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Favorite Books of Summer 2023

Susie — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 10:00:23 +0000

It’s been a minute! Last time I posted was the end of June when I shared that month’s favorites. I fully intended to do the same with my July favorites, but things just got away from me. To be fair, I was in Tahoe at a long overdue family reunion from July 25th – 31st. I never even thought about it until four or five days into August. Oh well! It was a wonderful time. My family has been doing this Tahoe reunion every three years since my kids were little, but with COVID and all, it just hadn’t happened for too long. The wait was worth it!

Just because I wasn’t thinking about sharing great books, does not mean I wasn’t reading great books. It was so hard narrowing down my list that I just decided to include all the books I loved. (One of these I initially rated lower, but it’s stayed with me so much that I’m including it.) And, huge surprise, I have two nonfiction books in this list!

These books are shown in the order I read them. Most were published in July and August, but a few were earlier. They made for some wonderful summer reading and I’m sure you’ll see more than one on my Best Books of 2023. As always, you can follow me on Instagram @novelvisits, where I most often share books near their release date. (It may be the only place to see my reviews come 2024.)…

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Beach Bag Books 2022

Susie — Tue, 17 May 2022 10:00:14 +0000

It’s looking like this summer might be a huge season for traveling. We’ve all been stuck at home far too often these last couple of years and now with things a little more stable, it’s time to GO! I have vacation fun going on at least half the summer and in October I’ll finally be traveling internationally again with two weeks in Morocco. What are your travel plans for 2022? I’m betting no matter what they are, a little extra reading time will be on the agenda.

Today I’m sharing my Beach Bag Books 2022 guide which features 27 books that will make for great summer reading no mater where you’re headed. This year’s books are broken down into four categories, including three that highlight 2022 books: Smart Suspense, Loving Literary, and Delightfully Different. The final category, Backlist Beauties is made up of books from 2021 which I read after last year’s Beach Bag Books.

I’ll be talking about many of these books and some that you don’t see here on the May 18th episode of Sarah’s Bookshelves Live. Between Sarah and myself, your summer TBR list is going to explode!…

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My Favorite Books of 2020 (so far) | More

Susie — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:00:35 +0000

In a normal year, I might be saying something like, “It’s hard to believe, but the end of June is already here.” Not this year! Now it’s, “The end of June is FINALLY here.” If you’re anything like me, time has crawled with months of quarantine and establishing a whole new way of life. Add to that, the long overdue call for an end systemic racism that has finally moved to the spotlight, but change there also feels far too slow. I guess it’s just a slow year, but it has given me plenty of time for books. As of this writing, I’ve finished 60 this year, many of them very, very good. For a wide variety of reasons, nine stand out as my favorite books, so far this year.

Last year five out of the nine books on this mid-year “So Far” list were on my Best Books of 2019 list. (Though to be honest that list had a total of 12 books!) These nine favorite books are in order of publication date and nothing more!…

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Six 2019 Underrated Gems | #AMonthofFaves

Susie — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 11:00:46 +0000

Monday I shared Six 2019 Books That Deserved the Hype, plus Six That Didn’t, and today I’ll be turning to 2019 books that just didn’t seem to get the hype they deserved or as I like to think of them, “Underrated Gems.” Underrated Books We Think Deserve More Buzz is today’s challenge for #AMonthofFaves from Girlxoxo, and Traveling with T, the hosts for this annual month-long blog event. Everyone has those special books they just want to press into the hands of others and I’m hoping at least one of the six I share today will make it onto your “to be read” list!

Six 2019 Underrated Gems

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Goodreads Under 2000 – My Favorite Books with Few Reviews

Susie — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 11:00:57 +0000

Sometimes you read a really great book, but it feels like no one else is reading that book. You want to talk about it, but there’s no one to talk to. It can be frustrating as a reader, but think about for the authors. They’ve written a wonderful book that for whatever reason just isn’t getting much coverage. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl), the challenge was to share books you liked, but that hadn’t had much attention on Goodreads (based on the number of ratings). A perfect challenge for me, because I love sharing those deserving gems that I wish I could personally place in other readers’ hands!

My favorite under-reviewed books are in descending order based on the number of Goodreads ratings. (And, yes, I took a bit of liberty with the first couple because I loved them so much!)…

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New-to-Me Authors 2018 | More

Susie — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 11:00:27 +0000

Thank goodness for authors! Where would we readers be without their tireless efforts and stunning creativity? Every time I read an amazing book, I wish I could personally thank the author and fangirl all over him or her. Instead, today I’m joining this week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) in celebrating new-to-me authors from 2018. Back in December, I shared ten new-to-everyone authors in my DEBUTS – My Favorites of 2018, so today I’m focusing on established writers that I had the pleasure of reading for the first time last year.

When looking at new-to-me authors I wanted to highlight, they fell into three categories: those I liked so much I read more than one of their books, writers I’m eager to read more from, but have not yet done, and (for a little added fun) a couple of wildly popular authors who completely turned me off!…

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MY YEAR IN NONFICTION | #NonficNov

Susie — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 10:00:15 +0000

And so It begins, Nonfiction November, a month dedicated to all things nonfiction. My nonfiction reading accounts for about 15% of the books I’ve read so far this year. That’s not huge, but is way up from only 4% a couple of years ago. Even better, with all the great nonfiction books I’ll discover this month, my overall percent will surely grow.

This week’s topic is “My Year in Nonfiction,” and each of the next few weeks will features a different nonfiction theme. To check out what’s coming up and see more about participation you can visit any of the host sites or simply click HERE. This week I’m linking up with Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness, the host for My Year in Nonfiction. Let’s go!…

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Wrapping It Up! September 2018 | More

Susie — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 10:00:30 +0000

September is over and I for one am very happy about that. I know many of you love September and the fall months it ushers in. Before getting fully on board with fall, I’ve had to get over two big hurdles. Summer is my season and I spent the first half of the month mourning its passing. (A rainy couple of weeks helped with that!) Next, I had to dig myself out from the mountain of work that always comes with the start of a new school year. I MIGHT have done that now, but only time will tell on that one. I definitely turned to books to comfort me through this rough month, somehow getting ELEVEN in! Anyway, fall is here and I’m ready. Bring on Halloween, Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays.

{My September, Books & Blog}

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My Favorite Books of 2018 (so far) | More

Susie — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 10:00:15 +0000

With the end of June nearly here and half the year already over, it’s a good time to look back at the best of books for 2018…so far. Despite the fact that I’ve mused on too many books I either DNF’d or didn’t really love, when looking back I find that 2018 books have also provided a lot of pleasure and a rich variety of stories. For that I’m truly thankful!

Initially, I planned on doing ten books, but had a four way tie for that last slot. Instead, today I’m sharing the nine books that for me clearly rose above all others in the first half of 2018. (In order of publication date and nothing more!)…

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Nonfiction November: My Year So Far | More

Susie — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 10:00:08 +0000

Guess what? It’s Nonfiction November! This is a month long event that I first became aware of last year, but really wasn’t in a great place to participate, so I’m excited to be joining in the fun with this year’s organizers, Katie at Doing Dewey, Lory at Emerald City Book Review, Sarah at Sarah’s Bookshelves, Julie at Julz Reads (today’s topic/link up), and Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness. I’m not a huge nonfiction reader, but one of my goals for 2017 has been to read more of it. Considering I only read one nonfiction book in 2016, reading “more” hasn’t been that difficult. Thus far I’ve read eight nonfiction books and hope to squeeze in a few more by the end of this month. Please join me for a look at my nonfiction year so far.

What was you favorite nonfiction read this year?

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