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Showing posts from December, 2015

The Best of 2015: Nonfiction

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Welcome to Day Four of My Best of 2015 Reading Round up!  As always, my Best of the Year lists cover what I read in 2015, which includes books published in any year. Today, I'm sharing my favorite nonfiction. Yesterday, I shared my favorite mysteries . Tuesday I shared  my favorite comics . Monday I shared  Hawthorne's favorite board books . (Want to look at past year's lists. They're all linked  here .) 10. Primates of Park Avenue  by Wednesday Martin ( my review ) Wednesday Martin is an anthropologist, originally from Michigan, who moves from the West Village of New York City to the Upper East Side and turns her anthropological training on Upper East Side mommies. Primates of Park Avenue  is entertaining, at times alarming, and informative. I was surprised not only by how much I enjoyed Primates of Park Avenue but also by how much I learned from it. I was entertained and enlightened, and I enjoyed the audiobook in particular, as Maby's audio performanc

The Best of 2015: Mysteries

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Welcome to Day Three of My Best of 2015 Reading Round up!  As always, my Best of the Year lists cover what I read in 2015, which includes books published in any year. Today, I'm sharing my favorite mysteries. Yesterday, I shared  my favorite comics . Monday I shared  Hawthorne's favorite board books . (Want to look at past year's lists. They're all linked  here .) 10. All Dressed in White  by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke ( my review ) This book, the second in Clark and Burke's Under Suspicion series, was a delightful page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed the wide cast of characters, the exploration of Amanda, a fascinating character, and the setting. If you're looking for a fun, escapist pageturner, All Dressed in White is a great choice. 9. The Governor's Wife  by Michael Harvey ( my review ) The Governor's Wife, the fifth in Michael Harvey's Chicago P.I. Michael Kelly series,   is a compelling page-turner. I loved the reading

The Best of 2015: Comics

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Welcome to Day Two of My Best of 2015 Reading Round up! As always, my Best of the Year lists cover what I read in 2015, which includes books published in any year. Today, I'm sharing my favorite comics. Yesterday, I shared Hawthorne's favorite board books . (Want to look at past year's lists. They're all linked here .) 5. Last Night's Reading by Kate Gavino Artist Kate Gavino lives in New York City and goes to a lot of book readings, festivals, and author events. While there, she draws the author and adds a memorable quote from the event. Because I live in Des Moines, not New York City, this book also made be incredibly envious of anyone with the ability to go to a literary event EVERY NIGHT. I adore this book, which is filled with such bits of wisdom and whispers of a memoir. This book is one to keep on your shelf, seek inspiration about new authors to read, give as a gift, and generally make yourself wish you lived in New York City. Rating: 4.5 out og

The Best of 2015: Hawthorne's Picks

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Welcome to Day One of My Best of 2015 Reading Round up! As always, my Best of the Year lists cover what I read in 2015, which includes books published in any year. Today, I'm sharing Hawthorne's favorite board books. (Want to look at past year's lists. They're all linked here .) Hawthorne is sixteen months old and loves to read. He reads by himself a lot, but he also delivers books to your lap and wants to hop up and be read to a lot. Rarely do we make it through a book in the correct order while reading every words. Hawthorne likes to turn the pages himself, and he turns them in either direction, skips pages at will, finished early, and likes to start over at will. We call this remixing. Given this reading style, it's no surprise he prefers books that don't necessarily have a storyline. There are the ones we spend the most time reading. We have several titles from the BabyLit series, but Pride and Prejudice is his favorite book for someone to read to