Skip to content

At the start of 2017 I set a goal to read 40 books by the end of the year. In February I hit 20 so I increased my goal to 65 with hopes to reach 100 by the end of December. This a record of what I’m reading.

REVIEWS
ABOUT
CONTACT

Instagram

contact

Got a question? Want to chat? Give me a holler.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

Search for:

GOODREADS

INSTAGRAM

October + November Reading Wrap-up! ✨ Books Read: 7 // Total books read in 2018 so far: 82 ✨ My favorite read in October + November: Normal People by Sally Rooney ⚡️ My reading took a nosedive in the last two months, what with the whirlwind of turning 40, and a nightly binge of The Great British Baking Show. I've got some great books in the queue for December, though. What will you be reading before the end of the year? ⚡️ The Witch Elm by Tana French ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Normal People by Sally Rooney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang ⭐️⭐️.5 Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory ⭐️⭐️.5 Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang ⭐️⭐️ Improvement by Joan Silber ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 There's something totally effortless and wildly satisfying about Sally Rooney's books. They beg to be read compulsively, devoured. This week I finished Rooney's insightful second novel Normal People (UK edition from Faber & Faber, the US version releases in April 2019), which I couldn't wait to get my hands on because I loved her excellent debut Conversations with Friends. Normal People follows unlikely friends Connell and Marianne as they navigate their awkward teenage years in a small town in Ireland where Connell is quietly smart and popular and Marianne is a bright outcast. This is not a new trope, but in Rooney's book that plot dynamic somehow feels fresh. And Rooney can really write dialogue; she deftly layers in unspoken emotions, building conversations between characters that never feel stilted or inauthentic. ✨ Have you read Conversations with Friends or Normal People?

Romance isn't usually my jam, but I picked up Helen Hoang's entertaining and sexy modern romance The Kiss Quotient (exactly what I needed pre-election and pre-turning 40 in a few weeks) at @eastbaybooksellers this week thanks to recommendations from Jasmine Guillory @jasminepics and haven't wanted to put it down since.

#currentlyreading the new #tanafrench and can’t wait to see where the story will end up... Have you read it?

September Reading Wrap-up! Books Read: 8 // Total books read in 2018 so far: 75 ✨ I reached my 2018 reading goal on the last day of September when I closed the cover on my 75th book of the year. ✨ My favorite read in September: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones The Thirst by Jo Nesbo ⭐️⭐️ Company of Liars by Karen Maitland ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen ⭐️ China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan ⭐️⭐️ An American Marriage by Tayari Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 A Double Life by Flynn Berry ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

#currentlyreading "Interrupting the forces of racism is ongoing, lifelong work because the forces conditioning us into racist frameworks are always at play; our learning will never be finished. Yet our simplistic definition of racism -- as intentional acts of racial discrimination committed by immoral individuals -- engenders a confidence that we are not part of the problem and that our learning is thus complete. The claims we offer up as evidence are implausible. For example, perhaps you've heard someone say "I was taught to treat everyone the same" or "People just need to be taught to respect one another, and that begins in the home." These statements tend to end the discussion and the learning that could come from sustained engagement. Further, they are unconvincing to most people of color and only invalidate their experiences. Many white people simply do not understand the process of socialization, and this is our next challenge."

Tayari Jones’s newest novel, my 70th read of the year, is an elegant and heartbreaking portrait of a marriage. Set in Georgia and Louisiana, the story follows the newly married couple Celestial and Roy as they grapple at first with what it means to be married, and then when Roy is falsely accused of a crime and sent to prison, with how to be together while being torn apart by the system. The book takes a personal look at what it means to be a black male in the US today, how systems of oppression radiate inward causing distress in African American households and on black bodies. A beautifully-rendered, powerful, and necessary read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Have you read it?

August Reading Wrap-up!! Books Read: 7 // Total books read in 2018 so far: 67 My favorite read in August: Rachel Kushner's The Mars Room ✨ Also, Linnea Hartsuyker's The Sea Queen, the second in her Half-Drowned King trilogy, is an engaging and entertaining behemoth of a book. I totally enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians as it was the perfect page turner to dive into on a recent flight to Seattle. Another easy plane read was Under the Harrow which I finished in one sitting on a flight back from the East Coast. ✨ Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Fate of Tearling by Erika Johansen ⭐️⭐️ Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 The Sea Queen by Linnea Hartsuyker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read Rachel Kushner's excellent novel The Mars Room in two sittings. It's my book club's pick for next month and I probably wouldn't have bought it based on the dust flap description alone. The plot, centered on Romy Hall, a woman serving two life sentences at a correctional facility in The Central Valley of California, spoke of hopeless incarceration, a bleak narrative. But it's an engaging, propulsive read from page one, with complex, interesting characters who grapple with identity, poverty, abuse, intimacy, sex, and parenthood. Kushner is a master of dialogue and setting, and paints a rare portrait of California. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m hoping one of these new books will get me out of the reading slump I’ve been in for the last few weeks...