For this month's Ozathon posts, be sure to visit The Book Stop, where Deb will be hosting the wrap-up. The Marvelous Land of Oz was L. Frank Baum's follow-up to his breakout success, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. As a child, I was always a bit puzzled by how different Book 2 was from Book … Continue reading #Ozathon24: A Land of Life
Month: January 2024
Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Life After Doom
I've joined the Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Book'd Out, and with my very first read I decided to take on the scariest topic: The Future! Brian McLaren pulls no punches with the title of his forthcoming book, Life After Doom. The topic may be alarming -- the coming environmental collapse, which could take a … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Life After Doom
Celebrating 10 Years of Blogging
I forgot to celebrate the occasion, but the 1st of January marked 10 years since I started my first book blog, The Emerald City Book Review. Though the Emerald City has morphed into the Enchanted Castle, I've been blogging for a whole decade now. I've gotten so much out of this hobby, and I am … Continue reading Celebrating 10 Years of Blogging
#LoveHain: A Human Universe
Even though I own the Library of America edition of the Hainish novels and stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, I'd not read most of the contents, or had extremely hazy recollections. So when Chris of Calmgrove organized a readalong, I was all for it. Over the course of 2023 I read several novellas and … Continue reading #LoveHain: A Human Universe
Month in Review: December 2023
Literature I've already been reviewing my entire year's reading this week (see fiction; nonfiction, but here's what I read in December, 2023. I ended the year with quite a lot of good reading -- aided by being on vacation for the last 10 days. A dramatic shot of the Faroes -- when not raining it … Continue reading Month in Review: December 2023
My #StoryGraph Year
In 2023 I decided to transfer my reading records to The StoryGraph - I still use Goodreads for selected reviews, but I wanted a non-Amazon-owned place to keep records, mainly for myself. After a full year of using The StoryGraph, here's my assessment: What I like Clean and simple interface. Easy to keep track of … Continue reading My #StoryGraph Year
2023: My Year in Nonfiction
Though doing these lists is a lot of work, I value the opportunity to look back and reflect on my year's reading. Everything has a role to play, not just my favorites, and it's interesting to see the patterns that evolve as I read my way along. This year I made a conscious effort to … Continue reading 2023: My Year in Nonfiction
Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite books of 2023
In the midst of my fiction and nonfiction review posts, I couldn't resist joining in with this Top Ten Tuesday topic, to share some of my favorite books of 2023. It was hard to pick only 10, so I somewhat randomly chose from my top reads of the year. I could do another one or … Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite books of 2023
2023: My Year in Fiction
I'm celebrating the New Year by sharing my list of all the fiction books I read in 2023! As you can see, I read quite a lot of books from other countries, which was wonderful. These were some of my most memorable reads of the year and I can highly recommend most of them. I … Continue reading 2023: My Year in Fiction