😅
Don’t get me wrong, I love buddy reads and buddy reading and book discussions and all that come with reading, but now I just have the added pressure of doing so many within a certain time frame. Which might not even be a bad thing, except I signed up for so. many. chonkers. And I don’t know why I do this to myself!
The chonkers:
11/22/63 by Stephen King (which I managed to finish last week, whew! One down!)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Stand by Stephen King
And these are just the chonkers. I also signed up for several other regular-sized buddy reads!
To be fair, there’s a pretty good timeline for each of the buddy reads and I’m quite sure I can get them done in time. Most of them are books I’ve been wanting to read anyway, and there’s more motivation to read them when they are buddy reads, so I am pretty excited about them but I’m just also nervous!
I’m also going to curb my enthusiasm for all the buddy reads! I’ve slowed down a little now, and I’m sure once the excitement has worn off and I’ve finished some of these buddy reads, we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled reading. 🤞
All the happy things:
There is a Little Free Library near my neighborhood and I scored some really great books! I’m a Dragonlance fan and I’m so stoked I found Preludes Vol. 1 to 5! Vol. 2 is mismatched but I’m still really happy about finding the books at all!
We’ve been making homemade avocado milkshake and it’s so yummy! I even added some cocoa to it a couple of times and it’s good either way.
I’m up-to-date with my book reviews! I’m very happy and just a little surprised that I managed that again this time.
I made some chili oil and have been putting it in everything! I didn’t choose the spicy life, the spicy life chose me!
A bunny has been visiting my garden and it’s been so lovely to see it lounging around.
The Books
Books I read last week:
Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery – I was surprised with the trajectory of the book series because it’s been a while since I read them. I expected more of Anne and Gilbert but this book focused on Anne being a teacher and her relationships with her young charges. I’m not complaining! I loved it! I’m just also looking forward to more Anne and Gilbert!
If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio – I ended up really disappointed with this one. Perhaps someone who’s more familiar with Shakespeare will enjoy it more, but I personally think that books should be able to stand on their own regardless of their sources of inspiration.
11/22/63 by Stephen King – This a reread, and I remember loving it when I read it the first time, but this time around, it was even better because it was a buddy read and I enjoyed reading other readers’ thoughts about the book!
The Girl from the Other Side Volumes 1-3 by Nagabe – This is a new-to-me manga. The link takes you directly to the website where you can read it for free. I’ve only read up to Vol. 3, which is up to Chapter 15. I’m loving it and really looking forward to reading more!
Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower – I came across this book when looking for bookish books for my reading challenge. This one is a series with a magical bookshop and I’m really enjoying it so far!
Books I’m reading:
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris – I meant to read this last week, but didn’t get around to it. I have to read it this week because it’s for my in-person bookclub and we’re meeting this weekend!
Prose and Cons by Amanda Flower – The second book in the magical bookshop series!
Other than the books I’ve already started, I also plan to continue reading The Girl from the Other Side up to Volume 6 this week. There’s also a buddy read for Solaris by Stanislaw Lem starting this Monday, and it’s relatively short so I can probably finish that too.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Crime and Poetry (Magical Bookshop #1) by Amanda Flower
From Amanda Flower—who writes the national bestselling Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries as Isabella Alan—comes the first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.
Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you…
Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good…
Now that I’m finished with the 2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge, I thought I’d try to make a dent on the other reading challenges I signed up for. This was a bookish book, and it’s a series, so there’s lots more bookish books to read!
The Narrator(s)
Rachel Dulude. I love her! It was smooth listening all the way! I especially love it when she narrates the cat’s meow; it makes me believe it was a real cat!
My Thoughts
Seriously, this book hits all the right spots for a witchy book lover! There’s a magical bookshop, there are magical books, there’s a resident crow and the most adorable cat! There’s also a birthright legacy passed down from grandmother to granddaughter in regards to taking care of the bookshop, and I love everything about it!
There’s also a murder mystery to solve, of course, and I just love how the story unfolds.
It’s not perfect; there are still characters making bad decisions, some things happen too conveniently, and I have issues with one of the characters – Audrey, the victim’s daughter – being so vilified, due to personal beliefs. However, this is meant to be a light-hearted cozy mystery, and so I’ll take it the way it was meant and not analyze it too deeply. It’s actually really well-written and I really enjoyed this book. I plan to read the next books in the series too!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. Unless…
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane — and insanely possible — mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.
In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald…
This book is a reread. I read it a while ago and remember loving it but not much else. I watched the film adaptation a couple of years ago and wanted to reread then but didn’t, and then I found it as a buddy read recently, so I thought why not.
The Quotes
“When all else fails, give up and go to the library.”
“I’m one of those people who doesn’t really know what he thinks until he writes it down.”
“If you’ve ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you’ll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.”
“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”
The Narrator(s)
Craig Wasson. Okay, I don’t know if it’s a narrator issue or a sound engineer issue, but the volume inconsistencies were painful, literally, to my ears. The narration and the different character voices were great, in themselves, but there were parts where the characters shouted, or spoke harshly, and they were loud and painful! If I turned down the volume, I couldn’t hear the quiet parts well. If I turned up the volume, I had to brace for pain. It was not fun.
