Tag: reading

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What I’m Reading – August 2025

What I’m Reading Now

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – The Kiss Quotient #2 – I somehow read books 1 & 3 of this series but missed book 2! This is a fun romance featuring an autistic main character written by an autistic author.

What I Recently Finished

Fiction

  • Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman – Class Mom #3
  • Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
  • Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory
  • After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev – The Rajes #3
  • The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #1
  • How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry
  • The Nantucket Restaurant by Pamela Kelley
  • Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand – Paradise #1
  • What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand – Paradise #2
  • More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa – Days at the Morisaki Bookshop #2

Nonfiction

  • Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry by Beth Allison Barr

What I Added to My TBR

  • The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison
  • The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun – The Charm Offensive #1
  • Tilda Is Visible by Jane Tara
  • The Love Haters by Katherine Center
  • The Forever House by Veronica Henry
  • Right Place, Right Time by Ali McNamara
  • The Sandy Page Bookshop by HannahMcKinnon
  • Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris
  • Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory
  • The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory – The Wedding Date #1
  • The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory – The Wedding Date #2
  • The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory – The Wedding Date #3
  • Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory – The Wedding Date #4
  • Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory – The Wedding Date #5
  • While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory – The Wedding Date #6
  • The Storytellers by Sue Heath
  • Something to Look Forward To: Fictions by Fannie Flagg

TBR Stats/Updates

  • I currently have 165 books on my TBR. Of those, 11 are nonfiction and 155 are fiction.
  • Since I completed my 25 in 2025 challenge, I created a focused reading list of 25 books I would like to read by the end of the year. So far, I have read 6 of those books.
  • I have read 80 books so far this year (my goal was 75).
  • I read 1 nonfiction book this month, which is my goal. My total for the year so far is 8.
  • Here are some more stats from StoryGraph:

Feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads or StoryGraph. I’m always looking for new recommendations!

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What I’m Reading – June 2025

What I’m Reading Now

In the Woods by Tana French – this is the first in the Dublin Murder Squad series and was recommended to me by someone on Bookstagram. I am just a few chapters in and am warming up to it.

What I Recently Finished

Fiction

  • Plymouth Undercover by Pamela Kelley – Court Street Investigations #1
  • Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #2 (I didn’t realize until I was partway through that it was the second in a series, but I don’t think it detracted from the book and I plan to read the first one now)
  • Not Quite by the Book by Julie Hatcher
  • How to Stuff Up Christmas by Rosie Blake
  • Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison – Shoe Addict #2
  • A Shoe Addict’s Christmas by Beth Harbison – Shoe Addict #2.5
  • The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn
  • More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
  • Rise & Shine, Benedict Stone by Phaedra Patrick

Nonfiction

  • Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley

Short Stories

  • The Bookstore Family by Alice Hoffman – Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories #4
  • Death Row by Frieda McFadden

What I Added to my TBR

Fiction

  • The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland
  • The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #1
  • Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
  • Anne of Avenue A by Audrey Bellezza
  • On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen – The Fire Island Trilogy #1
  • Modern Persuasion by Sara Marks – 21st Century Austen #1
  • Take a Moment by Nina Kaye
  • Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – Time Quintet #1
  • Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  • Homemaker by Ruthie Knox – Prairie Nightingale #1
  • Loveless by Alice Oseman
  • Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts
  • Woodworking by Emily St. James

TBR Stats/Goal Updates

  • I currently have 161 books on my TBR. Of those, 16 are nonfiction and 145 are fiction.
  • I finished 4 more of my 25 in 2025 list, bringing that total to 22.
  • I have read 58 books so far this year (my goal is 75).
  • I have adjusted my nonfiction goal to 1 per month, and I have maintained that pace thus far.

If you’re on Goodreads, feel free to add me as a friend. I’m always looking for new recommendations!

I have also joined The StoryGraph to see what it is like. My handle there is bookwormtrish if you would like to be friends. I am still getting used to it, and my favorite thing so far is the detailed stats. Here is my May Wrap-Up from the site:

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What I’m Not Reading

background book stack books close up
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com

I find it fascinating to see what other people are reading; I think it really gives you a glimpse into their personality. It can also be quite telling to find out what types of books people choose not to read.

There are several things that make me avoid a book most of the time.  Here are just a few of them:

  • Abuse – I find it very difficult to read stories that include any form of abuse, whether it be towards children, adults, or even animals.
  • World War II – I have read my share of books set in World War II and used to enjoy them as much as any other genre. Somewhere along the way I just found that they lost their appeal. A book has to be very intriguing in some other way to get me to overlook the wartime setting.
  • A secret that is threatening to tear people apart, or has already done so – is it just me or does 1 out of every 4 or 5 novels harbor some secret just waiting to ruin an otherwise wonderful life? I almost always pass on these.

I’m sure there are other things that deter me from starting a book – I have become more and more picky as I get older.  But sometimes taking a chance on an author I haven’t read before is worth it, so I occasionally overlook them and give a book a try.

What things stop you from picking up a book that you come across?  I’m interested to hear what other people think about this topic.