Bluebird Books

Maybe because it's fall, maybe because my kids have gone back to school, but for some reason or another I think of this season as a great time to read books about children.  ...or watch movies about children.  I will be singing this song all day now. I'm not talking about the YA and middle-grade novels that I pick up randomly throughout the year.  In the fall I'm looking for an adult fiction novel that tells the story of a child or is told from the perspective of a child.  Either will do.  When I read middle grade or YA I'm thinking about the messages that are intended for a pre-teen/teen audience.  Themes of independence, standing up for something when the odds are against you, and finding community are primarily on display in these books.  Often, the protagonist is compared and contrasted with their peers or called on to save the day. All things that are important parts of teenage development. But, when I pick up a book that is intended for adults but i

It seemed like last year every website devoted to books put out a reading challenge.  In January these feel exciting and new.  But now that it's September...well, it's kind of uncomfortable to check in on my progress.   I didn't bite at every challenge I saw, but Goodreads always draws me in.  They only ask for a number:  how many books will you read this year?  Innocent enough.  At the end of the year, they provide you with a lovely infographic.  In years past, I've accomplished my reading goal and then some so this year I decided to be ambitious.   75.  75 books in a year.  More than a book a week.  I was excited, sitting on the couch by my fire.  Of course I could read that many books!  It would be easy! Now, it's September and I'm not in a good place.   I'm 9 books behind where I should be to keep pace for completing my goal.  And I obsessively check to see when that number will go up--oh, wait, it just did.  10 behind now.  Great.  #notgre

One of my absolute favorite things about reading is that it takes you to a new world.  This is not news to anyone who cracks open a novel with even a little anticipation, but it's always pure magic.  I can lead many lives all at once: imagining being a train with a murderer, sitting in a tiny dingy school in Brooklyn during the Great Depression, or traveling all over the world on an epic birthday trip.   Lately, I've been enjoying books that expose me to the immigrant experience.  I am not an immigrant but am the descendant of immigrants and the wife of an immigrant.  It's not something I have first-hand knowledge about but because so many people I love have lived through an immigration, I want to understand it better: enter books.   Stories that detail what it's like to move to a new country, where you may or may not be welcome, make the reader more empathetic.  It happens subtly and without guilt.  Reading about the first trip to a grocery store where yo

It's September--that glorious time of year when the children go back to school.   We limped through the last two weeks of summer.  Trying to have fun and enjoy the free time but also knowing we needed routine in a bad way and were growing sick of each other.   Some of my friends feel sad when a new season starts but I find myself excited at the beginning of something different: the start of school, Christmas, New Year, Spring, the end of school.  The optimism in my heart overflows as I envision myself rising to the new occasion with renewed purpose.   August wasn't too bad overall: the laundry got caught up a few times, we did lots of fun activities, and I even read six books--the most I've read in a month for a while.   After Labor Day, the kids loaded onto their buses.  This was it.  My moment to be super productive.  My time to get it all done.  Six books, lolz, I'd read 10 this month!   Nope. The new schedule has us all exhausted by the end of the

I did it ya'll!  I set out to read 6 books this month and I did it!  Is there anything better than the feeling of accomplishing a goal when it seems like the whole world  (your children) want to sabotage you?  No, there is not. Here are my six: The Home for Unwanted Girls 🌟🌟🌟🌟 "To calm herself, she tries to remember the stories her father used to tell her to help her fall asleep.  One of his favorite aphorisms comes into her mind and she can almost hear his voice, as if he's speaking to her now.  He who plants a seed plants life." My book club read this and we were surprised by how much we liked it.  The ending seemed rushed to most of us, but overall, the story of a young woman who is forced to give up her child made us all feel things.  It was plot driven and told in the alternating perspectives of the mother and daughter. Vile Bodies 🌟🌟 "'It's just exactly like being inside a cocktail shaker,' said Miles Malpractice.'"