December Book Club: Station Eleven
If I had to summarize Station Eleven for someone while only having read the first few chapters, I would describe it as what it would be like to be a part of a traveling Symphony in a post pandemic world where most of the population dies. Now that it’s in my “read” pile, I think…
November Book Club: A Court of Thorns and Roses
The fastest and simpliest way to summarize A Court of Thorns and Roses to someone who has never read it before is to say that it’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. A beautiful land is under a curse that can only be broken by true love. There is, of course, a lot more…
October Book Club: The Giver of Stars
Confession time: Sometimes I avoid books because their plot revolves around my profession. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my work as a librarian, it’s just that I tend to read books that allow me a certain level of escapism. When The Giver of Stars first came across my radar, I was tempted to dismiss…
September Book Club: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids
The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids tells the story of Amra, a careful thief who is drawn into the revenge game when her friend is murdered in the middle of the night. While following the trail of his killer, she finds herself thrown in jail for no reason, running from a price on her…
August Book Club: Sourdough
This book was so fun and there were several points in the story that I had to remind myself that it’s a fictional story and not a biography (like when the starter took over everything). Lois is a relatable character, taking a job because she is good at it and then working hard because that’s…
July Book Club: The Queen’s Gambit
As I sit here writing this blog post, I feel that it’s worth noting that I have still only watched one episode of the Netflix’s series The Queen’s Gambit. The main reason for admitting this is to, naturally, point out that my observations are for the book and the book alone. I know for previous…
June Book Club: The Ten Thousand Doors of January
I have so many positive things to say about this book that I don’t know where to start, so I will start by simply saying: this book was fun. This book was so much fun that I have spent the last month telling everyone who will listen how enjoyable the Ten Thousand Doors of January…
May Book Club: Mexican Gothic
This month we read Mexican Gothic, which won the GoodReads award for Horror in 2020. As I turned the pages of the final chapter, I realized that I wanted more from this book than it was prepared to give me. I wanted to feel the house entangle itself around Noemí, choking her desire to leave,…
April Book Club: Reverie
Perhaps one of the reasons that I enjoyed this book so much is that the idea of a Reverie speaks to me on a fundamental level. Portal literature, or literature where the main character starts in “the real world” and then falls down a hole (Alice in Wonderland), goes though a mirror (Through the Looking…
March Book Club: The Bride Test
The Bride Test was one of those books that fell into my lap (aka reading mood) at the right time. This is one of those books that would not have worked as well if Helen Hoang (the author) didn’t have Asperger’s Syndrome herself; her characters would have lacked the authenticity that goes hand in hand…
February Book Club: Next Year in Havana
The cover art for this month’s book is so beautiful, the fancy pink dress providing a stark contrast against the empty city line. The image provides a a lot of insight into the book, foreshadowing that I might have noticed if I had been paying enough attention. Over all, I enjoyed Next Year in Havana,…
January Book Club: Kindred
Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t even know where to start on this book, so let’s start with the piece I was looking forward to the most: time travel. Time travel, something that often looks different depending on the story and rules that contradict each other. In general, there is typically a mentality that what you…
Thoughts from iswimlikeafish 