Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance

This was just one of those books that I knew I wanted to read from the second I saw it. The title and cover drew me in, but the description sealed the deal. I am a huge sucker for magical realism and this story sounded literally perfect. Having just finished, I can confirm that I…

Advertisements

Freshwater

I was originally drawn to this book by the cover, which is gorgeous, and then by the description. I am always fascinated to read about beliefs that are different and foreign to my own, specifically in how they look/play out in real life. In addition, this sounded like a really fascinating personal exploration, a book…

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

I saw this book in a photo on Bookstagram and, though I had never heard of it before, the title and cover just seriously called out to me. When I asked the person who posted the photo what they thought of the book (I wish I could remember who is was so I could give…

Her Body and Other Parties

I’m not always a short story person. I don’t read a lot of them, so when I do decide to pick up a book like this, you know there’s a good reason. In this case, a collection of stories billed as genre-defying representations of the female experience. Honestly, that’s an almost impossible description for me…

The Astonishing Color of After

I don’t usually get to books this soon after publication (my TBR backlog is ridiculous), but based on the description (and that title!) this is one that I actually almost pre-ordered. I decided at the last minute not to, but still wanted to get to it as soon as possible. And I have to say,…

The End We Start From

My first thought when I picked up this book at the library: it’s so small. (My second thought, upon opening it: it smells amazing. I’m weird – sorry not sorry.) It’s like half the size of a normal book, both in regards to actual physical size and length. But definitely do not let its size…

The Book of Speculation

In a very convenient circumstance, this book, which has been on my TBR list for a few months, was also chosen as the January book for one of my book clubs. I love when things like that work out. Also, since it wasn’t towards the top of my list, I was unlikely to get to…

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

This one has been on my TBR for a while, over a year for sure, and I’m not sure what made me finally pick it up. I’m also not sure what I thought it was about when I added it to my TBR, because after starting to read it, I realized it was absolutely nothing…

The Buried Giant

I have like 3 or 4 books on my shelf by Ishiguro, and they’ve all been on my TBR list for so long now… For some reason I have just kept putting them off. But, in light of the recent announcement of his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, I felt that now, if ever,…

Living the Good Death

I had never heard of this novel, or author honestly, until a few weeks ago when he emailed to say that he enjoyed my reviews and would I be interested in reading/reviewing a copy of his soon-to-be-published novel about a girl who thinks she is Death? Well, that just sounded a little too intriguing to…