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Smiling Shelves

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

6/11/2018

3 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
I actually went to a bookstore last week and walked out without buying anything!! This is not a common occurrence for sure. It's a really nice used bookstore, but there were at least ten books filed in the Fiction section that were actually nonfiction (like Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt). It was really starting to bug me, but I didn't quite have the courage to say anything to the person at the desk. Sadly, I wasn't really in the mood to buy any books after noticing that. Hopefully the next time I visit will be different, because I've certainly walked out of there with stacks of books before!

Recent Post

To DNF or Not? Help!

What I Read Last Week

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The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan (Georgette Heyer and James Herriot references?? Yes, please! This book is pure delight for any book lover.)

What I'm Reading Now

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Birth of the Chess Queen by Marilyn Yalom (I haven't been in the mood to read nonfiction for a long time, so I'm taking advantage of the feeling while it lasts.)
The Pirates! in an Adventure with Communists by Gideon Defoe (This was a library book sale find. It's small and short, so I decided to read it and check it off my list of books to read. It is hilariously satirical so far!)
​The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall (Continuing my audio reread of this series!)

What's Coming Up Next

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The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley (I love Lucinda Riley's books, and I'm so excited to dive into this fourth book in her Seven Sisters series!)
3 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

6/4/2018

2 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
My wonderful husband took care of our two-year-old on Saturday so that I could have one last day to myself before the baby arrives. I read a book and a half and went out to lunch. It was glorious!

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Author Love & Cover Love - Robin Hobb

What I Read Last Week

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A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler (Our book club book for June. I've never read one of our selections so far in advance, but I wanted to make sure I had it done before baby arrived!)
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (This was the book that I read in entirety on Saturday. It was so good and so much fun!!)

What I'm Reading Now

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It Happened at the Fair by Deeanne Gist (Christian fiction set at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. There's original photographs and everything, so I'm learning a lot!)
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (I'm loving revisiting this series through audio!)

What's Coming Up Next

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Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (I loved her Grisha trilogy, so I'm excited to try this series.)
2 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

5/12/2018

2 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
I hope everyone who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a wonderful time. I'm blessed to live close enough to my family that we could spend lunch with my mother and supper with my husband's mother. And my husband surprised me with a collage of pictures of me and my little guy (he said it's proof that he does take pictures of me because I always say that he doesn't). It was a nice, relaxing day.

Recent Post

My Classics Club List Is Complete!

What I Read Last Week

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (This was my first reread in about twenty years, and I still absolutely loved it. It was fun to discuss it with my book club, too!)
Can't Help Falling by Kara Isaac (This was such a fun Christian romance, especially with all of the Narnia references thrown in!)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Wow, was this a powerful book. I grew up in Flint, Michigan - although in a much safer neighborhood than this book depicts - but it's easy for me to imagine people living this sort of life. And just, wow.)

What I'm Reading Now

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Thread of Gold Beads by Nike Campbell-Fatoki (A book set in Benin for my Passport Litsy challenge.)
Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui Sutherland (We just bought this series for the school library I volunteer in, so I thought I'd see what it's all about. Plus, I like dragons.)

What's Coming Up Next

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The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress (Yup, more middle grade fiction, because it's just the best!)
2 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

5/7/2018

3 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
The daffodils and tulips are blooming! The grass is green and filled with dandelions! We can play in the sandbox again! It's finally SPRING!

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Vacation Book Haul

What I Read Last Week

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The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (It was an okay book, but not one I loved. The writing style just never hooked me.)
Rebound by Kwame Alexander (I loved this one just as much as The Crossover!)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (That's right - I finished it! Which means my Classics Club list is officially done!! There's a wrap-up post about completing my Classics Club list coming on Thursday. And, by the way, I loved Daniel Deronda.)

What I'm Reading Now

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (I read this book many times as a kid, but I haven't reread it since middle school. I'm happy to find that I still love it just as much!)

What's Coming Up Next

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Can't Help Falling by Kara Isaac (This book has been on my TBR since before it was published in 2016. Last month, I found a copy at a used bookstore, and it's been sitting on my shelf tempting me since then. It's finally time to read it!)
3 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

4/30/2018

6 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
My husband and I had a lovely little getaway this weekend. My two-year-old stayed at his grandparents' as a trial run for baby's arrival in June, and we got some time to relax, visit bookstores, and eat yummy food (we found the most delicious ice cream!). Then Saturday was Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon, which I participated in only sparingly. The toddler was rather demanding of my attention. :​) But I did get almost three hours of reading in, which is more than I expected!

What I Read Last Week

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The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser (Five star read, for sure! And the perfect book to take on vacation.)

What I'm Reading Now

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The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (I'm enjoying this one so far.)
Rebound by Kwame Alexander (I started this one before our trip and haven't gotten back to it yet, but that's okay. It would be easy to zip through this one in an hour or two, but I'd rather savor it.)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (I'm on page 680 out of 710. I should finish it this week, and then my Classics Club list will be done!!)

What's Coming Up Next

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The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (This book has gotten a lot of love on the Books Between podcast, so I thought I'd give it a try.)
6 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

4/23/2018

2 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
It's spring! It's finally spring! After an ice storm last weekend, the temperatures have been gradually rising. Today is 60 degrees, and our highs for the foreseeable future don't drop below 50. Finally! It's so nice to be out in the sunshine!

