We managed to get to our favorite book sale- Bookstock- this year, even though we thought we might not be able to. Definitely still want to go to the 1/2 price day thought. We ended up with three bags, I think. I got some fun books for my annual Books of Christmas gift for my friends’ kids, some good cookbooks, and very surprisingly, one of my favorite Steampunk series!
Here are the pictures!
Cookbooks! I’m excited to try some from all of them, especially the popsicles.
Some kids books- the Kids’ Book About Failure went to my office and The Husband picked out Celebretrees, so I think that one is staying with us. I also kept Porch Lies- it’s a book of Southern/African American folk tales. Home At Last is also going to the office. It’s about an adopted child and adjusting to his home. I might have to get a couple of them for the kiddos too though, they’re really fun!
Paper backs- The Husband and I both found some books we like. I was surprised to find Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster. It’s a steampunk based romance and mystery.
The one I was super excited to find though is this one:
Gail Carriger is one of my very favorite authors! She’s so lovely and her books are so cool and steampunky. They have great characters and I would definitely recommend them. I’m super excited to read them and will note that I did, in fact. get rid of some books and straighten some shelves to fit them all in. Now, off to read!
February was the absolute worst month yet again, but this year pushed to reach even deeper lows. I hated it. It’s very hard to do anything when depressing or anxiety provoking things just happen one after the other. So to get myself back into the posting habit, I’m going to talk about my favorite fiction books of 2023. As usual, check the content notes or warnings on the author’s pages if you want to know if something is present or not. And if they aren’t your type, just scroll on by! In fiction last year, I read almost exclusively fantasy as my preferred genre. I think I needed more of an escape than I thought. I also read a lot more on my Kindle or Libby than previous years. There’s a lot of different books that I couldn’t find in print on it, so it’s been working out.
The Coven Of Ruin by T.K. Tucker- This was a book that I had read concepts and excerpts from online and I was very pleased when it held up to its reputation. It tells the fairly brutal story of a witch captured to fight in essentially the magical version of gladiator fights and Ares, the representation of the god of war, who saves her for reasons of his own. Definitely hit a lot of my boxes- strong female main character, drama, the “take on the world for you” vibes, and a storyline that was interesting and not rushed along just to publish faster. I would recommend it if you like the old school fantasy vibe. I think you can find it as a physical version, but I read it on my Kindle app. How gorgeous is the cover, by the way?
Grim and Bear It by Juliette Cross. This book!! This book had me in it’s grip the whole time, mostly because it was teased in all the other books in the series so that by the time it was actually out and written, I was a probably a little feral to know the story told in it. It’s about the youngest in a group of sisters who are magical, each with their own talent. Clara, the main heroine in this particular book has been in love with a guy for years, but he is refusing his own feelings for her. It’s a slower burn than the other books in the series, but I think that was effective in keeping me on the edge of my seat. This whole series- Stay a Spell, makes me feel so comfy and warm. I love the family dynamics and feel of the whole thing. There is magic and other supernatural creatures in the series. I would recommend starting from the beginning to get the full picture, but oh my gosh, this book is worth the wait.
Deus Ex Mechanic by Ryann Fletcher. This next book is Firefly, essentially, but with a more complicated stories and LGBQTIA representation. If you aren’t up for that, you will not like it, as the main characters are queer. I loved the pacing, the character descriptions, and the world building. It definitely read like space cowboys, except this one won’t get cancelled by Fox. I did end up buying the whole series, but haven’t read them all yet. I was exceptionally delighted by this one though! I read this on my Kindle.
After reading the first two in the Underground Series by Elm Jed, I preordered this one and then promptly made sure I took the time to truly savor it. It’s about the supernatural mobs, in particular the Werewolf Mob. I cannot say enough good things about Elm Jed. I follow them on socials and they are great to listen to and to draw inspiration from. They are a veteran as well and I appreciate how much they talk about mental health and how writing has helped them through some hard times. This book definitely has military PTSD symptoms described and discussed in detail so that is something to be aware of. The family relationships in this book are amazing and I will pretty much read anything written by Elm Jed. The books are spicy, but not super duper spicy, more in the romantic sense.
