Books for Breakfast

Here we are, at the end of another month. See you again next year, January! I decided I would do a wrap-up every month with some fun facts about my reading habits from the month. You can see the full list of titles I read every month on the page titled "Running List." I'm just going to share some quick info for the folks who tune in regularly :) Total Titles Read: 8 Total Authors Read: 7 Number of Pages Read: 2,415 Longest Book: Little Women at 449 pages Shortest Book: Let Me Be a Woman at 192 pages  Favorite Book: Little Women  Least Favorite Book: A Clever Alliance 

I managed to slide one more book into January! After The Brutal Telling , I needed a palate cleanser, so I went with Book, Line, and Sinker by Jenn McKinlay. A little backstory: I checked out the first book in this series from my local library. My mom read it after me and we both enjoyed it so much, we wanted to continue on with the series. However, our library does not have all the books and also did not have the next one in the series. So, we did what any good readers do, and ordered them off Ebay. As books go, they were fairly cheap, mainly because they are in the small, mass-market paperback format. So now we have almost the entire series. I don't think we have the newest one she put out, I'm pretty sure she published one in 2019. But we have enough to last us for awhile :) I enjoy these because they are about a librarian living in a small town called Briar Creek in Connecticut. Someday I would love to travel to New England and experience the small, shore-side towns t...

If you read my review for the last Inspector Gamache book, then you're probably thinking, "Rachel, you liar." Yes I know, I said I was not going to read any more of these darned books. Well, if you need to know anything about my reading habits, it's this: I am 100% a mood reader. But also, the power of peers over our reading lives is a strong one, and in this case, my peer is my mother. She keeps reading these books and telling me I need to read them too, so inevitably I get sucked into "just one more." I'm never going to get any other reading done... I don't have much to say about this one. Penny's writing is as beautiful and provoking as ever. Her books are just good mystery with some coziness and good food thrown in. I gave this one 5 stars. I'm not sure what it is about this specific book that made it 5 stars when the rest of them have been solid 4's for me. There was just something about this one; the plot was unique, the mystery ...

Prepare yourselves, friends. This review will not be a short one. I suggest you make yourself a hot drink and perhaps a snack and settle in, because I've got thoughts. First of all, I don't know how I managed to go 21 years before reading and finishing Little Women . I have attempted this novel several times in the past and I never got very far. My most recent attempt was a few months ago; I borrowed my sister's pretty Puffin copy, but only achieved the first 10 chapters or so. After she and I watched the new Little Women movie adaptation (twice!), I decided once and for all, come hell or high water, I was going to finish this book. And OH. MY. GOODNESS... YA'LL!!! This is now my favorite book. You know how we can never pick a favorite book or movie because there are just too many and we have so many beloveds in different ways? Well, this tops all that... Little Women will forever and always be my favorite book. Let me begin my review by saying that I credit p...

I thought I'd take a departure from my reviews and do a quick write-up of the ways I am tracking my reading. One of my favorite things to see from other readers is their reading habits. (At the end of this post I will include some titles that inspired me to live my best reader life, if you will). Now, my current way of doing things may seem excessive; who knows, halfway through the year I might get lax and not put as much effort into it as I am now. I think the reason I am doing things this way is because I have learned from experience. Over the years, I have forgotten what books I've read, or how many I read in a particular month, or which books I have read and DNFed, simply because I did not keep track. Five years ago, it didn't bother me, but it does now. Plus, I'm a type-A girl; I like to see information organized and laid out neatly. Someday I will look back at this blog and appreciate that I kept such detailed reviews, or I might flip through the pages of my rea...

I read this novel rather quickly, in less than a day in fact. A Clever Alliance by Laura Beers was my first Kindle read of the year. I had a craving for a romance, and the plot of this story involved a fake engagement, which is another trope I love. I don't have a whole lot to say about this one; it was a quick, easy, and clean read. I only gave it two stars, mainly because I found the romance less than convincing. I found it engaging and I wanted to keep reading more. I liked that there was an added element of intrigue and action and a villain you just want to hate. The dialogue and story-telling alone were just fine, and for that, I may have given it three or four stars, had it not been for the delivery of the romance. In the end, the romance crossed that line for me between sweet and sickeningly sweet. I used to swoon over this kind of dialogue, but in this context and delivery, I found myself feeling the opposite. So I guess my quest for clean romance will continue. I do gra...

