In the last week of October, I probably read more books than in the past 3 months. So I’m really hoping that my reading/ blogging blues are finally over. There’s a lot to record and catch-up with, all those blogposts that I missed — still need to get up to speed there! In the meantime, here’s a bunch a mini-reviews / reading wrap-up for October 2021.
Category: Books
All book reviews go here.
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
I once read that the cuckoo leaves its eggs in other birds’ nests to avoid the effort of raising its own young. Imagine the duped bird’s shock to find that the egg hatched into some other species!
And so in Cuckoo Song, young Triss wonders if she is a cuckoo among the crows. She’s just had an accident that no one wants to talk about, but she knows she’s changed. For one thing, her memories are hazy and detached. For another, she is so hungry all the time…
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at favorite book settings.
About The Forgotten Garden
Published: 2008
Book Tropes: Foundlings, Time Hops, Family Secrets, Mysterious Houses, Australia
Recommended for fans of: Susanna Kearsley, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, Possession by A. S. Byatt, The Thirteenth Tale by by Diane Setterfield
Forgotten Garden was the first book that I decided to read from my Fall 2021 Reading List — since that was the book most people recommended! It turned out to be a very engrossing read, and managed to get me out of my reader’s block.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at Books With Numbers In the Title.
I think the titles will be self-explanatory, so I am just going to take the easy way out — and post the book covers themselves. Then, let’s choose a favorite!
Which of these is your favorite book, title or cover? (And hope everyone is doing well!)
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at books guaranteed to make you smile, aka feel-good books.
Honestly, I think this is my favorite sort of books, irrespective of the genre. I could go on piling books here but will try to restrict it to just ten — for your sake!
It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. The 6 Degrees of Separation Meme is hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best. The book for September 2021 is Second Place by Rachel Cusk.
Book Blurb: A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma―and disrupts the calm of her secluded household.
I haven’t read Second Place, but the blurb reminded me heavily of family sagas triggered off by critical events in the life of an ancestor. So, here are 6 books all tied-up in family legacy.
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
August was supposed to be Women in Translation month. So I turned to Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full, a book translated from German to English (thanks to BookWyrm Knits for telling me that).
Three Bags Full is apparently one of those books where nothing bad happens to our main characters — at least that’s what the commenters said on this Tor post by Jo Walton. The book happens to be about a flock of sheep playing detective. I was easy prey because I’m all for light, breezy reads right now (still going through a reading slump!).
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at books we wish we could re-read as if for the first time.
Come to think of it, this is a rather difficult topic. I thought of books that had lost their sparkle? Perhaps because I grew older, or perhaps because I already know what happens in the end. Most mysterious! So here I am, trying to figure out a list. With reasons.
Top Ten Side Characters
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at those side characters. You know, those Secondary/ Minor Characters Who Deserve More Love.