Spellbound by F. T. Lukens- This was a book from a new author and the writing style is very similar to T. Kingfisher. I picked it on a whim because the magic system sounded super interesting and then was immediately drawn in and charmed with the characters. It does have LGTBQTIA representation incorporated into the storyline and world, which I appreciated. It’s not spicy at all, but is romantic in parts. The story involves a non-magical young adult who is trying to find a way to still be involved with magic, as his grandmother was magical. Along the way, he encounters some interesting people and finds himself in all sorts of situations with a new frenemy along the way. I listened to this on Audiobook through Libby and it was super fun to listen to. The narrator was excellent!
Sweep With Me by Ilona Andrews-The Innkeeper series is a little bit weird, but also relaxing, so I do enjoy it. It’s become one of my regular audiobook series rotation. They are shorter novels, or novellas, so they do take less time to listen to and they move fast, so I always want to know the next thing happening in the story. So the general premise of this series is that the main character is an intergalactic Innkeeper who runs an inn for aliens and other beings that need to be on Earth for some reason. Her inn is sentient and forms a connection with her to create most of what she needs, physical space wise. The Inn functions as a neutral zone for meetings as well and she gets into some very interesting diplomatic situations. I would recommend this as a fun, cozy series. No spice, just romance.
T. Kingfisher is one of my newest favorite authors. Bryony and Roses made me giggle and snort laugh several times in the first chapter, so I knew it was going to be good. Strong female characters are my jam and as an extra bonus, Bryony is super sarcastic as well. This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it’s a very interesting take on it. Sometimes retellings can fall very flat, but this one had extra elements that made it unexpected. I enjoyed it immensely. I listened to this one on audiobook too and really appreciated the narrator’s gift for character narrative.
I did have a couple of books that I didn’t like, or didn’t finish, but it was mostly for poor editing, or incompatible writing and reading styles. If I didn’t like it, it doesn’t generally get to take up space in my brain so I don’t even remember some of them! I’ve gotten better about allowing myself to DNF if I just can’t handle it. I think sometimes that is a hazard of reading on Kindle. Sometimes authors on there are not the most diverse in terms of storyline and not the cleanest in terms of editing.
Overall, I had an excellent reading year in 2023. For my Goodreads challenge, I had set a goal for 100 books and ended up finishing with 108 books read for the whole year. For 2024, I dropped that number to 80 books, mainly because I wanted to read quality over quantity and have been a little more discerning in what I read. I find I spend more time absorbing the book and less time skipping ahead.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the books I liked! Happy Reading!
I don’t normally choose to read a lot of non-fiction books as I don’t generally find them as engaging, but these next few books won me over.
Non-Fiction:
101 World Building Prompts by MD Presley: I enjoyed reading this book of tips for making new worlds. The author was really good with helping you think of new ideas and other things to consider. It was an easy and thoughtful read. I am currently writing a world for games based on a Nano idea and it’s been really fun to incorporate some techniques from the book and clarify my process. I can use this book for both personal use and for work stuff. Best part? I got it for free on Stuff Your Kindle day!
Disability Visibility Edited by Alice Wong: This was a book of short essays about disabilities and the ways they impact people who are just trying to live in the world not set up for them. I appreciated the new perspectives, the straight talk, and the reminders of things to do to help support others in general.
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington: This book had a profound effect on me. I hadn’t known that a dress salon existed at Auschwitz or that it was an important point of resistance for the prisoners who were held there. The idea that clothes are something more than just fashion and body coverings, especially in a place where clothes could be the difference between life and death, is something I feel I should consider more as a sewist myself. My joke about sewing being a sought after skill during the zombie apocalypse feels a little flat after reading a book about women who were literally sewing for their lives. The history seen through the eyes of these ladies and the pictures and interviews with some of them in the book were amazing. The trauma and horror of war isn’t glossed over and has just enough of a statement of fact to drive home the facts of what these women suffered. I would highly recommend this book, just be prepared that it is not a light read.
