Pick 6: magic

Let's start out the year with excitement and wonder. And what better way to do that than with a book filled with magic? Some of these books feature a whole fantasy world populated by faeries and witches. Others have a small element of magic existing in an otherwise familiar world. No matter how it is represented, magic sparks our imagination and suggests that anything is possible. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature some form of magic.

Six new magical novels

1. Chasing the Shy Town by Erika McGann
2. Golemcrafters by Emi Watanabe Cohen
3. The Monstrous Adventures of Mummy Man and Waffles by Steve Behling
4. The Grimsbane Family Witch Hunters by 
5. When Wishes Were Horses by Cynthia Voight
6. The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln

It's a new year. Let's try new things

 When I started this blog ten years ago, I established a set structure for book reviews that I've followed ever since. It's worked for me thus far but recently I've found it more confining than helpful. So I've decided that 2025 is the year of new things. We're going to experiment with some different formats and find the one that works going forward. I'd love to hear any feedback you have as I implement these changes.

WWW Wednesday - New Year's edition

 What are you currently reading?

Same Page by Elly Swartz

Girl Forgotten by April Henry

assorted Asterix books

What did you recently finish reading?

Holler of the Fireflies by David Barclay Moore

What do you think you'll read next?

Ravencave by Marcus Sedgwick

What's a cool book you reread last year?

Primates by Jim Ottaviani

What book are you looking forward to this year?

The Greatest Stuff on Earth by Steve Tomecek

Happy 2024

Throughout the year I read a number of books. Some are good, some less so. Most of my favorites end up here on my blog on featured reviews. Others are hard to describe or get pushed out by scheduling issues. So here's a short list of books that I read this year that I feel are worth your time but, for whatever reason, didn't post about already.

the Cat's Cradle series by Jo Rioux (ongoing)

We are the Beasts by Gigi Griffis

The Ghostkeeper by Johanna Taylor

the Marius Grey series by MR Fournet (ongoing)

Learning to Fall by Sally Engelfried

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

Major Impossible by Nathan Hale

Unicorn Boy by Dave Roman

We Are Mayhem by Beck Rourke-Mooney

That's it for 2024. Anyone excited to see what 2025 will bring?

Christmas gifts

 Now that gift giving is done I can share with you some of the things I made as gifts this year. I did a fair amount of knitting and crocheting this year. 

First we have fish slippers for my mom. She'd had a pair of these that I made years ago in orange that finally completely wore out. So I made her new ones in this soft blue wool.

Next, for my gamer brother, a Link hat.

And for my sister, a pair of waffle weave mittens in woolease.

Non-fiction book review - Spices and Spuds

 

Spices and Spuds by Andy Warner

If you have any interest in history, social studies, or plants, this may be the book for you. Warner breaks down all the known history of a plant and how it has shaped society. From wood to agriculture, the spice trade to industrialization, it's all here. The book is divided into chapters focused on a kind of plant. It's structured like a graphic novel, though it is quite text heavy. This is not a book you're going to sit down and read all at once, but rather one to read slowly, allowing yourself time to absorb the information.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Dust

 

Title: Dust

Author: Alison Stine

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: The Truth About Everything by Bridget Farr

                      Klickitat by Peter Rock

Rating:

interesting ideas

Summary (provided by publisher): After her father has a premonition, Thea and her family move to the Bloodless Valley of southern Colorado, hoping to make a fresh start. But the rivers are dry, the crops are dying, and the black blizzards of Colorado have returned. Much like the barren land, Thea feels her life has stopped growing. She is barely homeschooled, forbidden from going to the library, and has no way to contact her old friends—all due to her parents’ fear of the outside world’s dangerous influence.

But to make ends meet, Thea is allowed to work at the café in town. There, she meets Ray, who is deaf. Thea, who was born hard of hearing, has always been pushed by her parents to pass as someone who can hear. Now, with Ray secretly teaching Thea how to sign, she begins to learn what she’s been missing—not just a new language but a whole community and maybe even a chance at love.

My opinion: Oftentimes, books featuring prepper families make the family head appear delusional, prepping for a disaster that is never going to happen. Stine takes a different approach. Thea's family are certainly preppers. They're living a "simpler" life. The problem becomes that they are prepping for the wrong emergency. It becomes apparent that there is a disaster on the way that they don't have the skills to handle. The result is a book that explores family, community, secrets, and ecology. While it takes a lot of expected directions, the journey is interesting enough to be worth a read especially as the description is visceral.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley