Ever since reading Hidden Valley Road (which I highly recommend), I've been wanting to read more about schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to learn more about these mysterious and very challenging states of soul, from as many points of view as possible. I've put a number of titles on the TBR, to work through gradually. The … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: The Collected Schizophrenias
With the third book of the Oz series, we have the return of Dorothy and her meeting with the newly discovered ruler of Oz, along with a plethora of new characters including a feisty chicken, a mechanical man, and the underground Nomes. With its blend of excitement, humor, and suspense, it's one of the best-constructed … Continue reading #Ozathon24: Ozma of Oz
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
