Memoirs

The last time I asked if anyone had any requests for topics for future blog posts, my friend Rachel suggested I cover memoirs.  I have to admit, that was more than a month ago and I kind of put off writing this post!  As those of you who are familiar with my reading habits know, I am not a big reader of non-fiction.  While I read a wide variety of fiction genres, non-fiction composes maybe 5% of what I read.  As it happens, memoirs are my favorite non-fiction genre, and I've started reading them a bit more in the past few years.  But since I don't read that many, I'm not as widely read in the memoir genre as I am in other genres, so I guess I felt a little under-qualified to write about the best memoirs!  However, I decided that I can still recommend some of my favorites - even if they're likely to be ones that fans of memoirs have already read.  And you, the readers of my blog, can chime in with other memoirs worth reading!

Picture Book/Board Book Favorites

I have been meaning for a while to write a blog on my favorite picture books/board books to read to babies and young children, but have kept that idea on the back burner for a while.  However, I've been inspired by my sister to finally sit down and write it.  Lisa has her own blog, Truth in Parenting, which generally focuses on the ways in which parenting is not always all fun and games!  Today, she posted a sweet and positive story about my favorite baby book, and in doing so asked her readers for their recommendations of favorite books to read to their own kids.  Well, my kids are long past the age of needing to read picture books to them, but I have plenty of thoughts on my favorites, so I'm responding now with a blog post of my own!

With that being said, here are some of my favorites.

A selection of some of our favorites, art-directed by Jonah

Summer-themed books

Back in May, I wrote a post on summer reading, focusing on books that were being published in the summer of 2018.  (And if anyone's wondering, so far I've only gotten to 2 of the 10 books I mentioned in that post since I keep getting distracted by other books!)  But writing it also got me thinking about other summer-themed books which I've read in the past.  So, now that we're in hot and sunny mid-summer, if you're looking for some good books set in the summer in summery destinations, here are some suggestions!

What I Read on My Weekend Away

This past weekend, thanks to the generosity of my parents who came to my house to stay with my kids, Dan and I had a lovely long weekend away without kids!  People seemed to enjoy my post about what I read on my winter vacation, so I thought you all might also be interested in hearing about what I read on this mini-vacation.  Amazingly, I read (most of) 3 books from Thursday-Sunday!  Luckily for me, I am married to someone who has a compatible idea of what vacation should entail - pretty much minimal activity and total chillaxing.  ;)  Sure, we also swam in the pool, did a little walking around the resort property, got massages, had some great meals, etc. - but we also spent lots of time just reading!

Just one bookshelf in the Library cottage at Winvian

All the rooms at the resort where we were staying are themed.  I'm sure it does not come as a surprise to you that we stayed in the Library cottage!  The picture here is the view from the living area to the bedroom - and that's just one of many bookcases in the room.  The books were certainly an odd assortment.  Most of them seemed to be quite old books, many from the 1930s and 40s - I'm assuming that they were sold/bought in giant lots just for the purpose of decorating.  Interspersed throughout were more recent books that were presumably left behind by previous guests.  I noticed several I have previously read myself  - "All the Missing Girls" by Megan Miranda (enjoyable thriller); "The Address" by Fiona Davis (enjoyable historical fiction); "Fates and Furies" by Lauren Groff (overrated literary fiction); "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith (even more overrated literary fiction).  There was also lots of old Agatha Christie which I had read back in my teenage years.  And a 1947 Bowdoin College yearbook, randomly enough!

5 Star Review: Force of Nature

We're halfway through the year, and I just read my second 5 star-worthy book of the year, Force of Nature by Jane Harper.  (The first was "What You Don't Know About Charlie Outlaw" by Leah Stewart, and you can read more of my thoughts on that here.)  "Force of Nature" was a terrific literary mystery, and was such a can't put it down kind of book that I kept sneaking away from my family to read it, and stayed up late reading too.  I read the whole thing in about 24 hours!