Mimi
Loved the format, the writing, the stories. If Ivan Coyote is ever in the vicinity, I would love to see them.
For the 2019 Read Harder Challenge category of a children's or middle grade book that has won a diversity award since 2009. In this case, the book was one selected for ALA's 2017 Rainbow Project. It has two dads, four adopted sons, an aunt who has a cupcake store and a magician boyfriend, AND a bad guy to outwit. So much fun.
Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize in Literature, so maybe this book is not representative of her work, or maybe just not a good introduction. Her obsession is tedious.
A book of true crime for the Read Harder Challenge. Two stories are juxtaposed here, as the subtitle implies. I found the memoir much more engrossing than the analysis of the murder, which the author primarily recounts/reconstructs from documentation.
I thought this book would satisfy my Travel Memoir requirement in the Read Harder Challenge, but it wasn't really about travel. Rather, the author describes learning Italian, loving it so much she moves to Italy so she can immerse herself in the language. A native English speaker, she wrote this book in Italian, and then it was translated by Ann Goldstein (Elena Ferrante's translator). I am wondering why I haven't read Jhumpa Lahiri before–this was an excellent book. More books to add to my list!
A sympathetic look at ageism in the world of hired contract killers. :-) Loved it. Also loved the fact that the main character has a dog named Deadweight.
For the Read Harder Challenge category of a book with a female protagonist over the age of 60. Mrs. Pollifax is a retired, yoga-practicing karate expert who gets an assignment from the CIA now and again. A series of silly books, really, but fun to read.
Title character is a druggy, tattooed detective who steals pills from the medicine cabinets of her friends and strangers and who barely survives this installment. Loved it. Going back to read the first one now.
A “book about war” for the Read Harder Challenge. Again, books about war are not a category I would seek out (the point of the challenge, obvi), but this book is riveting.
For the 2017 Read Harder Challenge–“Read a superhero comic with a female lead.” Done.
Five stars for throwing shade where shade is well-deserved. And an apropos follow-up to [b:Becoming 38746485 Becoming Michelle Obama https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1528206996s/38746485.jpg 60334006].
Enjoyable and happy-making. Maybe closer to 4-stars as it develops, but it seemed to take a while for the story to get going.
For the Read Harder Challenge–A romance novel by or about a person of color. Very readable, although it dragged a bit in the middle. The two main characters get together fairly early in the book, so there's not a lot of suspense about that. Mostly I liked Maggie's ability to take care of herself and the section at the end where the author discusses her historical research about people of color in the 1880s.
Lovely book, with interesting characters. Mostly I fell in love with the two sets of parents, who were amazing. This book was for the 2017 Reading Challenge category “Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+.”
Put this one aside for a while, but ended up loving it. It fulfills my final Read Harder Challenge category, “Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location.” Whee! For extra credit, I'm watching the Russian miniseries version on YouTube. Bizarre and addictive.
This came across in my library's e-reader service and looked interesting. But now the only things I remember are that you shouldn't make decisions while hungry, and, at the same time, you shouldn't leave big bowls of M&M's lying around. I did enjoy reading about various celebrities like Drew Carey. However, I was a little disappointed that the focus was not on how he became healthy, but rather on how he conquered his disorganized email and office clutter problem. He did this by hiring David Allen himself, the Getting Things Done guru, to come once a year and organize for him. Which, now that I think about it, doesn't really say much about Drew Carey's willpower...
Not quite laugh-out-loud funny, but witty. Discovered this book after spending a full day (I have a cold) listening to the podcast Backlisted. It (the podcast) was recommended to me by my British friend, Matt, and I recommend it to you.
~4, maybe closer to 5, stars for being a pleasure to read. This book was written in 1958, but feels like it could be a Parker Posey movie today. Includes parties, martinis, avocados, some dark turns, and best of all, unexpected yet positive librarian portrayal.
Rather amazing life–Gellman was a war reporter for decades, from WW1 through Vietnam, as well as a writer of fiction. And, btw, married to Hemingway for only 5 of those years.
Side note: What I find odd, and somewhat disturbing, in reading about Hemingway and his wives (just one to go–Mary) is how casually they all leave their children with nannies or caretakers, often for weeks or months at a time. The adult children report that this was as distressing as one might think.