Articles, Reading and Literature, Top 10 Lists3 Comments

Top 10 Signs You’re a Book Lover

The Perspicacious Bookworm

Hello, all! Well, we have almost made it though March. I know this is a scary time for just about everybody, with covid-19 creeping into your communities, but hopefully you’re all able to stay safe and healthy. I personally loved today’s prompt (thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top 10 Tuesday) because there are so many different ways to answer this question – just like there are so many different ways to be a book lover. 1. Your bookshelves are overflowing. This is such a cliche, but that’s because it’s true! I’ve never met a book lover that didn’t have … Continue reading Top 10 Signs You’re a Book Lover

Book Reviews, Thriller1 Comment

My Sister, the Serial Killer

The Perspicacious Bookworm

A bouquet of violently bright orchids is delivered to our house. For Ayoola. She leans forward and picks out the card that is tucked between the stems. She smiles. *“It is from Tade.” *Is this how he sees her? An exotic beauty? I console myself with the knowledge that even the most beautiful flowers wither and die. *She takes out her phone and begins to type a message, narrating her text out loud – “I. Really. Prefer. Roses.” My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite My Sister the Serial Killer is … Continue reading My Sister, the Serial Killer

Articles, Reading and Literature, Screen Time, Top 10 Lists4 Comments

Top 10 Characters I’d Follow on Social Media

The Perspicacious Bookworm

This week’s prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl really challenged me to think about fictional characters outside of their constructed worlds and plots, which can always be fun to do! I have a mix of characters here – some who I think I would get along with in general, some who would be producers of good content, and some who would be likely to share useful news about the world. Sally from Practical Magic I love Sally so much because I can relate so well to her, and I feel like every post she’d ever make I would end up … Continue reading Top 10 Characters I’d Follow on Social Media

Action Adventure, Book Reviews, Diversity, FantasyLeave a comment

The Four Profound Weaves

The Perspicacious Bookworm

I said, “All my life, I was a man. And yet I kept that a secret. Not because I wanted to keep such a secret, but because other people told me that I must, that it was shameful and wrong to reveal it, that it was selfish to be who I was. I had to remain – a lover, a trader, a grandmother. I was a reluctant grandmother, but now that I’m free, now that I am a grandfather, am I supposed just not to care for them anymore?”“Why is there a difference?” Uiziya shrugged. “You can choose to care … Continue reading The Four Profound Weaves

Reading and Literature, Top 10 Lists5 Comments

The Last 10 Books to Give me a Book Hangover

The Perspicacious Bookworm

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt is about book hangovers, and I especially loved this one because I think it gets to the heart of what drives readers to read. Of course there’s a lot that you can get from a book, but I think there’s a special sort of joy in diving into a world that immerses you so much that the world around you looks a little gray. I don’t get that feeling as much as I used to as a child, but every now and then a book will just take hold of me. Here are the … Continue reading The Last 10 Books to Give me a Book Hangover

Book Reviews3 Comments

My Top 10 Favorite Romances in Fiction

The Perspicacious Bookworm

This week, That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt is anything about love. I don’t usually read a whole lot of romance, but I thought I would gather a list of the ten couples whom I admire the most. Many of these I read in childhood so they had a fairly formative influence on my perspective of romance and relationships, for better or for worse. Claire & Jaime in Outlander I love Outlander for a lot of reasons, but there is nothing quite like the slow-building romance between Claire and Jaime. The love they share is of course the … Continue reading My Top 10 Favorite Romances in Fiction

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The Saint of Wolves and Butchers

The Perspicacious Bookworm

Twelve teenagers had disappeared from western Kansas over a period of seven years. All of them had been girls between the ages of ten and eighteen, but investigators had not found a single connection among them. Two of them had attended the same school, but none of the twelve had known each other, so far as anyone was aware. Three of them had been black, two Jewish, six Hispanic, and one had been visiting from an American Indian college in eastern Kansas. No bodies had been found, and the police departments of three counties had concluded that the girls were … Continue reading The Saint of Wolves and Butchers

10/10 Reviews, Book Reviews, Diversity, Drama, Literary Fiction, MysteryLeave a comment

The Gone Dead

The Perspicacious Bookworm

Sometimes her mother homeschooled her, or sometimes she was enrolled in a school where new friends would say, “Is that your mom? She’s so young. She’s so pretty. She doesn’t look like you,” and new bullies would say “Is your dad black?” like black was a bad, dirty thing. And her mother would say, “They’re just jealous. You are beautiful” like moms do.Billie never knew that they were struggling because poor meant hungry, and she was never hungry. She didn’t know that her beloved bike or clothes came from the salvation army. She thought her erudite mother just didn’t believe … Continue reading The Gone Dead

Book Reviews7 Comments

My Top 10 Favorite Book Covers

The Perspicacious Bookworm

I know the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” can be good advice (there are lots of books I’ve enjoyed based on recommendations but may not have picked up on my own), but I just can’t help it – if I see a cover I like, I’m more likely to read it, whether I like the description or not. Thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top 10 Tuesday, here are my top 10 favorite book covers. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert The Muse by Jessie Burton Ophelia by Lisa Klein The House at the Edge of … Continue reading My Top 10 Favorite Book Covers