This one is a little different from the other books I've read so far. For one thing, Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson is a non-fiction book. (I've already read one non-fiction, Let Me Be a Woman , but this is an entirely different kind of subject). Death's Acre  is part autobiography, part true-crime, and part scientific journalism. It chronicles the humble beginnings of the Body Farm, a research outdoor "facility" located in Tennessee. Dr. Bill Bass takes the reader through an account of his career, how he came to create the Body Farm, and how it has helped to further not only scientific discoveries, but also criminal investigations. Just as a fun fact, one of my possible career paths before deciding on teaching was to become a forensic anthropologist. I admit, I was influenced more by TV shows like "Bones" than a good and honest interest in the human skeleton. Even though that is not my path anymore, I still possess a fascinati...

I really enjoyed this one. I picked up Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer based on a friend's recommendation of the author. It turns out Devil's Cub is actually a sequel, but I never even noticed, or felt like I was missing information. While I did give this novel a rating of four stars on Goodreads, I'd say my overall opinion of this book might land more at three stars instead. First of all, I loved the regency romance theme. I loved the whole "forced marriage" concept, and hate-to-love is one of my favorite romance tropes. I also really liked that it was a clean romance (it had to be, since it was written in 1930), but I did also feel like the romance was rushed a little. One moment Mary and Dominic were irritated with each other and wanted nothing to do with the other, and then it was LOVE! So I don't know how I feel about it... maybe I'm trying to compare it to romance novels of this generation. Sophia and Juliana both annoyed me, but I suppose th...

Two books in one week!!! My second finished book of the year is Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot. This was gifted to me by a friend for my birthday, and I'm sad to admit that it took me six months to finish it. It's very small and compact, less than 200 pages. But don't let the size fool you: this book packs a whole lot of theological truth into a pocket-size. Elliot really simmered things down to the basics for me in terms of what it means to be a Christian woman. I can't really say much in terms of review because I found this book to be so extensive. She writes in the form of letters to her daughter Valerie, and while most of the book is told through the lens of marriage, any woman regardless of relationship status, can find answers and clarification as to what our roles are as women of God. I plan to read this one again at some point so I can go through and underline my favorite parts and also be able to digest the content more. Stats: Completed: January ...

My first book of the year is done and dusted. My goal is to write some kind of review for every book I finish. The length and depth will be determined by each book; some reviews will be short and sweet, a few words to express my thoughts, while others I imagine will go into more detail.  This one will be one of the more succinct ones.  A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny is the fourth book in the Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series. I think this was perhaps my favorite so far. The setting and rather large cast of characters reminded me of something Agatha Christie might write. Penny has a way of writing that always leaves you hungry for more; she never quite reveals everything, there is always some small detail that is left unresolved. While I find this more annoying than anything, because that's the kind of person I am, I think it also lends to the overall connection between each novel.  My mom and I have been reading these novels around the same time as ...

Here goes nothing... The Contender: Rachel, a twenty-something teaching student. The Challenge: Read 100 books over the course of a year (2020 to be specific). Potential Obstacles: Library holds, DNFing, falling asleep, and potentially a kitten that has been known to nibble on books. So here's the thing: I'm a reader, always have been. I call this blog Books for Breakfast because I used to literally devour books; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But Books for Breakfast has a catchier ring to it. I was the kid that went to the library once a week, picked up a stack of 10 books every time, and had that stack read by the next time she went to the library. I crushed every reading challenge, steamrolled my way through the Nancy Drew series, and proudly (and perhaps a little smugly) read books from the school library that were way above my reading level. Something happened as I got older. I still read books, still loved to spend my time reading, but no longer could I sit down o...