Work Related:
Little Wizards by Antoine Bauza: This is a delightful first step into tabletop role playing games for both kids and parents who haven’t played before. It offers three stories with varying levels of instruction or suggestions for the Storyteller. They are all kid friendly and offer lots of different choices for how to investigate the mystery. I’m currently in the middle of the first one with a kid who is highly enjoying the novelty of solving the mystery. I really like the illustrations too- they are all adorable! Character customization is easy and you only need two 6 sided (regular cube) dice for it, so no special dice are needed. I would recommend this for probably 6-9ish? Maybe 10 if you added questing options or side quests. Check it out if you need something fun to do!
Kids on Bikes by Jon Gilmore and Doug Levandowski is a super cute and highly customizable tabletop role playing game system that is similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or more currently- Stranger Things. The general outline is that you are kids in a small town in a time before readily available google and cell phones and you have to solve a mystery that’s happening in your small town. Perhaps it’s aliens? Or maybe space monkies? Who knows? All you really know when you start the game is some rumors that you might start hearing about from the other players. This uses fancy dice, but is really open ended with just a few prompts and hooks to get you into the story. Then after that, the game master and players really take it away.
I’ve used it at work for one of my game groups and it went over pretty well. My players did the exact opposite of what I thought they were going to do most of the time, but that just kept me on my toes! It was fun to play and fairly easy to design characters and teach. I’m definitely keeping this in my work rotation.
Creative Therapy in the Sand by Roger and Christine Day is a sandtray therapy book with some general information and then some directive prompts to use in therapy sessions. Sandtray, while it is a little bit magical, can sometimes be hard to explain to people and this book does a good job of explaining the basics. I’m a big fan of sandtray and have used it myself to help me understand some of my more difficult things in life. I am always looking for more directives for sessions, so this was a good book to help prompt me with that. It’s definitely a small book though, so I wouldn’t recommend clinicians just use this with no other training.
I did read more non-fiction last year, but these were my favorite ones. This year, I hope to read some more of the books I keep buying for work and then not actually reading. Wish me luck!
“Sometimes a family was a mischievous magical boss, her magical rival turned friend, a magical girl who used to be a babysitter and now was like an older sister, and the person you didn’t understand in the beginning but liked so much now. And sometimes it was arguments and sometimes it was hugs and sometimes it was banding together to fight a morally corrupt government body and sometimes it was just existing in the same space together as friends. But whatever this family was right now, whatever it was going to be, and however it would turn out, it was mine. And I knew that I belonged.”― F.T. Lukens, Spell Bound
“Once I had him in the book club, I’d seduce him the only way I knew how. Through books.”― Juliette Cross, Grim and Bear It
“He looked at her like she was both his salvation and his anguish. Like he had been searching for her for a lifetime.”― T. K. Tucker, The Coven of Ruin
“The story of disabled success has never been a story about one solitary disabled person overcoming limitations—despite the fact that’s the narrative we so often read in the media. The narrative trajectory of a disabled person’s life is necessarily webbed. We are often only as strong as our friends and family make us, only as strong as our community, only as strong as the resources and privileges we have.” ― Alice Wong, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century
“You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don’t ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.” ― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
Hi there! Whew. I don’t know about you, but the end of the year has been a whirlwind. I finished my 100 Book Reading Challenge this year and it took a little longer than I thought it would. I think I read more “quality” over “quantity” this year and that made it harder to just mow through fluffy books. Last year I was just downing silly books because it was all I could concentrate on.
This year I deliberately tried to spread out to different types of books, genres, and topics. I read traditional style with physical books, audio books, and with the Kindle App. I also tried to read a variety of different age ranges. I’m working on stocking my office with more books for my kid readers.
I didn’t force myself to finish books I didn’t like for one reason or another. I’m proud of myself for that, but I did forget to keep track of them in some way, so I had to go back quickly and try to remember which ones those were.
Viking in Love by Doug Cenko: This is the cutest little book ever about conquering your fears to look for true love. I adore it and gifted it as part of a 12 Books of Christmas present for K1’s kids. I received word that they also loved it. Stig proves that you can challenge yourself to work through your fears and still be yourself.
