Hm… maybe I should visit again? Book Review for “Apple of My Eye” by Helene Hanff. Summary: "A celebration of her life-long love for New York, Hanff embarked on this project as an assignment, and realized she had not been to many of the main tourist attractions- the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the World Trade Center. As make-believe tourists, off she and Patsy travel to describe the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb, Fraunces Tavern, some of New York's very special small museums, Orchard Street, a tour of Harlem, and much more.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon Hm... maybe I should visit again? My #bookreview for "Apple of My Eye" by Helene Hanff. This is a real #BeatTheBacklist book that is out of my comfort zone being non-fiction, as well as about New York City, which isn't my thing! #OOCZ2026 #2026BookishBooks

A Palm, a Balm, or a Bomb? Book Review for “A Palm for Mrs Pollifax” by Dorothy Gilman (Mrs Pollifax #4). Summary: ""What we are looking for - aside from the stolen plutonium, Mrs. Pollifax - is evil in its purest form." Mrs. Pollifax was leading a very full life: Garden Club, karate, yoga - and a little spying now and then. This time the mysterious Mr.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon A Palm, a Balm, or a Bomb? My #bookreview for "A Palm for Mrs Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman (Mrs Pollifax Mystery #4) on my #bookblog here. Our #goldenyears spy gets into a potentially explosive situation! #BeatTheBacklist #CloakDaggerChal #TheClassicsClub

TCL’s #CCSpin 43 #BookReview – Scout-ing for Justice. Book Review for “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. Summary: "'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon TCL's #CCSpin 43 #BookReview - Scout-ing for Justice. My #bookreview for "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, on my #bookblog now. Thanks to #TheClassicsClub for getting me to finally read this Pulitzer Prize winning, debut novel from 1960! #BeatTheBacklist

Review: People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn This was a perfect book to build upon the issues discussed in As a Jew by Sarah Hurwitz. Horn explores antisemitism in various forms, most notably the idea that people are comfortable with the idea of Jews as victims, as long as they aren’t challenged to look beyond that. For example, people love the idea of Anne Frank, a girl who hid away and was then murdered – but they don’t look closer at her as a writer and an individual.

Review: People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn #readnonficchal #beatthebacklist #bookreviews #readjewishly

I'm #currentlylistening🎧 to The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee by Heather G. Harris
amzn.to/3MlPtk8

#audiobookchallenge #librarylovechallenge #COYER #beatthebacklist #urbanfantasy #mystery #BookSky💙📚

Saturday Morning for Kids: #BookReview #Audiobook #MiddleGrade #GreatCanadianRdgChal #BeatTheBacklist This meme was started by Rae Longest at Powerful Women Readers, but as she is busy with her bookstore, she is not posting as much and asked me to take over. I hope some of you will join in and post those reviews of children's or middlegrade books on Saturdays. As I am a grandmother, who loves to read to her grandchildren, a mother who loved to read to and with her children, and a retired teacher librarian, this meme is right up my alley.

Saturday Morning for Kids: #BookReview #Audiobook #MiddleGrade #GreatCanadianRdgChal #BeatTheBacklist

This meme was started by Rae Longest at Powerful Women Readers, but as she is busy with her bookstore, she is not posting as much and asked me to take over. I hope some of you will join in and…

Review: Playground by Richard Powers This was my first book by Richard Powers, though I’ve been wanting to read The Overstory for a while, which won a Pulitzer Prize and came recommended by a former work friend. This book, Playground, was on a lot of 2024 Best Of lists and the beautiful cover certainly drew me in.  The novel covers many decades and characters. In the 1940s, Evelyne Boulieu is a French girl who is thrown by her father into a pool with the first Aqualung and who becomes a renowned diver and marine researcher.

