I’ve recently gotten very into checking out book award nominees to add some more depth to my reading list. The National Book Award Longlist came out on September 13, and I immediately added seven books to my list. The National Book Award was established in 1936, but was abandoned during WWII. The first award was given in 1950, and eligible nominees are books written and published in the US. It’s a highly sought after award with a whole lot of history, so I know when I add a book to my list from these nominations, it’s going to be good. I focused my top 5 national book award nominees on the…
Top 7 Books to Read This Fall
After living in Southwest Florida until I was 18-years-old, experiencing my first fall was earth-shattering. It might have only lasted a few weeks, but feeling that crisp air and being able to wear boots comfortably was a magical experience. Spring is still my favorite season because I love the idea of new possibilities, but fall is definitely a close second. There’s nothing like breaking out your sweaters after a long summer or cracking open a good book near a fire. I’ve got a list of seven books to read this fall. Let’s get started!
Top 5 Books About Mental Health
Today is National Suicide Prevention Day. September is National Suicide Prevention Month. A lot of crazy things have been going on in our world, and rising rates of suicide should not be one of those things. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on how to talk about mental health — I’m not — but I think it’s an important conversation to have. As a society, we are slowly breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health, and we need to keep breaking down those walls by having conversations about anxiety, depression, self-harm, and so much more. One of the ways I educate myself on mental health is to…
Top 7 Fall 2018 Book Releases
Despite it feeling like a desert in Nashville this past weekend, I’m told fall is just around the corner. I’m still a little skeptical, but I’m excited for a new season nonetheless. With a new season, of course, comes a new set of books being released! I recently had a friend ask me what was on my to-be-read list, and I laughed because there are just so many books in the world I want to read. So, why not add seven more to the list? Some say I have a problem, I say I have goals. There are so many amazing books coming out this fall, but these are the…
August Reading Wrap-Up
I can’t believe August is already over! (Don’t I say that about every month?) I didn’t read nearly as much as I wanted to during August — not because I was traveling or hosting or anything in particular, I guess I was just doing other things (though I can’t really pinpoint what those “things” were). Despite not reading as much as I’d initially hoped, I still finished four books. Let’s get started! Image from Amazon
September TBR List
I’m cheating a little bit — but only a little bit — because these books were on some of my older TBR lists. I hope you can forgive me. I still haven’t gotten around to them (unfortunately, I didn’t read as much in August as I expected — life got in the way), but I’m DETERMINED to finish these books during September. From massive books discussed the decline in violence throughout time to an adult fantasy, September’s reads are sure to take me on a journey. Let’s get started! Image from Amazon
Recommended Reading Per Class
It’s officially back-to-school season — I guess it’s been back-to-school-season, but I’m riding this wave as long as I can because this has always been my favorite unofficial season. I was the dork that always loved school, and I guess I still am. I decided to make a list of books I would require if I were to teach any of the following subjects. Let’s get started! Image from Amazon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Book Review
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was marketed as a book about a boy with unusual skills and intelligence that embarks on a quest to find out who killed his neighbors dog, and it turns out to be so much more than that. Christopher, Mark Haddon’s main character, is exceptionally gifted at math and science, but when it comes to communicating with the people around him, he struggles more than the average teenager. You see, Christopher has some sort of mental development issues. It is never stated directly in the book that there is anything wrong with Christopher, and that’s exactly the point. The book isn’t about Christopher’s “disability”…
Top 5 Books From Required Reading Lists
Even though I’ve always loved reading, getting through a required reading list in school was always a struggle for me. Typically, I always read the books, but some books were harder to get through than others. Some of my favorite required reading was actually in a introduction to literature class I took during my senior year of school. That’s where I read The Great Gatsby for the first time and fell in love with Beloved (two books I’ll talk about later in this post). Whether you’ve been an avid reader since you first learned, or reading has always been the bane of your existence, it’s always going to be a part of your life,…
5 Books From the Man Booker Prize Long List to Read
The Man Booker Prize Long List was announced July 23, 2018. The list was whittled down from 171 submissions — the most amount of titles ever submitted — to just 13 incredible works. The award is open to writers of any nationality with books written in English and published in the UK or Ireland (a recent addition after a rule change in 2018). I always love seeing these lists as they inspire me to read powerful, modern works, but I know it would be rare to read all the nominations. This week I’ve made me own Man Booker Prize Short List from these Long List nominations. Let’s get started!
