SFF Shenanigans: Broken Places & Outer Spaces. #JKShenanigansSFF

After our false start Jess and I decided to tackle Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor for the Hodderscape challenge. The category is Nonfiction by a SFF Writer.

What was your initial reaction to the book? Did it hook you immediately, or take some time to get into?

Jess: It definitely hooked me right away, which is so important with a book…

SFF Shenanigans: January's DNF: Where Karena and Jess flounder in the first challenge. #JKShenanigansSFF

So we tried. We really did. However, January’s selection A Memory Called Empire for Hodderscapes’s was a bust for both Jessica and I. Not to despair, we did read something for January anyway, Nnedi Okorafor’s Broken Places and Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpectedfor the Nonfiction by an SFF author category, which we’ll be posting about in a separate post. In this post though, Jess…

Bout of Books 27: Day 3

No challenge today. well technically there was, but it’s one looking for recommendations and 1) I don’t need recommendations at the moment and 2) it’s meant for their comments section. So let’s get on with the update!

I finished Daisy Jones and the Six. It was so good. I got so stuck in genre last year that I barely made a dent in anything else. I had so many people tell me how good it was. I…

Introducing Jessica And Karena's SFF Shenanigans. Join us as we explore a SFF novel a month #JKShenanigansSFF

My friend Jessica and I are going to be tackling Hodderscape’s 2019 challenge but in 2020. You will be seeing posts from her as we’ve decided to tackle our book selections together. Here is the list we’re planning on reading for the year.

A book based on mythology or folkloreThe Sisters GrimmMerena van PraagA non-fiction book by a SFF authorBroken Places and Outer SpacesNnedi OkoraforA work…

Bout of Books 27: Day 2

Share Your 2020 Reading Goals is today’s Bout of Books’ challenge. Well. My husband has been badgering me for awhile and this year since i’m not currently working, I decided to try it. I’m going for 365. I’ve gotten close to it before. In 2016, I managed 350, so it’s possible! The trick is making sure my books are not just white lady historical romance novels as that’s the easiest way for me to…

Bout of Books 27: Day 1 #insixwords #boutofbooks

Today’s challenge I think is supposed to be just a twitter challenge, but here we are. Introduce yourself in six words: High volume reader with snarky opinions. Now for those of you who have been around, you know. But for anyone finding me through the readathon: Welcome!

I read a lot. Like a lot a lot. I average around 300 books a year, give or take. I mostly can be found in either the…

Bout of Books 27 Edition: I'm participating in #boutofbooks 27 starting January 6th. Join me! (You were going to read anyway, right?!?!) https://ctt.ec/s1L0T+

It’s that time of year again and what a way to jump into all of our new reading goals. It’s time for Bout of Books 27. What is Bout of Books you’re asking? Well, I’ve done it before, but here’s a recap. The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th…

Read More Hard 2020: What are you reading this year? #CovenBookChallenge

I read a lot but sometimesoften I get stuck in the same reading rut. Luckily a couple of my fellow book coven members worked up a special spell to counter this curse. 24 books in 12 months all in very specific categories, some from the pretty simple (books with a rainbow color in the title) to the complex (books published by a non profit press). I can’t claim any credit for this graphic! One of…

I have a great support system when it comes to my books and reading and when one of my coven suggested we do an end of the year book tag, I was thrilled.

1. Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

With the move this summer I started and abandoned a lot of books. Not on purpose. It just happened. I got a few of them finished with Nonfiction November, but there…

NonFiction November: Random Edition: Alexander Chee, linguistics, female friendships, food essays.

Last but not least we have a hodgepodge of topics that just happened to interest me.

You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships by Deborah Tannen

Ever since I read Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer I’ve been fascinated with the idea of female friendship and how they’re portrayed as opposed to how we actually act. Tannen is a linguist so is…

NonFiction November: History Featuring Anne Lister, Jell-O, Victorian Childrearing, Egyptian Queens, Regency's scandals, and the Librarian to a Robber Baron.

Here we are in week 3 of Nonfiction November. This week we’re going to History Class. We’re going to cover a socialite librarian with a secret, Britain’s Regency period, ancient queens, Victorian childrearing, a lesbian landowner in the 1800s, and the creation of Jell-O. I have very wild taste, friends.

Today’s topic: History

An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene’s Journey from…

A Dream Come True: An Interview with Erin Morgenstern. @bookshopsc @erinmorgenstern

I got to do something that was a chance of a lifetime this summer. As we were moving from Santa Cruz to Pittsburgh, I was contacted by my former coworkers at Bookshop Santa Cruz. They had achieved the only West Coast appearance of Erin Morgenstern for her latest book The Starless Seaand would I be interested in interviewing her for their Winter Newsletter. The answer is obviously absolutely.…

NonFiction November: Feminism: Featuring Lindy West, Chloe Hilliard, Mikki Kendall, and Mara Altman

Hey folks! So last week I focused in on memoirs. This week are the feminist titles I’ve picked up. If you know me at all, you know this is something near and dear to my heart that I’m always looking to improve. If you think the work’s all done, you’ve already failed. We should always work at improving our feminism, especially us white ladies. We as a group have a habit of leaving people out of…

NonFiction November Prep: Memoirs- Featuring Liz Phair, Ali Wong, Daniel Ortberg, Rebecca Solnit, Jackson Bird, and Cameron Esposito. #nonfictionnovember

Hey folks! It’s that time of year again. Because I have a habit of hiding in swoony romance, pew pew romance, and historical fiction, i like to spend the month of November catching up on all the nonfiction I’ve accumulated. So each week I’m going to pick a topic and go from there. This week is going to be featuring memoirs. I love a good memoir. Julia Child’s My Life in France, Eddie Izzard’s Be…

I’m sure you all noticed there’s been a break in content. The husband type person fell and busted his ankle so I’ve been busy helping there. We’ll be back to regularly scheduled awesomeness soon. Thanks for understanding!

New Releases for the week of October 7th: Leigh Bardugo, horror for Halloween, and Liz Phair.

No one knows why Tuesday is new release day, but are we really going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Every week I’ll post books that I’m excited about.

Horror Stories by Liz Phair

I have to admit on this one, I have only one Liz Phair album that I’ve listened to (I’m actually really bad at music in general), but it holds a lot of memories for me and also I do dig musician memoirs so I…

New Releases for the week of September 30th Part 2: Oops, here's the rest! Jasmine Guillory, sci fi romance, wine witches, and Hell's library. #literaryloot

I knew my list was too short yesterday! I had been using the wrong filter on my book document. Here are the rest of this week’s new releases that I am excited for you to pick up!

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

This is actually the first of Guillory’s books that I haven’t read before the pub date and I’m sorry for it. Her books are a bit more on the tamer side so if you’re looking for…