Review: Playground by Richard Powers #beatthebacklist #speccyficchal

The Art of Rebellion and/or Conforming. Book Review for “The Dream Life of Sukhanov” by Olga Grushin. Summary: "At fifty-six, Anatoly Sukhanov has everything a man could want. Nearly twenty-five years ago, he traded his precarious existence as a brilliant underground artist for the perks and comforts of a high-ranking Soviet apparatchik. Once he created art; now he censors it. His past is a shadow, repressed to the point of nonexistence.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon The Art of Rebellion and/or Conforming. My #bookreview for "The Dream Life of Sukhanov" by @OlgaGrushin, on my #bookblog now. This is a beautifully written story set in pre-fall of the #USSR, is very relevant to today! #histficreadingchallenge #BeatTheBacklist

TBR Challenge [Vintage] Audiobook Review: The Highland Dragon's Lady (Highland Dragons #2) by Isabel Cooper (Narrator: Derek Perkins) ~ https://wp.me/pf9Cse-7XM

#HistoricalRomance #PNR #AudiobookReview #TBRChallenge #AudiobookChallenge #LibraryLoveChallenge #COYER #BeatTheBacklist

Review: Solito by Javier Zamora I first learned about this book when I was working with a grant to the state of Rhode Island to support a statewide read along of this book ( The woman I spoke with at Rhode Island Center for the Book raved about Solito so much I went out and picked it up. That was in 2024, but with the recent events in Minneapolis and elsewhere, this book is even more relevant today.

Review: Solito by Javier Zamora #readnonficchal #beatthebacklist #bookreviews #reading

The Last Battle Mystery! Book Review for “Towards Zero” by Agatha Christie. Summary: "What is the connection among a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing. But when a house party gathers at Gull’s Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon The Last Battle Mystery! My #bookreview for "Towards Zero" by Agatha Christie, which is the 5th and last Superintendent Battle novel, on my #bookblog now. Only 1 book left to my #battlerace #readingchallenge. #BeatTheBacklist #CloakDaggerChal #TheClassicsClub

2026 Jan. Reading Challenge & Stats Updates ~ wp.me/pf9Cse-7Mj

#bookblogger #librarylovechallenge #COYER #TBRChallenge #BeatTheBacklist #AudiobookChallenge #TBRTackleChallenge #ReadAlongChallenge

I'm #currentlylisteningto🎧 Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer & narrated by Em Eldridge for these challenges: #librarylovechallenge #audiobookchallenge #COYER #beatthebacklist #tbrtacklechallenge

For the Love of Syntax. Book Review for “Confessions of a Grammar Queen” by Eliza Knight. Summary: "Bernadette Swift, a young copyeditor at Lenox & Park Publishing, is determined to become the first female CEO in the publishing industry. But first she needs to take the next step up that ladder with a promotion that her boorish and sexist boss wants to thwart. Seeking a base of support, Bernadette joins a feminist women's book club at the New York Public Library, and soon, she's inspiring her fellow members to challenge the male gatekeepers and decades of ingrained sexism in their workplaces and pursue their personal and professional dreams.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon For the Love of Syntax - my #bookreview for "Confessions of a Grammar Queen" by @ElizaKnight, on my #bookblog now. This was fun, even with the #romance and a dog narrating some chapters! #histficreadingchallenge
#BeatTheBacklist #OOCZ2026
#2026BookishBooks

TBR Challenge Audiobook Review: Gray Court (Black Hat Bureau #7) by Hailey Edwards (Narrator: Stephanie Richardson)

Stop by to read my full review ~ wp.me/pf9Cse-7H3

#librarylovechallenge #audiobookchallenge #tbrchallenge #BeatTheBacklist #coyer #audiobookreview #BookSky💙📚

My Reading Goals and Challenges for 2026 This week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is our reading goals and challenges for 2026. Last year I said I wanted to be more flexible, to read for enjoyment, and also leave myself time to pick up challenges throughout the year. I didn't accomplish those goals, as I read more ARCs and focused more on challenges.

Goals and Reading Challenges for 2026 #TopTenTuesday #readinggoals #readnonficchal #speccyficchal #the52bookclub #beatthebacklist #readjewishly

2026 Beat The Backlist: BTB Bingo #BeatTheBacklist I’m doing the 2026 Beat The Backlist Bingo challenge as well this year, and of course I’m going to go for the 52 prompt one as I like to torture myself. xD You can find a full list of b…

2026 Beat The Backlist: BTB Bingo by @yvoaboutbooks.bsky.social

#BeatTheBacklist #BookSky

The Sugar Flowers Mystery. Book Review for “The Readers' Room” by Antoine Laurain (translated by Jane Aitken, Emily Boyce, and Polly Mackintosh). Summary: "When the manuscript of a debut crime novel arrives at a Parisian publishing house, everyone in the readers' room is convinced it's something special. And the committee for France's highest literary honour, the Prix Goncourt, agrees. But when the shortlist is announced, there's a problem for editor Violaine she has no idea of the author's identity.

