There is something about getting back out to nature — especially when we are at home right now — that is so appealing and calming. While it might be harder to escape physically right now, this collection of short essays will at least allow you to imagine you’re breathing in fresh air, listening to bird call, and getting away from the rest of the world for a little while. Vesper Flights has essays about nature … Read More “Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald” »
Author: Erin Shanahan
Former in-house book editor turned stay-at-home mom who will hopefully return to the industry some day -- let me know if you hear of any openings -- but for now who reads as much as I can and reviews online, both here and on Instagram (@bookwormerin.) I love books. Reading them. Buying them. Recommending them. I was the kid whose mother had to limit the number of books I could check out from the library each week to the number of books I could physically carry home. Now, I have a husband who enables me, children who love books almost as much as I do, and a bit too much time on my hands, which I fill with reading.This delightful children’s book is a fun counting book for children, set to rhyme with a clever Very-Hungry-Caterpillar-page layout with the pages arranged from smallest to largest as a single, long branch breaks and eye-catching birds fall off and walk or fly away. My 4-year-old has been hooked since it arrived, and I almost have this one memorized already. While the market for counting books set to rhyme is crowded, I like the simplicity of this … Read More “Ten on a Twig by Lo Cole” »
Amy is living a seemingly perfect life with an amazing husband, their young baby, and her 15-year-old stepdaughter. She has a best friend Charlotte who leads the neighborhood book club, which is held at Amy’s house. While the book club is usually a very buttoned up (and boring) evening, with a classic novel, a one-hour time limit, and very small pours of wine at the beginning of the night, the book opens with a striking … Read More “Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson” »
Sometimes I like to read younger books, not just because I have a 9-year-old, but also because these genres are always trying new things. And for a middle grade book, this one is fun and exciting, even if it’s not as intense as it would be if written for an older audience. This fantasy is set on Emblem Island, where everyone is born with a mark etched in their skin identifying how they will live, … Read More “Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster” »
I really struggled to rate this book. While I really liked this author’s writing — it was almost hypnotic in its poetry — I didn’t find myself particularly drawn to many of the stories individually. I even read several more than once to try and get a deeper handle on what she was saying, but I fear many of these stories will not stay with me very long. I’m finding most of them difficult to … Read More “A House Is a Body by Shruti Swamy” »