June 2025

June was a fantastic month of reads, it’s been a while since I’ve had multiple five star reads in one month! There were some really good ones in June! 

Here's the list:

5 stars:
Pocket Bear (arc), Notorious, Atmosphere

4.5 stars:
Out of Hiding, The Story She Left Behind, The Fort, Big Tree

4.25 stars:
The Nine Moons of Han You and Luli (arc)

4 stars:
The Journey that Saved Curious George, Prisoner B-3087, Ungifted (arc), The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez, Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel (arc)

3.75 stars:
Count Your Lucky Stars, Threat of the Spider (arc)

3.25 stars:
Rise of the Spider

3 stars:
Ban This Book

Unrated:
This Book is About Nothing (arc), A Million Yes’s (arc), Make it All Go Away (arc)

May 2025

Wrapping up May with a bunch of great reads! A surprising amount of non-fiction this month, and a bunch of ARCs as well! The only 5 star read was Echo, which was a re-read (it's that good!) I also read Confessions of an Imaginary Friend with my 10 year old niece, as it was her book club book for school. Four Gordon Korman's in one month has to be a new record! And I've got one more of his in my ARC library I can't wait to tackle!

5 stars:

Echo

4.5 stars:

The Daughter of Auschwitz (young readers adaptation)

4 stars: 

Our Differences Make us Stronger (picture book), Fairy Tale Fixers: Cinderella, Run Like a Girl, Confessions of a Junior Spy, Schooled

3.75 stars: 

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris, Ungifted, A Woman's Guide to Power Unbound, Super Gifted

3.5 stars:

Slacker, Snoop, Confessions of an Imaginary Friend

3.25 stars:

Secrets of a Charmed Life

3 stars:

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories that Carried them through a War, The In-Between Bookstore, Sticky Notes

Unrated:

Golda & Ezra and the Dinner Dilemma, Small Saul

April 2025

I was surprised to find no five star reads this month. Then again, not every book is going to knock my socks off, and that's ok. I added a new marker on the monthly images, I started using the ARC marker last year, and in an effort to diversify my reads, I now have a rainbow marker as well. Books with the rainbow marker are either written by a member of or are about the LGBTQIA+ Community.

Here's the list for April:

4.75 stars:

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date

4.5 stars:

Don't Forget to Write

4.25 stars:

One Wrong Step

4 stars: 

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail, The Lemonade War Graphic Novel, Woodworking 

3.75 stars: 

Amelia if Only, Under the Same Stars, Heartbreak is the National Anthem

3.5 stars:

The Enigma Girls

Unrated: The Girl Who Sang Graphic Novel, Next Year in the White House, Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams

March 2025

March finally delivered the new Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping, which I had been eagerly awaiting. It did not disappoint! Still got in a non-fiction book; my niece has hit that stage of adolescence where I need a little more guidance so as not to awake the !

5 stars:

Sunrise on the Reaping
Hunger Games

4.5 stars:
The Book Club for Troublesome Women
Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!
Mockingjay

4.25 stars:
Catching Fire

4 stars:
Moxie
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Slugfest
The Day The World Came to Town

3.75 stars:
This is So Awkward
The Other March Sisters

3 stars:
The Faculty Lounge

Unrated:
How to Pee Your Pants (picture book)

February 2025

Fewer reads in February, but I still met my goal of at least one non-fiction book a month!

Here's the list, sorted by rating:

5 stars:

Attack of the Black Rectangles

4.25 stars: 

Broken Strings 

4 stars:

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

Delilah Green Doesn't Care

Lions of Little Rock

A Sky Full of Song

3.75 stars:

Unplugged

3.5 stars:

Enigma Game

Project F

Women of the Post

3 stars:

Speech Team

Unrated:

One of a Kind

Lola Levine is not Mean

As an FYI, I tend to not rate picture books or easy readers. They are just too complicated. 

January 2025

January was a good month! Started the year off strong!

My goal this year is to read at least one non-fiction book each month. January's non-fiction book was You: The Story, by Ruta Sepetys.

Here's the rest of the reads, by rating:

5 stars:

The Secret Book of Flora Lea and Not Nothing

4.75 stars:

Magic Hour

4.5 stars:

I Must Betray You, Frankie and Bug, Winter Garden

4 stars:

The Bletchley Riddle, Wings of the Wild, You: The Story

3.75 stars:

Finding Dorothy, The Unteachables, Salt to the Sea, Between Shades of Gray, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

3.5 stars: Dead Wednesday, Once Upon A Wardrobe

3 stars: Scraps of Time: Abby Takes a Stand, March

The Books are Back!

I've been reading a ton lately. The TV is rarely on anymore, instead, I choose to read. I find that it helps me to relax and unwind after a day at school. 

Yes, I know I started this blog nearly 15 years ago, and then wrote next to nothing. I think that I was *trying* to read more, but yeah, it wasn't happening back then. Fast forward to 2020 (post number three!) and the reading kicked in at a much more consistent pace. These days, reading pretty much my second favorite thing to do - curled up on the couch or on a chaise by the pool with my dog, reading. (My first favorite thing to do is spend time with my nieces!)

Anyway.

I get the majority of my books from my local library's electronic collection. I so appreciate the fact that my library has such a huge offering of both ebooks and audio books! I should know, I've read 104 of them so far this year! I'm also lucky to be able to read Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of books. And honestly? That's the reason I am re-starting (for the second time!) this blog.

I started doing monthly book posts on my socials last year, it's a fun way to see what I've read. Instead of writing a separate post for each of the dozen-plus months, I'm popping all the reads in year-at-a-glace posts. Then, over the next few months, I'll post my reviews, starting with the ARCs, and then we will see where things go from there!

If you want to follow my reading adventures, I'm tracking on StoryGraph (a black-woman-owned business!) though I'm pretty sure you need an account of your own to view other accounts.

Here's to just one more page!

//
Marnie

from Shirt Woot!

Books, books, books!

 This is for me.  Not you, and definitely not you.  For ME.

My Uncle (whom I never met) used to fill out an index card for every book he read.  Those cards are in a little metal file box that my mom keeps in the library of their house.

I go through phases with my reading.  Lately, THANKFULLY, I've been reading a LOT.  And I want to keep better track of the ones I've ready.

Here's the list that I can remember...

Grown-up Books

• Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett (January 2020)
• The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory (February 2020)
• Code Girls by Liza Mundy (April 2020)
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (June 2020)
• Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce (June 2020)
• Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhorn (July 2020)
• The Bakers Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan (July 2020)
• Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin (July 2020)
• Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini (August 2020)
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (August 2020)
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (August 2020)
• The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer (September 2020)
• The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner (September 2020)
• The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (October 2019)
• Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (July 2019)
• The Huntress by Kate Quinn
• When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal
• Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
• The Beekeeper's Promise by Fiona Valpy
• Bending Toward the Sun by Leslie Gilbert Lurie (June 2019)
• Born Survivors by Wendy Holden
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (May 2019)
• The Dressmaker's Gift by Fiona Valpy (September 2019)
• Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (June 2019)
• The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
• The Nightengale by Kristin Hannah
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (June 2019)
• The Huntress by Kate Quinn
• Sisters One, Two, Three by Nancy Star
• The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

Young Adult Books

• Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli (March 2020)
• The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (April/May 2020)
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (May 2020)
• The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (May 2020)
• I Survived: D-Day by Lauren Tarshis (June 2020)
• Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen (June 2020)
• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (August 2020)
• Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz (September 2020)
• Refugee by Alan Gratz (September 2020)
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• El Deafo by Cece Bell (May 2019)
• One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (June 2019)
• A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen