November 2024 Books #MyLifeInBooks

The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements - I *loved* this modern-day follow up to the 25-year-old Frindle. If you haven't read it, find a fifth grader and share it with them. And then read this one! Loved it. Great middle grade novel about the power of words and using them wisely.

The House of Eve by Sadaqa Johnson - Historical fiction about black women in the 1950s. It was an interesting look at a piece of history that I haven't read about before. The "twist" seemed fairly obvious to me, but otherwise it was a pretty good story.

Flunked by Jen Calonita - A fifth grader ran up to me at Hebrew School and said "Rabbi! Book recommendation!" so I immediately borrowed it from Libby and it was delightful. The first in a series called "Fairy Tale Reform School," and now I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what it's all about. 

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst - This checks all the boxes: found family, magical stuff, cozy fantasy. As long as I didn't think too hard about the world-building, it was great. 

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier - Historical fiction about the glassmakers of Murano, Italy. It follows a family through history but through an odd and completely mystifying time travel technique that totally threw me off. Much like the previous book, as long as I didn't think too hard about it, it was great. I wish it had been a more traditional family saga...without the weird time skips that didn't make sense.

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - Um...quirky? That's probably the word for this book. On the one hand, I liked the found family, struggle-to-find-your-narrative story. On the other hand, I was a little thrown by the um...use of the internet to earn a living. Enjoyable but a bit odd.

The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum - I liked Hoodie (short for Yehuda), an Orthodox teen who narrates the story. It's a fairly powerful story about Hoodie's intersection with the non-Jewish world around him, with the addition of some terrible antisemitism that rocks his community. 

October Books
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October 2024 books #MyLifeInBooks

 

Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer - cute and timely, with a lot about antisemitism and living in a smaller town. I'm not sure how I felt about the whole "golem" idea but overall, I appreciated the love story in the end.

The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove by Karen Hawkins - I didn't know this was the third in a series when I picked it up. That said, I really liked this one. It reminded me of the Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (one of my favorites) and I do love a smidge of magical realism with my love stories. 

Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomons - A sequel to Today, Tonight, Tomorrow! Loved seeing what happened next for this pair of Jewish kids from Seattle. 

The Book of Silver Linings by Nan Fisher - There was definitely too much going on in this book, and I wasn't sure what the point of each part was and how it all tied together. That said, I didn't hate it, I just don't quite know why I liked it.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman - This book hit a lot of top lists for the year, and I suppose I can see why, although I found it a little too angsty for me. I do prefer slightly more plot-driven stories, so this one won't make MY top lists.

I'm about 65 books into the year. What MUST I read before 2024 ends?

September Books
August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

September 2024 Books

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center - Okay, I am so embarrassed to tell you that I read this book in 2009. And honestly? It was so forgettable that I read it again and never realized I'd read it before until I logged it in Goodreads. And I don't remember what I thought of it the first time, but this time I thought it was not my favorite of her books.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio - I'm pretty sure I didn't like this book. I couldn't quite understand the point of it. I liked the premise and it was interesting for the first 20-30 pages. But I couldn't see where it was going and I'm not sure that it even made any interesting points about marriage.

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren - Fairly standard romance, some cute dialogue, enjoyed the love story. 

When The Angels Left the Old Country by Sasha Lamb - I enjoyed this somewhat fantastical story about an angel and a demon who come to America from their shtetl - an interesting telling of the Jewish immigration to America story. A little too long, but well-told.

Behind Every Good Man by Sara Goodman Confino - loved this 1960s story about a woman who takes a little bit of control of her own life and her own story. I loved the characters and how the era really impacted their choices and capacities. The mother-daughter story was strong, and I liked the callback to the author's earlier book too. 

August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

August 2024 Books

Um...so this month I watched a lot of the Olympics. And a lot of the DNC. And apparently, I didn't read a lot! 

But all of these books were REALLY good so there's that!

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn - This was a great combo of two of my favorite kinds of books: about a "found family" and historical fiction. I really liked the look at McCarthy-era Washington, D.C. This book was a little long, but it was really wonderful and totally worth it!

True Love Experimen tby Christina Lauren - I really enjoyed this one! I'm now on a hunt for the rest of Christina Lauren's books. A reality show, a smart and snarky author, a hot British guy...great romance novel!

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray - I really loved this bio of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor who transformed our country by inventing Social Security (amongst many other accomplishments). She is my new favorite historical woman! Wow. Loved this insight into all of it...a period of history that I know a lot about but don't have a lot of details about what it was really like. Loved it!

July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

#blogelul #elulgram 2024

Elul -- that wonderful and terrifying month that precedes the High Holy Days. A month of introspection and considering, a month of personal reflection and preparation.

#BlogElul is a project that I started in 2010, although it wasn't until 2012 that I created the list of topics. Since then, I haven't always completed the whole month of blogging, although I know that many of you have. I also know that the online world has changed so much since 2010, when blogging was one of the only ways to publish your online content easily.

Now we have Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, (some people are still on Formerly Twitter) and other platforms - even TikTok...so many ways in which to express ourselves and dive deeply into the themes of the High Holy Days. And so here we are….I've added #ElulGram (and perhaps #ElulTok?) to the #BlogElul family and the borders of this project are so wide that they reallly don't exist at all. This project is really whatever YOU want - however YOU want to spend your time preparing yourself for the holiest season in the Jewish calendar.