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My Son's Go, Dog. Go! Birthday Party

What I Read Last Week

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Edward Trencom's Nose by Giles Milton (This one was just meh, but now that I've read it, I can pass it along to someone else who may love it in my Little Free Library!)
Sounder by William Armstrong (It may be because I read this one in a disjointed fashion over several days while I put my son down for a nap, but it didn't particularly thrill me. It seemed kind of pointless and meandering, and like it could have been so much more.)

What I'm Reading Now

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The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson (This series is amazing! This book suffers a little from second-book-in-a-trilogy syndrome, even though it's actually the third book of four. But I don't even care because I love the characters and I love the setting and I love the storytelling. You should read this series!)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (I'm on page 656 out of 710. The end is in sight!)

What's Coming Up Next

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The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Other than finishing Daniel Deronda, this is the last book on my Classics Club list!! I'm going to make it!)
2 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

4/16/2018

4 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
It's been a busy couple of weeks around here, which is why no posts happened last week. We had a birthday party for my son (which was book-themed, so there will be a post coming about it!). Then my husband was out of town for three days. I have to tell you that single parenting a two-year-old while being seven months pregnant is exhausting! I pretty much collapsed on the couch as soon as my little guy was in bed. I've really enjoyed this past weekend of no plans and relaxing (and having my husband home again!). I was even able to get a fair amount of reading in! :​)

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2018 First Quarter Wrap-Up

What I Read in the Last Two Weeks

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The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (The pacing was on the slow side, but I still enjoyed this one. I keep thinking about the kids that were the main characters, so I'm sure I'll be reading the sequels soon.)
Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn (Almost bailed 50 pages in, but I'm glad I kept going. The second half was good enough to stick with it for.)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (I loved revisiting this one. It's a Newbery winner that I read in childhood and taught as a sixth grade teacher. It was fun to read it just to read it.)

What I'm Reading Now

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The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost (This is for the country of Kiribati for the Litsy Passport Challenge. It's really better than the title suggests.)
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (I'm on page 610 out of 710. One hundred pages to go!!)

What's Coming Up Next

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Edward Trencom's Nose by Giles Milton (I'm trying to balance library and owned books, so I grabbed this one off my shelf. It's on my TBR Bingo that I'm trying to finish this year and have made very little progress on. Time to do something about that!)
4 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

4/2/2018

6 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, spending time with family and friends. But most importantly, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Recent Post

Discovering Michigan Authors

What I Read Last Week

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Where We Belong by Lynn Austin (This was a really enjoyable read.)
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Another Newbery winner. I taught this one when I taught sixth grade, so it was interesting to revisit it just to read it.)

What I'm Reading Now

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The Maiden's Bequest by George MacDonald (This is my yearly George MacDonald Holy Week read. It's a slow, savoring sort of read, so I didn't quite make it during Holy Week, but I should finish it up soon.)
​Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (I'm on page 504 out of 710.)

What's Coming Up Next

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The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (This is one I've been hearing lots of good things about - and I just recently bought books 2 and 3 - so I finally decided to read book one!)
6 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

3/26/2018

2 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
I had a Saturday full of reading, which was a nice change from the normal busyness of our lives. I had to spend the morning at the lab for my three hour glucose tolerance test. Disgusting, but it allowed me to sit there and read for three hours! And then I got to go out to lunch by myself. I had eaten nothing since the night before, and I was starving. By the time I made it home, it was almost my little guy's naptime, which allowed me to sneak in some more reading in the afternoon. Isn't it amazing how the more you read, the more you want to read?

What I Read Last Week

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M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (I'm reading the Newbery winners from the 1970s during this year. I don't remember if I read this one when I was a kid or not, but I found it kind of meandering.)
A Flight of Fancy by Laurie Alice Eakes (I always love learning when I'm reading, especially when it's unexpected - like learning about early ventures in ballooning while reading a Christian romance!)

What I'm Reading Now

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A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (I read this one a while ago, but I'm rereading for next month's book club meeting. I love Bill Bryson!)
Where We Belong by Lynn Austin (Lynn Austin is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Christian writers.)
​Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (Slow but steady progress. I'm on page 471 out of 710.)

What's Coming Up Next

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The Maiden's Bequest by George MacDonald (I've decided to read a George MacDonald book each year during Holy Week, and this is this year's selection!)
2 Comments

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

3/19/2018

8 Comments

 
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This weekly chance to add to your reading list is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.
My almost two-year-old (how did that happen??) has discovered two of the wonders of spring - watching the birds through the window and making shadow puppets when the sun is shining. I love rediscovering the little things like this through his eyes!

Recent Post

Top Ten Theursday - Books I Have Reread Many Times

What I Read Last Week

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Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck (I loved this one!!)
The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler (This one was good, but I'm not sure I was intrigued enough to keep going with the series. We'll see if I'm still thinking about it in a few weeks.)

What I'm Reading Now

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Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O'Hanlon (The blurb on the cover describes this travel narrative as having the "soul of Monty Python." It is a rather bumbling journey so far.)
Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink by Gail Carson Levine (I wrote stories all the time in high school, but haven't for years. I'm hoping this book will inspire me to pick up my pencil again.)
​Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (I'm on page 437 out of 710.)

What's Coming Up Next

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A Flight of Fancy by Laurie Alice Eakes (Time for some Christian fiction again!)
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    My name is Julie, and I own a lot of books. As in, they are stacked on the floor because I've run out of room on the shelves. And those shelves? There are so many books on them that they smile -- not sag; smile. This blog will cover book reviews and all manner of other bookish things.

    You can contact me at julie@smilingshelves.com.

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