My Thoughts
The audiobook wasn’t fun because of the volume issues, but the story itself was amazing, and I think I love it more the second time around! Partly because it was a buddy read; reading with others and having discussions about the book help me notice details I otherwise wouldn’t have noticed, and make me think about things more.
Also, funny enough, while I’m still unhappy about the volume issues with the audiobook, I feel like listening to it this time around actually helped me notice some things I didn’t before, especially with some of the theme and repetitions in the story. It’s interesting because I usually notice things more on print and miss a lot of details when I’m listening to a book, but I think when things get repeated so many times, and if the narrator emphasizes those parts, I definitely take notice.
This audiobook was a 30-hour chonker but it was such an incredible journey. I got so much more out of it this time, and I’m definitely thinking of rereading it again eventually because I believe there’s still more to get out of it!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.
“For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me.”
“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.”
“You were real to me. Sometimes I thought you were the only real thing.”
My Thoughts
I didn’t enjoy this book and at times, I even wondered what the point of it was. I expected it to get better but it never did, and when it ended, I was like, “that’s it?”. It was the most anticlimatic ending I’ve ever read in what is supposed to be a mystery thriller. It’s not even really a mystery or a thriller, it’s not very mysterious or thrilling at all.
It started off really slow, and I struggled to keep reading but I kept going because it was the last book for the reading challenge I was doing. It got better in the middle and I had high hopes it would keep getting better, but it just kind of fizzled out at the end.
Now I understand that this book is very Shakespeare centric and I’m not very well-versed in Shakespeare, so that could be the reason that I’m not getting it. However, I am a firm believer that stories should be able to stand on their own, otherwise this is just a companion book to Shakespeare, or something to that effect.
I was originally inclined to be slightly generous with my rating and review, but the more I think about it, the less I like the book. It’s only getting 2 out of 5 stars for me.
My Rating
⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
When twelve-year-old Anne Shirley came to Avonlea, she quickly won everyone’s heart. Now, she’s five years older, almost a woman, and about to embark on a new adventure: becoming the teacher in her old Avonlea school. It’s an exciting year as Anne struggles to win over all her students, welcomes two new members to her family, and feels the first stirrings of love.
I started Anne of Green Gables and loved it and just had to continue with the series!
The Quotes
“Well, we all make mistakes, dear, so just put it behind you. We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.”
“One can’t get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.”
“The future is yet an untrodden path full of wonderful possibilities.”
“Of course, I knew there are no fairies; but that needn’t prevent my thinking there is.”
The Narrator(s)
Beth Kesler. It was a bit of an adjustment coming from Rachel McAdams in the first book to a different narrator, but I ended up really loving Beth Kesler’s voices for the characters and the narration.
My Thoughts
What I love about this book is the children; Paul, Davy, and Dora are all wonderful to read about, and I love witnessing Anne’s interactions with them. I think the best thing about having children in your life is that they help you see the world with childlike wonder, and that’s the best thing about this book too. I also really love Miss Lavender because even though she was an older woman, she was still so childlike and sweet.
Now that I’m older, I feel like there’s no reason to stop being childish and carefree just because you’re all grown up. I know there are people who disagree, but I’ve been serious and somber as an adult, and I’ve been childish and playful as an adult, and I can tell you I’m much happier when I can be childish and playful. Mind you, when I say childish and playful, I don’t mean immature and irresponsible. People need to know the difference!
I also love that Gilbert and Anne are friends in this book, although we don’t see as much of Gilbert as I want. But there’s still the next book to look forward to!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
As soon as Anne Shirley arrives at the snug white farmhouse called Green Gables, she is sure she wants to stay forever . . . but will the Cuthberts send her back to the orphanage? Anne knows she’s not what they expected—a skinny girl with fiery red hair and a temper to match. If only she can convince them to let her stay, she’ll try very hard not to keep rushing headlong into scrapes and blurting out the first thing that comes to her mind. Anne is not like anyone else, the Cuthberts agree; she is special—a girl with an enormous imagination. This orphan girl dreams of the day when she can call herself Anne of Green Gables.
I was just casually browsing the Audible Plus catalog and came across this book, narrated by Rachel McAdams. I love this book and I love Rachel McAdams and I was just curious, so I listened to a sample. And just kept going!
The Quotes
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
“The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and storytellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.”
The Narrator(s)
Rachel McAdams. I love listening to her voice, it’s so distinctive! And so expressive too! I thought she was such a wonderful voice for Anne.
My Thoughts
This was one of my favorite childhood books, but I honestly thought I had read it enough for now and wasn’t planning to come back to it for a while. I sampled the audiobook just to see how Rachel McAdams sounds as Anne, and ended up getting sucked back into the wonderful nostalgia of childhood.
I love this world with Anne; looking through her eyes, falling in love with Green Gables and with the Cuthberts, being so happy about simple things, always looking out for kindred spirits, letting the imagination run wild and free. Oh! It makes me want to live there permanently! And it makes me wonder why I don’t.
Why can’t we keep falling in love with our homes and the people around us every day? Why can’t we be happy about the simple things? Why can’t we keep ourselves open to kindred spirits? Why can’t we let our imagination run wild and free once in a while? I used to do it all the time, but I have forgotten to hold on to the magic the longer I’m an adult. Anne keeps my inner child alive and reminds me that even though I’m older now, there can still be magic in this world. I want to bring that magic back.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