My Brain is a Racecar by Nell Harris: I have this book in my office and I love it for explaining ADHD to younger kids. The author was inspired by her own journey with ADHD and offers ideas and skills for other kids to help them give their race care brain a break. I especially enjoyed it because I recognized some of the things she says her brain does and actively do some of the rest techniques mentioned. I liked that it normalized neurodivergent brains in a fun way.
A Day With No Words by Tiffany Hammond: This book tells the story of Tiffany and her Autistic son Aiden and their day using only their AAC (Augmented and Assistive Communication) devices and apps to communicate. It’s a beautiful book that I think should be in all the libraries and read to all the kids. Tiffany has such a lovely way with the storytelling (You can check her out on Facebook as Fidgets and Fries too) and the love that’s evident in the book between them both is just wonderful. I love books like this that normalize all sorts of communication and families. This book was gifted to a few friends and also is in my office.
Middle Grade– Most of the Middle Grade books, I read because I was looking at them for the office and also because it was fun to see a new style and grade level of book.
Speak Up by Rebecca Burgess: The main character in this graphic novel, with the help of her friend, transforms into an internet pop star sensation on the weekends and is a shy student during the school day. She is Autistic and loves music and writing her own songs. Dressing up in costumes makes her feel invincible and able to get her feelings out. Eventually she has to learn not only the value of friendship, but the value and strengths in speaking up for herself. I really liked it. It was a super easy read and was pretty fast paced. I liked how there was conflict but also showed the resolution. I would definitely recommend this for middle readers.
Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry: Calliope June is the main character who is a middle school attempting to hide her Tourette’s Syndrome because she’s gotten teased about it before. The book goes into detail about symptoms she experiences and emotions relating to them. This one is a little heavier I’d say, with appropriate themes, but you’d probably want to talk about it with your kids when reading it or after reading it. Themes included friendship, first love, bullying, moving, and different family dynamics.
Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos: What a beautiful graphic novel! The colors are stunning as you can see by the cover, but then they also used black and white to evoke emotions without having to use words. The story is about Isla, a Cuban immigrant girl who came to the alone US as part of a refugee program in the 1960’s. This program was real and the graphic novel tells a fictional story of Operation Pedro Pan that was based on real experiences. I thought this was super immersive and it was a good read.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: This book was probably my favorite Middle Grade book I read last year. I discovered T. Kingfisher only in the last couple of years and it’s a Nome de plume for Ursula Veron. I loved this book! For such a short books, I lost track of the times I was cackling on the couch loudly enough to scare both the Husband and Piggy. It is about a girl with an unusual magic that only works on bread and a struggle for her city.
If you have kiddos in any of these age ranges, I would highly recommend all these books. You will not regret it! I have several more that I didn’t get to read last year that will make it on my list this year, I’m sure. Now, go find a fuzzy friend, a warm beverage of choice and get reading with your kids!
“Don’t allow anything to dent your reading pleasure. Don’t let anyone tell you that what you like isn’t proper, that what brings comfort and ease to your soul isn’t good enough.”-Cathy Rentzenbrink, Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books
“The only piece of home Ofelia had been able to take with her were some of her books. She closed her fingers firmly around the one on her lap, caressing the cover. When she opened the book, the white pages were so bright against the shadows that filled the forest and the words they offered granted shelter and comfort. The letters were like footprints in the snow, a wide white landscape untouched by pain, unharmed by memories too dark to keep, too sweet to let go of.”-Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
“Books can be possessive, can’t they? You’re walking around in a bookstore and a certain one will jump out at you, like it had moved there on its own, just to get your attention. Sometimes what’s inside will change your life, but sometimes you don’t even have to read it. Sometimes it’s a comfort just to have a book around. Many of these books haven’t even had their spines cracked. ‘Why do you buy books you don’t even read?’ our daughter asks us. That’s like asking someone who lives alone why they bought a cat. For company, of course.” – Sarah Addison Allen, The Sugar Queen
“Classic′ – a book which people praise and don’t read.”-Mark Twain
“Sleep is good, he said, and books are better.”– George R.R. Martin
“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.”– Cassandra Clare
