Six Degrees of Separation – from Sorrow and Bliss to Wild Game

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Adrienne Brodeur, Damon Galgut, E M Forster, Herman Melville, Jane Austen, Katherine May, Meg Mason, novella, Ruth Wilson, Six Degrees of Separation, Vivian Gornick June 4, 2022

It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading →

The Top 57 from the Best Books of 2021 List of Lists

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2021, Akwaeke Emezi, Amor Towles, Anthony Doerr, Anthony Veasna So, Ashley C. Ford, book list, Brandon Hobson, Brandon Taylor, Brian Broome, Casey Mcquiston, Chang-Rae Lee, Claire Vaye Watkins, Clint Smith, Colm Toibin, Colson Whitehead, Damon Galgut, Dantiel W. Moniz, Dawn Turner, Dawnie Walton, Elizabeth Kolbert, Elizabeth Strout, Francis Spufford, Gabriela Garcia, Gary Shteyngart, Hanif Abdurraqib, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Imbolo Mbue, Jason Mott, Joan Didion, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, Jonathan Franzen, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Katie Kitamura, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kirstin Quade, Lauren Groff, Lauren Oyler, Louise Erdrich, Maggie Shipstead, Melissa Broder, Michelle Zauner, Nadia Owusu, Patricia Engel, Patricia Lockwood, Patrick Radden Keefe, Qian Julie Wang, Rachel Cusk, Richard Powers, Rivka Galchen, Robert Jones Jr, S. Cosby, Sally Rooney, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Tiya Miles, Torrey Peters, Tove Ditlevsen, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Zakiya Dalila Harris December 20, 2021

Presenting the 2021 Commonly-Agreed-by-the-People-Who-Publish-Best-of-2021-Book-Lists-Before-December-31 top 57 books.

(This is my annual community service to book-bloggers – a list of the books that appear most frequently on the 45 lists that I listed on Best Books of 2021 – A List of Lists – enjoy!). Continue reading →

What’s in a Name Challenge 2014 Wrap-up

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2014, Alix Kates Shulman, Craig Silvey, Damon Galgut, Fredrik Backman, Katherine Hill, Kerry Hudson, reading challenge, Richard Yates, Sarah Butler December 20, 2014

Of all the reading challenges, I have the most fun with What’s in a Name, hosted by The Worm Hole. I like browsing through my TBR stack to find titles that fit the challenge categories.

The challenge is simple – read one book that fits each of the five ‘categories’ – Continue reading →

Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with 2014, book review, Damon Galgut, E M Forster, historical, review, South African October 1, 2014

The saying goes something like ‘expectation leads to disappointment’. That’s really my review of Damon Galgut’s Arctic Summer in a nutshell. Instead of sharing the nitty gritty, I’ll tell a little E. M. Forster-related anecdote. Continue reading →

Books I’m looking forward to in 2014

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with Armistead Maupin, Damon Galgut, Edward St. Aubyn, Emma Donoghue, Harriet Lane, Joshua Ferris, Maggie Shipstead, Michael Cunningham, Roddy Doyle, Sarah Churchwell, Sarah Waters, Top Ten Tuesday, Zoe Pilger January 15, 2014

This week, the Broke and the Bookish set the ‘task’ of listing ‘Top Ten 2014 Debuts I’m Excited For’. At the moment, I’m here:

As a result, I’m not spending time at the computer putting together photo montages of book covers. And my list isn’t debuts, it’s just books I’m looking forward to. And it’s not even ten books, it’s twelve. Do with it what you will. Continue reading →