Introverted Reader

Weekly Update for October 24, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for October 24, 2021! The past few weeks have been such a whirlwind of packing, unpacking, packing again, and seeing all our friends and family that we've basically just relaxed around our camper as much as we could this past week. We took our bikes out for a 19-mile ride on a greenway today but neither of us stopped to take pictures. The first (and last) few miles were through land typical of the coastal Carolinas, with tufts of grass, tidal flats, and lots of hunting egrets and herons. It was a gorgeous ride! Posted: Ten Bookish Resources Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo--4 Stars In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race by Amy Cherrix--4 Stars The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix--4 Stars Strange Planet (Strange Planet #1) by Nathan W. Pyle--4 Stars Book Love by Debbie Tung--4 Stars The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman, read by Todd Haberkorn--3.5 Stars Currently Reading: Last Witnesses (Adapted for Young Adults) by Svetlana Alexievich, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, read by a full cast Watching: Muppets Haunted Mansion on Disney Plus--I can read most horror all day (or night) long but I can't watch many horror movies. So kid's Halloween movies it is! This was about an hour long and had some cute musical numbers and surprise guest appearances. I think it should be…

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October 24, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Ten Bookish Resources

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share ten bookish resources this week. Hmmm... I'm scratching my head a bit over this one. I really do just fly by the seat of my pants with this blog, feeling accomplished if I get one week of posts scheduled ahead of time. Life is short, you know? I burned out on my first go 'round at blogging because I spent way too much time on it. All that being said, I don't feel like I have much to add to this topic but I'll do my best. GoodReads Where my online bookish journey began. Some users complain about the terrible automatic recommendations, and I'm not terribly happy that Amazon bought them out, but I have all my bookish data there. I have a lot of friends I trust there and I get emails when authors I follow publish new books. The Storygraph--A newcomer to the bookishly social sites. I haven't spent enough time with it to love it yet but I know a lot of people do. The creators aim to provide good automatic recommendations. It definitely looks a lot more modern than GoodReads does. LibraryThing I found LibraryThing at about the same time I found GoodReads but at that time, GR was free and LT wasn't. LT offered free lifetime memberships to all GR users when Amazon bought GR so I created an account. I like some aspects of LT (my carefully-chosen book cover won't randomly change like it does on GR) but the site looks like the developers built it in 1995 and haven't changed it since. Still, I do cross post reviews there. BookBub--I know I underutilize BookBub since I mostly use it for cross posting reviews. But they do send me emails when I authors I…

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October 19, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for October 17, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for October 17, 2021! We've moved on to my husband's next work assignment. We're in Charleston, SC! It's nice to wear shorts and tees after spending the summer in Alaska in long sleeves and jeans. I don't know how long the shorts weather will last but we're soaking it up while we can. We're usually only in one spot for three months before moving on, but we're frankly tired of fighting snowbirds for campgrounds (we travel in our RV) and new traveling healthcare professionals for jobs around the new year, so we signed a six-month contract this time. We'll be here until April! We're only about a four-hour drive from home (Asheville, NC) so we should be able to spend some long weekends and hopefully some holidays with our family and friends. We arrived on Thursday last week, drove up to Raleigh for my cousin's long-awaited wedding (rescheduled twice because of covid!) and got back here last Sunday. Needless to say, we haven't had much time to explore yet, although we have spent some long weekends in Charleston in the past. Slideshow: Beachwalker Park on Kiawah IslandA view from our campground Posted: Top Ten Book Settings Read: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe--4 Stars I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, read by Gabra Zackman--4 Stars The Mist by Stephen King (originally published in Skeleton Crew)--4 Stars Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet--4 Stars The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph--4…

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October 17, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Top Ten Book Settings

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our top ten book settings this week. I chose a mixture of fantasy and real-world locations. Let's go exploring! I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. Prince Edward Island--I've loved Prince Edward Island ever since the first time I read Anne of Green Gables over 30 years ago. I was fortunate to visit in 2019 and it was everything I expected! I'll write a post about it someday. Narnia--Don't we all want to see the lamp post in the snow (but without the White Witch)? I'd also love to sail on the Dawn Treader. Newford--Charles de Lint was my favorite author for a long time in my teens and twenties, largely because of his Newford books. This fictional North American city has magic around every corner. I want to visit Katherine's Cafe, St. Paul's Cathedral, The Tombs, and more neighborhoods and haunts that I can't even think of right now. Hogwarts--I'd love to ride the train then explore every nook and cranny of Hogwarts Castle, the Forbidden Forest, and the other grounds. I think I might get lost on the moving stairways though! Appalachia--I was born and raised in the southern Appalachian mountains and I love to support local authors. We have an abundance of incredibly talented writers. The books they write feel like home. Serendipity--I've collected these children's books since I was five years old. I'd love to explore the shores of this mythical island, meet all the creatures, and learn gentle lessons alongside them. The Enchanted Forest--The name is hardly specific and I would probably be happy with any enchanted forest, honestly, but I…