Who can participate? ANYONE. It's yours. I gift it to you. Elul is for anyone and everyone.

How could one do it? You don't have a blog… No worries. Be creative and find your own path! Maybe you don't want to do it daily. Maybe you just want to dip your toe into the experience, or just read (and share?) what others write. It's totally up to you. I always love to see the creative things that the #BlogElul community comes up with.

There are no rules. I provide the topics (see graphic) for each of the days of the month. Use the hashtag to share your post (I like to put it in my titles) and share other people's posts as well. This could be a way to revitalize your blog, kickstart a new project, or even just get yourself ready for the holidays! I know that lots of people use #BlogElul as a spiritual exercise each year, and I'm so proud to be a part of their yearly journey through Elul.

And what about #ElulGram? This one is even more interpretive. Photos, art, illustrations, quotes -- what kinds of images can you put together to explore and interpret these High Holy Day themes? You don't have to limit your picture-sharing to Instagram (even though I totally appropriated the name), you can use any image-sharing site you'd like, such as Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Whatever you do, tag it with #ElulGram (or #ElulTok?) so we can call share and follow.

These themes and ideas are broad and open, and again -- remember, there are NO RULES except the ones you make for yourself!

And yes, I know that the dates include Shabbat. I personally don't blog/tweet/Facebook on Shabbat, but I will post before and after Shabbat. You can do whatever you like!

Rosh Chodesh Elul is in coming up fast! So here we go….

July 2024 Books

Let's giggle about the THREE books this month all with "summer" in the title, shall we? 

This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune - totally worked for me. Loved the Prince Edward Island/Anne of Green Gables references. A sweet romance, perfect for July.

Reign by Katharine McGee - I just really had to finish this series! A satisfying ending to wrap it all up.

The Fellowship of the Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr - found family! a creative mystery! a quest to find oneself! I loved this one.

A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva - I mean, of course. Gabriel Allon is my favorite. That said, this one was not quite as thick as some of the others. The stakes felt lower, and the "team" wasn't there. But I won't complain.

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear - A sweet and satisfying end to this long-running series. I loved how many old friends were brought back together, and Maisie was able to metaphorically ride off into the sunset of a happy ending. I will always want more Maisie Dobbs, but I also feel like this ending was perfect.

Tangled Up In You by Christina Lauren - It's a family joke that I only finally saw the full movie of Tangled last year. I always ended up falling asleep or helping a kid, and I had never seen the whole thing. So that meant that I wasn't quite as well versed in the Disney film on which this book is based. Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's darker than some other romance novels - and Rapunzel is, actually, a pretty dark story. Such a creative retelling. I'm totally in love with these books as a concept!

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez - This was my first Abby Jimenez and it won't be my last. Loved this story and how it was told. I do appreciate the combination of a few serious ideas alongside the romance. I liked it so much that I dived right into...

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez - and I loved this one too! The letter-writing! The understanding between them! The family drama! (I promise I'll be back for more Abby Jimenez!)

Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan - Despite the fact that this was my fourth romance novel in a row (I start to feel much the same way as though I've only eaten candy for a few weeks, like I need something with a vegetable), I really loved this one too. Loved the redemption love story, and the way that the main character was able to reclaim her own power. Predictable? Yes, of course. But enjoyable nevertheless.

June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

June 2024 Books

Okay, we're halfway through the year!

Rivals by Katharine McGee (#3) After the second of this series (American Royals), I thought I was done reading these, but somehow I got sucked into this one and I enjoyed it. I am actually curious to see how far they can take this one! And of course, it ended on a cliffhanger so I'm in for book #4.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto - As I've said before, I'm a big fan of the "found family" genre, usually surrouning an older, somewhat quirky, woman. In this case, they're solving a mystery together. I liked this one a lot and highly recommend! 

The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad - Loved this set of three novellas about Israeli women living in the Diaspora, trying to navigate their lives in all the strange ways that cultures and generations clash. The first novella was the best, in my opinion, but all are interesting, readable, and discussable!

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center - A love letter to romantic comedies and a quick, fun read. Reminded me of By The Book by Jasmine Guillory. Fairly predictable but readable. 

In the Shadow of the Greenbriar by Emily Matchar - I thought the intergenerational story was interesting, and I liked learning about how a family of Jews ended up in a small southern town, and how their lives were impacted by that experience. The Greenbrier is a real place, and it looks gorgeous...but I don't think that the "big secret" was such a big secret. 

Stockholm by Noa Yedlin - I'm leading a book discussion on this one and I really didn't like any of the characters, nor did I think it was as funny as all the reviews said it was. I tried to find the Israeli TV show that was based on this book and could only find a few clips. I'm not sure this one is a big hit, although you could pull some interesting conversations about how we start to look back over our lives as we age. 

Welcome Home, Caroline Kline by Courtney Preiss - I wanted to love this book but I didn't really get what it was trying to do. It's fiction about Jews, but I wouldn't call it Jewish fiction. It's about baseball, it's a little bit about casual alcoholism, which felt a bit off, and I'm not sure it was even a romance. It definitely is about learning to love yourself above all. I didn't hate it, but it was just okay.

Previous Months:

May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books