Category: Just Read

Just Read: Review Of Call Of The Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks (Blog Tour) @ManxWriter

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Call Of The Curlew Book Review On Novels And Nonfiction

I’ve definitely fallen off my blogging schedule recently but, a while back, I had requested to participate in the blog tour for a historical mystery called Call Of The Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks. The blog tour was organized by Anne at Random Things Tours and the publisher was nice enough to send me a paperback ARC of the novel, which was just released at the end of June.

Iwas not familiar with the author but I was intrigued by the plot teaser and felt I would likely at least enjoy the novel. However, the book ended up far exceeding my expectations. Brook’s writing has strength and depth to it beyond what I would have thought to find in a run-of-the-mill historical mystery, and the atmosphere of the novel was suggestive enough to transport me to a cold dreary marsh even in these past sunny 90 degree heat days we’ve been having in LA. Find out more below!

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Just Read: Review Of A False Report By T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong @txtianmiller @bykenarmstrong

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A False Report Book Review On Novels And Nonfiction

I first decided to request an ARC of A False Report by T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong when I included it in my list of March 2018 releases I was looking forward to. In reality, it’s not the sort of book you look forward to picking up, as it obviously focuses on an extremely heavy topic.

Reading this book was an educational and eye-opening experience that solidified and deepened a lot of what I already knew about the difficulties that victims experience in reporting rape. It obviously comes with huge trigger warnings with regards to rape and violence. The authors don’t pull any punches in terms of tackling all the frightening details, but I think that for those who can stomach it, A False Report is a very important read.

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Zadie Smith And Michael Chabon Author Event Plus Reviews Of Moonglow And Swing Time

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Zadie Smith And Michael Chabon Author Event On Novels And Nonfiction

Back in December of 2017, I had the opportunity of attending an event at UCLA featuring authors Zadie Smith and Michael Chabon. I had never read either of their novels, but I knew they were both very popular writers and I took the chance to get to know more about them.

The setup of the event was a relatively casual conversation between the two authors about a wide-ranging array of topics including reading, politics, writing (of course), the internet and human connection. They were both so articulate and insightful that it made me very excited to read the two books of theirs I purchased at the event – Swing Time and Moonglow – and that I was able to get signed afterwards.

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Just Read: Review Of The Immortalists By Chloe Benjamin

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The Immortalists Book Review On Novels And Nonfiction

If some one offered to tell you the exact day you’re going to die, you’d probably think about it once or twice before accepting (or refusing). This quandary is what made The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin such a tempting read for book bloggers all over the world. That and the truly gorgeous book cover.

After reading the umpteenth positive early review online, I also succumbed to the urge to request it via Net Galley and I was… well, thoroughly underwhelmed. This is a perfectly valid novel that is a relatively interesting read but that just did not live up to the very high hype for me. But that’s the beauty of book blogging – for every book you disagree about with someone, there’s always another around the corner on which you’ll agree.

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Just Read: Review Of The Stowaway By Laurie Gwen Shapiro

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The Stowaway Book Review On Novels And Nonfiction

I included The Stowaway in my list of releases I was looking forward to for December 2017 and January 2018, and was therefore ecstatic to get access to a review copy of it through Net Galley.

I read it during my trip home for the holidays to Milan, and it made for the perfect wintry read. It’s relatively short, but the author does a really great job at keeping the right balance of adventure and history as she tells the incredible story of young stowaway Billy and his daring attempts to make it to Antarctica. Definitely a good one to read under a cozy blanket with a mug of cocoa!

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Just Read: Audiobook Review Of Evicted By Matthew Desmond @PRHAudio

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Evicted Audiobook Review On Novels And Nonfiction

Today I have a new audiobook review for you of a book that I had been wanting to read for a while. It’s on an extremely important topic – that of housing insecurity in America – and was written focusing on the plight of eviction in Milwaukee.

I actually received a physical copy of Evicted by Matthew Desmond from Blogging For Books. When I saw that Evicted was available on the service I jumped at the chance of requesting it since it had been on my reading list for a while. In the end, I decided that it would fit better in my reading schedule as an audiobook and I think it worked well in that medium.

Much of the book involves excerpts from interviews or interactions between the author and residents of Milwaukee affected by eviction (read by a narrator), so it was a captivating but saddening story to listen to. You can read my full review below!

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