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October 11, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for October 10, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for October 10, 2021! We wrapped up our final week back home in Asheville, NC and had a wonderful time seeing our friends and family! We were supposed to go hiking with one friend on Tuesday so I hoped to have some pictures to show off. Unfortunately, it rained almost all this week so I don't have anything. This is the final week for public nominations for the Cybils awards! You have until October 15 to nominate any outstanding children's/young adult books of any genre. The publication date must be between October 16, 2020 and October 15, 2021. Need some ideas for nomination-worthy books? Check out the Cybils padlet to see books that other readers have enjoyed. Each person can only nominate one book per category, so all of the books on the padlet might not have been nominated yet. Visit the Cybils page for complete rules and the nomination form! Posted: Ten Bookish Pet Peeves Read: Nothing. It's always nice to go home and see everyone but I stay so busy, there's not much time for anything else. Currently Reading: I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, read by Gabra Zackman Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet Up Next: I'm not sure. It will be a mix of horror and young adult nonfiction. What did your week look like? Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book…

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October 9, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our top ten bookish pet peeves this week. I'm not clear if this is supposed to focus on tropes/stereotypes/plot errors or pet peeves about physical books but I'm going to list some of each. Most of these don't bother me as much as I make it sound like they do; it's just more fun to sound cranky when I write this kind of thing. 😉 I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. The word hillbilly and books that perpetuate the stereotype. I was born and raised in the mountains of North Carolina and still call them home. That's prime "hillbilly" country. Think of all your associations with the word. Ignorant, uneducated, moonshiner, meth, trashy trailer parks, etc. Am I close? That is not the reality. It's out there, I won't lie. But most of us are just regular people who work hard and do the best we can, just like everyone else in this world. Hearing my accent or learning where I'm from and assuming that I'm any of the above does a disservice to us both. This stereotype is one that has got to go.1 Incorrect geography This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the above and it's pretty specific to one book (although I'm sure it happens more often). Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a fantastic book, period. But it did drive me crazy that characters living on the coast of North Carolina drove into Asheville to go shopping for the day. Folks, that is a 6-hour drive at the very least, and that's at today's speed limits. You would pass many…

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October 4, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for October 3, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for October 3, 2021! Last week was Banned Books Week so I posted a review of a different banned/challenged book every day. I feel that it's terribly important to bring awareness to this issue. Monitor what your kids and you yourself read, by all means. But no one has the right to remove a book from the community at large. Some of the books I reviewed last week are books I probably wouldn't have found on my own, but they cover topics that are so relevant today. I posted last week that I've been chosen as a round one panelist in the high school nonfiction category of the Cybils awards. I'm so excited! Public nominations opened on Friday. Please, please take a moment to nominate outstanding children's, middle grade, or young adult books that were published between October 16, 2020 and October 15, 2021. Full details and the nomination form are on the Cybils website. Last week, we flew home to North Carolina after spending three months in Anchorage, Alaska with my husband's job. It snowed just a bit on Friday but I was shocked to hear that the school system closed for the day. I didn't think Alaskan schools would ever close for snow! The rest of the weekend, we had crystal clear air, gorgeous blue skies, and unbelievable views of the mountains. Alaska really showed off for our last weekend! Slideshow: All images copyright © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2021 Lake Hood Seaplane Base, the busiest seaplane base in the world, with the Chugach Mountains in the background Anchorage as seen from my airplane, just before dawn Posted: My thoughts on Banned Books Week 2021 The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, translated by Magda Bogin--3 Stars Top Ten Most Challenged…

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October 2, 2021

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck: Book Review

4 Stars. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book but I ultimately found it to be a surprisingly touching story of a boy on the cusp of manhood. Robert is fairly innocent in the ways of the world (he thinks that the tiny town of Rutledge, Vermont is almost as big as London). But he also has a practical knowledge of [...]

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds: Book Review

5 Stars. Holy cow. Can I give this book all the stars? Because five doesn't seem like enough. Written by a Black author and a White author, All American Boys covers all the nuances of a scene that's shamefully familiar to the American public--a policeman beating and/or killing a Black man. Rashad shows signs of PTSD. His older [...]

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger: Book Review

4 Stars. I'll be honest--I fully expected to dislike this book. I only decided to read it to see why it's always on lists of banned/challenged books. You can't even begin to imagine my surprise when I immediately clicked with Holden. Is he young and judgmental? Yes. But he's broken and feels the world deeply. He sees all the ways we hurt [...]