#BookThreads #booksky 💙📚 #bookstodon The Sugar Flowers Mystery: My #bookreview for The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain on my #bookblog. Thanks @pushkinpress @Steerforthpress for the ARC. #2026NewReleaseChallenge #BeatTheBacklist #CloakDaggerChal #2026BooksInTranslation #OOCZ2026 #2026BookishBooks

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz I’m continuing to explore young adult fiction now that I work with teens every day, and this book was fantastic. It’s written in what felt like a very real teenage voice, and I sometimes felt I could be reading about my own fears and uncertainties as a teenager. Aristotle (Ari) is a lonely, reserved teen when a boy he’s never seen before offers to teach him to swim.

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz #beatthebacklist #the52bookclub

2026 Beat The Backlist: Official Update Post #BeatTheBacklist I had a lot of fun with the previous Beat The Backlist challenges, so of course I had to join again. This challenge is hosted by Austine Decker and in 2026 will be all about reading for the eighth …

2026 Beat The Backlist: Official Update Post by @yvoaboutbooks.bsky.social #BeatTheBacklist #BookSky

#AudiobookReview: The Spellshop (Spellshop 1) by Sarah Beth Durst

I read this for the #TBRTackleChallenge, #LibraryLoveChallenge, #AudiobookChallenge, #BeatTheBacklist, & #COYER! Check out my full review: wp.me/pf9Cse-7EX

#CozyFantasy #Romantasy #FoundFamily #BookSky💙📚

I'm #currentlylisteningto🎧 Gray Court by Hailey Edwards for these Challenges: #TBRChallenge "Jan. Theme: Still Here", #audiobookchallenge, #librarylovechallenge, #COYER & #BeatTheBacklist.

Hollywood and it’s Resistances. Book Review for “Typewriter Beach” by Meg Waite Clayton. Summary: " 1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard 7-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a charming little Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage for a secret rendezvous. There, she is awoken by the clack and ding of a typewriter at the cottage next door.

#BookThreads #booksky 📚💙 #bookstodon Hollywood and it's Resistances. My #bookreview for "Typewriter Beach" by @MegWaiteClayton on my #bookblog now! OMG! A character with MY last name (no relation, though)! And what a story, too. #histficreadingchallenge #2026NewReleaseChallenge #BeatTheBacklist

I'm #currentlylisteningto🎧 my first book of 2026: The Spellshop (Spellshop 1) by Sarah Beth Durst & narrated by Caitlin Davies! ~ amzn.to/4pob2Oq

#hoopladigital #librarylovechallenge #audiobookchallenge #beatthebacklist #romanticfantasy #romanticcomedy #paranormalromance #bookblogger #BookSky💙📚

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this ch…

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge by @bluemoodcafe.bsky.social

@beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist #BookSky

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this ch…

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist bluemoodcafe.com/2026/01/01/2... via @bluemoodcafe.bsky.social

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this ch…

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist bluemoodcafe.com/2026/01/01/2...

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this ch…

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist bluemoodcafe.com/2026/01/01/2... @bluemoodcafe.bsky.social

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this ch…

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist bluemoodcafe.com/2026/01/01/2...

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this challenge is flexible enough to work for all kinds of readers. I’m pledging to read 30 books in 2026. Guidelines The challenge runs from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026. The book must have been published in 2025 or earlier. You have to start and finish the book in 2026. Any format, any genre. Re-reads count, you don’t have to own the book, and you can join at any time.

2026 Beat the Backlist Challenge @beatthebacklist @beatthebacklist.com #BeatTheBacklist

This reading challenge, hosted by Austine @ Austine Decker.com, is returning for its 10th year in 2026! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t, this challenge is…