Tag: book

What I Read in March

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I almost never DNF (did not finish) a book and I rarely even read one that I don’t like. This isn’t because I’m not picky, but I’ve logged hundreds of books on Goodreads since I started using it eight years ago, and I read hundreds more before that, so at this point I have a pretty good idea if I’m going to like a book before I decide to start it. I also use goodreads to gather reviews from friends in order to pick books I think I’m going to enjoy. But this month there were a couple that didn’t really grab me; oh well, can’t win ’em all. What have you read this month?

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What I read in February

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February was a good reading month. I read a fantastic non-fiction book by an author who I’ve enjoyed listening to on a number of podcasts, a book that started off slow but turned into a striking and complex historical journey, a beautifully poetic novel with an interesting artistic style, and the start to a series that I’ve been meaning to pick up for ages. What have you read this month?

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What I read in January

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One of my mini goals for the year is to write a review on Goodreads for every book I read. I usually look at Goodreads for recommendations of books to read, but I don’t usually bother to write reviews myself. I’m trying to change that because I get so much use out of other people’s reviews so I figure I should try to provide some, too. And then I thought that I’d share them here as well. A fairly quiet January meant that I had a lot of time for reading and read five books, four fiction and one non-fiction. Four were by female authors, and two are continuing my goal of reading all of the Women’s Prize for Fiction winners. Years/decades of voracious reading means that I am generally very good at selecting books I’m going to love, so all of them ranged from pretty good to excellent. Here they are:

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For your 2019 TBR

Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)4 Comments

I always like to wait until as close to the end of the year as possible to determine my favourite books of 2018, in case I read something incredible in the very last days of the year. Sure enough, three of my favourites this year were books I read in the last two weeks. I’m even a bit hesitant to make this list now, with a day and a half still to go, in case I finish another book and realise it was one of the best, but I’ll chance it. Here are the top 10 books out of the 50 I read in 2018; I highly recommend adding them to your TBR (To Be Read) for 2019, and as I am busily shelving books to the “to-read” list on my Goodreads account, I would love if you shared your favourites as well!

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Books for the sun: summer reading list

Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)2 Comments

I’ve been in Australia for a week, we’re five days into summer (here in Oz, like in NZ, the seasons are determined by the start of the month rather than the solstice), and I’m already not sure I can handle the heat. This was the thing I was most worried about moving to Australia, even if we’re in the relatively-more-temperate Melbourne rather than roasting Sydney or melting Brisbane. Tomorrow’s high is 34C/94F, and Friday it could hit a massive 38C/100F. And it’s only the first week of summer. Send ice.

When it’s that hot, many people love to go to the beach or lounge in the sun, but all I want to do is hide inside with a good book. At the start of winter I wrote about some of the long, dense reads I wanted to get through on the long, cold nights, but for summer heat there’s a reason light page-turners are the ideal. Here’s my to-read list for looking ahead to the days when it’s too hot to think:

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Books for when the nights are long: winter reading list

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While the northern hemisphere is starting to break out its beach reads to get ready for warm, sunny days and relaxed afternoons by the pool, here on the flip side of the world the days are short, the rain is frequent, and the temperature is low. Winter is always when I like to dive into some meaty, challenging books. Of course, I still mix in plenty of fantasy (I’m currently reading Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy for the first time) and fun (hoping the copy of Jake Tapper’s The Hellfire Club I’ve put on hold at the library comes in soon), but there’s no better time to really get stuck in to something long and complicated than when you have no motivation to go outside all day. Here are a couple of books that are on my winter reading list:

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

I only recently found out that Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand author, and that the book is set in New Zealand, and so although it’s been on my to-read list since 2014 (according to goodreads) I am determined to finally read it while I am still in New Zealand. To be honest, what has mostly deterred me up until this point is simply the length; I always try to finish books when I start them, and 800+ pages is a big commitment from an author I have never read before. But it’s apparently a historical fiction ghost story, which sounds right up my alley, so I’m definitely going to give it a go.

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